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AN
EXPOSITION
OP THE
Old and New Testament:
WHEREIN
EACH CHAPTER IS SUMMED UP IN ITS CONTENTS ; THE SACRED TEXT INSERTED
AT LARGE, IN DISTINCT PARAGRAPHS; EACH PARAGRAPH REDUCED
TO ITS PROPER HEADS ; THE SENSE GIVEN,
AND LARGELY ILLUSTRATED ;
WITH
PRACTICAL REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS:
BY MATTHEW HENRY.
EDITED BY
THE REY. GEORGE BURDER, AND THE REY. JOSEPH HUGHES, A. M.
WITH THE
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
BY THE
REV. SAMUEL PALMER.
JFCrst IStiftCon:
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
A PREFACE,
BY ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D.
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, N. J.
VOL. II.
PHILADELPHIA :
ED. BARRINGTON & GEO. D. HASWELL
MARKET STREET.
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AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE
HISTORICAL BOOKS
OP THE
OLD TESTAMENT,
NAMELY,
JOSHUA,
JUDGES,
RUTH,
I. SAMUEL,
II. SAMUEL,
I. KINGS,
II. KINGS,
I. CHRONICLES,
II. CHRONICLES
EZRA,
NEHEMIAH,
AND
ESTHER.
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THE
PREFACE
TO THE
HISTORICAL BOOKS.
rip HIS methodized and practical exposition of the Historical Books ventures abroad, with fear and
trembling, in the same plain and homely dress with the former, on the Pentateuch: omari res ipsa
negat, contenta doceri — The subject requires no ornament , to have it apprehended is all. But I trust,
through grace, it proceeds from the same honest design, that is, to promote the knowledge of the scrip¬
ture, in order to the reforming of men’s hearts and lives. If I may but be instrumental to make my
readers wise and good, wiser and better, more watchful against sin, and more careful of their duty both
to God and man, and, in order to that, more in love with the word and law of God, I have all I desire,
all I aim at. May he that ministereth seed to the sower, multiply the seed sown, by increasing the fruits
of righteousness, 2 Cor. 9. 10.
It is the history of the Jewish Church and Nation, from their first settlement in the promised land,
after their four hundred and thirty years’ bondage in Egypt, and their forty years’ wandering in the wil¬
derness, to their re-settlement there, after their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon — from Joshua to
Nehemiah. The five books of Moses were taken up more with their laws, institutes, and charters; but
all these books are purely historical, and in that way of writing, a great deal of very valuable learning
and wisdom has been conveyed from one generation to another.
The chronology of this history, and the ascertaining of the times when the several events contained in
it, happened, would very much illustrate the history, and add to the brightness of it; it is therefore well
worthy the search of the curious and ingenious, and they may find both pleasure and profit in perusing
the labours of many learned men who have directed their studies that wav. I confess I could willingly
have entertained myself and reader, in this preface, with a calculation of 'the times through which this
history passes: but I consider, that such a babe in knowledge as I am, could not pretend either to add
to, or correct what has been done by so many great writers, much less to decide the controversies that
have been agitated among them. ' I had indeed some thoughts of consulting my worthy and ever-
honoured friend Mr. Tallents of Shrewsbury-, the learned author of the View of Universal History,
and to have begged some advice and assistance from him in methodizing the contents of this history; but
in the very week in which I put my last hand to this part, it pleased God to put an end to his useful life,
(and useful it was to the last,) and to call him to his rest in the eighty-ninth year of his age: so that pur¬
pose was broken off, that thought of my heart. But that elaborate performance of his, commonly called
his Chronological Tables, gives great light to this, as indeed to all other parts of history. And Dr.
Lightfoot’s Chronology of the Old Testament, and Mr. Cradock’s History of the Old Testament, metho¬
dized, may also be of great use to such readers as I write for.
As to the particular chronological difficulties which occur in the thread of this history, I have not been
large upon them; because many times I could not satisfy myself; and how then could I satisfy my reader
concerning them? I have not indeed met with any difficulties so great, but that solutions might be given
of them, which are sufficient to silence the atheists and antiscripturists, and roll away from the sacred •
records all the reproach of contradiction and inconsistency with themselves; for to do that, it is enough
to show that the difference may be accommodated either this way or that, when at the same time one
cannot satisfy one’s self which way is the right.
But it is well that these are things about which we may very- safely and very comfortably be ignorant
and unresolved. WEat concerns "nr solvation, ?« ploin pnouoAi. and we need not nerplex ourselves about
the niceties of chronology, genealogy, or chorography. At least, my undertaking leads me not into
those labyrinths. What is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in
righteousness, is what I intend to observe; and I would endeavour to open what is dark and hard to be
understood, only in order to that. Every author must be taken in his way of writing; the sacred
penmen, as they have not left us formal systems, so they have not left us formal annals, but useful narra¬
tives of things proper for our direction in the way of duty, which some great judges of common writers
have thought to be the most pleasant and profitable histories, and most likely to answer the end. The
word of God, manifesto pascit, obscuris exercet, (Aug. in Joh. Tract. 45. ) as one of the Ancients expresses
it, that is, it has enough in it that is easy, to nourish the meanest to life eternal, yet enough that is diffi¬
cult, to try the industry and humility of the greatest.
There are several things which should recommend this part of sacred writ to our diligent and constant
search.
I. That it is history ; and therefore entertaining and very pleasant, edifying, and very serviceable to
the conduct of human life. It gratifies the inquisitive with the knowledge of that which the most
intense speculation could not discover any other way. By a retirement into ourselves, and a serious con¬
templation of the objects we are surrounded with, close reasoning may advance many excellent truths
without being beholden to any other. But for the knowledge of past events, we are entirely indebted
6
PREFACE.
(and must be so) to the reports and records of others. A notion or hypothesis of a man’s own framing
may gain him the reputation of a wit, but a history of a man’s own framing will lay him under the
reproach of a cheat, any further than as it respects that which he himself is an eye or ear witness of.
How much are we indebted then to the divine wisdom and goodness for these writings, which have made
things so long since past as familiar to us as any of the occurrences of the age and place we live in!
History is so edifying, that parables and apologues have been invented to make up the deficiencies of
it, for our instruction concerning good and evil; and whatever may be said of other history, we are sure
that in this history there is no matter of fact recorded, but what has its use, and will help either to ex
pound God’s providence or guide man’s prudence.
II. That it is true history, and what we may rely upon the credit of, and need not fear being deceived
in That which the heathens reckoned tempus aSsxn, that is, which they knew nothing at all of, and
ter'fius juuQinov, that is, the account of which was wholly fabulous, is to us temfius isopmov, that is, what
we have a most authentic account of. The Greeks were with them the most celebrated historians, and
yet their successors in learning and dominion, the Romans, put them into no good name for their credi¬
bility, witness that of the poet: Et quicquid Greecia mendax audet in Historia — dll that lying Greece
has dared to record, Juv. Sat. 10. But the history which we have before us, is of undoubted certainty,
and no cunningly-devised fable. To be well assured of this is a great satisfaction, especially since we
meet with so many things in it truly miraculous, and many more great and marvellous.
III. That it is ancient history, far more ancient than was ever pretended to come from any other
hand. Homer, the most ancient genuine heathen writer now entirely extant, is reckoned to have lived at
the beginning of the Olympiads, near the time when it is computed that the city of Rome was founded
by Romulus, which was but about the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah. And his writings pretend not
to be historical, but poetical fiction all over: rhapsodies indeed they are, and the very Alcoran of
Paganism.
The most ancient authentic historians now extant are Herodotus and Thucydides, who were contem¬
poraries with the latest of our historians, Ezra and Nehemiah, and could not write with any certainty
of events much before their own time. The obscurity, deficiency, and uncertainty, of all ancient
history, except that which we find in the scripture, is abundantly made, out by the learned Bishop Stil-
lingfleet, in that most useful Book, his Origines SacrX; Lib. 1. Let the antiquity of this history not
only recommend it to the curious, but recommend to us all that way of religion it directs us in, as the
good old way, in which if we walk, we shall find rest to our souls, Jer. 6. 16.
IV. That it is church history, the history of the Jewish Church, that sacred society, incorporated for
religion, and the custody of the oratles and ordinances of God, by a charter under the broad seal of
heaven, a covenant confirmed by miracles. Many great and mighty nations there were at this time in
the world, celebrated, it is likely, for wisdom, and learning, and valour, illustrious men, and illustrious
actions; yet the records of them are all lost, either in silence or fables, while that little inconsiderable
nation of the Jews, that dwelt alone, and was not reckoned among the nations, Numb. 23. 9. makes so
gre it a figure in the best known, most ancient, and most lasting, of all histories; while no notice is taken
in it, of the affairs of other nations, except only as they fall in with the affairs of the Jews; for the
Lord's fiortion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance , Deut. 32. 8, 9. Such a concern has God
for his church in every age, and so dear have its interests been to him; let them therefore be so to us,
that we may be followers of him as dear children.
V. That it is a divine history, given by inspiration of God, and a part of that blessed book which is to
be the standing rule of our faith and practice. And we are not to think it a part of it which might have
been spared, or which we may now pass over, or cast a careless eye upon, as if it were indifferent
whether we read it or no, but we are to read it as a sacred record, preserved for our benefit on whom the
ends of the world are come.
1. This history is of great use for the understanding of some other parts of the Old Testament. The
account we have here of David’s life and reign, and especially of his troubles, is a key to many of his
Psalms. And much light is given to most of the prophecies by these histories.
2. Though we have not altogether so many types of Christ here, as we had in the history of the law
<f Moses, yet even herewe meetwith divers who were figures of Him that was to come, such as Joshua,
Samson, Solomon, Cyrus, but especially David, whose kingdom was typical of the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah and the covenant of royalty made with him, a dark representation of the covenant of redemption
made with the eternal Word; nor know we how to call Christ the son of David, unless we be acquainted
withthishistory; nor how to receive it that John Baptist was the Elias that was to come. Matt. 11. 14.
3. The state of the Jewish Church, which is here set before us, was typical of the Gospel Church,
and the state of that in the days of the Messiah; and as the prophecies which related to it, looked fur¬
ther to the latter days, so did the histories of it; and still these things happened to them for ensamples, 1
Cor. 10. 11. By the tenor of this history we are given to understand these three things concerning the
church; for the thing that hath been, is that which shall be, Eccl. 1. 9. (1.) That we are not to expect
the perfect purity and unity of the church in this world, and therefore not to be stumbled, though we
are grieved, at its corruptions, distempers, and divisions; not to think it strange concerning them, as
though some strange thing happened, much less to think the worse of its laws and constitutions for the
sake of them, or to despair of its perpetuity. What wretched stains of idolatry, impiety, and immo¬
rality, appear on the Jewish Church; and what a woful breach was there between Judah and Ephraim,
yet God took them (as I may say) with all their faults, and never wholly rejected them, till they rejected
tne Messiah. Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah, of her God, though their land was filled with
sin against the Holy One of Israel, Jer. 51. 5. (2.) That we are not to expect the constant tranquillity
and prosperity of the church. It was then often oppressed and afflicted from its youth, had its years of
servitude, as well as its days of triumph, was often obscured, diminished, impoverished, and brought
low; and yet still God secured to himself a remnant, a holy seed, which was the substance thereof, Isa.
6. 13. Let us not then be surprised to see the Gospel-Church sometimes under hatches, and driven into
the wilderness, and the gates of hell prevailing far against it. (3.) That yet we need not fear the utter
extirpation of it. The Gospel-Church is called, the Israel of God, Gal. 6. 16. and the Jerusalem
which is above. Gal. 4. 26. the heavenly Jerusalem: for as Israel after the flesh, and the Jerusalem that
then was, by the wonderful care of the divine Providence, outrode all the storms with which they were
PREFACE.
7-
tossed and threatened, and continued in being till they were made to resign all their honours to the Gos¬
pel-Church, which they were the figures of; so shall that also, notwithstanding all its shocks, be preserved,
till the mystery of God shall be finished, and the kingdom of Grace shall have its perfection in the
kingdom of Glory.
4. This history is of great use to us for our direction in the way of our duty; it was written for our
learning, that we may see the evil we should avoid, and be armed against it, and the good we should do,
and be quickened to it. Though they are generally judges, and kings, and great men, whose lives are
here written, yet in them, even those of the meanest rank may see the deformity of sin, and hate it, and
the beauty of holiness, and be in love with it; nay, the greater the person is, the more evident are both
these; for if the great be good, it is their goodness that makes their greatness honourable; if bad, their
greatness does but make their badness the more shameful. The failings even of good people are also
recorded here for our admonition, that he who thinks he stands, may take heed lest he fall; and that he
who has fallen, may not despair of forgiveness, if he recover himself by repentance.
5. This history, as it shows what God requires of us, so it shows what we may expect from his provi¬
dence, especially concerning states and kingdoms. By the dealings of God with the Jewish nation, it
appears that as nations are, so they must expect to fare; that while princes and people serve the interests
of God’s kingdom among men, he will secure and advance their interests; but that when they shake off
his government, and rebel against him, they can look for no other than an inundation of judgments. It
was so all along with Israel; while they kept close to God, they prospered; when they forsook him,
every thing went cross. That great man, Archbishop Tillotson, f Vol. I. Serm. 3. on Prov. 14. 34.)
suggests, That though as to particular persons, the providences of God are promiscuously administered
in this world, because there is another world of rewards and punishments for them, yet it is not so with
nations as such, but national virtues are ordinarily rewarded with temporal blessings, and national sins
punished with temporal judgments; because, as he says, public bodies and communities of men, as such,
can be rewarded and punished only in this world, for in the next they will all be dissolved. So plainly
are God’s ways of disposing kingdoms laid before us in the glass of this history, that I could wish
Christian statesmen would think themselves as much concerned as preachers, to acquaint themselves
with it; they might fetch as good maxims of state and rules of policy from this as from the best of the
Greek and Roman historians. We are blessed (as the Jews were) with a divine revelation, and make a
national profession of religion and relation to God, and therefore are to look upon ourselves as in a
peculiar manner under a divine regimen, so that the things which happened to them, were designed for
ensamples to us.
I cannot pretend to write for great ones. But if what is here done, may be delightful to any in read¬
ing, and helpful in understanding and improving, this sacred history, and governing themselves by the
dictates of it, let God have all the glory, and let all the rivers return to the ocean from whence they
came. When I look back on what is done, I see nothing to boast of, but a great deal to be ashamed of;
and when I look forward on what is to be done, I see nothing in myself to trust to for the doing of it; I
have no sufficiency of my own, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and that grace shall, I trust,
be sufficient for me. Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. That blessed
which the apostle speaks of, Phil. 1. 19. that continual supply or communication of the Sfiirit of Jesus
Christ, is what we may in faith pray for, and depend upon, to furnish us for every good word and work.
The pleasantness of the study has drawn me on to the writing of this, and the candour with which
my friends have been pleased to receive my poor endeavours on the Pentateuch, encourages me to pub¬
lish it; it is done according to the best of my skill, not without some care and application of mind, in the
same method and manner with that; I wish I could have done it in less compass, that it might have been
more within the reach of the floor of the flock. But then it would not have been so plain and full as I
desire it may be for the benefit of the lambs of the flock-. Brevis esse laboro, obscurus flo — Labouring to
be concise, I become obscure.
With an humble submission to the divine providence and its disposals, and a humble reliance on the
divine grace and its conduct and operation, I purpose still to proceed, as I have time, in this work. Two
volumes more will, if God permit, conclude the Old Testament; and then, if my friends encourage me,
and God spare me, and enable me for it, I intend to go on to the New Testament. For though many
have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those parts of scripture which are yet before us,
(Luke 1. 1.) whose works praise them in the gates, and are likely to outlive mine, yet while the subject
is really so copious as it is, and the manner of handling it may possibly be so various, and while one book
comes into the hands of some, and another into the hands of others, and all concur in the same design
to advance the common interests of Christ’s kingdom, the common faith once delivered to the saints,
and the common salvation of precious souls; (Tit. 1. 4. Jude 3.) I hope store, of this kind, will be
thought no sore. I make bold to mention my purpose to proceed thus publicly, in hopes I may have the
advice of my friends in it, and their prayers for me, that I may be made more ready and mighty in the
scriptures, that understanding and utterance may be given to me, that I may obtain of the Lord Jesus,
to be found Jiis faithful servant, who am less than the least of all that call him Master.
M. H.
Chester, June 2, 1708.
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I
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE BOOK OF
JOSHUA.
I We have now before us, the history of the Jewish nation, in this book, and those that follow it to the
end of the book of Esther. These books, to the end of the books of the Kings, the Jewish writers
call, the first book of the prophets, to bring them within the distribution of the books of the Old Testa¬
ment, into the law, the prophets, and the Chetubim, or Hagiographa, Luke 24. 44. The rest
they make part of the Hagiographa. For though history is their subject, it is justly supposed that
prophets were their penmen: to those books that are purely and properly prophetical the name of the
prophet is prefixed, because the credibility of the prophecies depended much upon the character of
the prophets; but these historical books, it is probable, were collections of the authentic records of
the nation, which some of the prophets (the Jewish Church was for many ages more or less continually
blessed with such) were divinely directed and helped to put together for the service of the Church
to the end of the world; as their other officers, so their Historiographers, had their authority from
Heaven. - It should seem that though the substance of the several histories was written when the
events were fresh in memory, and written under a divine direction, yet that under the same direction,
they were put into the form in which we now have them, by some other hand, long afterward
Srobably, all by the same hand, or about the same time. The grounds of the conjecture are, L
ecause former writings are so often referred to, as the Book of Jasher, Josh. 10. 13. and 2 Sam. 1. 18.
and the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah often; and the books of Gad, Nathan, and Iddo.
2. Because the days when the things were done, are spoken of sometimes as days long since passed;
as 1 Sam. 9. 9, He that is now called a prophet, was then called a seer. And 3. Because we so
often read of things remaining unto this day, as stones, Josh. 4. 9. — 7. 26. — 8. 29. — 10. 27. 1 Sam. 6. 18.
. Names of places, Josh. 5. 9. — 7. 26. Judg. 1. 26. — 15. 19. — 18. 12. 2 Kings 14. 7. Rights and
possessions, Judg. 1. 21. 1 Sam. 27. 6. Customs and usages, 1 Sam. 5. 5. 2 Kings 17. 41. Which
clauses have been since added to the history by the inspired collectors, for the confirmation and
illustration of it to those of their own age. And if one may offer a mere conjecture, it is not unlikely
that the historical books to the end of the Kings were put together by Jeremiah the prophet a little
before the captivity, for it is said of Ziklag, 1 Sam. 27. 6. it pertains to the kings of Judah (which
style began after Solomon, and ended in the captivity) unto this day: And it is still more probable
that those which follow, were put together by Ezra the scribe, some time after the captivity.
However, though we are in the dark concerning their authors, we are in no doubt concerning their
authority; they were a part of the oracles of God, which were committed to the Jews, and were so
received and referred to by our Saviour and the apostles. - In the five books of Moses we had a
very full account of the rise, advance, and constitution, of the Old Testament Church, the family out
of which it was raised, the promise, that great charter by which it w as incorporated, the jmiracles by
which it was built' up, and the la w a aiid oidinaiicea by which it was co be governed, r rom which
one would conceive an expectation of its character and state very different from what we find in this
history. A nation that had statutes and judgments so righteous, one would think, should have been
very holy; and that had promises so rich, should have been very happy. But, alas! a great part of
the history is a melancholy representation of their sins and miseries, for the law made nothing perfect;
that was to be done by the bringing in of a better hope. And yet if we compare the history oi the
Christian Church with its constitution, we shall find the same cause for wonder, so many have been
its errors and corruptions; for neither does the Gospel make any thing perfect in this world, but leaves
us still in the expectation of a better hope in the future state.
II. We have next before us the book of Joshua, so called, perhaps, not because it was written by him,
for that is uncertain. However that be, it is written concerning him, and if any
h Dr'pi1'?htfoot thinks other wrote it, it was collected out of his journals, or memoirs. It contains the
it at Bishop^1 Patrick*3 is history of Israel under the command and government of Joshua, how he pre¬
clear that Joshua wrote sided as general of their armies, 1. In their entrance into Canaan, ch. Hi- -*5.
it himself. 2. In their conquest of Canaan, ch. 6 • • 12. 3. In the distribution of the land of
Canaan among the tribes of Israel, ch. 13 •• 21. 4. In the settlement and esta¬
blishment of religion among them, ch. 22 • • 24. In all which he was a great example of wisdom,
courage, fidelity, and piety, to all that are in places of public trust But that is not all the use that
Vol. ii. — B.
10
JOSHUA, 1.
is to be made of this history; we may see in it, (1.) Much of God and his providence; his power In
the kingdom of nature; his justice in punishing the Canaanites when the measure of their iniquity was
full; his faithfulness to his covenant with the patriarchs; and his kindness to his people Israel, not¬
withstanding their provocations. We may see him as the Lord of Hosts determining the. issues of war,
and as the Director of the lot, determining the bounds of men’s habitations. (2.) Much of Christ send,
his grace. Though Joshua is not expressly mentioned in the New Testament as a type ot Christ, yet
all agree that he was a very eminent one. He bore our Saviour's name, as did also another type of
him, Joshua the High Priest, Zech. 6. 11, 12. The LXX. giving the name of Joshua a Greek termina¬
tion, call him all along, ’i Jesus, and so he is called, Acts 7. 45. and Heb. 4. 8. Justin Martyr,
one of the first writers of the Christian Church, ( Dialog . cum Tryph. p. mihi 300) makes that promise,
Exod. 23. 20, Mine angel shall bring thee into the place I have prepared, to point at Joshua; and these
words, My name is in him, to refer to this, that his name should be the same with that of the Messiah;
it signifies, He shall save. Joshua saves God’s people from the Canaanites; our Lord Jesus saves them
from their sins. Christ, as Joshua, is the Captain of our Salvation, a Leader and Commander of the
people, to tread Satan under their feet, and to put them in possession of the heavenly Canaan, and to
give them rest, which (it is said, Heb. 4. 8.) Joshua did not.
JOSHUA, I.
CHAP. I.
The book begins with the history, not of Joshua’s life,
(many remarkable passages of that we had before in the
books of Moses,) but of his reign and government. In
this chapter, I. God appoints him in the stead of Moses,
gives him an ample commission, full instructions, and
great encouragements, v. 1..9. II. He accepts the
government, and addresses himself immediately to the
business of it, giving orders to the officers of the people
in general, v. 10, 11. And particularly to the two tribes
and a half, v. 12.. 15. III. The people agree to it, and
take an oath of fealty to him, v. 16. . 18. A reign which
thus began with God, could not but be honourable to
the prince, and comfortable to the subject. The last
words of Moses are still verified, Happy art thou, O Is¬
rael ! who is like unto thee, 0 people ? Deut. 33. 29.
NOW after the death of Moses the
servant of the Lord, it came to
pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the
son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2.
Moses my servant is dead ‘, now therefore
arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to
them, even to the children of Israel. 3.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall i
tread upon, that have I given unto you, as
[ said unto Moses. 4. From the wilder¬
ness and this Lebanon, even unto the great
river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the
Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the
going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5. J here shall not any man be able to stand
before thee all the days of thy life : as I was
with Moses, so I will be with thee : 1 will
not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6. Be strong
and of a good courage ; for unto this people
shaltthou divide for an inheritance the land,
which I sware unto their fathers to give
them. 7. Only be thou strong and very
courageous, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all the law which Moses my
servant commanded thee : turn not from it
tt) Ae right hand or to the left, that thou
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
8. This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest ob¬
serve to do according to all that is written
therein : for then thou shalt make thy way
prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success. 9. Have not I commanded thee ?
Be strong and of a good courage ; be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the
Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever
t hou goest.
Honour is here put upon Joshua, and great power
lodged in his hand, by Him that is the Fountain of
honour and power, and by whom kings reign; in¬
structions are given him by infinite wisdom, and en¬
couragements by the God of all consolation. God
had before spoken to Moses concerning him, Numb.
27. 18. But now he speaks to him, v. 1. probably,
as he spake to Moses, Lev. 1. 1, out of the taberna¬
cle of the congregation, where Joshua had with
Moses presented himself, Deut. 31. 14. to learn the
way of attending there. Though Ele.izar had the
J breastplate of judgment, which Joshua was directed
to consult as there was occasion, Numb. 27. 21.
yet, for his great encouragement, God here speaks to
him immediately, .some think, in a dream or vision,
(as Job 33. 15.) for though God has tied us to in¬
stituted ordinances, in them to attend him, yet he
has not tied himself to them, but that he may,
I without them, make himself known to his people,
and speak to their hearts otherwise than by their
ears.
Concerning Joshua’s call to the government, eb
serve here,
I. The time when ft was given him, sifter the
death of Moses. As soon as ever Moses was dead,
Joshua took upon him the administration, by virtue
of his solemn ordination in Moses’s life-time; an in¬
terregnum, though but for a few days, might have
been of ill consequence; but, it is probable, that
God did not speak to him to go forward toward Ca¬
naan, till after the thirty days of mourning for Mo¬
ses were ended; not, as the Jews say, because the
sadness of his spirit during those days unfitted him
for communion with God; (he sorrowed not as one
that had no hope;) but by this solemn pause, and
a month’s adjournment of the public councils, even
now when time was so very precious to them, God
would put an honour upon the memory of Moses,
and give time to the people not only to lament their
loss of him, but to repent of their miscarriages
toward him during the forty years of his govern¬
ment.
JOSHUA, 1.
i J
II. The place Joshua had been in before he was
thus preferred. He was Moses’s minister, that is,
an immediate attendant upon his person and assis¬
tant in business. The LXX. translate it un-h^ys;,
a workman under Moses, under his direction and
command. Observe, 1. He that was here called to
honour, had been long bred to business. Our La rd
Jesus himself took upon him the form of a servant,
and then God highly exalted him. 2. He was
trained up in subjection, and under command.
Those are fittest to rule, that have learnt to obey.
3 He that was to succeed Moses was intimately
acquainted with him, that he might fully know 'his
doctrine and manner of life, his purpose and long-
suffering, (2 Tim. 3. 10.) might take the same
measures, walk in the same spirit, in the same steps,
having to carry on the same work. 4. He was here¬
in a type of Christ, who might therefore be called
Moses’s Minister, because he was made under the
law, and fulfilled all the righteousness of it.
III. The call itself that God gave him, which is
very full.
1. The consideration upon which he was called
to the government; Moses my servant is dead, v. 2.
All good men are God’s servants; and it is no dis¬
paragement, but an honour, to the greatest of men
to be so; angels themselves are his ministers. Moses
was called to extraordinary work, was a steward in
God’s house, and in the discharge of the trusts re¬
posed in him, lie served not himself but God who
employed him; he was faithful as a servant, and
with an eye to the Son, as is intimated, Heb. 3. 5.
where what he did, is said to be for a testimony of
the things that should hes/ioken after; God will own
his servants, will confess them in the great day.
Sut Moses, though God’s servant, and one that
could ill be spared, is dead; for God will change
hands, to show that whatever instruments he uses,
he is not tied to any. Moses, when he has done his
work as a servant, dies and goes to rest from his la¬
bours, and enters into the joy of his Lord. Observe,
God takes notice of the death of his servants. It is
pretious in his sight, Ps. 116. 15.
2. The call itself; Now therefore arise. (1.)
Though Moses is dead, the wo k must go on, there-
fire arise, and go about it. Let not weeping hinder
sowing, nor the withering of the most useful hands
be the we ikening of our’s; for when God has w; rk
to do, he will either find or make instruments fit to
carry it on. Moses, the servant is dead, but God
the Master is not, he liv es for ever. (2.) “ Because
Moses is dead, therefore the work devolves upon
thee as his successor, for hereunto thou wast ap¬
pointed. Therefore there is need of thee to fill up
his place, Up, and be doing.” Note, [1.] The re¬
moval of useful men should quicken survivors to be
s'1 much the more diligent in doing good. Such and
such are dead, and we must die shortly, therefore
let us work while it is day. [2.] It is a great mercy
to a people, if, when useful men are take!) away in
the midst of their tisefulness, others are raised up
in their stead to go on where they broke off. Joshua
must arise to finish what Moses began, thus the lat¬
ter generations enter into the labours of the former.
And thus Christ, our Joshua, does that for us which
could never be done by the law of Moses; justifies.
Acts 13. 39. and sanctifies, Rom. 8. 3. The life of
Moses made way for Joshua, and prepared the peo¬
ple for what was to be done by him: thus the law is
a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And then the
death of Moses made room for Joshua: thus we are
dead to the law our first husband, that we may be
married to Christ, Rom. 7. 4.
3. The particular service he was now called out
to. “ Arise, go over this Jordan, this river, which
vou have in view, and on the banks of which you lie
encamped. ” This was a trial to the faith of Joshua,
whether he would giv e orders to make preparation
for passing the river, when there was no visible way
of getting over it, at least, not at this place and at
this time, when all the banks were overflown, ch. 3.
15. He had no pontons or bridge of boats by which
to convey them over, aud yet he must believe, that
God, having ordered them over, would open a way
for them. Going over Jordan was going into Ca¬
naan; thither Moses might not, could not, bring them,
Deut. 31. 2. Thus the honour of bringing the ma¬
ny sons to glory is reserved for Christ the Captain
of our salvation, Heb. 2. 10.
4. The grant of the land of Canaan to the children
of Israel is here repeated, m. 2. . 4. I do give it them.
To the patriarchs it was promised, I will give it,
but now that the fourth generation was expired, the
iniquity of the Amorites was full, and the time was
come for the performance of the promise, it is actu¬
ally conveyed, and they are put in possession of that
which they had long been in expectation of, “ I do
give it, enter upon it, it is all your own, nay, v. 3.
I have given it; though it be yet unconquered, it is
as sure to you as if it were in your hands. ” Observe,
(1.) The persons to whom the conveyance is made,
to them, even to the .children of Israel, v. 2. because
they are the seed of Jacob, who was called Israel
then when this promise was made to him, Gen. 35.
10, 12. The children of Israel, though they had
been very provoking in the wilderness, yet for their
fathers’ sakes should have the entail preserved.
And it was the children of the murmurers that God
said should enter Canaan, Numb. 14. 31. (2.) The
land itself that is conveyed, from the river Euphrates
eastward to the Mediterranean sea westward, v. A.
Though their sin cut them short of this large pos¬
session, and they never replenished all the country
within the bounds here mentioned; yet had they
been obedient, God would have given them this and
much more. Out of all these countries, and many
others, there were in process of time pi’oselytes to
the Jewish religion, as appears, Acts 2. 5, &c. If
their church was enlarged, though their nation was
not multiplied, it cannot be said that the promise
was of none effect. And if this promise had not its
full accomplishment in the letter, believers might
thence infer that it had a further meaning, and was
to be fulfilled in the kingdom of the Messiah, both
that of grace and that of glory. (3.) The condition
is here implied, upon which this grant is made, in
those words, as I said unto Moses, that is, “ upon
the terms that Moses told you of many a time; if ye
null keep my statutes, you shall go in and possess
that good land. Take it under those provisos and
limitations, and not otherwise. The precept and
promise must not be separated.” (4.) It is intimat¬
ed with what ease they should gain the possession
■ f this land, if it were not their own fault, in these
words, “ Every place that the sole of your foot shall
tread upon (within the following bounds) shall be
your own. Do but set your foot upon it, and you
shall have it.”
5. The prom'ses God here makes to Joshua for
his encouragement. (1. ) That he should be sure of
the presence of God with him in this great work to
which he was called, v. 5. “ As I was with Moses
to direct and strengthen him, to own and prosper
him, and give him success in bringing Israel out r f
Egypt, and leading them through the wilderness, so
I will be with thee to enable thee to settle them in
Canaan.” Joshua was sensible how far he came
short of Moses, in wisdom and grace, but what Mo¬
ses did, was clone by virtue of the presence of God
with him; and though Joshua had not always the
same presence of mind that Moses had, yet if he had
always the same presence of God, he would do well
enough. Note, It is a great comfort to the rising
generation of ministers and Christians, that the same
12
JOSHUA, i.
grace which was sufficient for those that went before
them, shall not be wanting to them, if they be not
wanting to themselves in the improvement of it. It
is repeated here again, v. 9. “ The Lord thy God
is with thee as a God of power, and that power en¬
gaged for thee whithersoever thou goest. ” Note,
Those that go where God sends them, shall have
him with them wherever they go, and they need de¬
sire no more to make them easy and prosperous.
(2. ) That the presence of God should never be with¬
drawn from him, I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee, v. 5. Moses had assured him of this, Deut.
31. 8. that though he must now leave him, God
never would; and here God himself confirms that
word of his servant Moses, (Isa. 44. 26. ) and en¬
gages never to leave Joshua. We need the presence
ot God, not only when we are beginning our work
to set us in, but in the progress of it to further us
with a continual help. If that at any time fail us,
we ai e gone; but this we may be sure of, that the
Lord is with us while we are with him. This pro¬
mise here made to Joshua is applied to all believers,
and improved as an argument against covetousness,
Heb. 13. 5, Be content with such things as ye have,
for he hath said, I will never leave thee. (3. ) That
he should have victory over all the enemies of Israel,
v. 5. There shall not any man, that comes against
thee, be able to stand before thee. Note, There is
no standing before those that have God on their
side; If he be for us, who can be against us? God
promises him clear success, the enemy should not
make any head against him; and constant success,
all the days of his life; however it might be with Is¬
rael when he was gone, all his reign should be grac¬
ed with triumphs. What Joshua had himself en¬
couraged the people with long ago, Numb. 14. 9.
God here encourages him with. (4.) That he
should himself have the dividing of this land among
the people of Israel, v. 6. It was a great encou¬
ragement to him in beginning this work, that he was
sure to see it finished, and his labour should not be
in vain. Some make it a reason why he should arm
himself with resolution, and be of good courage, be¬
cause of the bad character of the people whom he
must cause to inherit that land; he knew well what
a froward discontented people they were, and how
unmanageable they had been in his predecessor’s
time; let him therefore expect vexation from them
and be of good courage.
6. The charge and command he gives to Joshua,
which is,
(1.) That he conform himself in every thing to
the law of God, and make that his rule, v. 7, 8.
God does as it were put the book of the law into
Toshua’s hand; as when Joash was crowned, they
gave him the testimony, 2 Kings 11. 12. And con¬
cerning this book, he is charged, [1.] To meditate
therein day and night., that he might understand it,
and have it ready to him upon all occasions. If ever
any man’s business might have excused him from
meditation, and other acts of devotion, one would
think that Joshua’s might at this time; it was a great
trust that was lodged in his hands, the care of it was
enough to fill him, if he had ten souls, and yet he
must find time and thoughts for meditation. What¬
ever affairs of this world we have to mind, we must
not neglect the one thing needful. [2.] Not to let
it depart out of his mouth, that is, all his orders to
the people, and his judgments upon appeals made
to him, must be consonant to the law of God; upon
all occasions he must s/ieak according to this rule;
Isa. 8. 20. Joshua was to maintain and carry on the
work that Moses had begun, and therefore he must
not only complete the salvation Moses had wrought
for them, but must uphold the holy religion he had
established among them. There was no occasion
to make new laws, but that good thing which was
committed to him, he must carefully and faithfully
keep, 2 Tim. 1. 14. [3.] He must observe to do
according to all this taw. To this end he must
meditate therein, not for contemplation sake only,
or to fill his head with notions, or that he might find
something to puzzle the priests with, but that he
might both as a man and as a magistrate observe to
do according to what was written therein; and se¬
veral things were written there, which had particu¬
lar reference to the business he had now before him,
as the laws concerning their wars, the destroying
of the Canaanites, and the dividing of Canaan, &c.
these he must religiously observe. Joshua was a
man of great, power and authority, yet he must him¬
self be under command and do as he is bidden. No
man’s dignity or dominion, how great soever, sets
him above the law of God. Joshua must not only
govern by law, and take care that the people ob¬
serve the law, but he must observe it himself, and
so by his own example maintain the honour and
power of it. First, He must do what was written; it
is not enough to hear and read the word, to com¬
mend and admire it, and know and remember it, to
talk and discourse of it, but we must do it. Second¬
ly, He must do according to what was written, exact¬
ly observing the law as his copy, and doing, not only
that which was there required, but in all circum¬
stances according to the appointment. Thirdly,
He must do according to all that was written, with¬
out exception or reserve, having a respect to all
God’s commandments, even those which are most
displeasing to flesh and blood. Fourthly, He must
observe to do so, observe the checks of conscience,
the hints of providence, and all the advantages of
opportunity: careful observance is necessary to uni¬
versal obedience. Fifthly, He must not turn from
it, either in his own practice, or in any act of go¬
vernment, to the right hand or to the left, for there
are errors on both hands, and virtue is in the mean.
Sixthly, He must be strong and courageous, that
he may do according to the law. So many discou¬
ragements there are in the way of duty, that those
who will proceed and persevere in it, must put on
resolution. And ( lastly ) to encourage him in his
obedience, he assures him, that then he shall do
wisely, (as it is in the margin,) and make his way
prosperous, v. 7. 8. They that make the word of
God their rule, and conscientiously walk by that
rule, shall both do well and speed well ; it will fur¬
nish them with the best maxims by which to order
their conversation, Ps. 111. 10. And it will entitle
them to the best blessings; God shall give them the
desire o f their heart.
(2.) That he encourage himself herein with the
promise and presence of God, and make those his
stay, v. 6, Be strong and of a good courage. And
again, v. 7. as if this was the one thing needful,
onlu be strong and very courageous. And he con¬
cludes with this, v. 9, Be strong and of a good cou¬
rage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.
Joshua had long since signalized his valour in the
war with Amalek, and in his dissent from the report
of the evil spies, and yet Gcd sees fit thus to incul¬
cate this precept upon him. Those that have grace,
have need to be called upon again and again to ex¬
ercise grace and to improve in it. Joshua was hum¬
ble and low in his own eyes, not distrustful of God,
and his power, and promise, but diffident of himself,
and of his own wisdom, and strength, and sufficiency
for the work, especially coming after so great a man
as Moses; and therefore God repeats this so often,
“ Be strong and of a good courage; let not the sense
of thine own infirmities dishearten thee, God is all-
sufficient. Have not I commanded thee? [1.] “I
have commanded the work to be done, and therefore
it shall'be done, how invincible soever the difficulties
may seem that lie in the way.” Nay, [2.] “I have
13
JOSHUA, I.
commanded, called, and commissioned, thee to do it,
and therefore will be sure to own thee and strength¬
en thee, and bear thee out in it.” Note, When we
are in the way of our duty, we have reason to be
strong and. -very courageous ; and it will help very
much to animate and embolden us, if we keep our
eye upon the divine warrant, and hear God saying,
“ Have not I commanded thee? I will therefore help
thee, succeed thee, accept thee, reward thee.” Our
Lord Jesus, as Joshua here, was borne up under his
sufferings by a regard to the will of God, and the
commandment he had received from his Father ,
John 10. 18.
10. Then Joshua commanded the officers
of the people, saying, 1 1 . Pass through the
host, and command the people, saying, Pre¬
pare your victuals ; for within three days ye
shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to pos¬
sess the land, which the Lord your God
giveth you to possess it. 12. And to the
Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half
the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, say¬
ing, 1 3. Remember the word which Moses
the servant of the Lord commanded you,
saying. The Lord your God hath given you
rest, and hath given you this land. 14.
Your wives, your little ones, and your cat¬
tle, shall remain in the land which Moses
gave you on this side Jordan ; but ye shall
pass before your brethren armed, all the
mighty men of valour, and help them, 15.
Until the Lord have given your brethren
rest, as he hath given you, and they also have
possessed the land which the Lord your
God giveth them: then ye, shall return unto
the land of your possession, and enjoy it,
which Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave you
on this side Jordan, toward the sun-rising.
Joshua, being settled in the government, imme¬
diately applies himself to business; not to take
state or to take his pleasures, but to further the
work of God among the people over which God
had set him. As he that desires the office of a min¬
ister, (1 Tim. 3. 1.) so he that desires the office of
a magistrate, desires a work, a good work; neither
is preferred to be idle.
I. He issues out orders to the people to provide
for a march; and they had been so long encamped
in their present post, that it would be a work of
some difficulty to decamp. The officers of the
people that commanded under Joshua in their re¬
spective tribes and families, attended him for or¬
ders which they were to transmit to the people.
Inferior magistrates are as necessary and as ser¬
viceable to the public good in their places as the su¬
preme magistrate in his. What would Joshua have
done without officers? We are therefore required
to be subject, n t only to the king as supreme, but
to governors, as to them that are sent by him, 1 Pet.
2. 13,14. By these officers, 1. Joshua gives public
notice, that they were to fiass over Jordan within
three days. These orders, I suppose, were not
given till after the return of the spies that were
sent to bring an account of Jericho, though the story
of that affair follows, ch. 2. And perhaps that was
such an instance of his jealousy, and excessive cau¬
tion, as made it necessary that he should be so often
hidden as he was, to be strong and of a good cou¬
rage. Observe with what assurance Joshua says it
to the people, because God had said to him, Ye
shall pass over Jordan, and shall possess the land.
We greatly honour the truth of God, when we stag¬
ger not at the promise of God. 2. He gives them di¬
rections to prepare victuals, not to prepare transport
vessels; he that bore them out of Egypt upon ea¬
gles’ wings, would in like manner bear them into
Canaan, to bring them to himself, Exod. 19. 4. But
those that were minded to have other victuals be¬
side the manna, which had not yet ceased, must
prepare it, and have it ready against the time ap¬
pointed. Perhaps, though the manna did not quite
cease till they were come into Canaan, ch. 5. 12.
yet since they were come into a land inhabited,
(Exod. 16. 35.) where they might be furnished in
part with other provisions, it did not fall so plenti-
fullv, nor did they gather so much as when they
had’ it first given them in the wilderness, but de¬
creased gradually, and therefore they are ordered
to provide other victuals, in which perhaps was in¬
cluded all other things necessary to their march. And
some of the Jewish writers considering that having
manna, they needed not to provide other victuals,
understand it figuratively, that they must repent oj
their sins, and make their peace with God, and re¬
solve to live a new life, that they might be ready
to receive this great favour. See Exod. 19. 10, 11.
II. He reminds the two tribes and a half of the
obligation they were under to go over Jordan with
their brethren, though they left their possessions
and families on this side. Interest would make the
other tribes glad to go over Jordan, but in these it
was an act of self-denial, and against the grain:
therefore it was needful to produce the agreement
which Moses had made with them, when he gave
them their possession before their brethren, v. 13,
Remember the word which Moses commanded you.
Some of them perhaps were ready to think now
that Moses was dead, who they thought was too
hard upon them in this matter, they might find
some excuse or other to discharge themselves from
this engagement, or might prevail with Joshua to
dispense with them; but he holds them to it, and
lets them know, though Moses was dead, his com¬
mands and their promises were still in full force.
He reminds them, 1. Of the advantages they had
received in being first settled: “ The Lord your
God hath given you rest, given your minds rest,
you know what you have to trust to, and are not as
the rest of the tribes, waiting the issue of the war
first and then of the lot. He has also given your
families rest, your wives and children, whose settle¬
ment is your satisfaction. He has given you rest,
by giving you this land, this good land, which you
are in full and quiet possession of.” Note, When
God by his providence has given us rest, we ought to
consider how we may honour him with the advan¬
tages of it, and what service we may do to our
brethren who are unsettled, or not so well settled
as we are. When God had given David rest, (2
Sam. 7. 1.) see how restless he was till he had
found out a habitation for the ark, Ps. 132. 4, 5.
When God has given us rest, we must take heed of
slothfulness, and of settling upon our lees. 2. He
reminds them of their agreement to help their breth¬
ren in the wars of Canaan, till God had in like man¬
ner given them rest, v. 14, 15. This was, (1.)
reasonable in itself; so closely were all the tribes
incorporated, that they must needs look upon them¬
selves as members one of another. (2.) It was en¬
joined them by Moses, the servant of the Lord; he
commanded them to do this, and Joshua his succes¬
sor would see his commands observed. (3.) It was
the only expedient they had to save themselves
from the guilt of a great sin in settling on that
side Jordan, a sin which would one time or other
find them out, Numb. 32. 23. (4 ) It was the con-
14
JOSHUA, II.
dition of the grantMoses had made them of the land
they were possessed of, so that they could not be
sure of a good title to, or a comfortable enjoyment
of, the land of their possession, as it is here called,
v. 15. if they did not fulfil the condition. (5.)
They themselves had covenanted and agreed there¬
unto, Numb. 32. 25, Thy servants will do as my
lord commandeth. Thus we all lie under manifold
obligations to strengthen the hands one of another,
and not to seek our own welfare only but one an¬
other’s.
16. And they answered Joshua, saying,
All that thou commandest us we will do,
and whithersoever thou sendest us we will
go. 1 7. According as we hearkened unto
Moses in all things, so will we hearken
unto thee : only the Lord thy God be with
thee, as he was with Moses. 18. Whoso¬
ever he he that doth rebel against thy com¬
mandment, and will not hearken unto thy
words in all that thou commandest him, he
shall be put to death : only be strong and
of a good courage.
This answer was not given by the two tribes and
a half only, (though they are spoken of immedi¬
ately before,) but by the officers of all the people,
{y. 10.) as their representatives, concurring with
the divine appointment, by which Joshua was set
over them, and they did it heartily, and with a great
deal of cheerfulness and resolution.
1. They promise him obedience, v. 16. not only
as subjects to their prince, but as soldiers to their
general, of whose particular orders they are to be
observant; he that hath soldiers under him, saith to
this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another. Come,
and he cometh; Matt. 8. 9. Thus the people of Is¬
rael here engage themselves to J.shui, “all that
thou con.mandest us to do vae will readily do, with¬
out murmuring or disputing; and whithersoever
thou sendest us, though upon the most difficult and
perilous expedition, we will go.” We must thus
swear allegiance to our Lord Jesus, as the Captain
of our salvation, and bind ourselves to do what he
commands us by his word, and to go whither he
sends us by his providence.
And since Joshua, being humbly conscious to him¬
self how far short he came of Moses, feared he
should not have such influence upon the people, and
such an interest in them, as Moses had, they here
promise that they would be as obedient to him as
ever they had been to Moses, v. 17. To speak
truth, they had no reason to boast of their obedience
to Moses, he had found them a stiff-necked people,
Deut. 9. 24. But they mean that they would be as
observant of Joshua as they should have been, and
as some of them were (the generality of them at
least sometimes) of Moses. Note, We must not so
magnify them that are gone, how eminent soever
they were, either in the magistracy or in the minis¬
try, as to be wanting in the honour and duty we owe
to those that survive and succeed them, though in
gifts they may come short of them. Obedience
for conscience sake will continue, though Provi¬
dence change the hands by which it rules and acts.
2. They pray for the presence of God with him,
v. 17. ** Only the Lord thy God be with thee, to
bless and prosper thee, and give thee success, as he
was with Moses.” Prayers and supplications are
to be made for all in authority, 1 Tim. 2. 1, 2. And
the best thing we can ask of God for our magis¬
trates, is, that they may have the presence of God
with them; that will make them blessings to us, so
that in seeking this for them, we consult our own
interest. A reason is here intimated, why they
would obey him as they had obeyed Moses, because
they believed (and in faith prayed) that God’s pre¬
sence would be with him as it was with Moses.
Those that we have reason to think have favoui
I from God, should have honour and respect from us.
; Some understand it as a limitation of their obedi¬
ence; “ We will obey only as far as we perceive
the Lord is with thee, but no further. While thou
keepest close to God, he w'ill keep close to thee ;
hitherto shall our obedience come, but no further.”
j But they were so far from having any suspicion cf
Joshua’s deviating from the div ine rule, that there
| needed not such a proviso.
3. They pass an act to make it death to any Is¬
raelite to disobey Joshua’s orders, or rebel against
his commandment, v. 18. Perhaps, if such a law
had been made in Moses’s time, it might have pre¬
vented many of the rebellions that were formed
against him, for most men fear the sword of the ma¬
gistrate more than the justice of God. Yet there
was a special reason for the making of this law, now
that they were entering upon the wars cf Canaan,
for in time of war the severity of military discipline
is more necessaiy than at other times. Some think
that in this statute they have an eye to that law
concerning the prophet God would raise up like
unto Moses, which they think, though it refer
chiefly to Christ yet takes in Joshua by the way,
as a type of him, that whosoever would not hear¬
ken to him, should be cut off from his people, Deut.
18. 19. I will require it of him.
4. They animate him to go on with cheerfulness
in the work to which God had called him; and, in
desiring that he would be strong and of a good cou¬
rage, they do in effect promise him that they would
do all they could, by an exact, bold and cheerful ob¬
servance of all his orders, to encourage him. It
very much heartens those that lead in a good work,
to see those that follow, follow with a good will.
Joshua, though of approved valour, did not take it
as an affront, but as a great kindness, for the peo
pie to bid him be strong and of a good courage.
CHAP. II.
In this we have an account of the scouts that were em¬
ployed to bring an account to Joshua of the pasture
of the city of Jerrcho : Observe here, I. How Joshua
sent them, v. 1. II. How Rahab received them, and
protected them, and told a lie for them, v. 2. . 7. so that
they escaped out of the hands of the enemy. III. The
account she gave them of the present posture of Jericho,
and the panic-fear they were struck with upon the approach
of Israel, v. 8. . 11. IV. The bargain she made with
them for the security of herself and her relations in the
ruin she saw coming upon her city, v. 12. .21. V. Their
safe return to Joshua, and the account they gave him of
their expedition, v. 22. . 24. And that which makes this
story most remarkable, is, that Rahab, the person prin¬
cipally concerned in it, is twice celebrated in the New
Testament as a great believer, Heb. 11. 31. and as one
whose faith proved itself by, good works, James 2. 25.
1. A ND Joshua the son of Nun sent out
-/il of Shittim two men to spy secretly,
saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And
they went, and came into a harlot’s house,
named Rahab, and lodged there. 2. And
it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Be¬
hold, there came men in hither to-night of
the children of Israel, to search out the
country. 3. And the king of Jericho sent
unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men
that are come to thee, which are entered
15
JOSHUA, II.
imo thine house : for they be come to search
out all the country. 4. And the woman
took the two men, and hid them, and said
tlius, There came men unto me, but I wist
not whence they were : 5. And it came to
pass, about the time, of shutting of the gate,
when it was dark, that the men went out :
whither the men went I wot not: pursue
after them quickly ; for ye shall overtake
them. 6. But she had brought them up to
the roof of the house, and hid them with the
stalks of flax, which she had laid in order
upon the roof. 7. And the men pursued
after them the way to Jordan, unto the
fords : and as soon as they which pursued
after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
In these verses we have,
I. The prudence of Joshua, in sending spies to
observe this important pass, which was likely to be
disputed at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, v.
1, Go view the land , even Jericho. Moses had sent
spies. Numb. 13. (Joshua himself was one of them,)
and it proved of ill consequence: yet Joshua now
sends spies, not as the former were sent to survey
the whole land, but Jericho only; not to bringthe ac¬
count to the whole congregation, but to Joshua only;
who, like a watchful General, was continually pro¬
jecting for the public good, and was particularly
careful to take the first step well, and not to stum¬
ble at the threshold. It was not fit that Joshua
should venture over Jordan, to make his remarks
incognito — in disguise, but he sends two men, two
young men (say the LXX. ) to view the land,
that from their report he might take his mea¬
sures in attacking Jericho. Observe, 1. There
is no remedy, but great men must see with other
people’s eyes, which makes it very necessary
that they be cautious in the choice of those they
employ, since so much often depends on their fide¬
lity. 2. Faith in God’s promise ought not to super¬
sede but encourage our diligence in the use of pro¬
per means. Joshua is sure he has God with him,
and yet sends men before him. We do not trust
God, but tempt him, if our expectations slacken our
endeavours. See how ready these men were to go
upon this hazardous enterprise; though they put
their lives in their hands, vet they ventured in obe¬
dience to Joshua their General, in zeal for the
service of the camp, and ifi dependence upon the
power of that God, who being the keeper of Israel
in general, is the Protector of every particular Is¬
raelite in the way of his duty.
II. The providence of God, directing the spies
to the house of Rahab. How they got over Jordan
we are not told, but into Jericho they came, which
was about seven or eight miles from the river, and
there seeking for a convenient inn, were directed to
the house of Rahab, here called a harlot ; a woman
that had formerly been of ill fame, the reproach of
which stuck to her name, though of late she had
repented and reformed. Simon the leper, (Matt.
26. 6.) though cleansed from his leprosy, wore the
reproach of it in his name as long as he lived; so Ra¬
il ub the harlot, and she is so called in the New
Testament, where both her faith and her good
works are praised-, to teach us, 1. That the great¬
ness of sin is no bar to pardoning mercy, if it be
truly repented of in time. We read of publicans
and harlots entering into the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah, and being welcomed to all the privileges of
that kingdom. Matt. 21. 31. 2. That there are
many, who before their conversion were very wick¬
ed and vile, and yet afterward come to great emi¬
nence in faith and holiness. Even those that through
grace have repented of the sins of their youth, must
expect to bear the reproach of them, and when they
hear of their old faults, must renew their repentance;
and as an evidence of that, hear of them patiently.
God’s Israel, for aught that appears, had but one
friend, but one well-wisher in all Jericho, and that
was Rahab, a harlot. God has often served his
own purposes and his church’s interests by men rf
indifferent morals. Had these scouts gone to any
other house than this, they had certainly been be¬
trayed and put to death without mercy. But God
knew where they had a friend that would be true
to them, though they did not, and directed, them
thither. Thus that which seems to us most con¬
tingent and accidental, is often over-ruled by the
Divine Providence to serve its great ends. And those
that faithfully acknowledge God in their ways, he
will guide them with hits eye. See Jer. 36. 19, 26.
III. The piety cf Rahab in receiving and pro¬
tecting these Israelites. Those that keep public-
houses, entertain all comers, and think themselves
obliged to be civil to their guests. But' Rahab
showed her guests more than common civility, and
went upon an uncommon principle in what she did;
it was by faith that she received those with peace,
against whom her king and country had denounced
war, Heb. 11. 31. 1. She bid them welcome to
her house, they lodged there, though it appeal’s by
what she said to them, v. 9. she knew both whence
they came, and what their business was. 2. Per¬
ceiving that they were observed coming into the
city, and that umbrage was taken at it, she hid
them upon the roof of the house, which was flat,
and covered them with stalks of flax, (v. 6.) so that
if the officers should come hither to search for
them, there they might lie undiscovered. By these
stalks of fi.ix, which she herself had laid in order
upon the roof to dry in the sun, in order to the
beating of it, and making it ready for the wheel, it
appears she had one of the good characters of the
virtuous woman, however in' others of them she
might be deficient, that she sought wool and flax,
and wrought willingly with her hands, Prov. 31.
13. From which instance of her honest industry,
one would hope, that whatever she had been for¬
merly, she was not now a harlot. 3. When she
was examined concerning them, she denied they
were in her house, turned off the officers that had
a warrant to search for them with a sham, and so
secured them. No marvel that the king of Jericho
sent to inquire after them, v. 2, 3. he had cause to
fear when the enemy was at his door, and his fear
made him suspicious and jealous of all strangers;
he had reason to demand from Rahab that she
should bring forth the men to be dealt with as spies:
but Rahab not only disowned that she knew them,
or where they were, but, that no further search
might be made for them in the city, told the pur¬
suers they were gone away again, and in all proba¬
bility might be overtaken, v. 4, 5.
Now, (1.) We are sure this was a good work : it
is canonized by the apostle, James 2. 25, where she
is said to be justified by works, and this is instanced
in that she received the messengers, and sent them
out another way, and she did it by faith, such a
faith as set her above the fear of man, even of
the wrath of the king. She believed, upon the
report she had heard of the wonders wrought for
Israel, that their God was the only true God, and
that therefore their declared design upon Canaan
would undoubtedly take effect, and in this faith she
sided with them, protected them, and courted their
favour. Had she said, “I believe God is your’s
and Canaan your’s, but I dare not show you any
kindness,” her faith had been dead and inactive.
16
JOSHUA, 11
and would not have justified her. But by this it ap¬
peared to be both alive and lively, that she exposed
herself to the utmost peril, even of life, in obedience
to her faith. Note, Those only are true believers,
that can find in their hearts to venture for God;
and those that by faith take the Lord for their
God, take his people for their people, and cast in
their lot among them. They that have God for
their refuge and hiding-place, must testify their
gratitude by their readiness to shelter his people
when there is occasion: let mine outcasts dwell with
thee, Isa. 16. 3, 4. And we must be glad of an op¬
portunity of testifying the sincerity and zeal of our
ove to God, by hazardous services to his church
and kingdom among men.
But, (2. ) There is that in it which it is not easy
to justify, and yet it must be justified, or else it
cotdd not be so good a work as to justify her. [1.]
It is plain that she betrayed her country by har¬
bouring the enemies of it, and aiding those that
were designing its destruction, which could not con¬
sist with her allegiance to her prince, and her af¬
fection and duty to the community she was a mem¬
ber of. But that which justifies her in this, is, that
she knew that the Lord had given them this land,
v. 9. knew it by the incontestable miracles God
had wrought for them, which confirmed that grant;
and her obligations to God were higher than her
obligations to any other. If she knew God had
given them this land, it would have been a sin to
join with those that hindered them from possessing
it. But since no such grant of any land to any people
can now be proved, this will by no means justify
any such treacherous practices against the public
welfare. [2.] It is plain that she deceived the of¬
ficers that examined her, with an untruth, That
she knew not whence the men were, that they
were gone out, that she knew not whither they
were gone. What shall we say to this? If she had
either told the truth, or been silent, she had be¬
trayed the spies, and that had certainly been a
great sin: and it does not appear that she had
another way of concealing them, than by this iron¬
ical direction to the officers to pursue them another
way, which if they would suffer themselves to be
deceived by, let them be deceived. None are
bound to accuse themselves, or their friends, of
that which, though inquired after as a crime, they
know to be a virtue. This case was altogether ex¬
traordinary, and therefore cannot be drawn into a
precedent: and that may be justified here, which
would be by no means lawful in a common case.
Rahab knew by what was already done on the
other side Jordan, that no mercy was to be showed
to the Canaanites, and from thence inferred, if
mercy were not owing them, truth was not; they
that might be destroyed, might be deceived. Yet
divines generally conceive that it was a sin, which
however admitted of this extenuation, that being a
Canaanite she was not better taught the evil of ly¬
ing; but God accepted her faith and pardoned her
infirmity: however it was in this case, we are sure
it is our duty to speak every man the truth to his
neighbour, to dread and detest lying, and never to
do evil, that evil, that good may come of it, Rom.
3. 8. But God accepts what is sincerely and ho¬
nestly intended, though there be a mixture of frail¬
ty and folly in it, and is not extreme to mark what
we do amiss. Some suggest that what she said
might possibly be true of some other men.*
* However the guilt of Rahab’s falsehood may he extenuated, it
seems best to admit nothing which tends to explain it away. VVe
are sure that God discriminated between what was good in iter con¬
duct, and what was had, rewarding the former, and pardoning the
latter. Her views of the divine law must have been exceedingly
dim and contracted; a similar falsehood, told by those who enjoy
the light of revelation, however laudable the motive, would of
course deserve much heavier censure.
8. And before they were laid down, she
came up unto them upon the roof; 9. And
she said unto the men, I know that the
Lord hath given you the land, and that
your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the
inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10. For we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you,
when ye came out of Egypt ; and what ye
did unto the two kings of the Amorites that
were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and
Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11. And
as soon as we had heard these things , our
hearts did melt, neither did there remain
any more courage in any man, because of
you : for the Lord your God, he is God in
heaven above, and in earth beneath. 12.
Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me
by the Lord, since 1 have showed you
kindness, that ye will also show kindness
unto my father’s house, and give me a true
token : 13. And that ye will save alive my
father, and my mother, and my brethren,
and my sisters, and all that they have, and
deliver our lives from death. 14. And the
men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye
utter not this our business. And it shall
be, when the Lord hath given us the land,
that we will deal kindly and truly with
thee. 15. Then she let them down by a
cord through the window : for her house
was upon the town wall, and she dwelt up¬
on the wall. 1 6. And she said unto them,
Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers
meet you ; and hide yourselves there three
days, until the pursuers be returned : and
afterward may ye go your way. 17. And
the men said unto her, We will he blame¬
less of this thine oath which thou hast
made us swear. 18. Behold, when we
come into the land, thou shalt bind this line
of scarlet thread in the window which thou
didst let us down by ; and thou shalt bring
thy father, and thy mother, and thy bre¬
thren, and all thy father’s household, home
unto thee. 19. And it shall be, that who¬
soever shall go out of the doors of thy house
into the street, his blood shall he upon his
head, and we will he guiltless : and whoso¬
ever shall be with thee in the house, his
blood shall he on our head, if any hand be
upon him. 20. And if thou utter this oui
business, then we will, be quit of thine oath
which thou hast made us to swear. 21.
And she said, According unto your words
so he it. And she sent them away, and
they departed : and she bound the scarlet
line in the window.
The matter is here settled between Rahab and
the spies, respecting the service she was now to do
17
JOSHUA, II.
for them, and the favour they were afterward to
show to her. She secures them on condition that
they should secure her.
I. She gives them, and by them sends to Joshua
and Israel, all the encouragement that could be de¬
sired to make their intended descent upon Canaan.
This was what they came for, and it was worth
coming for. Being got clear of the officers, she
comes up to them to the roof of the house where
they lay hid, finds them perhaps somewhat dis¬
mayed at the peril they apprehended themselves
in from the officers, and scarcely recovered from
the fright, but has that to say to them which will
give them abundant satisfaction. 1. She lets them
know that the report of the great things God had
done for them, was come to Jericho, v. 10. not only
that they had an account of their late victories ob¬
tained over the Amorites, in the neighbouring
country, on the other side the river, but that their
miraculous deliverance out of Egypt, and passage
through the Red-sea, a great way off, and forty
years ago, were remembered and talked of afresh
in Jericho to the amazement of every body. Thus
this Joshua and his fellows were men wondered at,
Zech. 3. 8. See how God makes his wonderful
works to be remembered, Ps. 111. 4. so that men
shall speak of the might of his terrible acts, Ps. 145.
6. 2. She tells them what impressions the tidings
of these things had made upon the Canaanites,
your terror has fallen upon us, v. 9. our hearts did
melt, v. 11. If she kept a public house, that would
give her an opportunity of understanding the sense
of various companies, and of travellers from other
parts of the country; so that they could not know
this any way better than by her information; and it
would be of great use to Joshua and Israel to know
it, it would put courage into the most cowardly Is¬
raelite to hear how their enemies were dispirited;
and it was easy to conclude, that they who now
fainted before them, would infallibly fall before
them: especially because it was the accomplish¬
ment of a promise God had made them, that he
would lay the fear and dread of them upon all this
land, Deut. 11. 25. and so it would be an earnest of
the accomplishment of all the other promises God
had made them. Let not the stout man glory in
his courage, any more than the strong man in his
strength, for God can weaken both mind and body.
Let not God’s Israel be afraid of their most power¬
ful enemies, for their God can, when he pleases,
make their most powerful enemies afraid of them.
Let none think to harden their hearts against God
and prosper, for he that made man’s soul, can at
any time make the sword of his terrors approach
to it. She hereupon makes the profession of her
faith in God and his promise; and perhaps there
was not found so great faith (all things considered,)
no, not in Israel, as in this woman of Canaan. *(1-)
She believes God’s power and dominion over all the
world, v. 11. “Jehovah your God whom you wor¬
ship and call upon, is so far above all gods, that he
is the only true God; for he is God in heaven above
and in earth beneath, and is served by all the hosts
of both.” A vast distance there is between heaven
and earth, yet both are equally under the inspec¬
tion and government of the great Jehovah. Heaven
is not above his power, nor earth below his cogni¬
zance. (2.) She believes his pi’omise to his peo¬
ple Israel, v. 9, I know that the Lord hath given
you the land. The king of Jericho had heard as
much as she had of the great things God had done
for Israel, yet he cannot infer from thence that the
Lord had given them this land, but resolves to hold
it out against them to the last extremity: for the
most powerful means of conviction will not of them¬
selves attain the end without divine grace, and by
that grace, Rahab the harlot, who had only heard
VOL. II.— C
of the wonders God had wrought, speaks with more
assurance of the truth of the promise made to the
fathers, than all the elders of Israel had done who
were eye-witnesses of those wonders, many of
whom perished through unbelief of this promise.
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed; so Rahab did; O woman, great is thy
faith!
II. She engaged them to take her and her rela¬
tions under their protection, that they might not
perish in the destruction of Jericho, v. 12, 13. Now,
I. It was an evidence of the sincerity and strength
of her faith concerning the approaching revolution
in her country, that she was so solicitous to make
an interest for herself with the Israelites, and court¬
ed their kindness. She foresaw the conquest of her
country, and in the belief of that bespoke in time
the favour of the conquerors. Thus Noah, being
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of
his house, and the condemnmg of the world, Heb.
I I. 7. They who truly believe the divine revela¬
tion, concerning the ruin of sinners, and the grant
of the heavenly land to God’s Israel, will give dili¬
gence to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay
hold on eternal life, by joining themselves to God
and to his people. 2. The provision she made for
the safety of her relations, as well as for her own,
is a laudable instance of natural affection, and an
intimation to us in like manner to do all we can for
the salvation of the souls of those that are dear to
us, and, with ourselves, to bring them, if possible,
into the bond of the covenant. No mention is made
of her husband and children, but only her parents
and brothers and sisters, whom, though she was
herself a housekeeper, she retained a due concern
for. 3. Her request that they would swear unto
her by Jehovah, is an instance of her acquaintance
with the only true God, and her faith in him, and
devotion toward him, one act of which is religiously
to swear by his name. 4. Her petition is very just
and reasonable, that since she had protected them,
they should protect her; and since her kindness to
them extended to their people, for whom they
were now negotiating, their kindness to her should
take in all her’s. It was the least they could do for
one that had saved their lives with the hazard of
her own. Note, Those that show mercy may ex¬
pect to find mercy. Observe, She does not de¬
mand any preferment by way of reward for her
kindness to them, though they lay so much at her
mercy that she might have made her own terms,
but only indents for her life, which, in a general de¬
struction would be a singular favour. Thus God
promised Ebed-Melech in recompense for his
kindness to Jeremiah, that in the worst of times he
should have his life for a prey, Jer. 39. 18. Yet
this Rahab was afterward advanced to be a prin¬
cess in Israel, the wife of Salmon, and one of the an¬
cestors of Christ, Matt. 1. 5. Those that faithfully
serve Christ, and suffer for him, he will not only
protect, but prefer, and will do for them more than
they are able to ask or think.
III. They solemnly engaged for her preservation
in the common destruction, v. 14, “ Our life for
yours. We will take as much care of your lives
as of our own, and would as soon hurt ourselves as
any of you.” Nay, they imprecate God’s judg¬
ments on themselves, if they should violate their
promise to her. She had pawned her life for their’s,
and now they in requital pawn their lives for her’s,
and (as public persons) with them they pawn the
public faith and the credit of their nation, for they
plainly interest all Israel in the engagement of those
words. When the Lord has gwen us the land,
meaning not themselves only, but the people whose
agents they were. No doubt, they knew them¬
selves sufficiently authorised to treat with Rahab
JOSHUA, JJ.
it;
concerning this matter, and were confident that
Joshua would ratify what they did, else they had not
dealt honestly; the general law, that they should
m ike no covenant with the Canaanites, (I)eut. 7.
2.) did not forbid them to take under their protec¬
tion a particular person, that was heartily come into
their interests, and had done them real kindnesses.
The law of gratitude is one of the laws of nature.
Now observe here,
1. The promises they made her. In general,
“ We will deal kindly and truly with thee, v. 14.
We will not only be kind in promising now, but
true in performing what we promise, and not only
true in performing just what we promise, but kind
in out-doing thy demands and expectations.” The
goodness of God is often expressed by his kindness
and truth, (Ps. 117. 2.) and in both these we must
be followers of him. In particular, “If a hand
be upon any in the house with thee, his blood shall
be on our head, v. 19. If hurt come through our
carelessness to those whom we are obliged to pro¬
tect, we thereby contract guilt, and blood will be
found a heavy load. ”
2. The provisos and limitations of their promises.
Though they were in haste, and it may be in some
confusion, yet we find them very cautious in settling
this agreement and the terms of it, not to bind
themselves to more than was fit for them to per¬
form. Note, Covenants must be made with care,
and we must swear in judgment, lest we find our¬
selves perplexed and entangled when it is too late
after vows to make inquiry. They that will be
conscientious in keeping their promises, will be
cautious in making them, and perhaps may insert
conditions which others may think frivolous.
Their promise is here accompanied with three
prov isos, and they were necessary ones. They will
protect Rahab, and all her relations always, pro¬
vided, (1.) That she tie the scarlet cord with which
she was now about to let them down, in the window
of her house, v. 18. This was to be a mark upon
the house, which the spies would take care to give
notice of to the camp of Israel, that no soldier, how
hot and eager soever he was in military executions,
might offer any violence to the house that was thus
distinguished. This was like the blood sprinkled
upon the door-post which secured the first-born
from the destroying angel, and being of the same
colour, some allude to this also, to represent the
safety of believers, under the protection of the
blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience. The
•same cord that she made use of for the preserva¬
tion of these Israelites, was to be made use of for
her preservation. What we serve and honour God
-with, we may expect he will bless and make com¬
fortable to us. (2. ) That she should have all those
•whose safety she had desired in the house with her,
:aml keep them there; and that at the time of taking
fhe town, none of them should dare to stir out of
doors, v. 18, 19. This was a necessary proviso,
for Rahab’s kindred could not be distinguished any
other way than by being in her distinguished house;
should they mingle themselves with their neigh¬
bours, there was no remedy, but the sword would
•devour on.e as well as another. It was a reasonable
•proviso, that since they were saved purely for Ra¬
hab’s s .ke, her house should have the honour of
being their castle; and that if they would not perish
with them that believed not , they should thus far
believe the certainty and severity of the ruin com¬
ing upon their city, as to retire into a place made
safe by promise , as Noah in the ark, and Lot into
Z,oar, and should save themselves from this unto¬
ward generation , by separating from them. It was
likewise a significant proviso, intimating to us that
those who are added to the church that they may
be Bared, must keep close to the society of the faith¬
ful, and having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust, must take heed of being again
entangled therein. (3. ) That she should keep coun¬
sel, v. 14, 20. If thou utter this our business, that
is, “ If thou betray us when we are gone, or if thou
make this agreement public, so as that others tie
scarlet lines in their windows, and so confound us,
then we will be quit of thine oath.” They are un¬
worthy of the secret of the Lord, that know not how
to keep it to themselves when there is occasion.
IV. She then took effectual care t@ secure her
new friends, and sent them out another way, James
2. 25. Having fully understood the bargain they
made with her, and consented to it, v. 21. she then
let them down by a cord over the city wall, v. 15.
the situation of her house befriending them herein:
Thus Paul made his escape out of Damascus, 2
Cor. 11. 33. She also directed them which way to
go for their own safety, being better acquainted
with the country than they were, v. 16. She di¬
rects them to leave the high read, and abscond in
the mountains till the pursuers were returned, for
till then they could not safely venture over Jordan.
Those that are in the way of God and their duty,
may expect that Providence will protect them, but
that will not excuse them from taking all prudent
methods for their own safety. God will keep us,
but then we must not wilfully expose ourselves.
Providence must be trusted, but not tempted. Cal¬
vin thinks that their charge to Rahab to keep this
matter secret, and not to utter it, was intended for
her safety, lest she, boasting of her security from
the sword of Israel, should, before they came to
protect her, fall into the hands of the king of Jeri¬
cho, and be put to death for treason : thus do they
prudently advise her for her safety, as she advised
them for their’s. And it is good advice, which we
should at any time be thankful for, to take heed to
ourselves.
22. And they went, and came unto the
mountain, and abode there three days, until
the pursue] s were returned : And the pur¬
suers sought them throughout all the way,
but found them not. 23. So the two men re¬
turned, and descended from the mountain,
and passed over, and came to Joshua the
son of Nun, and told him all things that
befell them : 24. And they said unto
Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered
into our hands all the land ; for even all the
inhabitants of the countiy do faint because
of us.
We have here the safe return of the spies Joshua
had sent, and the great encouragement they brought
with them to Israel to proceed in their descent upon
Canaan. Had they been minded to discourage the
people, as the evil spies did that Moses sent, they
might have told them what they had observed of
the height and strength of the walls of Jericho, and
the extraordinary vigilance of the king of Jericho,
and how narrowly they escaped out of his hands:
but they were of another spirit, and depending
themselves upon the divine promise, they animated
Joshua likewise.
1. Their return in safety was itself an encourage¬
ment to Joshua, and a token for good. That God
provided for them so good a friend as Rahab was, in
an enemy’s country, and that, notwithstanding the
rage of the king of Jericho, and the eagerness of
the pursuers, they were come back in peace, with
such an instance of God’s great care concerning
i them for Israel’s sake, as might assure the people
19
JOSHUA, III.
of the divine conduct and care they were under,
which would undoubtedly make the progress of
their arms glorioufc. He that so wonderfully pro¬
tected their scouts, would preserve their men of
war, and cover their heads in the day of battle.
2. The report they brought was much more en¬
couraging, v. 24. “All the inhabitants of the coun¬
try, though resolved to stand it out, yet do faint \
because of us, they have neither wisdom to yield,
nor courage to fight;” whence they conclude,
“ Truly the Lord has delivered into our hands all
the land, it is all our own, we have nothing to do, in
effect, but to take possession.” Sinners’ frights are
sometimes sure presages of their fall. If we resist
our spiritual enemies, they will flee before us,
which will encourage us to hope that in due time
we shall be more than conquerors.
CHAP. III.
This chapter, and that which follows it, gives us the history
of Israel’s passing through Jordan into Canaan, and a
very memorable history it is. Long after, they are bid
to remember, what God did for them between Shittim
(whence they decamped, v. 1.) and Gilgal, where they
next pitched, ch. 4. 19. Mic. 6. 5, That they might
know the righteousness of the Lord. By Joshua’s order
they marched up to the river’s side, v. 1. and then al¬
mighty power led them through it. They passed through
the Red-sea unexpectedly, and in their flight by night,
but they have notice some time before of their passing
through Jordan, and their expectations raised. I. The
people are directed to follow the ark, v. 2 . . 4. II. They
are commanded to sanctify themselves, v. 5. III. The
priests with the ark are ordered to lead the van, v. 6.
IV. Joshua is magnified and made commander in chief,
v. 7, 8. V. Public notice is given of what God is about
to do for them, v. 9 . . 13. VI. The thing is done, Jor¬
dan is divided, and Israel brought safely through it, v.
14 . . 1 7. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous
in our eyes.
I. 4 ND Joshua rose early in the morn-
JA- L ing; and they removed from Shit-
t.im, and came to Jordan, he and all the
children of Israel, and lodged there before
they passed over. 2. And it came to pass,
after three days, that the officers went
through the host ; 3. And they commanded
die people, saying, When ye see the ark
of the covenant of the Lord your God,
and the priests the Levites bearing it, then
ye shall remove from your place, and go
after it. 4. Yet there shall be a space be¬
tween you and it, about two thousand cubits
by measure : come not near unto it, that ye
may know the way by which ye must go :
for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5. And Joshua said unto the people, Sanc¬
tify yourselves: for to-morrow the Lord
will do wonders among you. 6. And
Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take
up the ark of the covenant, and pass over
before the people. And they took up the
ark of the covenant, and went before the
people.
Rahab, in mentioning to the spies the drying up
of the Red Sea, ch. 2. 10. the report of which
terrified the Canaanites more than any thing else,
intimates that they on that side the water expected
that Jordan, that great defence of their country,
would in like manner give way to them; whether
the Israelites had any expectation of it, does not
appear. God often did things for them which they
looked not for, Isa. 64. 3. Now here we are told,
I. That they came to Jordan and lodged there,
v. 1. Though they were not yet told how they
should pass the ri\ er, and were unprovided for the
passing of it in any'ordinary way, yet they went
forward in faith, having been told, ch. 1. 11. that
they should pass it. We must go on in the way cf
our duty, though we foresee difficulties, trusting
God to help us through them, when we come to
them. Let us proceed as far as we can, and de¬
pend on divine sufficiency for that which we find
ourselves not sufficient for. In this march Joshua
led them, and particular notice is taken of his early
rising; as there is afterward upon other occasions,
ch. 6. 12. — 7. 16. — 8. 10. which intimates how lit¬
tle he loved his ease, how much he loved his busi¬
ness, and what care and pains he was willing to
take in it. Those that would bring great things
to pass, must rise early. Love not sleefi, lest thou
come to poverty. Jcshua herein set a good example
to the officers under him, and taught them to rise
early, and to all that are in public stations especially
to attend continually to the duty cf their place.
II. That the people were directed to follow the
ark; officers were appointed to go through the host
to give these directions, v. 2. that every Israelite
might know both what to do, and what to depend
upon.
1. They might depend upon the ark to lead
them; that is, upon God himself, of whose presence
the ark was an instituted sign and token. It seems,
the pillar of cloud and fire was removed, else that
had led them, unless we suppose that that now ho¬
vered over the ark, and so they had a double guide,
honour was put upon the ark, and a defence upon
that glory. It is called here the ark of the covenant
of the Lord their God. What greater encourage¬
ment could they have than this, That the Lord was
their God, a God in covenant with them? Here
was the ark of the covenant; if God be cur’s, we
need not to fear any evil. He was nigh to them,
present with them, went before them: What could
come amiss to them that were thus guided, thus
guarded? Formerly, the ark was carried in the
midst of the camp, but now it went before them to
search out a resting-place for them, Numb. 10. 33.
and, as it were, to give them livery and seisin of the
promised land, and put them in possession cf it. In
the ark the tables of the law were, and over it the
mercy-seat, for the di' ine law and grace reigning
in the heart are the surest pledges of God’s presence
and favour; and those that would be led to the
heavenly Canaan, must take the law of God for
their guide, ( if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments ,) and have the great Propitiation
in their eye, looking for the mercy of our Lora
Jesus Christ unto eternal lift.
2. They might depend upon the priests and Le¬
vites, who were appointed for that purp6se to carry
the ark before them. The work of ministers is to
hold forth the word of life, and to take care of the
administration of those ordinances which are the
tokens of God’s presence, and the instruments of
his power and grace; and herein they must go be¬
fore the people of God in their way to heaven.
3. The people must follow the ark. Remove
from your place and go after it; (1.) As those that
are resolved never to forsake it; wherever God’s
ordinances are, there we must be; if they flit, we
must remove and go after them. (2.) As those
that are entirelv satisfied in its guidance, that it
will lead in the best way to the best end; and there¬
fore, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. This must be all their care, to attend the
motions of the ark, and follow it with an implicit
faith. Thus must we walk after the rule of the
20
JOSHUA, III.
word, and the direction of the Spirit in every thing,
so shall peace be upon us, as it now was upon the
Israel of God. They must follow the priests as far
as they carried the ark, but no further; so we must
follow our ministers only as they follow Christ.
4. In following the ark, they must keep their dis¬
tance, v. 4. They must none of them come within
a thousand yards of the ark. (1.) They must thus
express their awful and reverent regard to that
token of God’s presence, lest its familiarity with
them should breed contempt. This charge to
them, not to come near, was agreeable to that dis¬
pensation of darkness, bondage, and terror: but we
now through Christ have access with boldness.
(2.) Thus it was made to appear, that the ark was
able to protect itself, and needed not to be guarded
by the men of war, but was itself a guard to them.
With what a noble defiance of the enemy did it
leave all its friends half a mile behind, but the
unarmed priests that carried it, as perfectly suffi¬
cient for its own safety and their’s that followed it.
(3.) Thus it was the better seen by those that
were to be led by it, that ye may know the way by
which ye must go, seeing it, as it were, chalked out
or tracked by the ark. Had they been allowed to
come near it, they would have surrounded it, and
none would have had the sight of it but those that
were close to it; but as it was put at such a distance
before them, they would all have the satisfaction of
seeing it, and would be animated by the sight.
And it was with good reason that this provision was
made for their encouragement, for ye have not
passed this way heretofore. This had been the
character of all their way through the wilderness,
it was an untrodden path, but this especially
through Jordan. While we are here, we must ex¬
pect and prepare for unusual events, to pass ways
that we have not passed before: and much more
when we go hence; our way through the valley of
the shadow of death is a way we have not gone be¬
fore, which makes it the more formidable. But if
we have the assurance of God’s presence we need
not fear, that will furnish us with such strength as
we never had, when we come to do a work we
never did.
III. They were commanded to sanctify them¬
selves, that they might be prepared to attend the
ark; and for this there was good reason, for to¬
morrow the Lord will do wonders among you, v. 5.
See how magnificently he speaks of God’s works,
he doeth wonders, and is therefore to be adored,
admired, and trusted in. See how intimately ac¬
quainted Joshua was with the divine counsels, he
could tell beforehand what God would do, and when.
See what preparation we must make to receive the
discoveries of God’s glory and the communications
of his grace, we must sanctify ourselves. This we
must do when we are to attend the ark, and God by
it is about to do wonders among us; we must sepa¬
rate ourselves from all other cares, devote ourselves
to God’s honour, and cleanse ourselves from all fil¬
thiness of flesh and spirit. The people of Israel
were now entering into the holy land, and therefore
must sanctify themselves. God was about to give
them uncommon instances of his favour, which by
meditation and prayer they must compose their
minds to a very careful observation of, that they
might give God the glory, and take to themselves
the comfort, of these appearances.
IV. The priests were ordered to take up the ark
and carry it before the people, v. 6. It was the
Levites’ work ordinarily to carry the ark, Numb.
4. 15. But on this great occasion the priests were
ordered to do it. And they did as they were com¬
manded, took up the ark, and did not think them¬
selves disparaged, went before the people, and did not
think themselves exposed; the ark they carried was
both their honourand defence. Andnowwemay sup¬
pose that prayer of Moses used, when the ark set for¬
ward, Numb. 10. 35, Rise up. Lord, and let thine
enemies be scattered. Magistrates are here instruct¬
ed to stir up ministers to their work, and to make
use of their authority for the furtherance of religion;
ministers must likewise learn to go before in the
way of God, and not to shrink or draw back when
dangers are before them. They must expect to be
most struck at, but they know whom they have
trusted.
7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This
dajr will I begin to magnify thee in the sight
of all Israel, that they may know that, as ]
was with Moses, so 1 will be with thee. 8.
And thou shalt command the priests that
bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When
ye are come to the brink of the water of
Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. 9.
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel,
Come hither, and hear the words of the
Lord your God. 10. And Joshua said,
Hereby ye shall know that the living God
is among you, and that he will without fail
drive out from before you the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the
Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the
Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11. Behold,
the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all
the earth passeth over before you into Jor¬
dan. 12. Now therefore take ye twelve
men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every
tribe a man. 1 3. And it shall come to pass,
as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests
that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of
all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jor¬
dan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut
off from the waters that come down from
above ; and they shall stand upon a heap.
We may observe here how God honours Joshua,
and, by this wondrous work he is about to do, de ■
signs to make Israel know that he is their governor
And then, how Joshua honours God, and endea
vours by it to make Israe know that he is their God.
Thus those that honour God he will honour, and
those whom he has advanced, should do what they
can in their places to exalt him.
I. God speaks to Joshua to put honour upon him,
v. 7, 8.
1. It was a great honour God did him that he
spake to him, as he had done to Moses from off the
mercy-seat, before the priests removed it with the
ark. This would make Joshua easy in himself and
great among the people, that God was pleased to
speak so familiarly to him.
2. That he designed to magnify him in the sight
of all Israel. He had told him before he would be
with him, ch. 1. 5. that comforted him, but now all
Israel shall see it, and that magnified him. Those
are truly great with whom God is, and whom he
employs and owns in his service. God magnified
him, because he would have the people magnify
him. Pious magistrates are to be highly honoured
and esteemed as public blessings, and the more we
see of God with them, the more we should honour
them. By the dividing of the Red-sea, Israel was
convinced that God was with Moses in bringing
! them out of Egypt; therefore they are said to be
21
JOSHUA, 111.
baptized unto Moses in the sea, 1 Cor. 10. 2. And
upon that occasion they believed him, Exod. 14. 31.
And now by the dividing of Jordan, they shall be
convinced, that God is in like manner with Joshua
in bringing them into Canaan. God had magnified
Joshua before on several occasions, but now he be¬
gan to magnify him as the successor of Moses in the
government. Some have observed, it was at the
banks of Jordan that God began to magnify Joshua,
and at the same place he began to magnify our
Lord Jesus as Mediator; for John was baptizing at
Bethabara, the house of passage, and there it was,
that when our Saviour was baptized, it was pro¬
claimed concerning him. This is my beloved Son.
3. That by him he gave orders to the priests
themselves, though they were his immediate at¬
tendants, v. 8, Thou shalt command the priests,
that is, “Thou shalt make known to them the di¬
vine command in this matter, and take care that
they observe it, to stand still at the brink of Jordan
while the waters part, that it may appear to be at
the presence of the Lord, of the mighty God of Ja¬
cob, that Jordan is driven back,” Ps. 114. 5, 7.
God could have divided the river without the
priests, but they could not without him. The
priests must herein set a good example to the peo¬
ple, and teach them to do their utmost in the
service of God, and trust him for help in time of
need.
II. Joshua speaks to the people, and therein ho¬
nours God.
1. He demands attention, v. 9. “ Come hither to
me, as many as can come within hearing, and before
you see the works, hear the words of the Lord your
God, that you may compare them together, and
they may illustrate each other.” He had com¬
manded them to sanctify themselves, and therefore
calls them to hear the word of God, for that is the
ordinary means of sanctification, John 17. 17.
2. He now tells them at length, by what way they
should pass over Jordan, by the stopping of its
stream, v. 13, The waters of Jordan shall be cut
off- God could by a sudden and miraculous frost
have congealed the surface, so that they might all
have gone over upon the ice; but that being a thing
sometimes done even in that country, by the ordi¬
nary power of nature, (Job 38. 30.) it would not
have been such an honour to Israel’s God, nor such
a terror to Israel’s enemies; it must therefore be
done in such a way as had no precedent but the di¬
viding of the Red-sea: and that miracle is here
repeated, to show that God has the same power to
finish the salvation of his people, that he had to be¬
gin it, for he is the yllpha and the Omega; and that
the Word of the Lord, (as the Chaldee reads it, v.
7.) the essent:al eternal Word was as truly with
Joshua as he was with Moses. And by the dividing
of the waters from the waters, and the making of
the dry land to appear which had been covered,
God would remind them of that which Moses by
revelation had instructed them in, concerning the
work of creation, Gen. 1. 6, 9. That by what they
now saw, their belief of that which they there read,
might be assisted, and they might know that the
God whom they worshipped, was the same God
that made the world, and that it was the same
power that was engaged and employed for them.
3. The people having been directed before to fol¬
low the ark, are here told that it should pass before
them into Jordan, v. 11. Observe, (1.) The ark
of the covenant must be their guide. During the
reign of Moses, the cloud was their guide, but now,
in Joshua’s reign, the ark; both were visible signs
of God’s presence and presidency, but divine grace
under the Mosaic dispensation was wrapt up as in a
cloud and covered with a vail, while by Christ, our
Joshua, it is revealed in the ark of the covenant un¬
vailed, (2.) It is called the ark of the covenant oj
the Lord op all the earth. “ He that is your God,
v. 9. in covenant with you, is the Lord of all the
earth, has both right and power to command, con¬
trol, use, and dispose of all nations and of all crea¬
tures. He is the Lord of all the earth, therefore
he needs not you, nor can be benefited by you;
therefore it is your honour and happiness to have
him in covenant with you: if he be your’s, all the
creatures are at your service, and when he pleases,
shall be employed for you.” When we are praising
and worshipping God as Israel’s God, and our’s
through Christ, we must remember that he is the
Lord of the whole earth, and reverence him and
trust in him accordingly. Some observe an accent
in the original, which they think directs us to trans¬
late it somewhat more emphatically, Behold the ark
of the covenant, even the ark of the Lord, or even
of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth. (3.)
They are told that the ark should pass before them
into Jordan, God would not appoint them to go any
where, but where he himself would go before them,
and go with them; and they might safely venture,
even into Jordan itself, if the ark of the covenant
led them. While we make God’s precepts our rule,
his promises our stay, and his providence our guide,
we need not dread the greatest difficulties we may
meet with in the way of duty. That promise is
sure to all the seed, Isa. 43. 2, When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee, and through
the rivers, they shall not overfow thee.
4. From what God was now about to do for them,
he infers an assurance of what he would yet further
do. This he mentions first, so much was his heart
upon it, and so great a satisfaction did it give him,
v. 10. “ Hereby ye shall know that the living God
(the true God, and God of power, not one of the
dead gods of the heathen) is among you, though you
see him not, nor are to have any image of him; is
among you to give you law, secure your welfare,
and receive your homage: is among you in this great
undertaking now before you; and therefore ye shall,
nay, he himself, will, without fail, drive out from
before you the Canaanites. ” So that the dividing of
Jordan was intended to be to them, (1.) A sure to¬
ken of God’s presence with them ; by this they could
not but know that God was among them, unless
their unbelief was as obstinate against the most con¬
vincing evidence, as that of their fathers was, who,
presently after God had divided the Red-sea before
them, impudently asked, Is the Lord among us, or
is he not ? Exod. 17. 7. (2.) A sure pledge of the
conquests of Canaan; if the living God is among you,
expelling he will expel, (so the Hebrew phrase is)
from before you the Canaanites. He will do it cer¬
tainly, and do it effectually. What should hinder
him? What can stand in his way, before whom
rivers are divided, and dried up? The forcing cf
the lines was a certain presage of the ruin of all
their hosts: how could they stand their ground
when Jordan itself was driven back? When they
had not courage to dispute this pass, but tremb'ecl
at the approach of the mighty God of Jacob, Ps.
114. 7. What1 opposition could they ever make af¬
ter this? This assurance which Joshua here gives
them, was so well grounded, as that it would enable
one Israelite to chase a thousand Canaanites, and
two to put ten thousand to flight: and it would be
abundantly strengthened by remembering the song
of Moses, dictated forty years before, which plainly
foretold the dividing of Jordan, and the influence it
would bave upon the driving out of the Canaanites,
Exod. 15. 15* -17. The inhabitants of Canaan shall
melt await, and so be effectually driven out, thev
shall be as still as a stone till thy people pass over,
and then thou shalt bring them in and plant them.
Note, God’s glorious appearances for his church
JOSHUA, Ill.
and people, ought to be improved by us tor the en-
cour gement oi our faith and hope for the future.
As for Clod, his work is perfect. If Jordan’s flood
cannot keep them out, Canaan's force cannot turn
them out again.
5. He directs them to get twelve men ready, one
of each tribe, who must be within call, to receive
such orders as Joshua should afterward give them,
v. 12. It does not appear that they were to attend
the priests, and walk with them when they carried
tne ark, that they might more immediately be
witnesses of the wonders done by it, as some think;
but they were to be at hand for the service they
were called to, ch. 4. 4, &c.
14. And it came to pass, when the peo¬
ple removed from their tents, to pass over
Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of
the covenant before the people; 15. And as
they that bear the ark were come unto Jor¬
dan, and the feet of the priests that bare the
ark were dipped in the brim of the water,
(for Jordan overfloweth all his banks at the
time of harvest,) 16. That the waters which
came down from above stood and rose up
upon a heap very far from the city Adam,
that is beside Zaretan : and those that
came down toward the sea of the plain,
even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off:
and the people passed over right against
Jericho. 17. And the priests that bare the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm
on dry ground in the midst of Jordan ; and
all the Israelites passed over on dry ground,
until all the people were passed clean over
Jordan.
Here we have a short and plain account of the
dividing of the river Jordan, and the passage of the
children of Israel through it. The story is not gar¬
nished with the flowers of rhetoric, gold needs not
to be painted; but it tells us, in short, matter of
fact.
1. That this river was now broader and deeper
than usually it was at other times of the year, v. 15.
The melting of the snow upon the mountains
of Lebanon, near which this river had its rise,
was the occasion, that, at the time of harvest,
barley-harvest, which was the spring of the year,
Jordan overflowed all his banks. This great flood,
just at that time, (which Providence might have
restrained for once, or which he might have order¬
ed them to cross at another time of the year,) very
much magnified the power of God and his kindness
to Israel. Note, Though the opposition given to
the salvation of God’s people, have all imaginable
advantages, yet God can and will conquer it. Let
the banks of Jordan be filled to the brink, filled till
they run over, it is as easy to Omnipotence to divide
them, and dry them up, as if they were never so
narrow, never so shallow; it is all one with the
Lord.
2. That as soon as ever the feet of the priests
dipped in the brim of the water, the stream stop¬
ped immediately, as if a sluic-1 nad been made to
dam it up, v. 15, 16. So that the waters above
swelled, stood on a heap, and ran back, and yet, as
it should seem, did not spread, but congealed;
which unaccountable rising of the river was ob¬
served with amazement by those that lived upward
upon it many miles oft', and the remembrance of it
remained among them long after; the waters on the
ether side this invisible dam ran down of course,
and left the bottom of the river dry as far down
ward, it is likely, as they swelled upward. When
they passed through the Red-sea, the waters were
a wall on either hand, here only on the right hand.
Note, The God of nature, can, when he pleases,
change the course of nature, and alter its proper¬
ties, can turn fluids into solids, waters into standing
rocks, as on the contrary, rocks into standing wa¬
ters, to serve his own purposes. See Ps. 114. 5, 8.
What cannot God do? What will he not do for the
perfecting of his people’s salvation? Sometimes he
cleaves the earth with rwers, Hab. 3. 9. and some¬
times, as here, cleaves the rivers without earth. It
is easy to imagine how, when the course of this
strong and rapid stream was arrested on a sudden,
the waters roared and were troubled, so that the
mountains seemed to shake with the swelling there¬
of, Ps. 46. 3. how the floods lifted their voice, the
floods lifted up their waves, while the Lord on high
showed himself mightier than the noise of these
many waters, Ps. 93. 3, 4. With reference to this,
the prophet asks, Was the Lord displeased against
the rivers, was thine anger against the rwers? Hab.
3. 8. No, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of
thy people, v. 13. In allusion to this, it is foretold
among the great things God will do for the Gospel-
church in the latter days, that the great river Eu¬
phrates shall be dried up, that the way of the Kings
of the east may be prepared. Rev. 16. 12. When
the time is erme for Israel’s entrance into the land
of promise, all the difficulties shall be conquered,
mountains shall become plains, Zech. 4. 7. and
rivers become dry, for the ransomed of the Lord to
pass over. When we have finished our pilgrimage
through this wilderness, death will be like this Jor¬
dan between1 us and the heavenly Canaan, but the
ark of the covenant has prepared us a way through
it, it is the last enemy that shall be destroyed.
3. That the people 'passed over right against Jeri¬
cho, which was (1.) An instance ot their boldness,
and a noble defiance of their enemies; Jericho was
one of the strongest cities, and yet they dared to
face it at their first entrance. (2.) It was an en¬
couragement to them to venture through Jordan,
for Jericho was a goodly city, and the country about
it extremely pleasant; and having that in view as
their own, what difficulties could discourage them
from taking possession? (3.) It would increase the
confusion and terror of their enemies, who, no
doubt, strictly observed their motions, and were the
amazed spectators of this work of wonders.
4. That the priests stood still in the midst of Jor¬
dan while the people passed over, v. 17. There the
ark was appointed to be, to show that the same
power that parted the waters, kept them parted
as long as there was occasion, and had not the di¬
vine presence, of which the ark was a token, been
their security, the water had returned upon them
and buried them. There the priests were appoint¬
ed to stand still, (1.) To try their faith, whether
they could venture to take their post when God as¬
signed it them, with mountains of water over their
heads: as they made a bold step when they set the
first foot into Jordan, so now they made a bold stand
when they tarried longest in Jordan; but they knew
they carried their own protection with them. Note,
Ministers in times of peril should be examples of
courage and confidence in the divine goodness. (2.)
It was to encourage the faith of the people, that
they might go triumphantly into Canaan, and fear
no evil, no not in this valley of the shadow of death,
(for so the divided river was) being assured of God’s
presence which interposed between them and the
greatest danger, between them and the proud wa¬
ters, which otherwise had gone over their souls
JOSHUA, IV. 23
Thus in the greatest dangers the saints are com¬
forted with his rod and his staff, Ps. 23. 4.
CHAP. IV.
This chapter gives a further account of the miraculous
passage of Israel through Jordan. I. The provision that
was made at that time to preserve the memorial of it, by
twelve stones set up in Jordan, v. 9. and other twelve
stones taken up out of Jordan, v. 1 . . 8. II. The march
of the people through Jordan’s channel, the two tribes
first, then all the people, and the priests that hare the
ark last, v. 10.. 14. III. The closing of the waters
again upon their coming up with the ark, v. 15.. 19.
IV. Tne erecting of the monument in Gilgal, to preserve
the remembrance of this work of wonder to posterity,
v. 20 . . 24.
1 . A N D it came to pass, when all the peo-
-t\. pie were clean passed over Jordan,
that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying,
2. Take you twelve men out of the people,
out of every tribe a man, 3. And com¬
mand you them, saying, Take you hence
out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place
where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve
stones ; and ye shall carry them over with
you, and leave them in the lodging place
where you shall lodge this night. 4. Then
Joshua called the twelve men whom he had
prepared of the children of Israel, out of
every tribe a man : 5. And Joshua said
unto them, Pass over before the ark of the
Lord your God into the midst of Jordan,
and take ye up every man of you a stone
upon his shoulder, according unto the num¬
ber of the tribes of the children of Israel : 6.
That this may be a sign among you, that
when your children ask their fathers in time
to come, saying, What mean you by these
stones? 7. Then ye shall answer them,
That the waters of Jordan were cut offbe- -
fore the ark of the covenant of the Lord;
when it passed over Jordan, the waters of
Jordan were cut off : and these stones shall
be for a memorial unto the children of Is- j
rael for ever. 8. And the children of Israel
did so as Joshua commanded, and took up
twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as
the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to
the number of the tribes of the children of
Israel, and carried them over with them
unto the place where they lodged, and laid
them down there. 9. And Joshua set up
twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in
the place where the feet of the priests which
bare the ark of the covenant stood : and
they are there unto this day.
We may well imagine how busy Joshua and all
the men of war were, while they were passing over
Jordan, when beside their own marching into an
enemy’s country, and in the face of the enemv,
which could not but occasion them many thoughts
of heart, they had their wives, and children, and
families, their cattle, and tents, and all their effects,
bag and baggage, to convey by this strange and un¬
trodden path whicl we must suppose either very
muddy, or very stony, troublesome to thi weaK,
and frightful to the timorous, the descent to the
bottom of the ri\ er, and the ascent out of it steep,
so that every man must needs have his head full cf
care and his hands full of business, and Joshua more
than any of them. And yet in the midst of all his
hurry, care must be taken to perpetuate the memo
rial of this wondrous work of God, and this care
might not be adjourned to a time of greater leisure.
Note, How much soever we have to do of business
for ourselves, and our families, we must not neg¬
lect or omit what we have to do for the glory of
God and the serving of his honour, for that is cur
best business. Now,
I. God gave orders for the preparing of this me¬
morial. Had Joshua done it without di\ine direc¬
tion, it might have looked like a design to perpetu¬
ate his own name and honour, nor would it have
commanded so sacred and venerable a regard from
posterity, as now, when God himself appointed it.
Note, God’s works of wonder ought to be kept in
everlasting remembrance, and means devised for the
preserving of the memorial of them. Some of the
Israelites that passed over Jordan, perhaps were so
stupid, and so little affected with this great favour
of God to them, that they felt no concern to have it
remembered; while others, it may be, were so
much affected w’ith it, and had such deep impres¬
sions made upon them by it, that they thought there
needed no memorial of it to be erected, the heart
and tongue of every Israelite in every age would be
a living, lasting monument of it. But God, know¬
ing their frame, and how apt they had been soon to
forget his works, ordered an expedient for the
keeping of th’s in remembrance to all generations,
that those who could not, or would not, read the
record of it in sacred history, might come to the
knowledge of it by the monument set up in remem¬
brance of it, which the common tradition of the
country would be an explication of; it would like¬
wise serve to corroborate the proof of the matter of
fact, and would remain a standing evidence of it to
those who in after-ages might question the truth
of it.
A monument is to be erected, and 1. Joshua, as
chief captain, must give directions about it, v. 1.
When all the people were clean passed o-ver Jordan,
not even the feeble, that were the hindmost ol
them, left behind, so that God had done his work
completely, and every Israelite got safe into Ca¬
naan, then God spake unto Joshua to provide ma¬
terials for this monument. It is the pious conjecture
of the learned Bishop Patrick, that Joshua was gone
into some place of retirement, to return thanks im¬
mediately for this wonderful mercy, and then God
met him, and spake thus to him. ' Or, perhaps, it
was by Eleazar the priest, that God gave these and
other instructions to Joshua, for though he is not
mentioned here, yet when Joshua was ordained bv
the imposition of hands to this great trust, God ap¬
pointed that Eleazar should ask counsel for him af¬
ter the judgment of Urim, and at his word, Joshua,
and all the children of Israel must, go out and come
in, Numb. 27. 21. 2. One man out of each tribe,
and he a chosen man, must be employed to prepare
materials for this monument, that each tribe might
have the story told them by one of themselves, and
each tribe might contribute something to the glory
of God thereby, v. 2, 4, Out of every tribe a man.
Not the Levites only, but every Israelite must, in
his place, help to make known to the sons of men
God’s mighty acts, Ps. 145. 12. The two tribes,
though seated already in their possession, yet shar¬
ing in the mercy, must lend a hand to the memorial
of it. 3. The stones that must be set up for this
memorial, are ordered to be taken out of the midst
cf the channel, (where, probably, there lav abun
JOSHUA, IV.
J4
dance of great stones,) and as near as might be from
the very place where the priests stood with the ark,
v. 8, 5. This intended monument deserved to
have been made of stones curiously cut with the
finest and most exquisite art, but these stones out
of the bottom of the river were more natural and
more apt indications of the miracle; let posterity
know by this, that Jordan was driven back, for
these very stones were then fetched out of it. In
the institution of signs, God always chose that
which was most proper and significant, rather chan
that which is pompous or curious; for God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world. These
twelve men, after they got over Jordan, must be
sent back to the place where the ark stood, being
permitted to come near it, (which others might
not,) for this service; pass over before the ark, v.
5. that is, “into the presence of the ark, which
now stands in the midst of Jordan, and thence fetch
these stones.” 4. The use of these stones is here
appointed for a sign, v. 6. a memorial, v. 7. They
would give occasion to the children to ask their pa¬
rents in time to come, How came these sto?ies thi¬
ther ? Probably the land about was not stony; but
the parents would inform them, as they themselves
had been informed, that in this place Jordan was
divided by the almighty power of God, to give Is¬
rael passage into Canaan, as Joshua enlarges on this
head, x\ 22, See.
II. According to these orders the thing was done.
1. Twelve stones were taken up out of the midst
of Jordan, and carried in the sight of the people to
the place where they had their head-quarters that
night, v. 8. It is probable that the stones they
took, were as big as they could well carry, and as
near a-s might be of a size and shape. But whether
they went away with them immediately to the
lace, or whether they staid to attend the ark, and
ept pace with the solemn precession of that, to
grace its triumphant entry into Canaan, is not cer¬
tain. By hese stones, which they were ordered to
take up, God did, as it were, give them livery and
seisin of this good land, it is all their own, let them
enter and take possession; therefore what these
twelve did, the children of Israel are said to do, v.
8. because they were' the representatives of their
respective tribes. In allusion to this, we may ob¬
serve, that when the Lord Jesus, our Joshua, hav¬
ing overcome the sharpness of death, and dried up
that Jordan, had opened the kingdom of heaven to
all believers, he appointed his twelve apostles, ac¬
cording to the number of the tribes of Israel, by the
memorial of the gospel to transmit the knowledge
of this to remote places and future ages.
2. Other twelve stones (probably, much larger
than the other, for we read not that they were each
of them one man’s load) were set up in the midst
of Jordan , v. 9. piled up so high in a heap or pillar,
as that the top of it might be seen above water,
when the river was low, or seen in the water, when '
it was clear, or at least the noise or commotion of
the water passing over it would be observable, and
the bargemen would avoid it, as they do a rock;
some wav or other, it is likely, it was discernible so
as to notify the very place where the ark stood, and
to serve for a duplicate to the other monument,
which was to be set on dry land in Gilgal, for the
confirming of its testimony, and the preserving of
its tradition. The sign being doubled, no doubt,
the thing was certain.
10. For the priests which hare the ark
stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing;
was finished that the Lord commanded
Joshua to speak unto the people, according;
to all that Moses commanded Joshua : and
the people hasted and passed over. 1 1 . And
it came to pass, when all the people were
clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord
passed over, and the priests, in the presence
of the people. 12. And the children of
Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half
the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed
before the children of Israel, as Moses
spake unto them: 13. About forty thou¬
sand prepared for war passed over before
the Lord unto battle, to the plains of Jeri¬
cho. 14. On that day the Lord magnified
Joshua in the sight of all Israel ; and they
feared him, as they feared Moses, all the
days of his life. 15. And the Lord spake
unto Joshua, saying, 16. Command the
priests that bear the ark of the testimony,
that they come up out of Jordan. 17.
Joshua therefore commanded the priests,
saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. 18.
And it came to pass, w7hen the priests that
bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord
were come up out of the midst of Jordan,
and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted
up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jor¬
dan returned unto their place, and flowed
over all his banks, as they did before. 19.
And the people came up out of Jordan
on the tenth day of the first month, and en¬
camped in Gilgal, in the east border of Je¬
richo.
The inspired historian seems to be so well pleas¬
ed with his subject here, that he is loath to quit it,
and is therefore very particular in his narrative, es¬
pecially in observing how closely Joshua pursued
the orders God gave him, and that he did nothing
without divine direction, finishing all that the Lord
had commanded him, (x>. 10.) which is also said to
be what Moses commanded. We read not of any
particular commands that Moses gave Joshua about
this matter, the thing was altogether new to him.
It must therefore be understood of the general in¬
structions Moses had given him to follow the divine
conduct, to deliver that to the people, which he had
received of the Lord, and to take all occasions to
remind them of their duty to God, as the best re¬
turn for his favours to them: This which Moses,
who was now dead and gone, had said to him, he
had in mind at this time, and did accordingly. It is
well for us to have the good instructions that have
been given us, ready to us, when we have occasion
for them.
1. All the people hasted and passed over, v. 111.
Some understand it of the twelve men that carried
the stones, but it seems rather to be meant of the
body of the people; for though an account was given
of their passing over, v. 1. yet here it is repeated
for the sake of this circumstance, which was to be
added, that they passed over in haste, either becaust
Joshua by their officers ordered them to make haste,
for it was to be but one day’s work, and they must
not leave a hoof behind; or, perhaps, it was their
own inclination that hastened them. (1. ) Some hast¬
ed, because they were not able to trust God, they
were afraid the waters should return upon them,
being conscious of guilt, and diffident of the divine
power and goodness. (2.) Others, because they
were not willing to tempt God to continue the mira-
25
JOSHUA, IV.
cle longer than needs must, nor would they put the
patience cf the priests that bare the ark too much
to the stretch by unnecessary delay. (3. ) Others,
because they were eager to be in Canaan, and would
thus show how much they longed after that plea¬
sant land. (4. ) Those that considered least, yet
hasted because others did. He that believeth,
maketh haste, not to anticifiate God’s counsels, but
to attend them. Isa. 28. 16.
2. The two tribes and a half led the van, v. 12,
13. So they had promised, when they had theirlot
given them on that side Jordan, Numb. 32. 27.
And Joshua had lately reminded them cf their pro¬
mise, c/i. 1. 12, 8cc. It was fit that they who had
the first settlement, should be the first in the en¬
counter of difficulties, the rather, because they had
not the incumbrance of families with them as the
other tribes had, and they were all chosen men, and
fit for service, ready armed. It was a good provi¬
dence that they had so strong a body to lead them
on, and would be an encouragement to the rest.
And 'the two tribes had no reason to complain, the
post of danger is the post of honour.
3. When all the people were got clear to the
other side, the priests with the ark came up out of
Jordan. This, one would think, should have been
done of course, their own reason would tell them
that now there was no more occasion for them, and
yet they did not stir a step till Joshua ordered them
to move, and Joshua did not order them out of Jor¬
dan till God directed him to do so, v. 15 . . 17. So
observant were they of Joshua, and he of God,
which was their praise, as it was their happiness to
be under such good direction. How low a condition
soever God may at any time bring his priests or
people to, let them patiently wait, till by his provi¬
dence he shall call them up out of it, as the priests
here were called to come up out of Jordan, and let
them not be weary of waiting, while they have the
tokens of God’s presence with them, even the
ark of the covenant, in the depth of their ad¬
versity.
4. As soon as ever the priests and the ark were
come up out of Jordan, the waters of the river,
which had stood on a heap, gradually flowed down
according to their nature and usual course, and soon
filled the channel again, v. 18. This makes it yet
more evident, that the stop which had now been
given to the river, was not from any secret natural
cause; but purely from the power of God’s pre¬
sence, and for the sake of his Israel, for when Israel’s
turn was served, and the token of his presence was
removed, immediately the water went forward
again: so that if it be asked. What ailed thee, O
Jordan, that thou wast driven back? It must be
answered, It was purely in obedience to the God
of Israel, and in kindness to the Israel of God:
there is therefore none like unto the God of Jeshu-
run ; happy also art thou, 0 Israel! who is like unto
thee, 0 fieofile? Some observe here, by way of al¬
lusion, that when the ark and the priests that
bare it, are removed from any place, the flood-gates
are drawn up, the defence is departed, and an in¬
undation of judgments is to be- expected shortly.
Those that are unchurched, will soon be undone.
The glory is departed, if the ark be taken.
5. Notice is taken of the honour put upon Joshua
bv all this, v. 14. On that day the Lord magnified {
Joshua, both by the fellowship he admitted him to
with himself, speaking to him upon all occasions,
and being ready to be consulted by him, and by the
authority he confirmed in him, over both priests
and people. Those that honour God he will ho¬
nour, and when he will magnify a man, as he had
said he would magnify Joshua, (c/j. 3 7.) he will do
it effectually. Yet it was not for Joshua’s sake only
that he was thus magnified, but to put him in a ca-
Vol. II.— D
parity of doing so much the more service to Israel,
for hereupon they feared him as they feared Moses.
See here what is the best and surest way to com -
mand the respect of inferiors, and to gain their re¬
verence and observance, not by blustering and
threatening, and carrying it with a high hand, but
by holiness and love, and all possible indications
of a constant regard to their welfare, and to God’s
will and honour. Those are feared in the best
manner, and to the best purpose, who make it ap¬
pear that God is with them, and that they set him
before them. Those that are sanctified are truly
magnified, and are worthy of double honour. Fa
vourites of heaven should be looked on with awe.
6. An account is kept of the time of this great
event, v. 19. it was on the tenth day of the first
month , just forty years since they came out of
Egypt, wanting five days. God had said in his
wrath that they should wander forty years hi the
wilderness, but to make up that forty we must take
in the first year, which was then past, and had been
a year of triumph in their deliverance out of Egypt,
and this last, which had been a year of triumph
likewise on the other side Jordan, so that all the
forty were not years of sorrow; and at last he
brought them into Canaan, five days before the forty
years were ended, to show how little pleasure God
takes in punishing, how swift he is to show mercy,
and that for the elect’s sake the days of trouble are
shortetied, Matt. 24. 22. God ordered it so that
they should enter Canaan four days before the an¬
nual solemnity of the passover, and on the very day
when the preparation for it was to begin, Exod 12.
3. because he would have their entrance into Canaan
graced and sanctified with that religious feast, and
would have them to be reminded of their deliver¬
ance out of Egypt, that comparing them together,
God might be glorified as the Alpha and Omega of
their bliss.
20. And those twelve stones, which they
took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gil-
gal. 21. And he spake unto the children
of Israel, saying, When your children shall
ask their fathers in time to come, saying,
What mean these stones ? 22. Then ye
shall let your children know, saying, Israel
came over this Jordan on dry land. 23.
For the Lord your God dried up the wa¬
ters of Jordan from before you, until ye
were passed over, as the Lord your God
did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from
before us, until we were gone over : 24.
That all the people of the earth might
know the hand of the Lord, that it is
mighty ; that ye might fear the Lord your
God for ever.
The twelve stones which were laid down in Gil-
gal, v. 8. are here set up either one upon another,
yet so as that they might be distinctly counted, or
one by another in rows; for after they were fixed,
they are not called a heap, of stones, but these stones.
I. It is here taken for granted, that posterity
would inquire into the meaning of them, supposing
them intended for a memorial. Your children shall
ask their fathers, (for whom else should they ask?)
What mean these stones? Note, Those that will be
wise when they are old, must be inquisitive when
they are voung." Our Lord Jesus, though he had in
himself the fulness of knowledge, has by his exam¬
ple taught children and young people to hear and
26
JOSHUA, V.
•ask questions, Luke 2. 46. Perhaps when John
was baptizing in Jordan at Bethabara, (the house
of passage where the people passed over) he point¬
ed at these very stones, while saying, Matt. 3. 9,
God is able of these stones (which were at first set
up by the twelve tribes) to raise ufi children unto
Abraham. The stones being the memorial of the
miracles, the children’s question gave occasion for
the improvement of it; but our Saviour says, Luke
19. 40, If the children should hold their fleace, the
s 'ones would immediately cry out; for one way or
other the Lord will be glorified in his works of
wonder.
II. The parents are here directed what answer to
give to this inquiry, v. 22. “ Ye shall let your chil¬
dren know that which you have yourselves learned
from the written word, and from your fathers.”
Note, It is the duty of parents to acquaint their
children betimes with the word and works of God,
that they may be trained up in the way they should
g°-
1. They must let their children know that Jordan
was driven back before Israel, who went through it
ufion dry land, and, that this was the very place
where they passed over. They saw how deep and
strong a stream Jordan now was, but the divine
power put a stop to it, even then when it overflow¬
ed all its banks — “ and this for you, that live so
long after. ” Note, God's mercies to our ancestors
were mercies to us: and we should take all occa¬
sions to revive the remembrance of the great things
God did for our fathers in the days of olcl. The
place thus marked would be a memorandum to
them; Israel came over this Jordan. A local me¬
mory would be of use to them, and the sight of the
place remind them of that which was done there;
and not only the inhabitants of that country, but
strangers and travellers, would look upon ’ these
stones and receive instruction. Many, upon the
sight of the stones, would go to their bibles, and
there read the history of this wondrous work; and
some, perhaps, upon reading the history, though
living at a distance, would have the curiosity to go
and see the stones.
2. They must take that occasion to tell their chil¬
dren of the drving up of the Red-sea forty years
before, as the l^ord your God did to the Red Sea.
Note, (1.) It greatly magnifies later mercies to com¬
pare them with former mercies, for, by making the
comparison, it appears that God is the same yester¬
day, to-day, and forever. (2. ) Later mercies should
bring to remembrance former mercies, and revive
cur thankfulness for them.
3. They must put them in the way of making a
good use of these works of wonder, the knowledge
whereof was thus carefu’lv transmitted to them, v.
24. (1.) The power of God was hereby mag¬
nified. All the world was, or might be, convinced
that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that nothing is
too hard for God to do; nor can any power, no, not
that of nature itself, obstruct what God will effect.
The deliverances of God’s people are instructions to
all people, and fair warnings not to contend with
Omnipotence. (2.) The people of God were en¬
gaged and encouraged to persevere in his service;
“ That, ye might fear the I .or cl your God, and con¬
sequently do your duty to him, and this for ever;”
or all days, (Margin.) “Every day, all the
days cf your lives, and your seed throughout your
generations.” The remembrance of this wonder- {
ful work should effectually restrain them from the
worship of other gods, and constrain them to abide
and abound in the service of their own God. Note,
In all the instructions and informations parents give
their children, they should have chiefly in their eye
to teach and engage them to fear God for ever. Se¬
rious godliness is the best learning.
CHAP. V.
Israel is now got over Jordan, and the waters which had
opened before them to favour their inarch forward, are
closed again behind them to foibid their retreat back¬
ward ; they have now got footing in Canaan, and must
apply themselves to the conquest of it ; in order to which
this chapter tells us, I. How their enemies were dispirit¬
ed, v. 1. II. What was done at their first landing to as¬
sist and encourage them. 1. The covenant of circumci¬
sion was renewed, v. 2. .9. 2. The fe'ast of the passover
was celebrated, v. 10. 3. Their camp was victualled
with the corn of the land, whereupon the manna ceased,
v. 11, 12. 4. The Captain of the Lord’s host himself ap¬
peared to Joshua, to animate and direct him, v. 13. .15.
1. A ND it came to pass, when all the
f\. kings of the Amorites, which were
on the side of Jordan westward, and all
the kings of the Canaanites, which were by
the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up
the waters of Jordan from before the chil¬
dren of Israel, until we were passed over,
that their heart melted, neither was there
spirit in them any more, because of the
children of Israel. 2. At that time the
Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp
knives, and circumcise again the children
of Israel the second time. 3. And Joshua
made him sharp knives, and circumcised
the children of Israel at the hill of the fore¬
skins. 4. And this is the cause why Joshua
did circumcise : all the people that came
out of Egypt, that were males, even all the
men of war, died in the wilderness by the
way, after they came out of Egypt. 5.
Now all the people that came out were cir¬
cumcised : but all the people that were born
in the wilderness by the way as they came
forth out of Egypt, them they had not cir¬
cumcised. 6. For the children of Israel
walked forty years in the wilderness, till all
the people that were men of war, which
came out of Egypt, were consumed, be¬
cause they obeyed not the voice of the
Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that
he would not show them the land which
the Lord sware unto their fathers that he
would give us, a land that flowethwith milk
and honey. 7. And their children, whom
he raised up in their stead, them Joshua cir¬
cumcised : for they were uncircumcised,
because they had not circumcised them by
the way. 8. And it came to pass, when
they had done circumcising all the people,
that they abode in their places in the camp
till they were whole. 9. And the Lord
said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled
away the reproach of Egypt from off 3011.
Wherefore the name of the place is called
Gilgal unto this day.
A vast show, no doubt, the numerous camp ofls-
rael made in the plains of Jericho, where now thev
had pitched their tents; Who can count the dust of
Jacob? That which had lcngbeen the church m the
JOSHUA. V.
27
•wilderness, is now come up. from the wilderness,
leaning upon her Beloved, and looks forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter¬
rible as an army with banners: how terrible she
was in the eyes of her enemies, we are here told,
v. 1. how fair and clear she was made in the eyes of
her friends, by the rolling away of the reproach of
Egypt, we are told in the following verses.
I. Here is the fright which the Canaanites were
put into by their miraculous passing over Jordan, v.
1. The news of it was soon dispersed all the coun¬
try over, not only as a prodigy in itself, but as an
alarm to all the kings and kingdoms of Canaan.
Now, as when Babylon was taken, One post runs
to meet, another, arid one messenger to meet another,
to carry the amazing tidings to every corner of their
land, Jer. 51. 31. And here we are told what im¬
pressions the tidings made upon the kings of this
land, their heart melted like wax before the fire,
neither was there spirit in them any more. This in¬
timates that though the heart of the people gene¬
rally had fainted before, as Rahab owned, ch. 2. 9.
yet the kings had till now kept up their spirits
pretty well, had promised themselves that, being in
possession, their country populous, and their cities
fortified, they should be able to make their part
good against the invaders; but when they heard, not
only that they were come over Jordan, and that that
defence of their country was broken through, but
that they were come over by a miracle, the God of
nature manifestly fighting for them, their hearts
failed them too, they gave up the cause for gone,
and were now at their wits’ end. And, 1. They had
reason enough to be afraid; Israel itself was a for¬
midable body, and much more so when God was its
head, a God of almighty power. What can make
he ;d against them, if Jordan be driven back before
them? 2. God impressed these fears upon them,
and dispirited them, as he had promised, Exod.
23. 2 7, I will send my fear before thee. God can
make the wicked to fear where no fear is, Ps. 53.
5. much more where there is such cause for fear as
was here. He that made the soul, can, when he
leases, make his sword thus to approach to it and
ill it with h's terrors.
II. The opportunity which this gave to the Is¬
raelites to circumcise those among them that were
uncircumcised, At that time, {y. 2.) when the coun¬
try about them was in that great consternation, God
ordered Joshua to circumcise the children of Israel,
for at that time it might be done with safety even
in an enemy’s country; their hearts being melted,
their hands were tied, that they could not take this
advantage against them as Simeon and Levi did
against the Shechemites, to come upon them when
they were sore. Joshua could not be sure of this,
and therefore if he had ordered this general cir¬
cumcision just at this time of his own head, he might
justly have been censured as imprudent, for how
good soever the thing was in itself, in the eye of
reason it was not seasonable at this time, and might
have been of dangerous consequence; but when God
commanded him to do it, he must not consult with
flesh and blood: he that bid them do it, no doubt,
would protect them and bear them out in it. Now
observe,
1. The occasion there was for this general cir¬
cumcision. (1.) All that came out of Egypt were
circumcised, v. 5. While they had peace in Egypt,
doubtless, they circumcised their children the
eighth day, according to the law. But after they
began to be oppressed, especially when the edict
was made for the destruction of their male infants,
(he administration of this ordinance was interrupted;
many of them were uncircumcised, of whom there
was a general circumcision, either during the time
of the three days’ darkness, as Dr. Lightfoot con¬
jectures, or a year after, just before their eating a
second passover at mount S.nai, and in order to that
solemnity, Numb. 9. 2. as many tjiink. And it is
with reference to that general circumcision, that
this here is called a second; v. 2. Bat the learned
Masius thinks it refers to the general circumcision
of Abraham’s Family, when th t ordinance was first
instituted, Gen. 17. 23. That first confirmed the
promise of the land of Canaan, this second was a
thankful celebration of the performance of that pro¬
mise. But, (2.) Ail that were bom in the wilder¬
ness, namely, after their walking in the wildei ness,
became by the divine sentence a judgment upon
them for their disobedience, as is intimated by that
repetition of the sentence, v. 6. all that were born
since that fatal d iy, on which God swore in his
wrath that none of that generation should enter mto
his rest, were uncircumcised.
But what shall we say to this? Had not God en¬
joined it to Abraham under a very severe penalty,
that every man-child of his seed should be circum¬
cised, on the eighth day? Gen. 17. 9* -14. Was it
not the seal of the everlasting covenant? Was not
so great a stress laid upon it then when they were
coming out of Egypt, that when immediately after
the first passover the law concerning that feast was
made perpetual, this was one clause of it, that no
uncircumcised person should eat of it, but should be
deemed as a stranger? And yet under the gm em¬
inent of Moses himself, to have all their children
that were born for thirty-eight years together left
uncircumcised, is unaccountable. So great an omis¬
sion could not be generally but by divine direction.
Now, [1.] Some think circumcision was omitted
because it was needless: it was appointed to be a
mark of distinction between the Israelites and other
nations, and therefore, in the wilderness, where
they were so perfectly separated from all, and min¬
gled With none, there was no occasion for it. [2.]
Others think that they did not look upon the precept
of circumcision as obligatory till they came to settle
in Canaan, for in the covenant made with them at
mount Sinai, nothing was said about circumcision,
neither was it of Moses but of the fathers, John 7.
22. and with particular reference to the grant of
the land of Canaan, Gen. 17. 8. [3.] Others think
that God favourably dispensed with the omission of
this ordinance in consideration of the unsettledness
of their state, and their frequent removes while they
were in the wilderness. It was requisite that chil¬
dren after they were circumcised, should rest for
some time while they were sore, and stirring them
might be dangerous to them; God therefore would
have mercy and not sacrifice. This reason is general¬
ly acquiesced in, but to me it is not satisfactory, fer
sometimes they stayed a year in a place, Numb. 9.
22. if not much longer; and in their removes the lit¬
tle children, though sore, might be wrapt so warm,
and carried so easy, as to receive no damage, and
might certainly be much better accommodated than
the mothers in travail or while lying-in. Therefore,
[4.1 To me it seems to have been a continued token
of God’s displeasure against them for their unbelief
and murmuring. Circumcision was originally a
seal of the promise of the land of Canaan, as we ob¬
served before. It was in the believing hope of that
good land, that the patriarchs circumcised their
children: but when God had sworn in his wrath
concerning the men of war which came out of
Egypt, that they should be consumed in the wilder¬
ness, and never enter Canaan, nor come within
sight of it, (as that sentence is here repeated, v. 6.
reference being made to it,) as a further ratification
of that sentence, and to be a constant memorandum
of -it to them, all that fell under that sentence, and
were to fall by it, were forbidden to circumcise their
children; by which they were plainly told, that
28
JOSHUA, V.
whatever others might, they should never have the
benefit of that promise which circumcision was the
seal of. And this was such a significant indication
of God’s wrath, as the breaking of the tables of the
covenant was, when Israel had broken the covenant
by making the golden calf. It is true, there is no
express mention of this judicial prohibition in the
account of that sentence; but an intimation of it,
Numb. 14. 33, Your children shall bear your
whoredoms. It is probable, the children of Caleb
and Joshua were circumcised, for they were ex¬
cepted out of that sentence, and of Caleb it is par¬
ticularly said, To him will I give the land, and
to his children, Deut. 1. 36. which was the very
promise that circumcision was the seal of: and Josh¬
ua is here bid to circumcise the people, not his own
family. Whatever the reason was, it seems that
this great ordinance was omitted in Israel for almost
forty years together, which is a plain indication that
it was not of absolute necessity, nor was to be of
perpetual obligation, but should in the fulness of
time be abolished, as now it was for so long a time
suspended.
2. The orders given to Joshua for this general
circumcision, ~v. 2, Circumcise again the children of
Israel, not the same persons, but the body of the
people. Why was this ordered to be done now?
Answ. (1.) Because now the promise which cir¬
cumcision was instituted to be the seal of, was per¬
formed. The seed of Israel was brought safe into
the land of Canaan, “ Let them therefore hereby
own the truth of that promise which their fathers
had disbelieved, and could not find in their hearts
to trust to.” (2.) Because now the threatening
which the suspending of circumcision for thirty-
eight years was the ratification of, was fully exe¬
cuted by the expiring of the forty years. That
warfare is accomplished, that iniquity is pardoned,
(Isa. 40. 2.) and therefore now the seal of the cove¬
nant is revived again. But why was it not done
sooner — why not while they were resting some
months in the plains of Moab — why not during the
thirty days of their mourning for Moses — why was
it net deferyed longer till they had made some pro¬
gress in the conquest of Canaan, and had gained a
settlement there, at least till they had intrenched
themselves, and fortified their camp — why must it
be done the very next day after they were come
over Jordan? Answ. Because divine wisdom saw
that to be the fittest time, just when the forty years
were ended, and they had entered Canaan; and the
reasons which human wisdom would have offered
against it, were easily over-ruled. [1.] God would
hereby show that the camp of Israel was not gov¬
erned by the ordinary rules and measures of war,
but by immediate direction from God, who, by thus
exposing them, in the most dangerous moments,
magnified his own power in protecting them, even
then. And this great instance of security, in disa¬
bling themselves for action just then when they
were entering upon action, proclaimed such confi¬
dence in the divine care for their safety as would
increase their enemies’ fears: much more when
their scouts informed them not only of the thing
itself that was done, but of the meaning of it; that
it was a seal of the grant of this land of Israel. [2.]
God would hereby animate his people Israel against
the difficulties they were now to encounter, by con¬
firming his covenant with them, which gave them
unquestionable assurance of victory and success, and
the full possession of the land of promise. [3.] God
would hereby teach them, and us with them, in all
great undertakings to begin with God, to make sure
of his favour, by offering ourselves to him a living
sacrifice, (for that was signified by the blood of cir¬
cumcision,) and then we may expect to prosper in
all we do. [4.] The reviving of circumcision, after
it had been so long disused, was designed to revive
the observation of other institutions, the omission of
which had been connived at in the wilderness.
This command to circumcise them was to remind
them of that which Moses had told them, Deut. 12.
8. that when they were come over Jordan they
must not do as they had done in the wilderness,
but must come under a stricter discipline. It was
said concerning many of the laws God had given
them, that they must observe them in the land to
which they were going, Deut. 6. 1..12. 1. [5.] This
second circumcision, as it is here called, was typical
of the spiritual circumcision with which the Israel
of God, when they enter into the gospel-rest, are
circumcised; it is the learned Bishop Pierson’s ob¬
servation, That this circumcision being performed
under the conduct of Joshua, Moses’s successor, it
points to Jesus as the true Circumciser, the Author
of another circumcision than that of the flesh, com¬
manded by the law, even the circumcision of the
heart, Rom. 2. 29. called the circumcision of Christ ,
Col. 2. 11.
3. The people’s obedience to these orders. Joshua
circumcised the children of Israel, v. 3. not himself
with his own hands, but he commanded that it
should be done, and took care that it was done: it
might soon be despatched, for it was not necessary
that it should be done by a priest or Levite, but any
one might be employed to do it. All those that
were under twenty years old when the people were
numbered at mount Sinai, and not being numbered
with them, fell not by the fatal sentence, were cir¬
cumcised, and by them all the rest might be cir¬
cumcised in a little time. The people had promised
to hearken to Joshua, as they had hearkened to
Moses, ch. 1. 17. and here they gave an instance of
their dutifulness, submitting to this painful institu¬
tion, and not calling him for the sake of it a bloody
governor, as Z.ipporah because of the circumcision
called Moses a bloody husband.
Lastly, The names given to the place where this
was done, to perpetuate the memory of it. (1.) It
was called the hill of the foreskins, v. 3. Probably,
the foreskins that were cut off, were laid on a heap,
and covered with earth, so that they made a little
hillock. (2.) It was called Gilgal, from a word
which signifies to take away, from that which God
said to Joshua, v. 2, This day have I rolled away
the reproach of Egypt. God is jealous for the ho¬
nour of his people, his own honour being so much
interested in it; and whatever reproach they may
lie under for a time, first or last it will certainly be'
rolled away, and every tongue that riseth up against
them, he will condemn. [1.] Their circumcision
rolled away the reproach of Egypt. They were
hereby owned to be the free-born children of God,
having the seal of the covenant in their flesh, and so
the reproach of their bondage in Egypt was remov¬
ed. They were tainted with the idolatry of Egypt,
and that was their reproach; but now that they
were circumcised, it was to be hoped they would be
so entirely devoted to God, that the reproach of
their affection to Egypt would be rolled away. [2.]
Their coming safe to Canaan rolled away the ? -
proach of Egypt, for it silenced that spiteful sug¬
gestion of the Egyptians, that for mischief they
were brought out, the wilderness had shut them in,
Exod. 14. 3. Their wandering so long in the wil¬
derness confirmed the reproach, but now that they
had entered Canaan in triumph, that reproach was
done away. When God glorifies himself in per¬
fecting the salvation of his people, he not only sik n-
ces the reproach of their enemies, but rolls it u] < n
themselves.
10. And the children of Israel encamped
in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the four-
29
JOSHUA, V.
teentli day of the month, at even, in the
plains of Jericho. 1 1 . And they did eat of the
old com of the land, on the morrow after the
passover, unleavened cakes and parched
corn in the self-same day. 12. And the man¬
na ceased on the morrow after they had
eaten of the old corn of the land ; neither
had the children of Israel manna any more ;
but they did eat of the fruit of the land of
Canaan that year.
We may well imagine that the people of Canaan
were astonished, and that when they observed the
motions of the enemy they could not but think them
very strange. When soldiers take the field, they
are apt to think themselves excused from religious
exercises, (they have not time or thought to attend
them,) yet Joshua opens the campaign with one act
of devotion after another. What was afterwards
said to another Joshua, might truly be said to this,
Hear notv, O Joshua, thou, and thy fellows that sit
before thee, are men wondered at, Zech. 3. 8. and
yet indeed he took the right method. This is likely
to end well, that begins with God.
Here is,
I. A solemn passover kept, at the time appointed
by the law, the fourteenth day of the frst month ,
and in the same place where they were circumcised,
v. 10. While they were wandering in the wilder¬
ness, they were denied the benefit and comfort of
this ordinance, as a further token of God’s displea¬
sure; but now, in answer to the prayer of Moses,
upon the passing of that sentence, Ps. 90. 15. God
comforted them again, after the time that he had
afflicted them, and therefore now that joyful ordi¬
nance is revived again. Now that they had entered
into Canaan, it was very reasonable to remember
those wondrous works of divine power and good¬
ness, by which they were brought out of Egypt.
The finishing of mercies should bring to mind the
beginning of them ; and when it is perfect day we
must not forget how welcome the morning light was,
when we had long waited for it. The solemn pass-
over followed immediately after the solemn circum¬
cision; thus, when they that received the word
were baptized, immediately we find them breaking
of bread. Acts 2. 41, 42. They kept this passover
in the plains of Jericho, as it were in defiance of the
Canaanites that were round about them and enrag¬
ed against them, and yet could not give them any
disturbance. Thus God gave them an early instance
of the performance of that promise, that when they
went up to keep the feasts, their land should be
taken under the special protection of the Divine
Providence, Exod. 34. 24, Neither shall any man
desire thi / land. He now prepared a table before
them m the presence of their enemies, Ps. 23. 5.
IT. Provision made for their camp of the com of
their land, and the ceasing of the manna thereupon,
7'. 11, 12. Manna was a wonderful mercy to them
when they needed it; but it was the mark of a wil¬
derness state, it was the food of children, and there¬
fore, though it was angels’ food, and not to be com¬
plained of as light bread, yet it would be more ac¬
ceptable to them to eat of the com of the land, and
that they are now furnished with; the country peo¬
ple being retired for safety into Jericho, left their
barns and fields, and all that was in them, which
served for the subsistence of this great army. And
the supply came very seasonable, for, 1. After the
passover, they were to keep the feast of unleavened
bread, which they could not do according to the ap¬
pointment, when they had nothing but manna to
live upon; perhaps this was one reason why it was
intermitted in the wilderness. But now they found
old corn enough in the bam of the Canaanites to
supply them plentifully for that occasion; thus the
wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, and little
did they who laid it up, think, whose all these things
should be, which they had provided. 2. On the mor¬
row alter thepassover-sabbath, they were to wave
the sheaf of first-fruits before the Lord, Lev. 23. 10,
11. And this they were particularly ordered to do,
when they were come into the land which God would
give them; and they were furnished for this with the
fruit of tjie land that year, v. 12. which was then
growing and beginning to be ripe. Thus the> were
well provided for, both with old atid new corn, as
good householders. Matt. 13. 52. And as soon as
ever the fruits of this good land came to their
hands, they had an opportunity of honouring God
with them, and employing them in his service ac¬
cording to his appointment. And thus, behold all
things are clean and comfortable to them. Calvin
is of opinion, that they had kept the passo\ er ever)’
year in its season during their wandering in the
wilderness, though it is not mentioned, and that
God dispensed with their being uncircumcised, as
he did notwithstanding that, admit them to offer
other sacrifices. But some gather from Amos 5.
25. that after the sentence passed upon them, there
were no sacrifices offered till they came to Canaan,
and consequently no passover kept. And it is ob¬
servable, that after that sentence, Numb. 14. the
law which follows, ch. 15. concerning sacrifices, be¬
gins, v. 2, When ye shall be come into the land of
your habitations, you shall do so and so.
Notice is taken of the ceasing of the manna as
soon as ever they had eaten the old com of the
land; (1.) To show that it did not come by chance
or common providence, as snow or hail does, but
by the special designation of divine wisdom and
goodness; for as it came just when they needed it,
so it continued as long as they had occasion for it,
and no longer. (2.) To teach us not to expect ex¬
traordinary supplies, when they may be had in an
ordinary way. If God had dealt with Israel ac¬
cording to their deserts, the manna had ceased then
when they called it light bread; but as long as they
needed it, God continued it, though they despised it;
and now that they needed not, God "withdrew it,
though perhaps some of them desired it. He is a
wise Father, who knows the necessities of his chil¬
dren, and accommodates his gifts to them, not to
their humours. The word and ordinances of God
are spiritual manna, with which God nourishes his
people in this wilderness, and though often forfeit¬
ed, yet they are continued while we are here; but
when we come to the heavenly Canaan, this manna
will cease, for we no longer have need of it.
1 3. And it came to pass, when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, *here stood a man over
against him with his sword drawn in his
hand : and Joshua went unto him, and said
unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adver¬
saries ? 14. And he said, Nay; but as
captain of the host of the Lord am I now
come. And Joshua fell on his face to the
earth, and did worship, and said unto him,
What saith my Lord unto his servant?
15. And the captain of the Lord s host
said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off
thy foot ; for the place whereon thou stand-
est is holy. And Joshua did so.
We have hitherto found God often speak to
Joshua, but we read not till now of any appearance
30
JOSHUA, V.
of God’s glory to him; now that his difficulties in¬
creased, his encouragements were increased in pro¬
portion. Observe,
I. The time when he was favoured with this
vision; it was immediately after he had performed
the great solemnities of circumcision, and the pass-
over; then God made himself known to him. Note,
We may then expect the discoveries of the divine
grace, when we are found in the way of our duty,
and are diligent and sincere in our attendance on
holy ordinances.
II. Tire place where he had this visioh; it was
by Jericho, in Jericho, so the word is, in it by faith
and hope, though as yet he had not begun to lay
siege to it; in it in thought and expectation, or in
the fields of Jericho, hard by the city; there, it
should seem, he was all alone, fearless of danger,
because sure of the divine protection. There he
was (some think) meditating and praying, and to
those who are so employed, God often graciously
manifests himself. Or, perhaps, there he was to
take a view of the city, to observe its fortifications,
and contrive how to attack it, and perhaps he was
at a loss within himself how to make his approach¬
es, when God came and directed him. Note, God
will help, those that help themselves; Vigilantibus
non dormientibus succurrit lex — The law succours
those who watch, not. those who sleep. Joshua was
in his post, as a General, when God came and
made himself known to him as Generalissimo.
III. The appearance itself ; Joshua, as is usual
with those that are full of thought and care, was
looking downward, his eyes fixed on the ground,
when of a sudden he was surprised with the ap¬
pearance of a man who stood before him at some
little distance, which obliged him to lift up his eyes,
and gave a diversion to his musings, v. 13. he ap¬
peared unto him as a man, but a considerable man,
and one fit to be taken notice of. Now, 1. We have
reason to think that this man was the Son of God,
the eternal Word, who before he assumed the hu¬
man nature for a perpetuity, frequently appeared
in a human shape. So Bishop Patrick thinks, con¬
sonant to the judgment of the Fathers. Joshua
gave him divine honours, and he received them,
which a created angel would not have done, and he
is called Jehovah, ch. 6. 2. 2. He here appeared
as a soldier, with his- sword drawn in his hand. To
Abraham in his tent, he appeared as a traveller; to
Joshua in the field as a man of war: Christ will be
to his people what their faith expects and desires.
Christ had his sword drawn, which served, (1.)
To justify the war Joshua was engaging in, and to
show him that it was of God, who gave him com¬
mission to kill and slay. If the sovereign draw the
sword, that proclaims war, and authorises the sub¬
ject to do so too. The sword is then well drawn
when Christ draws it, and gives the banner to them
that fear him, to be displayed because of the truth,
Ps. 60. 4. (2.) To encourage him to carry it on
with vigour; for Christ’s sword drawn in his hand
denotes how ready he is for the defence and salva¬
tion of his people, who through him shall do va¬
liantly. His sword turns every way.
IV. The bold question with which Joshua ac¬
costed him; he did not send a servant, but stept up
to him himself, and asked, Art thou for us, or for
our adversaries? Which intimates his readiness to
entertain him if he were for them, and to fight him
if he were against them. This speaks, 1. His great
courage and resolution. He was not ruffled by the
suddenness of the appearance, nor daunted with
the majesty and bravery, which no doubt appeared
in the countenance of the person he saw; but, with
a presence of mind that became so great a General,
put this fair question to him. God had bid Joshua
be courageous, and by this it appears that he was
so; for what God by his word requires of his peo
pie, he does by his grace work in them. 2. His
great concern for the people and their cause; so
heartily has he embarked in the interests of Israel,
that none shall stand by him with the face of a man,
but he will know whether he be a friend or a fee.
It should seem, he suspected him for an enemy, a
Goliath that was come to destroy the armies of the
living God, and to give him a challenge. Thus
apt are we to look upon that as against us, which is
most for us. The question plainly implies, that
the cause between the Israelites and Canaanites,
between Christ and Beelzebub, will not admit of
a neutrality. He that is not with us, is against us.
V. The account he gave of himself, v. 14.
“Nay, not for your adversaries, you may be
sure, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am 1
now come, not only for you as a friend, but over
you, as commander in chief.” Here were now, as
of old, Gen. 32. 2, Mahanaim, two hosts, a host of
Israelites ready to engage the Canaanites, and a host
of angels to protect them therein, and he, as Captain
of both, conducts the host of Israel, and commands
the host of angels to their assistance. Perhaps in
allusion to this, Christ is called the Captain of our
salvatioti, Heb. 2. 10. and a Leader and Com¬
mander to the people, Isa. 55. 4. They cannot but
be victorious, that have such a Captain. He now
came as Captain to review the troops, to animate
them, and to give the necessary oi’ders for the be¬
sieging of Jericho.
VI. The great respect Joshua paid him when he
understood who he was; it is probable that he per¬
ceived not only by what he said, but by some other
sensible indications, that he was a divine person,
and not a man.
1. Joshua paid homage to him. He fell on his
face to the earth and did worship. Joshua was him¬
self General of the forces of Israel, and yet he wrs
far from looking with jealousy upon this stranger,
who produced a commission as Captain of the
Lord’s host above him; he did not offer to dispute
his claims, but cheerfully submitted to him as his
commander. It well becomes the greatest men to
be humble and reverent in their addresses to God.
2. He begged to receive commands and direc¬
tions from him, What saith my Lord unto his ser¬
vant? His former question was not more bold and
soldier-like, than this was pious and saint-like; nor
was it any disparagement to the greatness of Josh¬
ua’s spirit, thus to humble himself when he had
to do with God: even crowned heads cannot bow
too low before the throne of the Lord Jesus, who is
King of kings, Ps. 2. 10, 11. — 72. 10, 11. Rev. 19.
16. Observe, (1.) The relation he owns between
himself and Christ; that Christ was his Lord, and
himself his servant and under his command, Christ
his Captain, and himself a soldier under him, to do
as he is bidden, Matt. 8. 9. Note, The foundation
of all acceptable obedience is laid in a sincere dedi¬
cation of ourselves, as servants to Jesus Christ as
our Lord, Ps. 16.2. (2.) The inquiry he makes
pursuant to this relation, What saith my Lord?
Which implies an earnest desire to know the will
of Christ, and a cheerful readiness and resolution
to do it. Joshua owns himself an inferior officer,
and stands to receive orders; this temper of mind
shows him fit for the post he was in, for those
know best how to command, that know how to
obey.
VII. The further expressions of reverence
which this divine Captain required from Joshua,
v. 15, I^oose thy shoe from off thy foot, in token ot
reverence and respect, which with us are signified
by uncovering the head; and as an acknowledge
mentof a divine presence, which, while it continued
there, did in a manner sanctify the place and dig
31
JOSHUA, VI.
nify it. We often say of a person whom we have a
great affection for, that we love the very ground he
goes upon; thus Joshua must show his reverence
for this divine person, he must not tread the ground
he stood on with his shoes on, Eccl. 5. 1. Outward
expressions of inward reverence, and a religious
awe of God, well become us, and are required of
us, whenever we approach to him in solemn ordi¬
nances. Bishop Patrick well observes here, that the
very same orders that God gave to Moses at the bush,
when he was sending him to bring Israel out of
Egvpt, Exod. 3. 5. he here gives to Joshua, for the
confirming of his faith in the promise he had lately
given him, that as he had been with Moses, so he
would be with him, ch. 1. 5. Had Mo£es such a
presence of God with him, as, when it became sen¬
sible, sanctified the ground? So had Joshua.
And ( lastly ) Hereby he prepares him to receive
the instructions he was about to give him, concern¬
ing the siege of Jericho, which this captain of the
Lord’s host was now come to give Israel posses¬
sion of.
CHAP. VI.
Joshua opened the campaign with the siege of Jericho, a
city which could not trust so much to the courage of its
people, as to act offensively and to send out. its forces to
oppose Israel’s landing and encamping, but trusted so
much to the strength of its walls, as to stand upon its
defence, and not to surrender, or desire conditions of
peace. Now here we have the story of the taking of it.
I. The directions and assurances which the Captain of
the Lord’s host gave concerning it, v. 1 . . 5. II. The
trial of the people’s patient obedience in walking round
the city six days, v. 6 . . 14. III. The wonderful delivery
of it into their hands the seventh day, with a solemn
charge to them to use it as a devoted thing, v. 15.. 21.
and v. 24. IV. The preservation of Rahab and her rela¬
tions, v. 22, 23, 25. V. A curse pronounced upon the man
that should dare to rebuild this city, w 26, 27. An ab¬
stract of this story we find among the trophies of faith,
Heb. 11. 30, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, af¬
ter they were compassed about seven days.
1. 1%TQW Jericho was straitly shut up,
11 because of the children of Israel :
none went out, and none came in. 2. And
the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have
given into thine hand Jericho, and the king
thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3.
And ye shall compass the city, all ye men
of war, and go round about the city once.
Thus shalt thou do six days. 4. And se¬
ven priests shall bear before the ark seven
trumpets of rams’ horns : and the seventh
day ye shall compass the city seven times,
and the. priests shall blow with the trum¬
pets. 5. And it shall come to pass, that
when they make a long blast with the rams’
horns, and when ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, all the people shall shout with a
great shout ; and the wall of the city shall
fall down flat, and the people shall ascend
up, every man straight before him.
We have here a contest between God and the
men of Jericho, and their different resolutions, upon
which it is easy to say whose word shall prevail.
I. Jericho resolves Israel shall not be its master,
v. 1. It was straitly shut up, because of the chil¬
dren of Israel it dia shut tip, and it was shut up.
So it is in the margin, it did shut up itself, being
strongly fortified both by art and nature, and it was
shut up, by the obstinacy and resolution of the in¬
habitants, who agreed never to surrender or so
much as sound a parley; none went out as deserters
or to treat of peace, nor were any admitted in to
offer peace. Thus were they infatuated, and their
hearts hardened to their own destruction — the mise-
■ rable case and character of all those that strengthen
themselves against the Almighty, Job 15. 25.
II. God resolves Israel shall be its master, and
that quickly. The captain of the Lord’s host, here
called Jehovah, taking notice how strongly Jericho
was fortified, and how strictly guarded, and know¬
ing Joshua’s thoughts and cares about reducing it,
I and perhaps his fears of a disgrace there, and of
stumbling at the threshold, gave him here all the
assurance he could desire of success, v. 2, See, I
have given into thine hand Jericho. Not, “J will
do it, but I have done it; it is all thine own, as sure
as if it were already in thy possession.” It was de-
! signed that this city, being the first-fruits of Canaan,
! should be entirely devoted to God, and that neither
Joshua nor Israel should ever be one mite the richer
for it, and yet it is here said to be give?i into their
hand, for we must reckon that most our own,
which we have an opportunity of honouring God
with, and employing in his service.
Now, 1. The Captain of the Lord’s host gives
directions how the city should be besieged. No
trenches are to be opened, no batteries erected, or
battering rams drawn up, nor any military prepa¬
rations made; but the ark of God must be carried
by the priests round the city, onc.e a day for six days
together, and seven times the seventh day, attended
by the men of war in silence, the priests all the
while blowing with trumpets of ram’s horns, v. 3,
4. This was all they were to do.
2. He assures them, that on the seventh day be¬
fore night, they should without fail, be masters of
the town; upon a s'gnal given, they must all shout,
and immediately the wall should fall down, which
would not only expose the inhabitants, but so dis¬
pirit them, that they would not be able to make
any resistance, v. 5. God appointed this way, (1.)
To magnify his olvn power, that he might be ex¬
alted in his own strength, Ps. 21. 13. not in the
strength of instruments. God would hereby yet
further make bare his own almighty arm for the
encouragement of Israel, and the terror and con¬
fusion of the Canaanites. (2.) To put an honour
upon his ark, the instituted token of his presence,
and to give a reason for the laws, by which the peo¬
ple were obliged to look upon it with the most pro¬
found veneration and respect. When, leng after
this, the ark was brought into the camp without
orders from God, it was looked upon as a profana¬
tion of it, and the people paid dear for their pre¬
sumption, 1 Sam. 4. 3, &c. But now that it was
done by the divine appointment, it was an honour to
the ark of God, and a great encouragement to the
faith of Israel. (3.) It was likewise to put honour
upon the priests, who were appointed upon this oc¬
casion to carry the ark, and sound the trumpets.
Ordinarily, the priests were excused from war;
that that privilege, with other honours and powers
that the law had given them, might not be grudged
them, in this service they are principally employed,
and so the people are made sensible what blessings
they were to the public, and how well worthy of all
the advantages conferred upon them. (4. ) It was
to try the faith, obedience, and patience, of the
people, to try w’hether they would observe a pre¬
cept, which to human policy seemed foolish to
obey, and believe a promise which inhuman proba¬
bility seemed impossible to be performed. They
were also proved, whether they could patiently
bear the reproaches of their enemies, and patiently
wait for the salvation of the Lord. Thus, by faith,
not by force, the walls of Jericho fell down. (5.1
32
JOSHUA, VI.
It was to encourage the hope of Israel, with refer¬
ence to the remaining difficulties that were before
them. That suggestion of the evil spies, that Ca¬
naan could never be conquered, because the cities
were walled, u/i to heaven, (Deut. 1. 28.) would by
this be for ever silenced. The strongest and high¬
est walls cannot hold out against Omnipotence;
they needed not to fight, and therefore needed not
to fear, because God fought for them.
6. And Joshua the son of Nun called
the priests, and said unto them, Take up
the ark of the covenant, and let seven
priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns
before the ark of the Lord. 7. And he
said unto the people, Pass on, and compass
the city, and let him that is armed pass on
before the ark of the Lord. 8. And it
came to pass, when Joshua had spoken
unto the people, that the seven priests bear¬
ing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns
passed on before the Lord, and blew with
the trumpets ; and the ark of the covenant
of the Lord followed them. 9. And the
armed men went before the priests that
blew with the trumpets, and the rearward
came after the ark, the priests going on, and
blowing with the trumpets. 10. And Joshua
had commanded the people, saying, Ye
shall not shout nor make any noise with
your voice, neither shall any word proceed
out of your mouth, until the day I bid you
shout ; then shall ye shout. 1 1 . So the ark
of the Lord compassed the city, going
about it once : and they came into the
camp, and lodged in the camp. 12. And
Joshua rose early in the morning, and the
priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13.
And seven priests, bearing seven trumpets
of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord,
went on continually, and blew with the
trumpets : and the armed men went before
them but the rearward came after the ark
of the Lord, the priests going on, and
blowing with the trumpets. 14. And the
second day they compassed the city once,
and returned into the camp-: so they did
six days. 1 5. And it came to pass on the
seventh day, that they rose early about the
dawning of the day, and compassed the
city after the same manner seven times :
only on that day they compassed the city
seven times. 16. And it came to pass at
the seventh time, when the priests blew
with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the
people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you
the city.
We have here an account of the cavalcade which
Israel made about Jericho, the orders Joshua gave
concerning it, as he had received them from the
Lord, and their punctual observance of these orders.
We do not find that he gave the people the express
assurances God had given him, that he would de¬
liver the city into their hands; he tried whether
they would obey orders with a general confidence
that it would end well, and we find them very ob¬
servant both of God and Joshua.
I. Wherever the ark went the people attended
it, v. 9. The armed men went before it to clear
the way, not thinking it any disparagement to them,
though they were men of war, to be pioneers to the
ark of God. If any obstacle should be found in
crossing all the roads that led to the city, (which
they must do in walking round it,) they would re¬
move it; if any opposition should be made by the
enemy, they would encounter it, that the priests’
march with the ark might be easy and safe. It is
an honour to the greatest of men to do any good
office to the ark, and to serve the interests of re¬
ligion in their country. The rearward, either
another body of armed men, or Dan’s squadron,
which marched last through the wilderness, or, as
some think, the multitude of the people who were
not armed or disciplined for war, (as many of them
as would,) followed the ark, to testify their respects
to it, to grace the solemnity, and to be witnesses of
what was done. Every faithful zealous Israelite
would be willing to undergo the same fatigues, and run
the same hazard with the priests that bare the ark.
II. Seven priests went immediately before the
ark, having trumpets in their hands, with which
they were continually sounding, v. 4, 5, 9, 13. The
priests were God’s ministers, and thus in his name,
1. They proclaimed war with the Canaanites, and
so struck a terror upon them; for by terrors upon
their spirits they were to be conquered and sub¬
dued. Thus God’s ministers, by the solemn decla¬
rations of his wrath against all ungodliness, and
unrighteousness of men, must blow the trumpet in
Sion, and sound an alarm in the holy mountain, that
the sinners in' Sion may be afraid. They are God’s
heralds to denounce war against pll those that go on
still in their trespasses, but say, “We shall have
peace, though we go on.” 2. They proclaimed
God’s gracious presence with Israel, and so put life
and courage into them. It was appointed that
when they went to war, the priests should en¬
courage them with the assurance of God’s presence
with them, Deut. 20. 2 . . 4. And particularly
their blowing with trumpets was to be a sign to the
people, that they should be remembered before the
Lord their God in the day of battle, Numb. 10. 9.
It encouraged Abijah, 2 Chron. 13. 12. Thus
God’s ministers, by sounding the Jubilee trumpet
of the everlasting gospel, which proclaims liberty
and victory, must encourage the good soldiers of
Jesus Christ in their spiritual warfare.
III. The trumpets they used, were not these
silver trumpets which were appointed to be made
for their ordinary sendee, but trumpets of rams’
horns, bored hollow for the purpose, as some think;
these trumpets were of the basest matter, duller
sound, and least show, that the excellency of the
power might be of God. Thus by the foolishness
of preaching, fitly compared to the sounding ot
these rams’ horns, the devil’s kingdom is thrown
down, and the weapons of our warfare, though
they are not carnal, nor seem to a carnal eye likely
to bring any thing to pass, are yet mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong folds, 2 Cor.
10. 4, 5. The word here is trumpets of Jobel, that
is, such trumpets as they used to blow withal in the
year of jubilee; many interpreters understand it so,
as signifying the complete liberty to which Israel
was now brought, and the bringing of the land of
Canaan into the hands of its just and rightful
owners.
IV. All the people were commanded to be silent,
not to speak a word, nor make any noise, v. 10. that
they might the more carefully attend to the sound
33
JOSHUA, VI.
of the sacred trumpets, which they were now to
look upon as the voice of God among them; and it
does not become us to speak when God is speaking.
It likewise intimates their reverent expectation of
the event, Zech. 2. 13, Be silent, O all Jlesh before
the Lord. Exod. 14. 14, God shall fight, and ye
shall hold your peace.
V. They were to do this once a day for six days
together, and seven times the seventh day, v. 14,
15. God could have caused the walls of Jericho to
fall upon the first surrounding of them, but they
must go round them thirteen times before they fall,
that they might be kept waiting patiently for the
Lord. Though they were lately come into Canaan,
and their time was very precious, (for they had a
great deal of work before them,) yet they must
linger so many days about Jericho, seeming to do
nothing, nor to make any progress in their business.
As promised deliverances must be expected in
God’s wav, so they must be expected in his time.
He that believes, does not make haste, not more
haste than God would have him make. Go yet
sex'en times before any thing hopeful appears, 1
Kings 18. 43.
VI. One of these days must needs be a sabbath-
day, and the Jews say that it was the last, but that
is not certain; however, if he that appointed them
to rest on the other sabbath-days, appointed them
to walk on this, that was sufficient to justify them in
it; he never intended to bind himself by his own
laws, but that when he pleased he might dispense 1
with them. The impotent man went upon this
principle when he argued, John 5. 11, He that
made me mhole (and therefore has a divine power,)
he said unto me, Take up thy bed. And in this
case here, it was an honour to the sabbath-day, by
which our time is divided into weeks, that just
seven days were to be spent in this work, and seven
priests were employed to sound seven trumpets;
that number being, on this occasion, as well as
many others, made remarkable, in remembrance
of the six days’ work of creation, and the seventh
day’s rest from it. And, besides, the law of the
sabbath forbids our own work, which is servile and
secular, but this which they did, was a religious act.
It is certainly no breach of the sabbath-rest to do
the sabbath- work, for the sake of which the rest
was instituted; and what is the sabbath- work but to
attend the'ark in all its motions?
VII. They continued to do this, during the time
appointed, and seven times the seventh day, though
they saw not any effect of it, believing that at the
end the vision mould speak and not lie, Hab. 2. 3.
If we persevere in the way of duty, we shall lose
nothing by it in the long run. It is probable they
walked at such a distance from the walls, as to be
out of the reach of the enemies’ arrows, and out of
the hearing of their scoffs. We may suppose the
oddness of the thing did at first amuse the besieged,
but by the seventh day they were grown secure,
feeling no harm from that, which perhaps they look¬
ed upon as an enchantment. Probably, they bantered
the besiegers, as they, Neh. 4. 2, “ What do these fee¬
ble Jems ? Is this the people they thought so formi¬
dable? Are these their methods of attack?” Thus
they cried Peace and Safety, that the destruction
might be the more terrible when it came. Wicked
men (says Bishop Hall) think God in jest mhen he
is prepaying for their judgment; but they will be
convinced of their mistake when it is too late.
VIII. At last they were to give a shout, and did
so, and immediately the walls fell, v. 16. This
was a shout for mastery,- a triumphant shout, the
shout of a king is among them , Numb. 23. 21.
This was a shout of faith; they believed that the
walls of Jericho would fall, and by that faith they
were thrown down. It was a shout of prayer, an
Vol. ii. — E
echo to the sound of the trumpets which proclaimed
the promise that God would remember them; with
one accord, as one man, they cry to heaven for
help, and help comes in. Some allude to this to
show that we must never expect a complete victory
over our own corruptions till the very evening of
our last day, and then we shall shout in triumph
over them, mhen me come to the number and mea¬
sure of our perjections, as Bishop Hall expresses it.
A good heart (says he) groans under the sense of his
infirmities, fain mould be rid of them, and strives
and prays, but mhen all is done, until the end of the
seventh day it cannot be; then judgment shall be
brought forth unto victory. And at the end of
time, when our Lord shall descend from heaven
with a shout, and the sound of a trumpet, Satan’s
kingdom shall be completely ruined, and not till
then, when all opposing rule, principality, and
power, shall be effectu lly and eternally put down.
17. And the city shall be accursed, even
it and all that are therein, to the Lord:
only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all
that are with her in the h xise, because she
hid the messengers that we sent. 1 8. And-
you, in any wise keep yourselves from the
accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves ac¬
cursed, when ye lake off the accursed thing,
and make the camp of Israel a curse, and
trouble it. 19. But all the silver, and gold,
and vessels of brass and iron, are conse¬
crated unto the Lord: they shall come
into the treasury of the Lord. 20. So the
people shouted when the priests blew with
the trumpets : and it came to pass, when
the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
and the people shouted with a great shout,
that the wall fell down flat, so that the peo¬
ple went up into the city, every man straight
before him, and they took the city: 21.
And they utterly destroyed all that was in
the city, both man and woman, young and
old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the
edge of the sword. 22. But Joshua had
said unto the two men that had spied oul
the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and
bring out thence the woman, and all that
she hath, as ye sware unto her. 23. And
the young men that were spies went in, and
brought out Rahab, and her father, and her
mother, and her brethren, and all that she
had ; and they brought out all her kindred,
and left them without the camp of Israel.
24. And they burnt the city with fire, and
all that teas therein : only the silver, and the
gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron,
they put into the treasury of the house of
the Lord. 25. And Joshua saved Rahab
the harlot alive, and her father’s household,
and all that she had ; and she dwelleth in
Israel even unto this day ; because she hid
the messengers which Joshua sent to spy
out Jericho. 26. And Joshua adjured them
at that time, saying, Cursed be the man be¬
fore the Lord that risoth up and buildeth
J4 JOS Fill A, VI.
this city Jericho : he shall lay the foundation
thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest
son shall he set up the gates of it. 27. So
the Lord was with Joshua ; and his fame
was noised throughout all the country.
The people had religiously observed the orders
given them concerning the besieging of Jericho, and
now at length Joshua had told them, v. 16, “ The
Lord hath given you the city, enter and take pos¬
session.” Accordingly, in these verses we have,
I. The rules they were to observe in taking pos¬
session; God gives it them, and therefore may direct
it to what uses and intents, and clog it with what
provisos and limitations he thinks fit. It is given
to them to be devoted to God, as the first, and per¬
haps the worst, of all the cities of Canaan.
1. The city must be burnt, and all the lives in it sa¬
crificed without mercy to the justice of God. All this
they knew was included in those words, v. 17. The
city shall be a cherem, a devoted thing, it and all
therein, to the Lord; no life in it might be ransomed
upon any terms, they must all be surely fiut to death,
Lev. 27. 29. So He appoints, from whom as crea¬
tures they had received their lives, and to whom as
sinners they had forfeited them; and who may dis¬
pute his sentence? Is God unrighteous, who thus
laketh vengeance? God forbid we should entertain
such a thought! There was more of God seen in
the taking of Jericho, than of any other of the cities
of Canaan, and therefore that must be more than
any other devoted to him. And the severe usage of
this city would strike a terror upon all the rest and
melt their hearts yet more before Israel. Only
when this severity is ordered, Rahab and her fami¬
ly are excepted; she shall live and all that are with
her. She had distinguished herself from her neigh¬
bours by the kindness she showed to Israel, and
therefore shall be distinguished from them by the
speedy return of that kindness.
2. All the treasure of it, the monev and plate and
valuable goods, must be consecrated to the service
of the tabernacle, and brought into the stock of dedi¬
cated things: The Jews sav, because the citv was
taken on the sabbath-day. Thus God would be ho¬
noured by the beautifying and enriching of his
tabernacle; thus preparation was made for the
extraordinary expenses of his service: and thus the
Israelites were taught not to set their hearts upon
worldly wealth, nor to aim at heaping up abundance
of it for themselves. God had promised them a land
flowing with milk and honey, not a land abounding
with silver and gold, for he would have them live
comfortably in it, that they might serve him cheer¬
fully, but not covet either to trade with distant
countries, or to hoard for aftertimes. He would
likewise have them reckon themselves enriched in
the enriching of the tabernacle; and to think that
which was laid up in God’s house as truly their ho¬
nour and wealth as if it had been laid up in their
own.
A particular caution is given them to take heed
of meddling with the forbidden spoil ; for what was
devoted to God, if they offered to appropriate it to
their own use, would prove accursed to them ; there¬
fore, v. 18, “ In any wise keefi yourselves from the
accursed thing ; you will find yourselves inclined to
reach towards it, but check yourselves, frighten
yourselves from having anything to do with it.”
He speaks as if he foresaw the sin of Achan, which
we have an account of in the next chapter, when he
gives that reason for the caution, lest ye make the
cam/i of Israel a curse, and trouble it, as it proved
that Achan did.
II. The entrance that was opened to them into
the city by the sudden fall of the walls, or at least
that part of the wall over-against which they then
were when they gave the shout, v. 20, The wall
fell down flat, and, probably, killed abundance of
people; the guards that stood sentinel upon it, or
others that crowded upon it, to look at the Israel¬
ites that were walking around. We read of thou¬
sands killed by the fall of a wall, 1 Kings 20 30.
That which they trusted to for defence, proved their
destruction. The sudden fall of the wall, no doubt,
put the inhabitants into such a consternation, chat
they had no strength nor spirit to make any resist¬
ance, but they became an easy prey to the sword of
Israel, and saw to how little purpose it was to shut
their gates against a people that had the Lord ori the
head of them, Mic. 2. 13. Note, The God of hea¬
ven easily can, and certainly will, break down all
the opposing power of his and his church’s enemies.
Gates of brass and bars of iron are, before him, but
as straw and rotten wood, Isa. 45. 1, 2. Who will
bring me into the strong city? Wilt not thou, O God?
Ps. 60. 9, 10. Thus shall Satan’s kingdom fall, nor
shall any prosper, that hardened themselves agains*-
God.
III. The execution of the orders given concern
this devoted city. All that breathed, were put
the sword; not only the men that were found
arms, but the women and children and old peop
Though they cried for quarter, and begged ever
earnestly for their lives, there was no room for co¬
passion, pity must be forgotten, they utterly c
stroyed all, v. 21. If they had not had a divi
warrant, under the seal of miracles for this exec
tion, it could not have been justified, nor can
justify the like now, when we are sure no stu
warrant can be produced. But being appointed 1
the righteous Judge of heaven and earth to do i
who is not unrighteous in taking vengeance, they ai
to be applauded in doing it, as the faithful mimste
of his justice. Work for God was then bloody
work; and cursed was he that did it deceitfully,
keeping back his sword from blood, Jer. 48. 10. But
the spirit of the gospel is very different, for Christ
came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them,
Luke 9. 56. Christ’s victories were of another na¬
ture. The cattle were put to death with the
owners, as additional sacrifices to the divine justice.
The cattle of the Israelites, when slain at the altar,
were accepted as sacrifices for them, but the cattle
of those Canaanites were required to be slain as sa¬
crifices with them, for their iniquity was not to be
purged with sacrifice and offering: both were for
the glory of God. 2. The city was burnt with flre,
and all that was in it, v. 24. The Israelites, per¬
haps, when they had taken Jericho, a large and
well-built city, hoped they should have that for
their head-quarters; but God will have them yet to
dwell in tents, and therefore fires this nest, lest they
should nestle in it. 3. All the silver and gold, ancl
all those vessels which were capable of being puri¬
fied by fire, were brought into the treasury of the
house of the Lord; not that he needed it, but he
would be honoured by it, as the Lord of hosts, of
their hosts in particular, the God that gave the vic¬
tory, and therefore might demand the spoil; either the
whole, as here, or, as sometimes, a tenth, Heb. 7. 4.
IV. The preservation of Rahab the harlot, or
inn-keeper, who perished not with them that believ¬
ed not, Heb. 11. 31. The public faith was engaged
for her safety, by the two spies, who acted therein
as public persons; and therefore though the hurry
they were in at the taking of the town, no doubt,
was very great, vet Joshua took effectual care for her
preservation. The same persons that she had secur¬
ed, were employed to secure her, v. 22, 23. They
were best able to do it, who knew her and her house,
and they were fittest to do it, that it might appeal
it was for the sake of her kindness to them, that she
JOSHUA, VI 1.
35
■was thus distinguished, and had her life given her
for a prey. All her kindred were saved with her;
like Noah she believed to the saving of her house;
and thus faith in Christ brings salvation to the house.
Acts 16. 31. Some ask, how her house, which is
said to have been u/ion the wall , ch. 2. 15. escaped
falling with the wall; we are sure it did escape, for
she and her relations were safe in it: either though
it joined so near to the wall as to be said to be upon
it, yet it was so far off as not to fall either with the
wail or under it; or rather that part of the wall on
which her house stood, fell not. Now being pre¬
served alive, 1. She was left for some time without
the camp to be purified from the gentile supersti¬
tion, which she was to renounce, and to be prepared
for her admission as a proselyte. 2. She was in due
time incorporated with the church of Israel, and
she and her posterity dwelt in Israel, and her fami¬
ly was remarkable long after. We find her the
wife of Salmon, prince of Judah, mother of Boaz,
and named among the ancestors of our Saviour,
Matt. 1. 5. Having received Israelites in the name
of Israelites, she had an Israelite’s reward. Bishop
Pierson observes, that Joshua’s saving Rahab the
harlot, and admitting her into Israel, was a figure
of Christ’s receiving into his kingdom, and enter¬
taining there, the publicans and the harlots, Matt.
21, 31. Or it may be applied to the conversion of
the Gentiles.
V. Jericho is condemned to a perpetual desola¬
tion, and a curse pronounced upon the man that at
any time hereafter should offer to rebuild it, v. 26.
Joshua adjured them, that is, the elders and people
of Israel, not only by their own consent, obliging
themselves and their posterity never to rebuild this
city, but by the divine appointment; God himself
having forbidden it under the severe penalty here
annexed. 1. God would hereby show the weight
of a divine curse; where it rests there is no contend¬
ing with it nor getting from under it; it brings ruin
without remedy or repair. 2. He would have it to
remain in its ruins a standing monument of his wrath
against the Canaanites, when the measure of their
iniquity was full; and of his mercy to his people,
when the time was come for their settlement in Ca¬
naan. The desolations of their enemies were wit¬
nesses of his favour to them, and would upbraid them
with their ingratitude to that God who had done so
much for them. The situation of the city was very
pleasant, and probably, its nearness to Jordan was an
advantage to it, which would tempt men to build up¬
on the same spot; but they are here told it is at their
eril if they do it. Men build for their posterity,
ut he that builds Jericho, shall have no posterity to
enjoy what he builds; his eldest son shall die when
he begins the work, and if he take not warning by
that stroke to desist, but will go on presumptuously,
the finishing of his work shall be attended with the
funeral of his youngest, and we must suppose all the
rest cut off between. This curse, not being a cur-e
causeless, did come upon that man who long after
rebuilded Jericho, 1 Kings 16. 34. but we are not to
think it made the place ever the worse when it was
built, or brought any hurt to them that inhabited it.
We find Jericho afterward graced with the presence,
not only of those two great prophets Elijah and Eli¬
sha, but of our blessed Saviour himself, Luke 18.
35* 19. 1. Matt. 20. 29. Note, It is a dangerous
thing to attempt the building up of that which God
will have to be destroyed. See Mai. 1. 4.
Lastly, All this magnified Joshua and raised his
reputation, v. 2 7. it made him not only acceptable
to Israel, but formidable to the Canaanites, because
it appeared that God was with him of a truth: the
Word of the Lord was with him, so the Chaldee,
even Christ himself, the same that was with Moses.
Nothing can more raise a man’s reputation, nor
make him appear more truly gteat, than to have
the evidences of God’s presence with him.
CHAP. VII.
More than once we have found the affairs of Israel, then
when they were in the happiest posture, and gave the
most hopeful prospects, perplexed and embarrassed by
sin, and a stop thereby put to the most promising
proceedings. The golden calf, the murmuring at Ka-
desh, and the iniquity of Peor, had broken their mea¬
sures and given them great disturbance; and in this
chapter we have such another instance of the interrup¬
tion given to the progress of theft arms by sin. But ft
being only the sin of one person or family, and soon
expiated, the consequences were not so mischievous as
of those other sins; however it served to let them know
that they were still upon their good behaviour. We have
here, I. The sin of Achan in meddling with the accursed
thing, v. 1. II The defeat of Israel before Ai thereupon,
v. 2.. 5. III. Joshua’s humiliation and prayer on occa¬
sion of that sad disaster, v. 6.. 9. IV. The directions
God gave him for the putting away of the guilt, which
had provoked God thus to contend with them,v. 10. .15.
V. The discovery, trial, conviction, condemnation, and
execution, of the criminal, by which the anger of God
was turned away, v. 16.. 26. And by this story it
appears that, as the law, so Canaan itself, made nothing
perfect, the perfection both of holiness and peace to
God’s Israel is to be expected in the heavenly Canaan
^ only.
1. ~OUT the children of Israel committed
Jl3 a trespass in the accursed thing : for
Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,
the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took
of the accursed thing : and the anger of the
Lord was kindled against the children of
Israel. 2. And Joshua sent men from Jeri¬
cho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the
east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them,
saying, Go up and view the country. And
the men went up and viewed Ai. 3. And
they returned to Joshua, and said unto him,
Let not all the people go up ; but let about
two or three thousand men go up and smite
Ai ; and make not all the people to labour
thither ; for they are but few. 4. So there,
went up thither of the people about three
thousand men : and they fled before the men
of Ai. 5. And the men of Ai smote of them
about thirty and six men : for they chased
them from before the gate even unto Sheba-
rim, and smote them in the going down ;
wherefore the hearts of the people melted,
and became as water.
The story of this chapter begins with a but. The
Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised
through all that country; so the foregoing chaptei
ends, and it left no room to doubt but that he would
go on as he had begun, conquering and to conquer.
He did right, and observed his orders in every
thing. But the children of Israel committed a tres
pass, and so set God against them; and then evei.
Joshua’s name and fame, his wisdom and courage,
could do them no service. If we lose our God, we
lose our friends, who cannot help us unless God be
for us. Now here is,
I. Achan sinning; v. 1. Here is only a general
mention made of the sin, we shall afterward have
a more particular account of it from his own mouth.
The sin is here said to be taking of the accursed
thing, in disobedience to the command, and in defi¬
ance of the threatening, ch. 6. 18. In the sacking
3G JOSHUA, V1J.
of Jericho, orders were given, that they should I
neither spare any lives, nor take any treasure to
themselves; we read not of the breach of the
former prohibition, (there were none to whom they
showed any mercy,) but of the latter. Compas¬
sion was put off, and yielded to the law, but covet¬
ousness was indulged. The love of the world is
that root of bitterness, which of all others is most
hardly rooted up. Yet the history of Achan is a
plain intimation that he of all the thousands of Israel
was the only delinquent in this matter. Had there j
been more in like manner guilty, no doubt we
should have heard of it; and it is strange there
were no more. The temptation was strong, it was
easy to suggest what a p,ty it was that so many
things of value should be burnt, to what purpose is
this waste? In plundering cities, every man reck¬
ons himself entitled to what he can lay his hands on.
It was easy to promise themselves secrecy and im¬
punity; yet by the grace of God such impressions
were made upon the minds of the Israelites by the
ordinances ot God, circumcision and the passover,
which they had lately been partakers of, and by
the providences of God which had been concern¬
ing them, that they stood in awe ot the divine pre¬
cept and judgment, and generously denied them¬
selves in obedience to their God. And yet, though
it was a single person that sinned, the children of
Israel are said to commit the trespass, because one
of their body did it, and he was not as yet separated
from them, nor disowned by them. They did it,
that is, by what Achan did, guilt was derived upon
the whole society of which he was a member.
This should be a warning to us to take heed of sin
ourselves, lest by it many be defiled or disquieted,
Heb. 12. 15. and to take heed of having fellowship
with sinners, and of being in with them, lest we
share in their guilt. Many a careful tradesman has
been broken by a careless partner. And it con¬
cerns us to watch over one another for the prevent¬
ing of sin, because others’ sins may redound to our
damage.
II. The camp of Israel suffering for the same.
The anger o f the Lord was kindled against Israel ;
he saw the offence, though they did not, and takes
a course to make them see it; for, one way or other,
sooner or later, secret sins will be brought to light;
and if men inquire not after them, God will, and
with his inquiries will awaken their’s. Many a
community is under guilt and wrath, and is not
aware of it, till the fire breaks out: here it broke
out quickly.
1. Joshua sends a detachment to seize upon the
next city that was in their way, and that was Ai.
Only three thousand men were sent, advice being
brought him by his spies that the place was incon¬
siderable, and needed no greater force for the re¬
duction of it, v. 2, 3. Now perhaps it was a
culpable assurance, or security rather, that they
sent so small a party on the expedition; it might
also be an indulgence of the people in the love
of ease, for they will not have all the people to
labour thither ; perhaps the people were the less
forward to go upon this expedition, because they
were denied the plunder of Jericho; and these spies
were willing they should be gratified. Whereas
when that town was to be taken, though God by
his own power would throw down the walls, yet
they must all labour thither, and labour there too,
in walking round it. It did not bode well at all,
that God’s Israel began to think much of their
labour, and contrived how to spare their pains. It
is required that we work out our salvation, though
it is God that works in us. It has likewise often
proved of bad consequence to make too light of an
enemy. They are but few, (say the spies,) but as
few as they were, they were too many for them.
It will awaken our care and diligence in our
Christian warfare, to consider that we wrestle with
principalities and powers.
2. The party he sent, in their first attack upon
the town were repulsed with some loss, v. 4, 5,
they fled before the men of .di, finding themselves
unaccountably dispirited, and their enemies to sally
out upon them with more vigour and resolution than
they expected. In their retreat they had about
thirty-six men cut off: no great loss indeed cut of
such a number, but a dreadful surprise to those
who had no reason to expect any other in any
attack than clear, cheap, and certain victory. And
now, as it proves, it is well there were but three
thousand that fell under this disgrace. Had the
body of the army been there, they had been no
more able to keep their ground, now they were
under guilt and wrath, than this small party, and
to them the defeat would have been much more
grievous and dishonourable. However, it was bad
enough as it was, and served, (1.) To humble God’s
Israel, and to teach them always to rejoice with
trembling. Let not him that girdeth on the har¬
ness, boast as he that putteth it off. (2.) To harden
the Canaanites, and to make them the more secure,
notwithstanding the terrors they had been struck
with, that their ruin, when it came, might be the
more dreadful. (3.) To be an evidence of God’s
displeasure against Israel, and a call to them to
purge out the old leaven. And this was principally
intended in their defeat.
3. The retreat of this party in disorder, put the
whole camp of Israel into a fright; the hearts of the
people melted, not so much for the loss as for the
disappointment. Joshua had assured them that the
living God would without fail drive out the Ca¬
naanites from before them, ch. 3. 10. How can
this event be reconciled to that promise? To every
thinking man among them it appeared an indication
of God’s displeasure, and an omen of something
worse, and therefore no marvel it put them into
such a consternation; if God turn to be their enemy
and fight against them, what will become of them?
True Israelites tremble when God is angry.
6. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell
to the earth upon his face before the ark of
the Lord until the even-tide, he and the
elders of Israel, and put dust upon their
heads. 7. And Joshua said, Alas ! O Lord
God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this
people over Jordan, to deliver us into the
hand of the Amorites, to destroy us ?
Would to God we had been content, and
dwelt on the other side Jordan ! 8. O
Lord, what shall T say, when Israel turn-
eth their back before their enemies ! 9.
For the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants
of the land shall hear of it , and shall en¬
viron us around, and cut off our name from
the earth : and what wilt thou do unto thy
great name ?
We have here an account of the deep concern
Joshua was in, upon this sad occasion. He, as a
public person, interested himself more than any
other in this public loss; and is therein an example
to princes and great men, and teaches them to lay
much to heart the calamities that befall their peo¬
ple: he is also a type of Christ, to whom the blood
of his subiects is brecious, Ps. 72. 14.
Observe,
I. How he grieved; he rent his clothes, v. 6. in
37
JOSHUA, Vll.
token of great sorrow for this public disaster, and
especially a dread of God’s displeasure, which was
certainly the cause of it. Had it been but the com¬
mon chance of wrar, (as we are too apt to express
it,) it had not become a General to droop thus
under it: but when God was angry, it was his duty
to honour and feel thus. One of the bravest sol¬
diers that ever was, owned that his flesh trembled
for fear of God, Ps. 119, 120. As ‘one humbling
himself under the mighty hand of God, he fell to
the earth upon his face, not thinking it any dispa¬
ragement to him to lie thus low before the great
God, to whom he directed this token of reverence,
bv keeping his eye toward the ark of the Lord.
The elders of Israel, being interested in the cause,
and influenced by his example, prostrated them¬
selves with him, and, in token of deep humiliation,
put dust upon their heads, not only as mourners,
but as penitents; not doubting but it was for some
sin or other, that God did thus contend with them,
(though they knew not what it was,) they humbled
themselves before God, and thus deprecated the
progress of his wrath. This they continued until
even-tide, to show that it was not the result of a
sudden feeling, but proceeded from a deep convic¬
tion of their misery and danger if God were any
way provoked to depart from them. Joshua did
not fall foul upon his spies for their misinformation
concerning the strength of the enemy, nor upon the
soldiers for their cowardice, though perhaps both
were blame-worthy, but his eye is up to God; for is
there any evil in the camp, and he has not done it?
His eye is upon God as displeased, and that trou¬
bles him.
II. How he prayed, or pleaded rather, humbly
expostulating the case with God; not sullen, as Da¬
vid when the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah,
but much affected; his spirit seemed to be some¬
what ruffled and discomposed, yet not so as to be
put out of frame for prayer; but by giving vent to
his trouble in an humble address to God, he keeps
his temper, and it ends well.
1. Now he wishes they had all taken up with the
lot of the two tribes on the other side Jordan, v. 7.
He thinks it had been better to have stayed there
and been cut short, than come hither to be cut off.
This savours too much of discontent and distrust of
God, and cannot be justified, though the surprise
and disappointment to one deeply concerned for the
public interest may in part excuse it. Those
words, Wherefore hast thou brought us over Jordan
to destroy us? are too like what the murmurers often
said, Exod. 14. 11, 12. — 16. 3. — 17. 3. Numb. 14. 2,
3. but he that searches the heart, knew they came
from another spirit, and therefore was not extreme
to mark what he said amiss. Had Joshua consider¬
ed that this disorder which their affairs were put
into, no doubt, proceeded from something amiss,
which yet might easily be redressed, and all set to
rights again, (as often in his predecessor’s time) he
would not have spoken of it as a thing taken for
granted, that they were delivered into the hands of
the Amorites to be destroyed. God knows what he
does, though we do not; but this we may be sure of,
he never did, nor ever will, do us any wrong.
2. He speaks as one quite at a loss concerning the
meaning of this event, v. 8. “ What shall L say,
what construction can I put upon it, when Lsrael,
thy own people, for whom thou hast lately done
such great things, and to whom thou hast promised
the full possession of this land, when they turn
their backs before their enemies ,” (their necks, so
the word is,) “when they not only flee before
them, but fall before them, and become a prey to
them? What shall we think of the divine power,
.Is the Lord’s arm shortened? Of the divine pro¬
mise Is his word yea and nay? Of what God has
done for us. Shall that be all undone again and
prove in vain?” Note, The methods of Providence
are often intricate and perplexing, and such as the
wisest and best of men know not what to say to; but
they shall know hereafter, John 13. 7.
' 3. He pleads the danger Israel was now in of
being ruined; he gives up all for gone. “ The Ca-
naanites shall environ us round, concluding that,
now our defence being departed, and the scales
turned in their favour, we shall be in their eyes as
contemptible as ever we were formidable, and they
shall cut off our na??ie from the earth,” v. 9.
Thus even good men, when things go against them
a little, are too apt to fear the worst, and make
harder conclusions than there is reason for. But
this comes in here as a plea; “Lord, let not Israel’s
name, which has been so dear to thee and so great
in the world, be cut off. ”
4. He pleads the reproach that would be cast on
God, and that if Israel were ruined, his glory would
suffer by it. They will cut off our name, says he,
yet as if he had corrected himself for insisting upon
that, it is no great matter (thinks he) what comes
of our little name, (the cutting off of that will be a
small loss,) but what wilt thou do for thy great
name? This he looks upon and laments as the
great aggravation to the calamity, he feared it
would reilect on God, his wisdom and power, his
goodness and faithfulness; what would the Egyptians
say? Note, Nothing is more grievous to a gracious
soul than dishonour done to God’s name. This also
he insists upon as a plea for the preventing of his
fears, and a return of God’s favour; it is the only
word in all his address, that has any encouragement
in it, and he concludes with it, leaving it to this
issue. Father, glorify thy name. The name of God
is a great name, above every name; and whatever
happens, we ought to believe that he will, and pray
that he would, woik for his own name, that that
may not be polluted. This should be our concern
more than any thing else, on this we must fix our
eye as the end of all our desires, and from this we
must fetch our encouragement as the foundation of
all our hopes: we cannct urge a better plea than
this, Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name?
Let God in all be glorified, and then welcome Ids
whole will.
10. And the Loro said unto Joshua,
Get thee up ; wherefore liest thou thus upon
thy face ? 11. Israel hath sinned, and they
have also transgressed my covenant which
I commanded them : for they have even
taken of the accursed thing, and have also
stolen, and dissembled also, and they have
put it even among their own stuff. 12.
Therefore the children of Israel could not
stand before their enemies, hit turned their
backs before their enemies, because they
were accursed : neither will I be with you
any more, except ye destroy the accursed
from among you. 13. Up, sanctify the peo¬
ple, and say, Sanctify yourselves against
to-morrow : for thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, There is an accursed thing in the
midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not
stand before thine enemies, until ye take
away the accursed tiling from among you.
14. In the morning therefore ye shall be
brought according to your tribes : and it
shall be, that the tribe which the LcRn
38
JOSHUA, VII.
taketh shall come according to the families
thereof', and the family which the Lord
shall take shall come by households; and
the households which the Lord shall take
shall come man by man. 15. And it shall
be, that he that is taken with the accursed
thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all
that he hath ; because he hath transgressed
the covenant of the Lord, and because he
hath wrought folly in Israel.
We have here God’s answer to Joshua’s address,
which, we may suppose, came from the oracle over
the ark, before which Joshua had prostrated him¬
self, v. 6. Those that desire to know the will of
Grd, must attend with their desires upon the lively
oracles, and wait at wisdom’s gates for wisdom’s
dictates, Prov. 8. 34. And let those that find them¬
selves under the tokens of God’s displeasure, ne\ er
complain of him, but complain to him, and they
shall receive an answer of peace. The answer
came immediately, while he was yet speaking, Isa.
65. 24. as that of Daniel, ch. 9. 20, & c.
I. God encourages Joshua against his present
despondencies, and the black and melancholy ap¬
prehensions he had of the present posture of Is¬
rael’s affairs, v. 10, “ Get thee up, suffer not thy
spirits to droop and sink thus, wherefore liest thou
thus upon thy face? No doubt, Joshua did well to
humble himseif before God, and mourn as he did,
under the tokens of his displeasure; but now God
tells him, it was enough, he would not have him
continue any longer in that melancholy posture, for
God delights not in the grief of penitents when
they afflict their souls, further than as it qualifies
them for pardon and peace; the days even of that
mourning must be ended. Arise, shake thyself
from the dust, Isa. 52. 2. Joshua continued his
mourning till even-tide, v. 6. so late, that they could
do nothing that night toward the discovery of the
criminal, but were forced to put it off till next
morning. Daniel (ch. 9. 21.) and Ezra (ch. 9. 5,
6.) continued their mourning only till the time of
the evening sacrifice ; that rev ived them both, but
Joshua went past that time, and therefore is thus
roused; “ Get thee up, do not lie all night there.”
Yet we find that Moses fell down before the Lord
forty days and forty nights, to make intercession
for Israel, Dent. 9. 18. Joshua must get up be¬
cause he has other work to do than to lie there; the
accursed thing must be discovered and cast out, and
the sooner the better; Joshua is the man that must
do it, and therefore it is time for him to lay aside
his mourning weeds, and put on his judge’s robes,
and clothe himself with zeal as a cloke; weeping
must not hinder sowing, nor one duty of religion
justle out another. Every thing is beautiful in its
season. Shechaniah perhaps h ul an eye to this in
what he said to Ezra upon a like occasion. See
Ezra 10. 2* *4.
II. He informs him of the true and only cause of
this disaster, and shows him wherefore he contend- !
ed with them, a'. 11, Israel hath sinned. “Think
not that God’s mind is changed, his arm shortened,
or his promise about to fail; no, it is sin, it is sin,
that great mischief-maker, that has stopped the cur¬
rent of divine favours, and has made this breach upon
vou.” The sinner is not named, though the sin
Is described; but it is spoken of as the act of Israel
in general, till they have fastened it upon the par¬
ticular person, and their godly sorrow have so
wrought a clearing of themselves, as the r’s did, 2
Cor. 7. 11. Observe how the sin is here made to
appear exceeding sinful. 1. They have transgress- I
ed my covenant, an express precept with a penalty
annexed to it. It was agreed, that God should have
all the spoil of Jericho, and they should have the spoil
of the rest of the cities cf Canaan, but in robbing Gcd
of his part, they transgressed this covenant. 2.
They have even taken of the devoted thing , in con¬
tempt of the curse which was so solemnly denoun¬
ced against him that should dare to break in upon
God’s property, as if that curse had nothing in it
formidable. 3. They have also stolen; they did it
clandestinely, as if they could conceal it frem the
divine omniscience, and they were ready to say,
The Lord shall not see, or will not miss so small" a
matter out of so great a spoil. Thus thou thought-
est I was altogether such a one as thyself. 4. They
have dissembled also. Probably, when the action
was over, Joshua called all the tribes, and asked
them, whether they had faithfully disposed of the
spoil according to the divine command, and char¬
ged them, if they knew of any transgression, they
should discover it; but Achan joined with the rest in
a general protestation of innocency, and kept his
countenance, like the adulterous woman that eats
and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no
wickedness. Nay, 5. They have put the accursed
thing among their own goods, as if they had as good
a title to that as to any thing they have; never ex¬
pecting to be called to an account, nor designing to
make restitution. All this Joshua, though a wise and
vigilant ruler, knew nothing of, till God told him,
who knows all the secret wickedness that is in the
world, which men know nothing of. God could at
this time have told him who the person was that
had done this thing, but does not. (1.) To exercise
the zeal of Joshua and Israel, in searching out the
criminal. (2.) To give the sinner himself space to
repent and make confession. Joshua, no dcubt,
proclaimed immediately throughout the camp, tin t
there was such a transgression committed, up' n
which, if Achan had surrendered himself, and peni¬
tently owned his guilt, and prevented the scrutiny,
who knows but he might have had the benefit of
that law which accepted of a trespass-offering, with
restitution, from those that had sinned through ig¬
norance in the holy things of the law? Lev. 5. 15,
16. But Achan never discovering himself till the
lot discovered him, evinced the hardness cf his
heart, and therefore he found no mercy.
III. He awakens him to inquire further into it,
by telling him, 1. That this was the only ground
for the controversy God had with them; this, and
nothing else; so that when this accursed thing was
put away, he needed not fear, all would be well, the
stream of their successes, when this one obstruction
was removed, would run as strong as ever. 2. That
if this accursed thing were not destroyed, they
could not expect the return of God’s gracious pre¬
sence; in plain terms, neither will 1 be with you am/
more as I have been, except ye destroy the accursed,
that is, the accursed person, who is made so by the
accursed thing. That which is accursed, will be
destroyed; and they whom God has intrusted to
bear the sword, bear it in vain, if they make it not
a terror to that wickedness which brings these
judgments of God on a land. By personal repent¬
ance and reformation, we destroy the accursed thing
in our own hearts, and unless we do that, we must
never expect the favour of the blessed God. Let
all men know that it is nothing but sin that separates
between them and God, and if that be not sincerely
repented of and forsaken, it will separate eternally.
IV. He directs him in what method to make this
inquiry and prosecution. 1. He must sanctify the
people, now over-night, that is, as it is explained*
he must command them to sanctify themselves, v.
13. And wh it can either magistrates or ministers
1 do more toward sanctification? They must put
39
JOSHUA, VII.
themselves into a suitable frame to appear before
God, and submit to the divine scrutiny; must ex¬
amine themselves, now that God was coming to
examine them; must prepare to meet their God.
They were called to sanctify themselves, when they
were to receive the divine law, Exod. 19. and now
also when they were to come under the divine judg¬
ment; for in both God is to be attended with the ut¬
most reverence. There is an accursed thing in the
midst of thee, and therefore sanctify yourselves, that
is, “Let all that are innocent, be able to clear
themselves, and be the more careful to cleanse
themselves: the sins of others may be improved by
us, as furtherances of our sanctification, as the scan¬
dal of the incestuous Corinthian occasioned a bless¬
ed reformation in that church, 2 Cor. 7. 11. 2. He
must bring them all under the scrutiny of the lot, x».
14. the tribe which the guilty person was of, should
first be discovered by lot, then the family, then
the household, and last of all the person. The
conviction came upon him thus gradually, that he
might have some space given him to come in and
surrender himself; for God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repen't-
ance. Observe, The Lord is said to take the tribe,
and family, and household, on which the lot fell;
because the disposal of the lot is of the Lord, and
however casual it seems, is under the direction of
infinite wisdom and justice; and to show, that when
the sin of sinners finds them out, God is to be ac¬
knowledged in it; it is he that seizes them, and the
arrests are in his name. God hath found out the
iniquity of thy servants, Gen. 44. 16. It is also in¬
timated with what a certain and unerring judgment
the righteous God does and will distinguish between
the innocent and the guilty, so that though fora
time they seem involved in the same condemnation,
as the whole tribe did, when it was first taken by
the lot, yet he who has his fan in his hand, will ef¬
fectually provide for the taking out of the precious
from the vile-, so that though the righteous be of the
same tribe, and family, and household, with the
wicked, yet they shall never be treated as the wick¬
ed, Gen.’ 18. 25. 3. When the criminal was found
out, he must be put to death without mercy, (Heb.
10. 28.) and with all the expressions of a holy de¬
testation, v. 15. He and all that he has, must be
burnt with fire, that there might be no remainders
of the accursed thing among them; and the reason
given for this severe sentence, is, because the cri¬
minal has, (1.) Given a great affront to God, he
has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, who is
jealous particularly for the honour of the holy co¬
venant. (2.) He has done a great injury to the
church of God, he has wrought folly in Israel, has
shamed that nation which is looked upon by all its
neighbours to be a wise and an understanding
people; has infected that nation which is sanctified
to God, and troubled that nation of which He is the
Protector. These being crimes so heinous in their
nature, and of such pernicious consequence and ex¬
ample, the execution, which otherwise would have
come under the imputation of cruelty, is to be ap¬
plauded as a piece of necessary justice. It was Sa¬
crilege, it was invading God’s rights, alienating his
property, and converting to a private use that which
was devoted to his glory, and appropriated to the
service of his sanctuary — this was the crime to be
thus severely punished, for warning to all people in
all ages to take heed how they rob God.
16. So Joshua rose up early in the morn¬
ing, and brought [srael by their tribes ; and
the tribe of Judah was taken : 17. And he
brought the family of Judah; and he took
the family of the Zarhites : and he brought
the family of the Zarhites man by man ;
and Zabdi was taken : 1 8. And he brought
his household man by man ; and Achan,
the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son
ol Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
19. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son
give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of
Israel, and make confession unto him ; and
: tell me now what thou hast done ; hide it not
from me. 20. And Achan answered Joshua
and said, Indeed I have sinned against the
Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus
have I done: 21. When I saw among the
spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and
two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge
of gold of fifty shekels weight, then 1 covet¬
ed them, and took them ; and, behold, thev
are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent,
and the silver under it. 22. So Joshua sent
messengers, and they ran unto the tent ;
and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the
silver under it. 23. And they took them
out of the midst of the tent, anil brought
them unto Joshua, and unto all the children
of Israel, and laid them out before the
Lord. 24. And Joshua, and all Israel
with him, took Achan, the son of Zerah,
and the silver, and the garment, and the
wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daugh¬
ters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his
sheep, and his tent, and all that he had :
and they brought them unto the valley of
Achor. 25. And Joshua said, Why hast
thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble
thee this day. And all Israel stoned him
with stones, and burned them with fire after
they had stoned them with stones. 26. And
they raised over him a great heap of stones
unto this day. So the Lord turned from
the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the
name of that place was called, The valley
of Achor, unto this day.
We have in these verses,
I. The discovery of Achan by the lot, which
proved a perfect lot, though it proceeded gradual¬
ly. Though we may suppose that Joshua slept
the better, and with more ease and satisfaction,
when he knew the worst of the disease of that body,
which, under God, he was the head of, and which
was put into a certain method of cure, yet he rose
up early in the morning, v. 16. so much was his
heart upon it, to put away the accursed thing. We
have found Joshua upon other occasions an early
riser, here, it shows his zeal and vehement desire
to see Israel restored to the divine favour. In the
scrutiny observe, 1. That the guilty tribe was that
of Judah, which was, and was to be, of all the
tribes the most honourable and illustrious; this was
an allay to their dignity, and might serve as a check
to their pride: many there were, who were its glo¬
ries, but here was one that was its reproach. Let
not the best families think it strange, if there be
those found in them, and descending from them, that
prove their grief and shame. Judah was to have
40
JOSHUA, VII.
the first and largest lot in Canaan, the more inex¬
cusable is one of that tribe, if, not content to wait for
his own share, he break in upon God’s property.
The Jews’ tradition is, that when the tribe of Ju¬
dah was taken, the valiant men of that tribe drew
their swords, and professed they would not sheathe
them again till they saw the criminal punished, and
themselves cleared who knew their own innocency.
2. That the guilty person was at length fastened
upon, and the language of the lot was, Thou art the
man, v. 18. It was strange that Achan, being con¬
scious to himself of guilt, when he saw the lot come
nearer and nearer to him, had not either the wit to
make an escape, or the grace to make a confession;
but his heart was hardened through the deceitful¬
ness of sin, and it proved to be to his own destruc¬
tion. We may well imagine how his countenance
changed, and what horror and confusion seized him
when he was singled out as the delinquent, when
the eyes of all Israel were fastened upon him,
and every one was re idy to say, Have we found
thee, 0 our enemy? See here, (1.) The folly of
those that promise themselves secrecy in sin; the
righteous God has many ways of bringing to light
the hidden works of darkness, and so bringing to
shame and ruin those that continue their fellowship
with those unfruitful works. A bird of the air,
when God pleases, shall carry the voice, Eccl. 10.
20. See Ps. 94. 7, i Vc. (2.) How much it is
our concern, when God is contending with us,
to find out what the cause of. action is, what the
particular sin is, that, like Achan, troubles our
c mp. We must thus examine ourselves and care¬
fully review the records of conscience, that we may
find out the accursed thing, and pray earnestly
with holy Job, Lord, show me wherefore thou con-
t ndest with me. Disco , er the traitor, and he shall
r.o longer be harboured.
II. His arraignment and examination, v. 19.
Joshua sits judge, and though abundantly satisfied
of his guilt hv the determination of the lot, yet urges
him to make a penitent confession, that his soul
might be saved bv it in the other world, though he
could not give him any encouragement to hope that
he shou’d save his life by it. Observe, 1. How he
accosts him, with the vreatest mildness and tender¬
ness that could be, like a true disciple of Moses.
He might justly have called him “thief,” and
“rebel,” “Raca,”and “thou fool,” but he calls
him “ son;” he might have adjured him to confess,
as the High Priest did our blessed Saviour, or
threatened him with the torture to extort a con¬
fession, but for love’s sake he rather beseeches him,
I pray thee, make conf ssion. This is an example
to all, not to insult over those that are in misery,
though thev have brought themselves into it by
their own wickedness, but to treat even offenders
with the spirit of meekness, not knowing what we
oursch es should have been and done, if God had
put us into the hand of our own counsels. It is like¬
wise an example to magistrates, in executing justice,
to govern their own passions with a strict and pru¬
dent hand, and never suffer themselves to be trans¬
ported bv them into any indecencies of behaviour
or language, no, not towards those that have given
the greatest provocations. The wrath of man work-
eth not the righteousness of God. Let them re¬
member the judgment is God’s, who is Lord of his
anger. This is the likeliest method of bringing of¬
fenders to repentance. 2. What he wishes him to do;
to confess the fact, to confess it to God, the party
offended bv the crime; Joshua was to him in God’s
stead, so that in confessing to him, he confessed to
God. Hereby he would satisfy Joshua and the
congregation concerning that which was laid .to his
charge; his confession would also be an e\ idence of
his repentance, and a warning to others to take
heed of sinning after the similitude of his trans
gression: but that which Joshua aims at herein, is,
that God might be honoured by it as the Lord,
the God of infinite knowledge and power, from
whom no secrets are hid; and as the God of Israel,
who as he does particularly resent affronts given
to his Israel, so he does the affronts given him by
Israel. Note, In confessing sin, as we take shame
to ourselves, so we give glory to God, as a righteous
God, owning him justly displeased with us, and as a
good God who will not improve our confessions as
evidences against us, but is faithful and just to for¬
give, when we are brought to own that he would be
faithful and just if he should punish. By sin we have
injured God in his honour; Christ by h:s death has
made satisfaction for the injury: but it is required,
that we by repentance show our good-will to his
honour, and, as far as in us lies, give glory to him.
Bishop Patrick quotes the Samaritan chronicle,
making Joshua to say here to Achan, Lift up thine
eyes to the King of heaven and earth, and acknow¬
ledge that nothing can be hid from him who knoweth
the greatest secrets.
III. His confession, which, now at last, when he
saw it was to no purpose to conceal his crime, was
free and ingenuous enough, v. 20, 21. Here is,
1. A penitent acknowledgment of the fault.
“Indeed I have sinned, what I am charged with is
too true to be denied, and too bad to be excused. I
own it, I lament it; the Lord is righteous in bring¬
ing it to light, for indeed I have sinned.” This is
the language of a penitent that is sick of his sin,
and whose conscience is loaded with it. “I have
nothing to accuse any one else of, but a great deal
to say against myself; it is with me that the ac¬
cursed thing is found, I am the man who have
perverted that which was right, and it profited
me not.” And that wherewith he aggravates the
sin, is, that it was committed against the Lord
God of Israel. He was himself an Israelite, a
sharer with the rest of that exalted nation in their
privileges, so that, in offending the God of Israel,
he offended his own God, which laid him under
the guilt of the basest treachery and ingratitude
imaginable.
2. A particular narrative of the fact, Thus and
thus have I done. God had told Joshua in general,
that a part of the devoted things was alienated, but
leaves it to him to draw from Achan an account of
the particulars; for, one way or other, God will
make sinners’ own tongues to fall upon themselves,
(Ps. 64. 8.) if ever he bring them to repentance,
they will be their own accusers, and their awaken¬
ed consciences will be instead of a thousand wit¬
nesses. Note, It becomes penitents, in’ the confes¬
sion of their sin to God, to be very particular; not
only, “ I have sinned,” but, “ In this and that in¬
stance I have sinned ;” reflecting with regret upon
all the steps that led to the sin, and all the circum¬
stances that aggravated it and made it exceeding
sinful; thus and thus have I done. He confesses,
1.) Tathe things taken. In plundering a house in
ericho he found a goodly Babylonish garment; the
word signifies a robe, such as princes wore when
they appeared in state, probably it belonged to the
king of Jericho; it was far-fetched, if fetched, as
we translate it, from Babylon. A garment of di¬
vers colours, so some render it; whatever it was,
in his eyes it made a glorious show; “ A thousand
pities” (thinks Achan) “that it should be burnt,
then it will do nobody any good, if I take it for my¬
self, it will serve me many a year for my best gar¬
ment.” Under these pretences, he makes hold
with this first, and thinks it no harm to save it from
the fire; but his hand being thus in, he proceeds to
take a bag of money, two hundred shekels, that is,
one hundred ounces of silver, and a wedge of gda
JOSHUA, VII. 41
which weighed fifty shekels, that is, twenty-five
ounces. He could not plead that, in taking these,
he saved them from the fire, (for the silver and
gold were to be laid up in the treasury, J but they
that make a slight excuse to serve in daring to
commit one sin, will have their hearts so hardened
by that, that they will venture upon the next with¬
out such an excuse, for the way of sin is down-hill.
See what a poor prize it was for which Achan ran
thisdesperate hazard, and what an unspeakable loser
he was by the bargain. See Matt. 16. 26. (2.) He
confesses the manner of taking them. [1.] The sin
began in the eye. He saw these fine things, as Eve
saw the forbidden fruit, and was strangely charmed
with the sight. See what comes of suffering the
heart to walk after the eyes, and what need we
have to make this covenant with our eyes, that if
they wander, they shall be sure to weep for it.
Look not thou ufion the wine that is red, upon the
woman that is fair; close the right eye that thus of¬
fends thee, to prevent the necessity of plucking it
out, and casting it from thee, Matt. 5. 28, 29. [2.]
It proceeded out of the heart. He OAvns, I coveted
them. Thus lust conceived and brought forth this
sin. They that would be kept from sinful actions,
must mortify and check in themselves sinful de¬
sires, particularly the desire of worldly wealth,
which we more particularly call covetousness. O
what a world of evil is the love of money the root
of ! Had Achan looked upon these things with an
eye of faith, he would have seen them accursed
things, and would have dreaded them, but looking
upon them with an eye of sense only, he saw them
goodly things, and coveted them. It was not the
looking, but the lusting, that ruined him. [3.]
When he had committed it, he was very industri¬
ous to conceal it. Having taken of the forbidden
treasures, fearing lest any search should be made
fir prohibited goods, he hid them in the earth, as
one that resolved to keep what he had gotten, and
never to make restitution. Thus does Achan con¬
fess the whole matter, that God might be justified
in the sentence passed upon him. See the deceit¬
fulness of sin; that which is pleasing in the com¬
mission, is bitter in the reflection, at the last it bites
like a serpent. Particularly, see what comes of ill-
gotten goods, and how they will be cheated that
rob God, Job. 20. 15, He hath swallowed down
riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
IV. His conviction. God had convicted him by
the lot, he had convicted himself by his own con¬
fession; but that no room might be left for the most
discontented Israelite to object against the process,
Joshua has him further convicted by the searching
of his tent, in which the goods were found which
he confessed to. Particular notice is taken of the
haste which the messengers made, that were sent
to search, they ran to the tent, v. 22. Not only to
show their readiness to obey Joshua’s orders, but
to show how uneasy they were till the camp was
cleared of the accursed thing, that they might re¬
gain the divine favour. They that feel themselves
under wrath, find themselves concerned not to de¬
fer the putting away of sin. Delays are dangerous,
and it is no time to trifle. When the stolen goods
were brought, they were laid out before the Lord,
v. 23. that all Israel might see how plain the evi¬
dence was against Achan, and might adore the
strictness of God’s judgments in punishing so se¬
verely the stealing of such small things, and yet the
justice of his judgments in maintaining his right to
devoted things, and might be afraid of ever offend¬
ing in the like kind. In laying them out before the
Lord, they acknowledged his title to them, and
waited to receive his directions concerning them.
Note, Those that think to put a cheat upon God,
do but deceive themselves; what is taken from
Vor. it. — F
him, he will recover, Hos. 2. 9. and he will be a
loser by no man at last.
V. His condemnation. Joshua passes sentenc**
upon him, v. 25, Why hast thou troubled us?
There is the ground of the sentence, O, how much
hast thou troubled us? So some read it. He refers
to what was said when the warning was given not
to meddle with the accursed thing, ch. 6. 18, lest ye
make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
Note, Sin is a very troublesome thing, not only to a
sinner himself, but to all about him. He that is
greedy of gain, as Achan was, troubles his own
house, Prov. 15. 27. and all the communities he be¬
longs to. Now (says Joshua) God shall trouble
thee. See why Achan was so severely dealt with,
not only because he had robbed God, but because
he had troubled Israel; over his head he had (as
it were) this accusation written', Achan, the trou-
bler of Israel, asAhab, livings 18. 18. This there¬
fore is his dorm, God shall trouble thee. Note,
The righteous God will certainly recompense tribu¬
lation to them that trouble his people, 2 Thess. 1.
6. Those that are troublesome, shall be troubled.
Some of the Jewish doctors, from that word, which
determines the troubling of him to this day, infer,
that therefore he should not be troubled in the
world to come; the flesh was destroyed, that the
spirit might be saved, and if so, the dispensation
was really less severe than it seemed. In the de¬
scription, both of his sin and of his punishment, by
the trouble that was in both, there is a plain allu¬
sion to his name Achan, or, as he is called, 1 Chron.
2. 7, Achar, which signifies trouble. He did too
much answer his name.
VI. His execution. No repriev e could be ob¬
tained, a gangrened member must be cut off im¬
mediately. When he is proved to be an anathema,
and the troubler of the camp, we may suppose all
the people cry out aga'nst him, Away with him,
away with him! Stone him, stone him! Here is,
1. The place of execution: they brought him out
of the camp, in token of their putting far from them
that wicked person, 1 Cor. 5. 13. When cur Lord
Jesus was made a curse for us, that by his trouble
we might have peace, he suffered as an accursed
thing without the gate, bearing our reproach, Heb.
13. 12, 13. The execution was at a distance, that
the camp which was disturbed by Achan’s sin,
might net be defiled by his death.
2. The persons employed in his execution; it was
the act of all Israel, v. 24, 25. They were all spec¬
tators of it, that they might see and fear. Public
executions are public examples. Nay, they were
all consenting to his death, and as rm nyas could,
were active in it, in token of the universal detesta¬
tion in which they held his sacrilegious attempt,
and their dread of God’s displeasure against them.
3. The partakers with him in the punishment;
for he perished not alone in his iniquity, ch. 22. 20.
(1.) The stolen goods were destroyed with him, the
garment burnt, as it should have been with the rest
of the combustible things in Jericho, and the silver
and gold defaced, melted, lost, and buried, in the
ashes of the rest of his goods, under the heap of
stones, so as never to be put to any other use. (2. )
All his other goods were destroyed likewise, not
only his tent, and the furniture of that, but his
oxen, asses, and sheep; to show, that goods gotten
unjustly, especially if they be gotten by sacrilege,
will not only turn to no account, but will blast and
waste the rest of the possessions to which they are
added. The eagle in the fable, that stole flesh
from the altar, brought a coal of fire with it, which
burnt her nest, Hab. 2. 9, 10. Zech. 5. 3, 4. They
lose their own, that grasp at more than their own.
(3.) His sons and daughters were put to death with
hiu.- Some indeed think that they were brought
42
JOSHUA, VIII.
out, (z>. 24.) only to be the spectators of their fa¬
ther’s punishment, but most conclude that they
died with him, and that they must be meant, v.
25. where it is said, they burned them with fire
after they had stoned them with stones. God had
expressly provided that magistrates should not put
'he children to death for the father’s sins; but he
did not intend to bind himself by that law, and in
this case he had expressly ordered, v. 15. that the
criminal and all that he had, should be burnt. Per¬
haps his sons and daughters were aiders and abettors
in the villany, had helped to carry off the accursed
things. It is very probable that they assisted in
the concealment, and that he could not hide them
in the midst of his tent, but they must know and
keep his counsel, and so they became accessaries ex
fiost facto — after the fact; and if they were ever so
little partakers in the crime, it was so heinous,
that they were justly sharers in the punishment.
However, God was hereby glorified, and the judg¬
ment executed was thus made the more tremen¬
dous.
4. The punishment itself that was inflicted on
him; he was stoned, some think, as a sabbath-
breaker, supposing that the sacrilege was commit¬
ted on the sabbath-day; and then his dead body
was burnt as an accursed thing, of which there
should be no remainder left. The concurrence of
all the people in this execution, teaches us how
much it is the interest of a nation, that all in it
should contribute what they can, in their places, to
the suppression of vice and profaneness, and the
reformation of manners; sin is a reproach to any
people, and therefore every Israelite indeed will
have a stone to throw at it.
5. The pacifying of God’s wrath hereby, v. 26,
The Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.
The putting away of sin by true repentance and re¬
formation, as it is the only way, so it is a sure and
most effectual way, to recover the divine favour.
Take away the cause, and the effect will cease.
VII. The record of his conviction and execution;
care was taken to preserve the remembrance of it,
for warning and instruction to posterity: 1. A heap
of stones was raised on the place where Achan
was executed, every one perhaps of the congre¬
gation throwing a stone at the heap, in token
of his detestation of the crime. 2. A new name
was given to the place; it was called, the Valley of
Achor, or Trouble. This was a perpetual brand
of infamy upon Achan’s name, and a perpetual
warning to all people not to invade God’s property.
By this severity against Achan, the honour of Josh¬
ua’s government, now in the infancy of it, was
maintained, and Israel, at their entrance upon the
promised Canaan, were minded to observe, at their
peril, the provisos and limitations of the grant by
which they held it. The Valley of Achor is said
to be given for a door of hope, because when we
ut away the accursed thing, then there begins to
e hope in Israel, Hos. 2 15. Ezra 10. 2.
CHAP. VIII.
The embarrassment which Achan’s sin gave to the affairs
of Israel being over, we have them here in a very good
posture again, the affairs both of war and religion. Here
is, I. The glorious progress of their arms in the taking
of Ai, before which they had lately suffered disgrace.
1. God encourages Joshua to attack it, with the assu¬
rance of success, and directs him what method to take,
v. 1, 2. 2. Joshua gives orders accordingly to the men
of war, v. 3. .8. 3. The stratagem is managed as it was
projected, and succeeds as it was desired, v. 9. .22. 4.
Joshua becomes master of this city, puts all to the sword,
burns it, hangs the king, but. gives the plunder to the
soldiers, v. 23. .29. II. The great solemnity of writing
and reading the law before a general assembly of all Is¬
rael, drawn up for that purpose upon the tw mountains
of Gerizim and Ebal, according to an order which Moses
had received from the Lord, and delivered to them, v.
30. .35. Thus did they take their work before them, and
make the business of their religion to keep pace with
their secular business.
1. 4 ND the Lord said unto Joshua,
Fear not, neither be thou dismayed:
take all the people of war with thee, and
arise, go up to Ai : see, I have given into
thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and
his city, and his land. 2. And thou shalt
do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto
Jericho and her king : only the spoil there¬
of, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for
a prey unto yourselves : lay thee an am¬
bush for the city behind it.
Israel were very happy in having such a com
mander as Joshua, but Joshua was more happy in
having such a director as Grd himself; when any
difficulty occurred, he need not to call a council of
war, who had God so nigh unto him, not only to
answer, but even to prevent his inquiries. It should
seem, Joshua was now at a stand, had scarcely re¬
covered from the discomposure he was put into by
the trouble Achan gave them, and could not think,
without fear and trembling, of pushing forward,
lest there should be in the camp another Achan;
then God spake to him, either by vision, as before,
ch. 5. as a man of war with his sword drawn, or by
the breastplate of judgment. Note, When we have
faithfully put away sin, that accursed thing, which
separates between us and God, then, and not till
then, we may expect to hear from God to our com¬
fort; and God’s directing us how to go on in our
Christian work and warfare, is a good evidence of
his being reconciled to us. Obser' e here,
I. The encouragement God gives to Joshua to
proceed; Fear not, neither be thou dismayed, v. 1.
This intimates that the sin of Achan, and the con¬
sequence of it, had been a very great discourage¬
ment to Joshua, and made his heart almost ready
to fail. Corruptions within the church we: ken the
hands, and damp the spirits of her guides and help¬
ers, more than oppositions from without; treacher¬
ous Israelites are to be dreaded more than mali¬
cious Canaanites. But God bids Joshua not to be
dismayed; the same power that keeps Israel from
being ruined by their enemies, shall keep them
from ruining themselves. To animate him, 1. He
assures him of success against Ai, tells him it is all
his own; but he must take it as God’s gift, I have
given it into thy hands, which secured him both
title and possession, and obliged him to give God
the glory of both, Ps. 44. 3. 2. He allows the peo¬
ple to take the spoil to themselves. Here the spoil
was not consecrated to God as that of Jericho, and
therefore there was no danger of the people’s com¬
mitting such a trespass as they had committed
there. Observe, How Achan, who catched at for¬
bidden spoil, lost that, and life, and all; but the
rest of the people, who had conscientiously refrain¬
ed from the accursed thing, were quickly recom¬
pensed for their obedience with the spoil of Ai; the
way to have the comfort of what God allows us, is,
to forbear what he forbids us. No man shall lose by
his self-denial; let God have hisdues first, and then
all will be clean to us and sure, 1 Kings 17. 13.
God did not bring them to these goodly cities, and
houses filled with all good things, to tantalize them
with the sight of that which they might not touch;
but, having received the first-fruits from Jericho, the
spoil of Ai, and of all the cities which from hence
forward came into their hands, they might take fer
a prey to themselves.
43
JOSHUA, Vlll.
II. The direction he gives him in attacking Ai.
It must not be such a work of time as the taking of
Jericho was, that would have prolonged the war too
much; they that had patiently waited seven days
for Jericho, shall have Ai given them in one day.
Nor was it, as that, to be taken by miracle, and pure¬
ly by the act of God, but now their own conduct and
courage must be exercised; having seen God work
for them, they must now bestir themselves. God
directs him, 1. To take all the people, that they
might all be spectators of the action, and sharers in
the spoil. Hereby God gave him a tacit rebuke for
sending so small a detachment against Ai, in the
former attempt upon it, eh. 7. 4. 2. To lay an am¬
bush behind the city; this was a method which
Joshua would not have thought of at this time, if
God had not directed him to it; and though now
we are not to expect direction, as here, by visions,
voices, or oracles, yet whenever those who are in¬
structed with public counsels, take prudent mea¬
sures for the public good, it must be acknowledged
that God puts it into their hearts; he that teaches
the husbandman discretion, no doubt, teaches the
statesman and general.
3. So Joshua arose, and all the people of war,
to go up against Ai : and Joshua chose out
thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and
sent them away by night. 4. And he com¬
manded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in
wait against the city, even behind the city: go
not very far from the city, but be ye all
ready: 5. And I, and all the people that
are with me, will approach unto the city :
and it shall come to pass, when they come
out against us, as at the first, that we will
flee before them, 6. (For they will come
out after us,) till we have drawn them from
the city : for they will say. They flee be¬
fore us, as at the first : therefore we will
flee before them. 7. Then ye shall rise up
from the ambush, and seize upon the city :
for the Lord your God will deliver it into
your hand. 8. And it shall be, when ye
have taken the city, that ye shall set the
city on fire : according to the commandment
of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have com¬
manded you. 9. Joshua therefore sent them
forth : and they went to lie in ambush, and
abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west
side of Ai : but Joshua lodged that night
among the people. 10. And Joshua rose
up early in the morning, and numbered the
people, and went up, he and the elders of
Israel, before the people to Ai. 11. And all
the people, even the people of war that ivere
with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came
before the city, and pitched on the north
side of Ai : now there was a valley between
them and Ai. 12. And he took about five
thousand men, and set them to lie in am¬
bush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west
side of the city. 13. And when they had
set the people, even all the host that was on
the north of the city, and their liers in wait
on the west of the city, Joshua went that
night into the midst of the valley. 14.
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai
saw it, that they hasted and rose up early,
and the men of the city went out against
Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a
time appointed, before the plain ; but he
wist not that there were liers in ambush
against him behind the city. 15. And
Joshua and all Israel made as if they were
beaten before them, and fled by the way
of the wilderness. 16. And all the people
that ivere in Ai were called together to pur¬
sue after them : and they pursued after
Joshua, and were drawn away from the
city. 17. And there was not a man left in
Ai or Beth-el that went not out after Israel :
and they left the city open, and pursued af¬
ter Israel. 18. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy
hand toward Ai ; for I will give it into thine
hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear
that he had in his hand toward the city. 19.
And the ambush arose quickly out of their
place, and they ran as soon as he had
stretched out his hand ; and they entered
into the city, and took it, and hasted, and
set the city on fire. 20. And when the
men of Ai looked behind them, they saw,
and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended
up to heaven, and they had no power to
flee this way or that way : and the people
that fled to the wilderness turned back upon
the pursuers. 21. And when Joshua and
all Israel saw that the ambush had taken
the city, and that the smoke of the city as¬
cended, then they turned again, and slew
the men of Ai. 22. And the other issued
out of the city against them ; so they were
in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and
some on that side : and they smote them,
so that they let none of them remain or es¬
cape.
We have here an account of the taking of Ai by
stratagem. The stratagem here used, we are sure,
was lawful and good: God himself appointed it, and
we have no reason to think, but that the like is lawful
and good in other wars. Here was no league brok¬
en, no oath or promise violated, nor any thing like
it; it was not by the pretence of a parley, or treaty
of peace, that the advantage was gained, no, these
are sacred things, and not to be jested with, nor
used to serve a turn; truth, when once plighted,
becomes a debt even to the enemy. But in this
stratagem here was no untruth told; nothing was
concealed but their own counsels, which no enemy
ever pretended a right to be entrusted with; nothing
was dissembled, nothing counterfeited but a re¬
treat, which was no natural or necessary indication
at all of their inability to maintain their onset, cr of
any design not to renew it; the enemy ought to
have been upon their guard, and to have kept within
the defence of their own walls; common prudence,
had they been governed by it, would have directed
JOSHUA, VIII.
them not to venture on the pursuit of an army
which they saw was so far superior to them in
numbers, and leave their city unguarded; but ( Si
populus vult deci/ii, dicipiatur — If the people will
be deceived, let them. ) if the Canaanites were so
easily imposed upon, and, in pursuit of God’s Is¬
rael, will break through all the laws of policy and
good management, the Israelites are not at all to be
blamed for taking advantage of their fury and
.houghtlessness: nor is it any way inconsistent with
the character God is pleased to give of them, that
thev are children that will not lie.
Now in the account here given of this matter,
I. There is some difficulty in adjusting the num¬
bers that were employed to effect it. Mention is
made, v. ", of thirty thousand, that were chosen
and sent away by night, to whom the charge was
given to surprise the city as soon as ever they per¬
ceived it was evacuated, v. 4, 7, 8. And yet after¬
ward, v. 12. it is said, Joshua took five thousand
men, and set them to lie in ambush behind the city,
and that ambush entered the city, and set it on fire,
v. 19. Now, 1. Some think there were two par¬
ties sent out to lie in ambush, thirty thousand first,
and afterward five thousand to guard the roads, and
to intercept those of the city that might think to
save themselves by flight, or to strengthen those
that were first sent out; and that Joshua made his
open attack upon the city, with all the thousands
of Israel. So the learned Bishop Patrick, insisting
upon God’s command, v. 1. to take all the people of
war with him. But, 2. Others think that all the
people were taken only to encamp before the city,
and that out of them Joshua chose out thirtv thcu-
sand men to be employed in the action, out of which
he sent five thousand to lie in ambush, which were
as many as could be supposed to march incognito
— without being discovered: (more would have been
seen, and thus the design woidd have been broken;)
and that then with the other twenty-five thousand
he made the open attack, as Masius thinks, or with
the thirty thousand, which, as Calvin thinks, he
kept entire for that purpose, having, beside them,
sent out five thousand for an ambuscade. And those
five thousand (they think) must be meant by them,
v. 3. which he sent away by night, with orders to
lie in wait behind the city, though the particular
number is not specified till v. 12. If we may admit
such a seeming disturbance in the order of the. nar¬
rative, (of which, perhaps, similar instances might
be cited from the other scripture-histories,) it seems
most probable that there was but one ambushment,
which consisted only of five thousand, enough for
such a purpose.
II. Yet the principal parts of the story are plain
enough, that a detachment being secretly marched
behind the citv, on the other side to that on which
the main body of the army lay, (the situation of
the country, it is probable, favouring their con¬
cealment,) Joshua, and the forces with him, faced
the city; the garrison made a vigorous sally out up¬
on them, whereupon they withdrew, gave ground
and retreated in some seeming disorder toward the
wilderness; which being perceived by the men of
Ai, they drew out all the force they had to pursue
them. This gave a fair opportunity for them that
lay in ambush to make themselves masters of the
citv, whereof when they had given notice, by a
smoke to Joshua, he, with all his force, returned
upon the pursuers, who now, when it was too late,
were aware of the share they were drawn into, for
their retreat being intercepted, they were every
man of them cut off. The like artifice we find
used, Judg. 20, 29, £J* c.
Now in this story we may observe,
1. What a brave commander Joshua was. See,
(1.) His conduct and prudence. God gave him
the hint, v. 2. that he should lay in ambush behind
the city, but left him to himself to order the parti¬
culars, which he did admirably well. Doubtless,
Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty
men, Eccl. 7. 19. (2.) His care and industry, v.
10. He rose up early in the morning, that he
might lose no time, and to show how intent his mind
was upon his business. Those that would maintain
their spiritual conflicts, must not love their ease.
3.) His courage and resolution; though an army of
sraelites had been repulsed before Ai, yet he re¬
solves to lead them on in person the second time,
v. 5. Being himself also an elder, he took the el¬
ders of Israel with him to make this attack upon
the citv, v. 10. as if he were go’ng rather to sit in
judgment upon them as criminals, than to fight
them as enenres. (4.) His caution and considera¬
tion, v.' 13. He went that night into the midst of the
valley, to make the necessary dispositions for an at¬
tack, and to see that every th'ng was in good order.
It is the pious conjecture of .the learned Bishop
Patrick that he went into the valley alone to pray
to God for a blessing upon his enterprise, and he
did not seek in vain. (5.) His constancy and per¬
severance; when he had stretched out his spear
toward the city, v. 18. (a spear almost as fatal and
formidable to the enemies of Israel as the rod cf
Moses was) he never drew back his hand till the
work was done. His hands in fighting, like Mo¬
ses’s in interceding, were steady to the going down
of the sun. Those that have stretched out their
hands against their spiritual enemies, must never
draw them back. Lastly, What Joshua did in the
stratagem is applicable to our Lord Jesus, of whom
he was a type. Joshua conquered by yielding, as
if he had himself been conquered; so our Lord Je¬
sus, when he bowed his head and gave up the
ghost, seemed as if death had triumphed Over h'm,
and as if he and all his interests had been routed
and ruined: but in his resurrection he rallied again
and gave the powers of darkness a total defeat ; he
broke the serpent’s head, by suffering him to bruise
his heel. A glorious stratagem!
2. What an obedient people Israel was; what
Joshua commanded them to do according to thecom-
i mandment of the Lord, v. 8. they did it without
murmuring or disputing. They that weie sent to
lie in ambush between Beth-et and Ai, (two cities
confederate against them,) were in a post of dan¬
ger, and had they been discovered, might all have
been cut off, and yet they ventured it; and when
the body of the army retreated and fled, it was both
disgraceful and perilous; and yet, in obedience to
Joshua, they did it.
3. What an infatuated enemy the king of Ai was,
(1.) That he did not by his scouts discover those
that lay in ambush behind the city, v. 14. Rome
observe it as a remarkable instance of the power of
God in making men blind to their own interest, and
the things that belong to their peace, that he wist
not that there were Hers in wait against him. They
are most in danger, who are least aware that they
are so. (2.) That when Israel seemed to fly, he
drew out all his forces to pursue them, and left none
to guard his city and to secure his retreat, v. 17.
Thus the church’s enemies often run themselves
into destruction by their own fury and the violence
of their rage against the Israel of God. Pharaoh
plunged himself into the Red-sea by the eagerness
with which he pursued Israel. (3.) That from the
killing of thirty-six men out of three thousand, when
Israei made the former attack upon his city, he
should infer the total muting of so great an army as
now he had to deal with, v. 6, They flee before us
as at the first. See how th e prosperity of fools de¬
stroys them, and hardens them to their ruin. God
had'made use of the men of Ai as a scourge to chas-
JOSHUA. VIII.
4 b
tise his people for meddling with the accursed
thing, and this had puffed them up with a conceit,
that they must have the honour of delivering their
country from these formidable invaders; but they
were soon made to see their mistake, and that when
the Israelites had reconciled themselves to their
God, they could have no power against them. God
had made use of them only for the rebuking of Is¬
rael, with a purpose, when the correction was over,
to throw the rod itself into the fire; howbeit , they
meant not so, but it was in their heart to destroy and
cut off, Isa. 10. 5* -7.
4. What a complete victory Israel obtained over
them by the favour and blessing of God. Each did
his part, the divided forces of Israel, by signals
agreed on, understood one another, and every thing
succeeded according to the project; so that the men
of Ai, then when they were most confident of vic¬
tory, found themselves surrounded, so that they
had neither spirit to resist nor room to fly, but were
under a fatal necessity of yielding their lives to the
destroyers. And now it is hard to say, whether the
shouts of the men of Israel, or the shrieks of the
men of Ai, were the louder, but easy to imagine
what terror and confusion they were filled with,
when their highest assurances sunk so suddenly
into the heaviest despair. Note, The triumphing of
the wicked is short, Job 20. 5. They are exalted for
a little while, that their fall and ruin may be the sorer,
Job 24. 24. See how easily, how quickly, the scale
turns against them that have not God on their side.
23. And the king of Ai they took alive,
and brought him to Joshua. 24. And it
came to pass, when Israel had made an
end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in
the field, in the wilderness wherein they
chased them, and when they were all fallen
on the edge of the sword, until they were
consumed, that all the Israelites returned
unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the
sword. 25. And so it was, that all that fell
that day, both of men and women, were
twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
26. For Joshua drew not his hand back,
wherewith he stretched out the spear, until
he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants
of Ai. 27. Only the cattle and the spoil
of that city, Israel took for a prey unto
themselves, according unto the word of the
Lord, which he commanded Joshua. 28.
And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap
for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
29. And the king of ai he hanged on a tree
until even-tide: and as soon as the sun was
down, Joshua commanded that they should
take his carcase down from the tree, and
cast it at the entering of the gate of the
city, and raise thereon a great heap of
stones, that remainetli unto this day.
We have here an account of the improvement
which the Israelites made of their victory over Ai.
1. They put all to the sword, not only in the
field, but in the city, man, woman, and child, none
of them remained, v. 24. God, the righteous
Judge, had passed this sentence upon them for their
wickedness, so that the Israelites were only the
ministers of his justice, and the executioners of his
•loom. Once in this story, and but once, mention
is made of the men of Beth-el, as confederates
with the men of Ai, v. 17. Though they had a
king of their own, and were not subjects to the
king of Ai, (for the king of Beth-el is reckoned
among the thirty-one kings that Joshua destroyed,
ch. 12. 16.) yet Ai being a stronger place, they
threw themselves into that, for their own safety,
and the strengthening of their neighbours’ hands,
and so (we may presume) were all cut off with
them; thus, that by which they hoped to prevent
their own ruin hastened it. The whole number
of the slain, it seems, was but twelve thousand, an
inconsiderable body to make head against all the
thousands of Israel; but whom God will destroy,
he infatuates. Here it is said, v. 26, that Joshua
drew not his hand back wherewith he stretched out
the s/iear, v. 18. till the slaughter was completed.
Some think the spear he stretched out, was not to
slay the enemies, but to animate and encourage his
own soldiers, some flag or ensign being hung out at
the end of this spear; and, they observe it as an in¬
stance of self-denial, that though the fire of courage
wherewith his breast was filled, would have pushed
him forward, sword in hand, into the hottest of the
action, yet, in obedience to God, he kept the infe¬
rior post of a standard-bearer, and did not quit it
till the work was done. By the spear stretched
out, he directed the people to expect their help
from God, and to him to give the praise.
2. They plundered the city, and took all the
spoil to themselves, v. 27. Thus the wealth of the
sinner is laid up for the just; the spoil they brought
out of Egypt, by borrowing of their neighbours,
was much of it expended upon the tabernacle they
had reared in the wilderness, for which they are
now reimbursed with interest. The spoil here
taken, it is probable, was all brought together, and
distributed by Joshua in due proportions, as that of
the Midianites was, Numb. 31. 26, istc. It was not
seized with irregularity or violence, for God is the
God of order and equity, and not of confusion.
3. They laid the city in ashes, and left it to re¬
main so, v. 28. Israel must yet dwell in tents, and
therefore this city, as well as Jericho, must be
burnt. And though there was no curse entailed
upon him that should rebuild it, yet, it seems, it
was not rebuilt, unless it be the same with Aija,
which we read of, long after, Neh. 11. 31. Some
think it was not rebuilt, because Israel had received
a defeat before it, the remembrance of which
should be buried in the ruins of the city.
4. The king of Ai was taken prisoner and cut off,
not by the sword of war, as a soldier, but by the
sword of justice, as a malefactor. Joshua ordered
him to be hanged, and his dead body thrown at
the gate of his own city, under a heafi of stones,
v. 23, 29. Some particular reason, no doubt, there
was for this severity against the king of Ai; it is
likely he had been notoriously wicked and vile, and
a blasphemer of the God of Israel, perhaps, upon
occasion of the repulse he had given to the forces
of Israel in their first onset. Some observe, that
his dead body was thrown at the gate where he had
been wont to sit in judgment, that so much the
greater contempt might thereby be poured upon
the dignity he had been proud of, and he might be
punished for the unrighteous decrees he had made in
the very place where he had made them. Thus the
Lord is known by the judgments which he executes.
30. Then Joshua built an altar unto the
Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal, 31.
As Moses the servant of the Lord com¬
manded the children of Israel, as it is writ¬
ten in the book of the law of Moses, An
altar of whole stones, over which no man
46
JOSHUA, VIII.
hath lifted up any iron: and they offered
thereon burnt-offerings unto the Lord, and
sacrificed peace-offerings. 32. And he
wrote there upon the stones a copy of the
law of Moses, which he wrote in the pre¬
sence of the children of Israel. 33. And
all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and
their judges, stood on this side the ark and
on that side, before the priests the Levites,
which bare the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, as well the stranger as he that was
born among them : half of them over against
mount Gerizim; and halfof them over against
mount Ebal ; as Moses the servant of the
Lord had commanded before, that they
should bless the people of Israel. 34. And
afterward he read all the words of the law,
the blessings and cursings, according to all
that is written in the. book of the law. 35.
There was not a word of all that Moses
commanded which Joshua read not before
all the congregation of Israel, with the wo¬
men, and the little ones, and the strangers
that were conversant among them.
This religious solemnity which we have here an
account of, comes in somewhat surprisingly in the
midst of the history of the wars of Canaan. After
thetakingof Jerichoand Ai,we should have expected
that the next news should have been of their taking
possession of the country, the pushing on of their
victories in other cities, and the carrying of the war
into the bowels of the nation, now that they had made
themselves masters of these frontier towns. But
here a scene opens of quite another nature; the
camp of Israel is drawn out into the field, not to
engage the enemy, but to offer sacrifice, to hear the
law read, and to say Amen to the blessings and the
curses. Some think this was not done till after
some of the following victories were obtained, which
we read of, ch. 10. and 11. But it should seem by
the maps, that Shechem, (near to which these two
mountains, Gerizim and Ebal, were) was not so far
off from Ai, but that when they had taken that,
they might penetrate into that country as far as
those two mountains, and therefore I would not wil¬
lingly admit a transposition of the story; and the
rather, because as it comes in here, it is a remark¬
able instance, 1. Of the zeal of Israel for the ser¬
vice of God and for his honour. Though never
was war more honourable, more pleasant, or more
gainful, nor ever was war more sure of victory, or
more necessary to a settlement, (for they had
neither houses nor lands of their own, till they had
won them by the sword, no, not Joshua himself,)
yet all the business of the war shall stand still,
while they make a long march to the place ap¬
pointed, and there attend this solemnity. God ap-
fointed them to do this when they were got over
ordan, and they did it as soon as possibly they
could, though they might have had a colourable
pretence to have put it off. Note, We must not
think to defer our covenanting with God till we are
settled in the world, nor must any business put us
bv from minding and pursuing the one thing need¬
ful. The way to prosper, is to begin with God,
Matt. 6. 33. 2. It is an instance of the care of God
concerning his faithful servants and worshippers.
Though they were in an enemy’s country, as yet
unconquered, yet in the service of God they were
safe, as Jacob, when in this very country he was
going to Beth-el to pay his vows, the terror of God
was ufion the cities round about, Gen. 35. 5. Note,
When we are in the way of duty, God takes us
under his special protection.
Twice Moses had given express orders for this
solemnity; once Deut. 11. 29, 30. where he seems
to have pointed to the very place where it was to be
performed; and again, Deut. 27. 2, isfc. It was a
federal transaction: the covenant was now renewed
between God and Israel upon their taking posses¬
sion of the land of promise, that they might be en¬
couraged in the conquest of it, and might know
upon what terms they held it, and come under fresh
obligations to obedience. In token of the covenant,
I. They built an altar, and offered sacrifice to
God, v. 30, 31. in token of their dedication of them¬
selves to God, as living sacrifices to his honour, in
and by a mediator, who is the altar that sanctifies
this gift. This altar was erected on mount Ebal,
the mount on which the curse was put, Deut. 11.
29. to signify that there, where by the law we had
reason to expect a curse, by Christ’s sacrifice of
himself for us, and his mediation, we have peace
with God; he has redeemed us from the curse of
the law by being made a curse for us, Gal. 3. 13.
Even there where it was said, by the curse, Ye are
not my fieofile; there it is said, through Christ the
Altar, Ye are the children of the living God, Hos.
1. 10. The curses pronounced on mount Ebal
would immediately have been executed, if atone¬
ment had not been made by sacrifice.
By the sacrifice offered on this altar they did
likewise give God the glory of the victories they
had already obtained, as Exod. 17. 15. Now that
they had had the comfort of them in the spoils of
Ai, it was fit that Grd should have the praise of
them; and they also implored his favour for their
future success; for supplications as well as thanks¬
givings were intended in their peace-offerings. The
way to prosper in all that we put our hand to, is, to
take God along with us, and in all our ways to ac¬
knowledge him by prayer, praise, and dependence.
The altar they built, was of rough unhewn stone,
according to the law, Exod. 20. 25. for that which
is most plain and natural, and least artful and
affected in the worship of God, he is best pleased
with. Man’s device can add no beauty to God’s
institutions.
II. They received the law from God; and this
they must do, that would find favour with him, and
expect to have their offerings accepted; for if we
turn away our ear from hearing the law, our pray¬
ers will be an abomination. When God took Israel
into covenant, he gave tfiem his law, and they, in
token of their consent to the covenant, subjected
themselves to the law. Now here,
1. The law of the ten commandments was writ¬
ten upon stones in the presence of all Israel, as an
abridgment of the whole, v. 32. This copy was
not graven in the stone, as that which was reserved
in the ark, that was to be done only by the finger
of God; it is his prerogative to write the law in the
heart, but the stones were plastered, and it was
written upon the plaster, Deut. 27. 4, 8. It was
written, that all might see what it was that they
consented to, and that it might be a standing re¬
maining testimony to posterity, of God’s goodness
in giving them such good laws, and a testimony
against them, if they were disobedient to them. It
is a great mercy to any people to have the law of
God in writing, and it is fit that the written law
should be exposed to common view in a known
tongue, that it may be seen and read of all men,
2. The blessings and the curses, the sanctions of
the law, were publicly read, and the people, (we
may suppose,) according to Moses’s appointment,
said Amen to them, x’. 33, 34. The auditory was
47
JOSHUA, IX.
\try large; (1.) The greatest prince was not ex¬
cused, the elders, officers, and judges, are not above
the cognizance of the law, but will come under the
blessing or the curse, according as they are or are
not obedient to it, and therefore they must be pre¬
sent to consent to the covenant, and to go before the
people therein. (2 ) The poorest stranger was not
excluded; here was a general naturalization of
them, as well the stranger as he that was born
among them, was taken into covenant: this was an
encouragement to proselytes, and a happy presage
of the kindnesses intended for the poor Gentiles in
the latter days.
The tribes were posted, as Moses directed, six
toward Gerizim, and six toward Ebal. And the
ark in the midst of the valley was between them,
for it was the ark of the covenant; and, in it were
shut up the close rolls of that law, which were co¬
pied out, and shown openly upon the stones. The
covenant was commanded, and the command cove¬
nanted. The priests that attended the ark, or
some of the Levites that attended them, after the
people had all taken their places, and silence was
proclaimed, pronounced distinctly the blessings and
the curses, as Moses had drawn them up, to which
the tribes said Amen; and yet it is here onlv said,
that they should bless the people, for the blessing
was that which was first and chiefly intended, and
which God designed in giving the law. If they fell
under the curse, that was their own fault. And it
was really a blessing to the people that they had this
matter laid so plainly before them, Life and death,
good and evil; he had not dealt so with other nations.
3. The law itself also containing the precepts and
?rohibitions was read, ( v . 35.) it should seem by
oshua himself, who did not think it below him to
be a reader in the congregation of the Lord. In
conformity to this example, the solemn reading of
the law, which was appointed once in seven years,
(Deut. 21. 10, 11.) was performed by their king or
chief magistrate. It is here intimated what a
general publication of the law this was, (1.) Every
word was read; even the minutest precepts were
not omitted, nor the most copious abridged; not one
iota or tittle of the law shall pass away, and there¬
fore none was, in reading, skipped over, under pre¬
tence of want of time, or that any part was needless,
or not proper to be read. It was not many weeks
since Moses had preached the whole book of Deu¬
teronomy to them, yet Joshua must now read it all
over again; it is good to hear twice what God has
spoken once, Ps. 62.. 11. and to review what has
been delivered to us, or to have it repeated, that we
may not let it slip. (2.) Every Israelite was pre¬
sent, even the women and the little ones, that all
might know and do their duty. Note, Masters of
families should bring their wives and children with
them to the solemn assemblies for religious wor¬
ship. All that are capable of learning, must come
to be taught out of the law. The strangers also
attended with them ; for wherever we are, though
but as strangers, we should improve every oppor¬
tunity of acquainting ourselves with God and his
holy will.
CHAP. IX.
Here is in this chapter, I. The impolitic confederacy of the
kings of Canaan against Israel, v. 1, 2. II. The politic
confederacy of the inhabitants of Gibeon with Israel. 1.
How it was subtilely proposed and petitioned for by the
Gibeonites, pretending to come from a far country, v.
3. .13. 2. How it was unwarily consented to by Joshua
and the Israelites, to the disgust of the congregation
when the fraud was discovered, v. 14. .18. 3. How the
matter was adjusted to the satisfaction of all sides, by
giving these Gibeonites their lives, because they had co¬
venanted with them, yet depriving them of their liberties,
because the covenant was no1 fairly obtained, v. 19. . 27.
1. A ND it came to pass, when all the
LlL kings which were on this side Jordan,
in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the
coasts of the great sea over against Leba¬
non, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the
Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and
the Jebusite, heard thereof, 2. That they
gathered themselves together, to fight with
Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.
Hitherto the Canaanites had acted defensively,
the Israelites were the aggressors upon Jericho and
Ai; but here the kings of Canaan are in consultation
to attack Israel, and concert matters for a vigorous
effort of their united forces, to check the progress
of their victorious arms. Now, 1. It was strange
they did not do this sooner. They had notice long
since of their approach; Israel’s design upon Canaan
was no secret; one would have expected that a pru¬
dent concern for their common safety should have
put them upon taking some measures to oppose their
coming over Jordan, and maintain that pass against
them, or to have given them a warm reception as
soon as they were over. It was strange they did
nut attempt to raise the siege of Jericho, or at" least
fall in with the men of Ai, when they had given
them a defeat. But they were either, through pre¬
sumption or despair, -wonderfully infatuated, and at
their wit’s end; many know not the things that be¬
long to their peace till they are hid from their eves.
2. It was more strange that they did it now. Now
that the conquest of Jericho had given such a preg¬
nant proof of God’s power, and that of Ai of Israel’s
policy, one would have thought the end of their
consultation should have been, not to fight with Is¬
rael, but to make peace with them, and to gain the
best terms they could for themselves. This had
been their wisdom, Luke 14. 32. but their minds
were blinded, and their hearts hardened to their
destruction.
Observe, (1.) What induced them now at last to
enter upon this consultation. When they heard
thereof, v. 1. not only of the conquest of Jericho
and Ai, but of the convention of the states of mount
Ebal, which we have an account of immediately be¬
fore; when they heard that Joshua, as if he thought
himself already complete master of the country,
had had all his people together, and had read the
laws to them, by which they must be governed,
and taken their promises to submit to those laws,
then they perceived the Israelites were in good
earnest, and thought it was high time for them to
bestir themselves. The pious devotions of God’s
people sometimes provokes and exasperates their
enemies more than any thing else. (2.) How
unanimous they were in their resolves. Though
they were many kings of different nations, Hittites,
Amorites, Perizzites, &c. doubtless of different in¬
terests, and that had often been at variance one
with another, yet they determined, nemine contra-
dicente — unanimously, to unite against Israel. O
that Israel would learn this of Canaanites, to sacri¬
fice private interests to the public welfare, and to
lay aside all animosities among themselves, that
they may cordially unite against the common ene¬
mies of God’s kingdom among men!
3. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon
heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho
and to Ai, 4. They did work wilily, and
went and made as if they had been ambas¬
sadors ; and took old sacks upon their asses,
and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound
48
JOSHUA, IX.
up: 5. And old shoes and clouted upon!
their feet, and old garments upon them ; and
all the bread of t heir provision was dry and
mouldy. 6. And they went to Joshua unto
the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and
to the men of Israel, We be come from a
far country : now therefore make ye a
league with us. 7. And the men of Israel
said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye
dwell among us ; and how shall we make a
league with you ? 8. And they said unto
Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua
said unto them, Who are ye ? and from
whence come ye ? 9. And they said unto
him, From a very far country thy servants
are come, because of the name of the Lord
thy God : for we have heard the fame of him,
and all that he did in Egypt, 10. And all
that he did to the two kings of the Amorites
that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of
Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which
was at Ashtaroth. 11. Wherefore our el¬
ders and all the inhabitants of our country
spake to us, saying, T ake victuals with you
for the journey, and go to meet them, and
say unto them, We are your servants:
therefore now make ye a league with us.
1 2. This our bread we took hot for our pro¬
vision out of our houses on the day we came
forth to go unto you ; but now, behold, it is
dry, and it is mouldy: 13. And these bot¬
tles of wine, which we filled, were new ;
and, behold, they be rent: and these our
garments and our shoes are become old by
reason of the very long journey. 1 4. And
the men took of their victuals, and asked
not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
Here,
I. The Gibeonites desire to make peace with
Israel, being alarmed by the tidings they heard of
the destruction of Jericho, v. 3. Other people
heard those tidings, and were irritated thereby to
make war upon Israel; but the Gibeonites heard
them, and were induced to make peace with them.
Thus the discovery of the glory and the grace of
God in the gospel, is to some a savour of life unto
life; but to others, a savour of death unto deaih, 2
Cor. 2. lb. The same sun soitens wax and hardens
clay. I do not remember that we read any where
of a king of Gibeon. Had their government been at
this time in a single person, perhaps his heart
would have been too high to yield to Israel, and he
would have joined with the rest of the kings against
Israel. But these four united cities, mentioned v.
17. seem to have been governed by elders or sena¬
tors, v. 11. who consulted the common safety more
than their own personal dignity. The inhabitants
of Gibeon did well for themselves. We have,
II. The method they took to compass it. They
knew that all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan
were to be cut off, perhaps they had some spies in
the congregation at Ebal, when the law was read,
who observed and brought them notice of the com¬
mand given to Israel, Deut. 7. 1 • • 3. that they should
show no mercy to the Canaanites, give them no
quarter in battle, which made them afraid of fight¬
ing them, and that they should make no covenan.
with them, which made them despair of gaining
any advantage by treating with them : and therefore
there was no way of saving their lives from the
sword of Israel, unless they could, by disguising
themselves, make Joshua believe that they came
from some very far country, which the Israelites
were not commanded to make war upon, nor for¬
bidden to make peace with, but were particularly
appointed to offer peace to, Deut. 20. 10, 15. Un¬
less they could be admitted under this notion, they
saw there was but one way with them, they must
submit to the fate of Jericho and Ai. Though
the neighbouring princes knew that all the men
thereof were mighty, ( ch . 10. 2.) and they knew it
themselves, yet they durst not contend with Israel,
who had an Almighty God on their side. This
therefore is the only game they have to play, and
they play it very artfully and successfully; never
was any such thing more craftily managed.
1. They came under the character of ambassa¬
dors from a foreign state, which they thought would
please the princes of Israel, and make them proud
of the honour of being courted by distant countries:
we find Hezekiah fond of those that came to him
from a far country, Isa. 39. 3. they had not used to
be thus courted.
2. They pretended to have undergone the fatigues
of a very long journey, and produced what passed
for an ocular demonstration of it. It should seem it
was then usual for those that undertook long jour-
nies, to take with them, as we do now for long
voyages, all manner of provision in kind, the coun¬
try not being furnished as our’s is now with houses
of entertainment, for the convenience of which,
when we have occasion to make use of them, we
have reason to be very thankful. Now, they here
pretended that their provision, when they brought
it from home, was fresh and new, but now it ap¬
peared to be old and dry, whereas it might well be
presumed they had not loitered, but made the best
of their way; so that from hence it must be inferred
that they came, as they said they did, from a very
far country, their sacks or portmanteaus were old,
the wine all urank, and the bottles in which it had
been, broken, their shoes and their clothes were
worse than those of the Israelites in forty years,
their bread mouldy, v. 4, 5. and again, v. 12, 13.
Thus God’s Israel" have often been deceived and
imposed upon with a show of antiquity. But fas
Bishop Hall expresses it) errors are ne-Oer the older
for being patched, and so seeming old; but they
that will be caught with this Gibeonitish stratagem,
prove they have not consulted with God. And thus
there are those who make themselves poor with the
badges of want and distress, and yet have great
riches, Prov. 13. 7. or at least have no need of re¬
lief, by which fraud charity is misplaced, and de¬
nied to those that are real objects ot it.
3. When they were suspected, and more strictly
examined from whence they came, they industri¬
ously declined telling the name of their countiy,
till the agreement was settled; (1.) The men of
Israel suspected a fraud, v. 7. “ Peradventure xjc
dwell among us, and then we may not, we must
not, make any league with you;” this might have
discouraged the Gibeonites from urging the mattei
any further, concluding that if the peace were made,
the Israelites would not think themselves obliged
to keep it, having thus solemnly protested against
it, in case they dwelt among them ; but knowing
that there was no hope at all if they stood it out,
they bravely ventured a submission; “ Who knows
but the people of Israel may save us alive, though
thus inveigled into a promise, and if we tell them at
last, we shall but die.” (2.) Joshua put the ques¬
tions to them, Who are ye? and from whence come
JOSHUA, IX. 4£»
ye? He finds himself concerned to stand upon his
guard against secret fraud, as well as against open
force; we in our spiritual warfare must stand against
the wiles' of the devil, remembering he is a subtle
serpent as well as a roaring lion. In all leagues of
relation and friendship we must first try, and then
trust, lest we repent at leisure agreements made in
haste. (3.) they would not tell whence they
came; but still repeat the same thing, We are come
from a very far country, v. 9. They will have it
thought, that it is a country Israel knows nothing
of, nor ever heard of, and therefore would be never
the wiser if they should tell him the name of it.
4. They profess a respect for the God of Israel,
the more to ingratiate themselves with Joshua, and
we charitably believe they were sincere in this pro¬
fession, “ We are come because of the name of the
Lord thy God, v. 9. because of what we have heard
of that name, which has convinced us that it is
above every name, and because we have a desire
toward that name, and the remembrance of it, and
would gladly come under its protection.
5. They fetch their inducements from what had
been done some time before in Moses’s reign, the
tidings whereof might easily be supposed ere this to
have reached distant regions, the plagues of Egypt
and the destruction of Sihon and Og, v. 9, 10. but
prudently say nothing of the destruction of Jericho
and Ai, (though that was the true inducement, v.
3.) because they will have it supposed that they
came from home long before those conquests were
made. W e need not be long to seek for reasons why
we should submit to the God of Israel; we may be
furnished either with new or old, which we will.
6. They make a good submission, We are your
servants, and humbly sue for a general agreement,
make a league with us, v. 11. They insist not upon
terms, but will be glad of peace upon any terms;
nor will the case admit of delays, lest the fraud be
discovered; fain would they have the bargain struck
up immediately; if Joshua will but make a league
with them, they have all they come for, and they
hope their ragged clothes and clouted shoes will be
no exception against them; God and Israel reject
none for their poverty.
Now, (1.) Their falsehood cannot be justified, nor
ought it to be drawn into a precedent. We must
not do evil, that good may come. Had they owned
their country but renounced the idolatries of it, re¬
signing the possession of it to Israel, and themselves
to the Gnd of Israel, we have reason to think Joshua
would have been directed by the oracle of God to
spare their lives, and they needed not to have made
these pretensions. It is observable, when they had
once said, We are come from a far country, v. 6.
they found themselves necessitated to say it again,
v. 9. and to say what was utterly false concerning
their bread, their bottles, their clothes, v. 12, 13.
for one lie is an inlet to another, and that to a third,
and so on. The way of that sin is down-hill.
But (2. ) Their faith and prudence are to be greatly
commended; our Lord commended even the unjust
steward, because he had done wisely and well for
himself, Luke 16. 8. In submitting to Israel, they
submitted to the God of Israel, which implied
a renunciation of the God they had served, a resig¬
nation to the laws of the true religion. They had
heard enough to convince them of the infinite power
of the God of Israel, and from thence might infer
his other perfections of wisdom and goodness; and
how can we do better for ourselves, than surrender
at discretion to infinite wisdom, and cast ourselves
ufion the mercy of a God of infinite goodness? The
submission of these Gibeonites was the more lauda¬
ble, because it was, [1.] Singular; their neighbours
took another course, and expected they should join
with them. [2.j Speedy; they did not stay till Is-
Vot,. II.— G
rael had besieged their cities; then it had been too
late to capitulate; but when they were at some dis¬
tance, they desired conditions of peace. The way
to avoid a judgment is to meet it by repentance.
Let us imitate these Gibeonites, and make our
peace with God in the rags of humiliation, godly
sorrow, and mortification, so our iniquity shall not
be our ruin. Let us be servants to Jesus, our blessed
Joshua, and make a league with him and the Israel
of God, and we shall live.
15. And Joshua made peace with them,
and made, a league with them, to let them
live: and the princes of the congregation
svvare unto them. 1 6. And it came to pass,
at the end of three days, after they had
made a league with them, that they heard
that they were their neighbours, and that
they dwelt among them. 1 7. And the chil¬
dren of Israel journeyed, and came unto
their cities on the third day. Now their
cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Bee-
roth, and Kirjath-jearim. 18. And the chil¬
dren of Israel smote them not, because the
princes of the congregation had sworn unto
them by the Lord God of Israel. And all
the congregation murmured against the
princes. 19. But all the princes said unto
all the congregation, We have sworn unto
them by the Lord God of Israel : now,
therefore we may not touch them. 20. This
we will do to them ; we will even let them
live ; lest wrath be upon us, because of the
oath which we sware unto them. 21. And
the princes said unto them, Let them live ;
but let them be hewers of wood and drawers
of water unto all the congregation •, as the
princes had promised them
Here is,
I. The treaty soon concluded with the Gibeon¬
ites, v. 14, 15. The thing was not done with much
formality, but in short. 1. They agreed to let
them live, and more the Gibeonites did not ask. In
a common war this had been but a small matter to
be granted; but in the wars of Canaan, which were
to make a general destruction, it was a great favour
to a Canaanite to have his life given him for a prey,
Jer. 45. 5. 2. This agreement was made not by
Joshua only, but by the princes of the congregation,
in conjunction with him. Though Joshua had an
extraordinary call to tne government, and extraor¬
dinary qualifications for it, yet he would not act in
an affair of this nature, without the counsel and con¬
currence of the princes, who were neither kept in
the dark nor kept under foot, but were treated by
him as sharers in the government. 3. It was rati
fied by an oath, they sware unto them, not by any
of the gods of Canaan, but by the God of Israel
only, v. 19. They that mean honestly, do not
startle at assurances, but satisfy those with whom
they treat, and glorifv God, by calling him to wit¬
ness to the sincerity of their intentions. 4. Nothing
appears to have been culpable in all this, but that
it was done rashly; they took of their victuals, by
which they satisfied themselves that it was indeed
old and dry, but did not consider that that was no
proof of their bringing it fresh from home; so that,
making use of their senses only, but not their rea¬
son, they received the men (; s the margin reads it)
50
JOSH!
because of their victuals, perceiving perhaps, upon
the view and taste of their bread, not only that now
it was old, but that it had been fine and very good
at first, whence they inferred that they were per¬
sons of some quality; and therefore the friendship
of their country was not to be despised. But they
asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. They
had the Urim and Thummim with them, which
they might have advised with in this difficult case,
and that would have told them no lie, would have
led them into no error; but they relied so much on
their own politics, that they thought it needless to
bring the matter to the oracle. Joshua himself was
not altogether without blame herein. Note, We
then make more haste than good speed in any busi¬
ness, when we stay not to take God along with us,
and by the word and prayer to consult him. Many
a time we see cause to reflect upon it with regret,
that such and such an affair miscarried, because we
asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord; would
we acknowledge him in all our ways, we should
find them more safe, easy, and successful.
II. The fraud soon cliscovered by which this
league was procured. A lying tongue is but for a
moment, and truth will be the daughter of time.
Within three days they found, to their great sur¬
prise, that the cities which these ambassadors had
treated for, were very near them, but one night’s
foot-march from the camp at Gilgal, ch. 10. 9.
Either their own scouts, or the parties that sallied
out to acquaint themselves with the country, or per¬
haps some deserters that came over to them from
the enemy, informed them of the truth of this mat¬
ter. They that suffer themselves to be deceived
by the wiles of Satan, will soon be undeceived to
their confusion, and will find that near, even at
the door, which they imagined was very far off.
III. The disgust of the congregation at this.
They did indeed submit to the restraints which this
league laid upon them, and smote not the cities of
the Gibeonites, neither slew the persons, nor seized
the prey; but it vexed them to have their hands
thus tied, and they murmured against the princes,
(v. 18.) it is to be feared, more from a jealousy for
their own profit, than from a zeal for the fulfilling
of God’s command, though some of them perhaps
had a regard to that. Many are forward to arraign
and censure the actions of princes while they are
ignorant of the springs of those actions, and are in¬
competent judges of the reasons of state that go¬
vern them. While therefore we are satisfied in
general that those who are over us aim at nothing
but the public good, and sincerely seek the welfare
of their people, we ought to make the best of what
they do, and not exercise ourselves in things above
us.
IV. The prudent endeavour of the princes to pa¬
cify the discontented congregation, and to accom¬
modate the matter; herein all the princes concur¬
red and were unanimous, which doubtless disposed
the people to acquiesce.
1. They resolved to spare the lives of the Gibe¬
onites, for so they had expressly sworn to do, v. 15.
to let them live.
(1.) The oath was lawful, else it had not bound
them any more than Herod’s oath bound him to
cut off John Baptist’s head; it is true, God had ap¬
pointed them to destroy all the Canaanites, but that
law must be construed in favor em vitge — with some
tender allowance, to mean those only that stood it
out, and would not surrender their country to them,
and not to bind them so far to put off the sense of
lionour and humanity, as to slay those who had
never lifted up a hand against them, nor ever
would, but before they were reduced to any ex¬
tremity, or ever attempted anv act of hostility, with
one consent humbled themselves; the kings of Is-
TA, IX.
rael were certainly more merciful kings than to do
so, ,1 Kings 20. 31. and the God of Israel a more
merciful God than to order it so; Satis est pros-
trdsse leoni — It is enough to have laid the lion pros¬
trate. And besides, the reason of the law is the
law; the mischief designed to be prevented by that
law, was the infecting of the Israelites with their
idolatry; Deut. 7. 4. But if the Gibeonites re¬
nounce their idolatry, and become friends and ser¬
vants to the house of God, the danger is effectually
prevented, the reason of the law ceases, and conse¬
quently the obligation of it, especially to a thing of
this nature. The conversion of sinners shall pre¬
vent their ruin.
(2. ) The oath being lawful, both the princes, and
the people for whom they transacted, were bound
by it, bound in conscience, bound in honour to the
God of Israel, by whom they had sworn, and whose
names would have been blasphemed by the Ca¬
naanites, if they had violated this oath. They speak
as those that feared an oath (Eccl. 9. 2.) when they
argued thus; We will let them live, lest wrath be
upon us, because of the oath which we sware, v. 20.
He that ratifies a promise with an oath, imprecates
the divine vengeance if he wilfully break his pro¬
mise, and has reason to expect that divine justice
will take him at his word. God is not mocked,
and therefore oaths are not to be jested with. The
princes will keep their word, [1.] Though they
lest by it. A citizen of Sion swears to his own hurt,
and changes not, Ps. 15. 4. Joshua and the princes,
when they found it was to their prejudice that they
had thus bound themselves, did not apply them¬
selves to Eleazar for a dispensation, much less did
they pretend that no faith is to be kept with here¬
tics, with Canaanites; no, they were strangers to
the modern artifices of the Roman Church, to elude
the most sacred bonds, and even to sanctify per¬
juries. [2.] Though the people were uneasy at it,
and their discontent might have ended in a mutinv,
yet the princes would not violate their engagement
to the Gibeonites; we must never be over-awed,
either by majesty or multitude, to do a sinful thing,
and to go against our consciences. [3.] Though
they were drawn into this league by a wile, and
might have had a very plausible pretence to de¬
clare it null and void, yet they adhered to it. They
might have pleaded that though those were the
men with whom they exchanged the ratifications,
yet these were not the cities intended in the league;
they had promised to spare certain cities, without
names, that were very far rff, and upon the express
consideration of their being so, but these were very
near, and therefore not the cities that they covenant¬
ed with. And many learned men have thought that
they were so grossly imposed upon by the Gibeonites,
that it would have been lawful for them to have re¬
called their promise; but to preserve their reputa¬
tion, and to keep up in Israel a veneration for an
oath, they would stand to it; but it is plain that
they thought themselves indispensably obliged by
it, and were apprehensive that the wrath of God
would fall upon them if they broke it. And how¬
ever their adherence to it might be displeasing to
the congregation, it is plain that it was acceptable
to God, for when, in pursuance of this league, they
undertook the protection of the Gibeonites, God
gave them the most glorious victory that ever they
had in all their wars, ch. 10. and long after severely
avenged the wrong Saul did to the Gibeonites in vio¬
lation of this league, 2 Sam. 21. 1. Let this con¬
vince us all how religiously we ought to perform
our promises, and make good our bargains; and
what conscience we ought to make of our words,
when they are once given. If a covenant obtained
by so many lies and deceits might not be broken,
shall we think to evade the obligation of those that
51
JOSHUA, IX.
have been made with all possible honesty and
fairness? If the fraud of others will not justify or
excuse our falsehood, certainly the honesty of
others in dealing with us, will aggravate and con¬
demn our dishonesty in dealing with them.
2. Though they spared their lives, yet they
seized their liberties, and sentenced them to be
hewers of wood, and drawers of water, to the con¬
gregation, v. 21. By this proposal the discontent¬
ed congregation was pacified; for (1.) They who
were angry that the Gibeonites lived, might be
content when they saw them condemned to that
which, in the general apprehension, is worse than
death, perpetual servitude. (2. ) They who were
angry that they were not spoiled, might be content
when their service of the congregation would be
more to the public advantage, than their best ef¬
fects could be; and, in short, the Israelites would
be no losers either in honour or profit by this peace
with the Gibeonites; convince them of this, and
they will be satisfied.
22. And Joshua called for them, and he
spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have
ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far
from you ; when ye dwell among us? 23.
Now therefore ye are cursed ; and there
shall none of you be freed from being bond-
men, and hewers of wood and drawers of
water for the house of my God. 24. And
they answered Joshua, and said, Because
it was certainly told thy servants, how that
the Lord thy God commanded his servant
Moses to give you all the land, and to de¬
stroy all the inhabitants of the land from be¬
fore you, therefore we were sore afraid of
our lives because of you, and have done
this thing. 25. And now, behold, we are
in thine hand : as it seemeth good and right
unto thee to do unto us, do. 26. And so
did he unto them, and delivered them out
of the hand of the children of Israel, that
they slew them not. 27. And Joshua made
them that day hewers of wood and draw¬
ers of water, for the congregation and for
the altar of the Lord, even unto this day,
in the place which he should choose.
The matter is here settled between Joshua and
the Gibeonites, and an explanation of the league
agreed upon; we may suppose that now, not the
messengers who were first sent, but the elders of
Gibeon, and of the cities that were dependent upon
it, were themselves present, and treated with, that
the matter might be fully compromised.
I. Joshua reproves them for their fraud, v . 22.
And they excuse it as well as they can, v. 24. 1.
Joshua gives the reproof very mildly; 117 lerefore
have ye beguiled us? He does not load them with
any ill names, does not give them any harsh pro¬
voking language, does not call them, as they de¬
served to be called, base liars, but only asks them,
Why have ye beguiled us? Under the greatest pro¬
vocations, it is our wisdom and duty to keep our
temper, and .to bridle our passion; a just cause
needs not anger to defend it, and a bad one is made
never the better by it. 2. They make the best ex¬
cuse for themselves that the thing would bear, v.
24. They found by the word of God, that sentence
of death was passed upon them, (the command was
to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, without
exception,) and they found by the works of God
already wrought, that there was no opposing the
execution of this sentence; they considered that
God’s sovereignty is incontestable, his justice in¬
flexible, his power irresistible, and therefore re¬
solved to try what his mercy was, and found it was
not in vain to cast themselves upon it. They do
not go about to justify their lie, but in effect beg
pardon for it, pleading it was purely to save
their lives that they did it, which every man that
finds in himself the force of the law of self-pre¬
servation, will therefore make great allowances
for; especially in such a case as this, where the
fear was not merely of the power of man, (if that
were all, one might flee from that to the divine
protection,) but of the power of God himself,
which they saw engaged against them.
II. Joshua condemns them to servitude, as a pun¬
ishment of their fraud, v. 23. and they submit to
the sentence, i'. 25. and for aught that appears,
both sides are pleased.
1. Joshua pronounces them perpetual bondmen.
They had purchased their lives with a lie, but that
being no good consideration, he obliges them to hold
their lives under the rent and reservation of their
continual labours, in hewing wood and drawing wa¬
ter, the meanest and most toilsome employments.
Thus their lie was punished; had they dealt fairly
and plainly with Israel, perhaps they had had more
honourable conditions granted them, but now, since
they gain their lives with ragged clothes and clout¬
ed shoes, the badges of servitude, they are con¬
demned for ever to wear such, so must their doom
be. And thus the ransom of their lives is paid; do¬
minion is acquired by the preservation of a life that
lies at mercy ( Serous dicitur a servanda — A ser¬
vant is so called from the act of saving ,) they
owe their service to them to whom they owe their
lives. Observe how the judgment is given against
them. (1.) Their servitude is made a curse to
them. “ Now ye are cursed with the ancient curse
of Canaan,” from whom these Hivites descended,
a servant of servants shall thou be, Gen. 9. 25.
What shall be done to the false tongue but this?
Cursed shall it be. (2.) Yet this curse is turned
into a blessing; they must be serv ants, but it shall
be for the house of my God. The princes would
have them slaves unto all the congregation, v. 21.
at least, they chose to express themselves so, for
the pacifying of the people that were discontented,
but Joshua mitigates the sentence, both in honour
to God and in favour to the Gibeonites: it would be
too hal'd upon them to make them every man’s
drudge; if they must be hewers of wood and draw¬
ers o f water, than which there cannot be a greater
disparagement, especially to them who are citizens
of a royal city, and all mighty men, cli. 10. 2. yet
they shall be so to the house of mu God, than
which there cannot be a greater preferment: Da¬
vid himself could have wished to be a door-keeper
there. Even servile work becomes honourable
when it is done for the house of my God, and the
offices thereof.
[1.] They were hereby excluded from the liber¬
ties and privileges of true-born Israelites, and a re¬
maining mark of distinction put upon their posteritv
throughout all their generations. [2. ] They were
hereby employed in such services as required their
personal attendance upon the altar of God, in the
filace which he should choose, v. 27. which would
bring them to the knowledge of the law of God,
keep them tight to that holy religion to which they
were proselyted, and prevent their revolt to the
idolatries of their fathers. [3.] This would be a
greet advantage to the priests and Levites to have
so many, and those mighty men, constant attend-
JOSHUA, X.
ants upon them, and engaged by office to do all i
tiie drudgery of the tabernacle. A great deal of
wood must be hewed for fuel for God’s house, j
not only' to keep the fire burning continually
upon the altar, buc to boil the flesh of the
pea.:e-offerings, &c. And a great deal of water
must be drawn for the divers washings which the
law prescribed; these and other such servile works,
such as washing the vessels, carrying out ashes,
sweeping the courts,^. which otherwise the Le-
vites must have done themselves, these Gibeonites
were appointed to do. [4.] They were herein
servants to the congregation too; for whatever pro¬
motes and helps forward the worship of God, is
real service to the commonwealth. It is the inter¬
est of every Israelite, that the altar of God be well
attended. Hereby also the congregation was excus¬
ed from much of this servile work, which per¬
haps would otherwise have been expected from
some of them. God had made a law that the Is¬
raelites should never make any of their brethren
bondmen; if they had slaves, they must be of the
heathen that were round about them, Lev. 25. 44.
Now, in honour of this law, and of Israel that was
honoured by it, God would not have the drudgery,
no, not of the tabernacle itself, to be done by Israel¬
ites, but by Gibeonites, who were afterward called
JVethinim , men given to the Levites as they were to
the priests, (Numb. 3. 9.) to minister to them in
the service of God. [5.] This may be looked upon
as typifying the admission of the Gentiles into the
Gospel-Church. Now they were taken in upon
their submission to be under-officers, but afterward
God promises that he will take of them, for firiests
and Levites, Isa. 66. 21.
2. They submit to this condition, v. 25. Con¬
scious of a fault in framing a lie whereby to deceive
the Israelites, and sensible also how narrowly they
escaped with their lives, and what a kindness it was
to have them spared, they acquiesce in the propo¬
sal, Do as it seemeth right unto thee. Better live in
servitude, especially such servitude, than not live
at all. Those of the very meanest and most despi¬
cable condition, are described to be hewers of wood,
and drawers of water, Deut. 29. 11. But skin for
skin, liberty and labour, and all that a man has,
will he give for his life, and no ill bargain. Accor¬
dingly the matter was determined, (1.) Joshua de¬
livered them out of the hands of the Israelites that
they should not be slain, v. 26. It seems there
were those who would have fallen upon them with
the sword, if Joshua had not interposed with his
authority; but wise generals know when to lock up
the sword, as well as when to draw it. (2. ) He
then delivered them again into the hands of the Is¬
raelites to be enslaved, v. 27. They were not to
keep possession of their cities, for we find afterward
that three of them fell to the lot of Beniamin, and one
to that of Judah ; nor were they themselves to be
at their own disposal, but, as Bishop Patrick thinks,
were dispersed into the cities of the priests and Le¬
vites, and came up with them in their courses to
serve at the altar, out of the profits of which, it is
robable, they were maintained. And thus Israel’s
ondmen became the Lord’s freemen, for his ser¬
vice in the meanest office is liberty, and his work is
its own wages. And this they got by their early
submission. Let us, in like manner, submit to our
Lord Jesus, and refer ourselves to him, saying,
“ We are in thy hand, do unto us as seemeth good
and right unto thee ; only save our souls, and we
shall not repent it:” if he appoints us to bear his
cross, and draw in his yoke, and serve at his altar,
that shall be afterward neither shame nor grief to
us, while the meanest office in God’s service will
entitle us to a dwelling in the house of the Lord
all the days of our life.
CHAP. X.
1 We have in this chapter an account of the conquest of the
kings and kingdoms of the southern part of the land
of Canaan, as, in the next chapter, of the reduction
of the northern parts, which together completed the
glorious successes of the wars of Canaan. In this
chapter we have an account, I. Of the routing of
their forces in the field- In which observe, I. Their con¬
federacy against the Gibeonites, v. 1 . . 5. 2. The Gib¬
eonites’ request to Joshua to assist them, v. 6. 3. Josh¬
ua’s speedy march under divine encouragement for their
relief, v. 7.. 9. 4. The defeat of the armies of these
confederate kings, v. 10,11. 5. The miraculous pro¬
longing of the day by the standing still of the sun in fa¬
vour of the conquerors, v. 12 . . 14. II. Of the execu¬
tion of the kings that escaped out of the battle, v. 15. .
27. III. Of the taking of the particular cities, and the
total destruction of all that were found in them. Mak-
kedah, v. 28. Libnah, v. 29, 30. Lachish, v. 31, 32, and
the kipg of Gezer that attempted its rescue, v. 33. Eg-
lon, v. 34; 35. Hebron, v. 36, 37. Debir, v. 38, 39. And
the bringing of all that country into the hands of Israel,
v. 40. . 42. And lastly, the return of the army to their
head-quarters.
1 OW it came to pass, when Adoni-
J3I zedek king of Jerusalem had heard
how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly
destroyed it ; as he had done to Jericho and
her king, so he had done to Ai and her
king; and how the inhabitants of Gibe-
on had made peace with Israel, and were
among them ; 2. That they feared greatly,
because Gibeon was a great city, as one of
the royal cities, and because it was greater
than Ai, and all the men thereof were
mighty. 3. Wherefore Adoni-zedek king
of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of He¬
bron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and
unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto De¬
bir king of Eglon, saying, 4. Come up
unto me, and help me, that we may
smite Gibeon : for it hath made peace
with Joshua and with the children of Is¬
rael. 5. Therefore the five kings of the
Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of
Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of
Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered them¬
selves together, and went up, they and all
their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon,
and made war against it. 6. And the men
of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp at
Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy
servants ; come up to us quickly, and save
us, and help us : for all the kings of the Am¬
orites that dwell in the mountains are gath¬
ered together against us.
Joshua and the hosts of Israel had now been a
good while in the land of Canaan, and no great
matters were effected; they were made masters of
Jericho by miracle, of Ai by stratagem, and of Gib¬
eon by surrender, and that was all; hitherto the
progress of their victories has not seemed propor¬
tionable to the magnificence of their entry and the
glory of their beginnings. Those among them that
were impatient of delays, it is probable, complain
ed of Joshua’s slowness, and asked why they did not
immediately penetrate into the heart of the country,
before the enemy could rally their forces to make
53
JOSHUA, X.
head against them; why they stood trifling, while
they were so confident both of their title and of
their success. Thus Joshua’s prudence, perhaps,
was censured as slothfulness, cowardice, and want
of spirit. But, 1. Canaan was not to be conquered
in a day. God had said, that by little and little he
would drive out the Canaanites, Exod. 23. 30. He
that believeth, will not make haste, or conclude
that the promise will never be performed, because
it is not performed so soon as we expected. 2.
Joshua waited for the Canaanites to be the aggress¬
ors; let them first make an onset upon Israel, on
the allies of Israel, and then their destruction will
be, or at least will appear to be, the more just and
the more justifiable. Joshua had warrant sufficient
to set upon them, yet he stays till they strike the
first stroke, that he might provide for honest things,
in the sight, not only of God, but of men; and they
would be the more excusable in their resistance,
now that they had seen what favour the Gibeonites
found with Israel. 3. It was for the advantage of
Israel to sit still a while, that the forces of these
little kings might unite in one body, and so might
the easier be cut off at one blow. This God had
in his eye when he put it into their hearts to com¬
bine against Israel; though they designed thereby
to strengthen one another, that which he intended,
was, to gather them as sheaves into the floor, to fall
together under the flail, Mic. 4. 12. Thus often¬
times that seeming paradox proves wholesome
counsel, Stay a while, and we shall have done the
sooner.
After Israel had waited a while for an occasion to
make war upon the Canaanites, a fair one offers
itself.
I. Five kings combine against the Gibeonites.
A.doni-zedek king of Jerusalem was the first mover
and ringleader of this confederacy. He had a good
name; it signifies lord of righteousness-, a descendant
perhaps from Melchizedek, king of righteousness;
but notwithstanding the goodness of his name and
family, it seems he was a bad man, and an implaca¬
ble enemy to the posterity of that Abraham, whom
his predecessor, Melchizedek, was such a faithful
friend to. He called upon his neighbours to join
against Israel, either because he was the most ho¬
nourable prince, and had the precedency among
these kings, (perhaps they had some dependence
upon him, at least they paid a deference to him, as
the most public, powerful, and active man they
had among them,) or, because he was first or most
apprehensive of the danger his country was in, not
only by the conquest of Jericho and Ai, but the sur¬
render of Gibeon, which, it seems, was the chief
thing that alarmed him, it being one of the most
considerable frontier-towns they had. Against Gib-
eon therefore all the force he could raise, must be
levelled; Come, says he, and helfi me, that we may
smite Gibeon. This he resolves to do, either, 1. In
policy; that he might retake the city, because it
was a strong city, and of great consequence to his
country, in whose hands it was; or, 2. In passion,
that he might chastise the citizens for making
peace with Joshua, pretending that they had per¬
fidiously betrayed their country and strengthened
the common enemy, whereas they had really done
the greatest kindness imaginable to their country
by setting them a good example, if they would have
followed it. Thus Satan and his instruments make
war upon those that make peace with God: marvel
not if the world hate you, and treat those as desert¬
ers, who are converts to Christ.
II. The Gibeonites send notice to Joshua of the
distress and danger they were in, v. 6. Now they
expect benefit from the league they had made with
Israel, because though it was obtained by deceit, it
was afterward confirmed when the truth came out.
They think Joshua obliged to help them, 1. In
conscience, because they were his servants, not in
compliment, as they had said in their first address,
ch. 9. 8, We are thy sen-ants, but in reality made
servants to the congregation; and it is the duty of
masters to take care of the poorest and meanest of
their servants, and not to see them wronged when
it is in the power of their hand to right them. They
that pay allegiance may reasonably expect protec¬
tion. Thus David pleads with God, Ps. 119. 94, I
am thine ; save me; and so may we, if indeed we be
his. 2. In honour, because the ground of their ene
mies’ quarrel with them, was, the respect they had
shown to Israel, and the confidence they had in a
covenant with them. Joshua cannot refuse to help
them, when it is for their affection to him, and to
the name of his God, that they are attacked. Da¬
vid thinks it a good plea with God, Ps. 69. 7, For
thy sake I have borne re/iroach. When our spirit¬
ual enemies set themselves in array against us, and
threaten to swallow us up, let us, by faith and prayer,
apply ourselves to Christ, our Joshua, for strength
and succour, as St. Paul did, and we shall receive
the same answer of peace, My grace is sufficient
for thee, 2 Cor. 12. 8, 9.
7. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he
and all the people of war with him, and all
the mighty men of valour. 8. And the
Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not ;
for I have delivered them into thine hand :
there shall not a man of them stand before
thee. 9. Joshua therefore came unto them
suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all
night. 10. And the Lord discomfited them
before Israel, and slew them with a great
slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along
the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and
smote them to Azekah, and unto Makke-
dah. 1 1 . And it came to pass, as they fled
from before Israel, and were in the going
down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast
down great stones from heaven upon them
unto Azekah, and they died : they were more
which died with hailstones than they whom
the children of Israel slew with the sword.
12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the
day when the Lord delivered up the Amor-
ites before the children of Israel, and he
said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou
still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the
valley of Ajalon. 13. And the sun stood
still, and the moon stayed, until the pec»p]e
had avenged themselves upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the book of Jasher?
So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven,
and hasted not to go down about a whole
day. 14. And there was no day like that
before it or after it, that the Lord hearken¬
ed unto the voice of a man : for the Lord
fought for Israel.
Here,
I. Joshua resolves to assist the Gibeonites, and
God encourages him in that resolve. 1. He ascend¬
ed from Gilgal, v. 7. that is, he designed, deter¬
mined, and prepared for, this expedition to relieve
JOSHUA, X.
G:beo», for it is probable it was before he stirred a
step that God spake to him to encourage him. It
was generous and just in Joshua to help his new al¬
lies, though perhaps the king of Jerusalem, when
he attacked them, little thought that Joshua would
have been so ready to help them, but expected he
would abandon them as Canaanites, the rather
because they had obtained their league with him by
fraud; therefore he speaks with assurance, v. 4. of
smiting Gibeon. But Joshua knew that his promise
to let them live, obliged him, not only not to slay
them himself, but not to stand by and see them
slain, when it was in the power of his hand to
prevent it, Prcv. 24. 11, 12. He knew that when
they embraced the faith and worship of the God
rf Israel, they came to trust under the shadow of
his wings, (Ruth 2. 12.) and therefore, as his ser¬
vants, he was bound to protect them. 2. Gcd ani¬
mated him for his undertaking, v. 8. Fear not, that
is. O') “Doubt net of the goodness of thy cause,
and the clearness of thy call; though it be to as-
s:st Gibeonites, thou art in the way of duty, and
God is with thee of a truth. ” (2. ) “ Dread not the
power of the enemy; though so many enemies are
confederate against thee, and are resolved to make
their utmost efforts for the reduction of Gibeon,
and, it may be, will fight desperately in a desperate
cause; yet let not that discourage thee, I have de¬
livered them into thine hand;” and those can make
neither resistance, nor escape, whom God has
marked for destruction.
II. Joshua applies h:mself to execute this resolve,
and God assists him in the execution. Here we have,
1. The great industry of Joshua, and the power
ot God working with that for the defeat of the ene¬
my. In this action,
(1.) Joshua showed his good-will in the haste he
made for the relief of Gibeon, v. 9, He came unto
them suddenly; for the extremity was such as would
not admit delay. If one of the tribes of Israel had
been in danger, he could not have showed more
care or zeal for its relief than here for Gibeon, re¬
membering in this, as in other cases, there must be
one law for the stranger that was proselyted, and
for him that was born in the land. Scarcely had
the confederate princes got their forces together,
and sat down before Gibeon, when Joshua was upon
them, the surprise of which would put them into
the greatest confusion. Now that the enemy were
actually drawn up into a body, which had all as it
were but one neck, despatch was as serviceable to
his cause, as before delay was, while he waited for
this general rendezvous; and now that things were
ripe for execution, no man more expeditious than
Joshua who before had seemed slow. Now, it shall
never be said, He left that to do to-morrow which
he could do to-day. When Joshua found he could
not reach Gibeon in a day, lest he should lose any
real advantages against the enemy, or so much as
seem*to come short, or to neglect h's new allies, he
marched all night, resolving not to give sleep to his
eyes, nor slumber to his eve-lids, till he had accom¬
plished this enterprise. It was well the forces he
took with him were mighty men of valour, not
only able-bodied men, but men of spirit and resolu¬
tion, and hearty in the cause, else they neither
could nor would have borne this fatigue, but would
have murmured at their leader, and would have
asked, "Is this the rest we were promised in Ca¬
naan?” But they well considered that the present
toil was in order to a happy settlement, and there¬
fore were reconciled to it. Let the good soldiers
of Jesus Christ learn from hence to endure hard¬
ness, in following the I.amb whithersoever he goes,
and not think themselves undone, if their religion
lose them now and then a night’s sleep; it will be
enough to rest, when we come to heaven.
But why needed Joshua to put himself and his
men so much to the stretch? Had not God pro¬
mised him, that without fail he would deliver the
enemies into his hand ? It is true he had; but God’s
promises are intended, not to slacken and super¬
sede, but to quicken and encourage our endeavours.
He that believeth, doth not make haste to antici¬
pate providence, but doth make haste to attend it,
with a diligent, not a distrustful speed.
(2.) God showed his great power in defeating the
enemies which Joshua so vigorously attacked, v.
10, 11. Joshua had a very numerous and powerful
army with him, hands enough to despatch a dis
pirited enemy, so that the enemy might have been
scattered by the ordinary fate of war; but God him¬
self would appear in this great and decisive battle,
and draw up the artillery of heaven against the
Canaanites, to demonstrate to his people, that they
got not this land in possession by their own sword,
neither did their own arm save them, but God’s
right hand and his arm, Ps. 44. 3. The Lord dis¬
comfited them before Israel; Israel did what they
could, and yet God did all. [1.] It must needs be
a very great terror and confusion to the enemy, to
perceive that heaven itself fought against them; for
who can contest with, flee from, or fence against
the powers of heaven? 1'hey had affronted the
true God, and robbed him of his honour, by wor¬
shipping the host of heaven, giving that worship to
the creature which is due to the Creator only; and
now the host of heaven fights against them, and
even that part of the creation which they had
idolized, is at war with them, and even triumphs in
their ruin, Jer. 8. 2. There is no way of making
any creature propitious to us, no not by sacrifice or
offering, but only by making our peace with God,
and keeping ourselves in his love. This had been
enough to make them an easy prey to the victorious
Israelites, yet this was not all. [2.] Beside the
terror struck upon them, there was a great slaugh¬
ter made cf them by hail-stones, which were so
large, and came down with such a force, that more
were killed by the hail-stones than by the sword of
the Israelites, though no doubt, they were busy.
God himself speaks to Job of treasures, or maga¬
zines, of snow and hail, which he has reserved for
the day of battle and war, Job 38. 22, 23. and here
they are made use of to destroy the Canaanites.
Here was hail shot from God’s great ordinance,
that, against whomsoever it was directed, was sure
to hit, (and never glanced upon the Israelites
mixed with them,) and whenever it hit was sure to
kill. See here how miserable they are, that have
God for their enemy, and how sure to perish; it is
a fearful thing to fall into his hands, for there is no
fleeing out of them. Some observe, that Beth-
horon lay north of Gibeon, Azekah and Makkedah
lay south, so that they fled each way; by which way
soever they fled, the hail-stones pursued them, ancl
met them at every turn.
2. The great faith of Joshua, and the power of
God crowning that with the miraculous arrest of
the sun, that the day of Israel’s victories might be
prolonged, and so the enemy totally defeated. The
hail-stones had their rise no higher than the clouds,
but, to show that Israel’s help came from above the
clouds, the sun itself, who by his constant motion
serves the whole earth, by halting when there was
occasion, served the Israelites, and did them a kind¬
ness; the sun and moon stood still in their habitation,
at the light of thine arrowy which gave ‘he signal,
Hab. 3. 13.
(1.) Here is the praver of Joshua that the sun
might stand still. I call it his prayer , because it is
said, v. 12, he spake to the Lord; as Elijah, though
we read, 1 Kings 17. 1. only by his prophesying of
the drought, yet is said, James 5. 17, to pray for it
JOSHUA, X.
Observe, [1.] An instance of Joshua’s unwearied
activity in the service of God and Israel, that
though he had marched all night and fought all
day, and, one might expect, would be inclined to
repose himself and get a little sleep, and give his
army some time to rest, that, like the hireling, he
would earnestly have desired the shadow, and bid
the night welcome, when he had done such a good
day’s work, yet, instead of that, he wishes for
nothing so much as the prolonging of the day.
Note, Those that wait on the Lord, and work for
him, shall renew their strength, shall run and not
be weaiQ/, shall walk and not faint, Isa. 40. 31.
[2.] An instance of his great faith in the almighty
power of God, as above the power of nature, and
able to control and alter the usual course of it. No
doubt, Joshua had an extraordinary impulse or im¬
pression upon his spirit, which he knew to be of
divine original, prompting him to desire that this
miracle might be wrought upon this occasion, else
it had been presumption in him to desire or expect
it, the prayer had not been granted by the divine
power, if it had not been dictated by the divine
grace; God wrought this faith in him, and then said,
“ According to thy faith, and thy prayer of faith,
be it unto thee.” It cannot be imagined however
that such a thing as this should have entered into
his mind, if God had not put it there; a man would
have had a thousand projects in his head for the
completing of the victory, before he would have
thought of desiring the sun to stand still; but even
in the Old Testament saints, the Spirit made inter¬
cession according to the will of God; what God will
give, he inclines the hearts of his praying people to
ask; and for what he will do, he will be inquired
of, Ezek. 36. 37.
Now, First, It looked great for Joshua to say,
Sun, stand thou still. His ancestor Joseph had in¬
deed dreamed that the sun and moon did obeisance
to him; but who would have thought that, after it
had been fulfilled in the figure it should again be
fulfilled in the letter to one of his posterity. The
prayer is thus expressed with authority, because it
was not an ordinary prayer, such as is directed and
supported only by God’s common providence or
promise, but the prayer of a prophet at this time
divinely inspired for this purpose; and yet it inti¬
mates to us the prevalency of prayer in general, so
Ear as it is regulated by the word of God, and may
remind us of that honour put upon prayer, Isa. 45.
11, Concerning the work of my hands, command ye
me. He bids the sun stand still upon Gibeon, the
place of action and the seat of the war, intimating
that what he designed in this request, was, the ad¬
vantage of Israel against their enemies; it is proba¬
ble that the sun was now declining, and that he did
not call for the lengthening out of the day, until he
observed it hastening toward its period. He does
likewise, in the name of the King of kings, arrest
the moon, perhaps because it was requisite for the
preserving of the harmony and good order of the
spheres, that the course of the rest of the heavenly
bodies should be stayed likewise, otherwise, while
the sun shone, he needed not the moon; and here
he mentions the valley of Ajalon, which was near
to Gibeon, because there he was at that time.
Secondly, It was bold indeed to say so before Is¬
rael, and argues a very strong assurance of faith.
If the event had not answered the demand, nothing
could have been a greater slur upon him; the Israel¬
ites would have concluded he was certai .ly going
mad, or he had never talked so extravagantly. But
he knew very well God would own and answer *a
petition which he himself directed to be drawn up
and presented, and therefore was not afraid to say
before all Israel, calling them to observe ‘this work
of wonder Sun, stand thou still, for he was confi¬
dent in him whom he had trusted. He believed
the almighty power of God; else he could not have
expected that the sun, going on in its strength,
driving in a full career, and rejoicing as a strong .
man to run a race, should be stopped in an instant.
He believed the sovereignty of God in the kingdom
of nature; else he could not have expected that the
established law and course of nature should be
changed and interrupted, the ordinances of heaven,
and the constant usage according to these ordi¬
nances, broken in upon. And he belie\ed God’s
particular favour to Israel above all people under
the sun; else he could not have expected, that, to
favour them upon an emergency with a double day,
he should (which must follow of course) amuse and
terrify so great a part of the terrestrial globe with
a double night at the same time; it is true, he
causeth the sun to shine upon the just and the un¬
just, but this once the unjust shall wait f<tr it be¬
yond the usual time, while, in favour to righteous
Israel, it stands still.
(2.) The wonderful answer to this prayer. No
sooner said than done, v. 13, The sun stood still,
and the moon stayed. Notwithstanding the vast
distance between the earth and the sun, at the
word of Joshua, the sun stopped immediately; for
the same God that rules in heaven above, rules at
the same time on this earth, and, when he pleases,
even the heavens shall hear the earth, as here. Con¬
cerning this great miracle, it is here said, [1.] That
it continued a whole day, that is, the sun continued
as long again above the horizon, as otherwise it
would have done. It is commonly supposed to
have been about the middle of summer that this
happened, when, in that country, it was about four¬
teen hours between sun and sun, so that this day
was about twenty-eight hours long; yet if we sup¬
pose it to have been at that time of the year when
the days are at the shortest, it will be the more
probable that Joshua should desire and pray for the
prolonging of the day. [2.] That hereby the peo¬
ple had full time to avenge themselves of their ene¬
mies, and to give them a total defeat. We often
read in history of battles which the night put an end
to, the shadows of which favoured the retreat of
the conquered; to prevent this advantage to the
enemy in their flight, the day was doubled, that the
hand of Israel might find out all their enemies; but
the eye and hand of Gcd can find them out without
the help of the sun’s light, for to him the night
shineth as the day, Ps. 139. 12. Note, Sometimes
God completes a great salvation in a little time, and
makes but one day’s work of it. Perhaps this
miracle is alluded to, Zech. 14. 6, 7. where the day
of God’s fighting against the nations is said to be
one day, and that at evening-time it shall be light,
as here. And, [3.] That there was never any day
like it, before or since, in which God put such an
honour upon faith and prayer, and Israel’s cause;
never did he so wonderfully comply with the re¬
quest of a man, or so wonderfully fight for his peo¬
ple. [4.] This is said to be written in the book of
Jasher, a collection of state-poems, in which the
poem made upon this occasion was preserved
among the rest; probably, the same with that book
of the wars of the Lord, Numb. 21. 14. which af¬
terward wras continued and carried on by one
Jasher. Those words, Sun, stand thou still upon
Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of yljalon,
sounding metrical, are supposed to be taken from
the narrative of this event, as it was found in the
book of Jasher. Not that the divine testimony of
the book of Joshua needed any confirmation from
the book of Jasher, a human composition: but to
those who had that book in their hands, it would be
of use to compare this history with it; which war
rants the appeals the learned make to profane his-
56
JOSHUA, X.
lory for ' corroborating the proofs of the truth of
sacred history.
But surely this stupendous miracle of the stand-
• ing still of the sun, was intended for something
more than merely to give Israel so much the more
time to find out and kill their enemies, which, with¬
out this, might have, been done the next day.
First, God would hereby magnify Joshua, ch. 3. 7.
as a particular favourite, and one whom he did de¬
light to honour; being a type of Him who has all
power both in heaven and in earth, and whom the
winds and the seas obey. Secondly, He would
hereby notify to all the world what he was doing
for his people Israel here in Canaan; the sun, the
eye of the world, must be fixed for some hours
upon Gibeon, and the valley of Ajalon, as if to con¬
template the great works of God there for Israel,
and so t^o engage the children of men to look that
way, and to inquire of this %vonder done in the land,
(2 Chron. 32. 31.) Proclamation was hereby made
to all the neighbouring nations, Come, behold the
works of the Lord, Ps. 46. 8. and say, “ What na¬
tion is there so great as Israel is, who has God so
nigh unto them? One would have supposed this
would have brought such real ambassadors as the
Gibeonites pretended to be, from a very far coun¬
try, to court the friendship of Israel because of the
name of the Lord their God. Thirdly, He would
hereby convince and confound those idolaters that
worshipped the sun and moon, and gave divine
honour to them, by demonstrating that they were
subject to the command of the God of Israel, and
that, as high as they were, he was above them; and
thus he would fortify his people against the temp¬
tations to this idolatry, which he foresaw they
would be addicted to, (Deut. 4. 19.) and which,
notwithstanding this, they afterward corrupted
themselves with. Fourthly, This miracle signified
(it is the learned Bishop Pierson’s notion) that in the
latter days, when the light of the world was tending
towards a night of darkness, the Sun of righteous¬
ness, even our Joshua, should arise, (Mai. 4. 2.)
give check to the approaching night, and be the
true light. To which let me add, that when Christ
conquered our spiritual enemies upon the cross, the
miracle wrought upon the sun was the reverse of
this, it was then darkened as if it were gone down
at noon, for Christ needed not the light of the sun
to carry on his victories, he then made dark¬
ness his pavilion: and lastly, the arresting of the
sun and moon in this day of battle, figured the turn¬
ing of the sun into darkness, and the moon iftto
blood, in the last great and terrible day of the Lord.
1 5. And Joshua returned, and all Israel
with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. 16.
But these five kings fled, and hid themselves
in a cave at Makkedah. 17. And it was
told Joshua, saying, The five kings are
found hid in a cave at Makkedah. 18.
And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the
mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to
keep them: 19. And stay you not, but
pursue after your enemies, and smite the
hindmost of them ; suffer them not to enter
into their cities: for the Lord your God
hath delivered them into your hand. 20.
And it came to pass, when Joshua and the
children of Israel had made an end of slay¬
ing them with a very great slaughter, till
they were consumed, that the rest which
remained of them entered into fenced cities.
21. And all the people returned to the
camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace :
none moved his tongue against any of the
children of Israel. 22. Then said Joshua,
Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out
those five kings unto me out of the cave.
23. And they did so, and brought forth
those five kings unto him out of the cave,
the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron,
the king of Jarmuth, the king of Ijachish,
and the king of Eglon. 24. And it came
to pass, when they brought out those kings
unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the
men of Israel, and said unto the captains
of the men of war which went with him,
Come near, put your feet upon the necks
of these kings. And they came near, and
put their feet upon the necks of them. 25.
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor
be dismayed, be strong and of good cou¬
rage : for thus shall the Lord do to all your
enemies against whom ye fight. 26. And
afterward Joshua smote them, and slew
them, and hanged them on five trees : and
they were hanged upon the trees until the
evening. 27. And it came to pass at the time
of the going down of the sun ,that Joshua com¬
manded, and they took them down off the
.trees, and cast them into the cave wherein
they had been hid, and laid great stones in
the cave’s mouth, which remain until this
very day.
It was a brave appearance, no doubt, which the
five kings made when they took the field, for the
reducing of Gibeon, and a brave army they had fol¬
lowing them; but they were all routed, put into
disorder first, and then brought to destruction, by
the hail-stones. And now Joshua thought, his
work being done, he might go with his army into
quarters' of refreshment: accordingly it was resolv¬
ed, perhaps in a council of war, that they should
presently return to the camp, to Gilgal, v. 15. till
they should receive orders from God to take pos¬
session of the country they had pow conquered; but
he soon finds he has more work cut out for him,
the victory must be pursued, that the spoils might
be divided. Accordingly he applies himself to it
with renewed vigour.
I. The force that had dispersed themselves, must
be folloAved and smitten. When tidings are brought
to Joshua where the kings were, lie ordered a guard
to be set upon them for the present, v. 18. reserv¬
ing them for another day of destruction, and to be
brought forth to a day of wrath, Job 21. 30. He
directs his men to pursue the common soldiers, as
much as might be, to prevent their escaping to the
garrisons, which would strengthen them, and make
the reduction of them the more difficult, v. 19.
Like a prudent general, he does that first, which is
most needful, and defers his triumphs till he has
completed his conquests; nor was he in such haste
to insult over the captive kings, but that he would
first prevent the rallying again of their scattered
forces. The success of this vigorous pursuit, was,
1. That a very great slaughter was made of the
enemies of God and Israel. And, 2. The field was
cleared of them, so that none remained but such as
57
JOSHUA, X.
got into fenced cities, where they would not long be
safe themselves, nor were they capable of doing any
service to the cities that sheltered them, unless
they could have left their fears behind them. 3.
J\'one moved his toiigue against any of the children
of Israel, v. 21. This expression intimates, (1.)
Their perfect safety and tranquillity: some think it
should be read, from Exod. 11. 7, Against any of
the children of Israel did not a dog move his tongue;
no, not against any one man of them. They were
not threatened by any danger at all after their vic¬
tory, no, not so much as the barking of a dog. Not
one single Israelite (for the original makes it so
particular) was brought into any distress, either in
the battle, or in the pursuit. (2.) Their honour
and reputation; no man had any reproach to cast
upon them, or an ill word to give them. God not
only tied the hands, but stopped the mouths of their
enraged enemies, and put lying lips to silence. (3. )
The Chaldee paraphrase makes it an expression of
their unallayed joy for this victory, reading it,
There was no hurt or loss to the children of Israel,
for which any man should afflict his soul. When
the army came to be reviewed after the battle,
there was none slain, none wounded, none missing,
not one Israelite had occasion to lament either the
loss of a friend, or the loss of a limb. So cheap, so
easy, so glorious, was this victory.
If. The kings that had hidden themselves, must
now be called to an account, as rebels against the
Israel of God, to whom, by the divine promise and
grant, this land did of right belong, and should have
been surrendered upon demand.
See here, 1. How they were secured. The cave
which they fled to, and trusted in for a refuge, be¬
came their prison, in which they were clapped up,
till Joshua sat in judgment on them, v. 18. It seems,
they all escaped both the hail-stones and the sword,
God so ordering it, not in kindness to them, but that
they might be reserved for a more solemn and ter¬
rible execution; as, for this cause, Pharaoh survived
the plagues of Egypt, and was made to stand, that
God might in him show his /lower, Exod. 9. 16.
They all fled, and met at the same place, Provi¬
dence directing them; and now they who were
lately consulting against Israel, were put upon new
counsels to preserve themselves, and agreed to take
shelter in the same cave. The information brought
to Joshua of this, is an evidence that there' were
those of the country, who knew the holes and fast¬
nesses of it, that were in his interests. And the care
Joshua took to keep them there when they were
there, as it is an instance of his policy and presence
of mind, even in the heat of action; so, in the suc¬
cess of their project, it shows how they not only
deceive themselves, but destroy themselves, who
think to hide themselves from God. Their refuge
of lies will but bind them over to God’s judgment.
2. How they were triumphed over. Joshua or¬
dered them to be brought forth out of the cave, set
before him at the bar, and their names called over,
v. 22, 23. And when they either were bound and
cast upon the ground, unable to help themselves,
or throw themselves upon the ground, humbly to
beg for their lives, he called for the general officers
and great men, and commanded them to trample
upon these kings, and set their feet upon their
necks; not in sport, and to make themselves and
the company merry, but with the gravity and deco¬
rum that became the ministers of the divine justice,
who were not herein to gratify any pride or passion
of their own, but to give glory to the God of Israel
as higher than the highest, who treads ufion jxrinces
as mortar, (Isa. 41. 25.) and is terrible to the kings
of the earth, Ps. 76. 12. The thing does indeed
look barbarous, thus to insult over men in misery,
that were suddenly fallen from the highest pitch of
Vol. II.— H
honour into this disgrace; it was hard for crowned
heads to be thus trodden upon, not by Joshua him¬
self, (that might better have been borne,) at least
not by him only, but by all the captains of the army;
certainly it ought not to be drawn into a precedent,
for the case was extraordinary, and we have reason
to think it was by divine direction and impulse that
Joshua did this. (1. ) God would hereby punish the
abominable wickedness of these kings, the measure
of whose iniquity was now full. And by this public
act of justice done upon these ringleaders of the
Canaanites in sin, he would possess his people with
the greater dread and detestation of those sins of
the nations that God cast out from before them,
which they would be tempted tb imitate. (2.) He
would hereby have the promise by Moses made
good, (Deut. 33. 29.) Thou slialt tread u/ion their
high places, that is, their great men, which should
the rather be speedily fulfilled in the letter, because
they are the very last words of Moses that we find
upon record. (3.) He would hereby encourage the
faith and hope of his people Israel, in reference to
the wars that were yet before them. Therefore
Joshua said, v. 25, Fear not, nor be dismayed. [1.]
“ Fear not these kings, or any of their’s, as if there
were any danger of having this affront now put upon
them, in after-time revenged upon yourselves; a
consideration which keeps many from being inso¬
lent toward those they have at their mercy, because
they know not how soon the uncertain fate of war
may turn the same wheel upon themselves; but you
need not fear that any should rise up ever to re¬
venge this quarrel.” [2.] “Fear net any other
kings, who may at any time be in confederacy
against you, for you see these brought down, whom
you thought formidable. Thus shall the Lord do
to all your enemies; now that they begin to fall, to
fall so low, that you may set your feet on their
necks, you may be confident they shall not prevail,
but shall surely fall before you," Esth. 6. 13. (4.)
He would hereby give a type and figure of Christ’s
victories over the powers of darkness, and believers’
victories through him. All the enemies of the Re¬
deemer shall be made his footstool, Ps. 110. 1.
(And, see Ps. 18. 40.) The kings of the earth set
themselves against him, Ps. 2. 2. but sooner or
later we shall see all things put under him, Heb. 2.
,8. and principalities and powers made a show of,
Col. 2. 15. And in these triumphs we are more
than conquerors, may tread upon the lion and adder,
Ps. 91. 13. may ride on the high places of the earth,
Isa. 58. 14. and may be confident that the God of
peace shall tread Satan under our feet, shall do it
shortly, and do it effectually, Rom. 16. 20. See
Ps. 149. 8, 9.
3. How they were put to death. Perhaps when
they had undergone that terrible mortification of be¬
ing trodden upon bv the captains of Israel, they
were ready to say, as Agag, Surely the bitterness
of death is past, and that sufficient unto them was
this punishment which was inflicted by many; but
their honours cannot excuse their lives, their for¬
feited, devoted lives. Joshua smote them with the
sword, and then hanged up their bodies till evening,
when they were taken down, and thrown into the
cave in which they had hid themselves, v. 26, 27.
That which they thought would have been their
shelter, was made their prison first, and then their
grave; so shall we be disappointed in that which we
flee to from God, yet to good people the grave is
still a hiding-place, Job. i4. 13. If these five kings
had humbled themselves in time, and had begged
peace instead of waging war, they might have sav¬
ed tfieir lives; but now the decree was gone forth,
and th ev found no place for repentance, or the re¬
versal of the judgment, it was too late to expect it,
though, perhaps, they sought it carefully with tears.
68 JOSHUA, X.
28. And that clay Joshua took Makke-
dah, and smote it with the edge of the
sword, and the king thereof he utterly de¬
stroyed, them, and all the souls that were
therein ; he let none remain : and he did to
the king of Makkedah as he did unto the
king of Jericho. 29. Then Joshua passed
from Maickedah, and all Israel with him,
unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah :
30 And the Lord delivered it also, and the
king thereof, into the hand of Israel ; and he
smote it with the edge of the sword, and all
the souls that were therein; he let none re¬
main in it ; but did unto the king thereof as
he did unto the king of Jericho. 31. And
Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel
with him, unto Lachish, and encamped
against it, and fought against it: 32. And
the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand
of Israel, which took it on the second day,
and smote it with the edge of the sword,
and all the souls that irere therein, accord¬
ing to all that he had done to Libnah. 33.
Then Horam king of Gezer came up to
help Lachish ; and Joshua smote him and
his people, until he had left him none re¬
maining. 34. And from Lachish Joshua
passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him;
and they encamped against it, and fought
against it: 35. And they took it on that
day, and smote it with the edge of the
sword ; and all the souls that were therein
he utterly destroyed that day, according to
all that he had done to Lachish. 36. And
Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel
with him, unto Hebron ; and they fought
against it : 37. And they took it, and smote
it with the edge of the sword, and the king
thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the
souls that were therein ; he left none remain¬
ing, according to all that he had done to
Eglon ; but destroyed it utterly, and all the
souls that were therein. 38. And Joshua
returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir,
and fought against it : 39. And he took it,
and the king thereof, and all the cities
thereof; and they smote them with the edge
of the.sword, and utterly destroyed all the
souls that ivere therein ; he left none remain¬
ing: as he had done to Hebron, so he did
to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had
done also to Libnah, and to her king. 40.
So Joshua s note all the country of the hills,
and of the south, and of the vale, and of the
springs, and all their kings: he left none
remaining, but utterly destroyed all that
breathed, as the Lord God of Israel com¬
manded. 41. And Joshua smote them from
Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the
country of Goshen even unto Gibeon 42.
And all these kings and their land did Josh¬
ua take at one time, because the Lord
God of Israel fought for Israel. 43. And
Joshua returned, and all Israel with him,
unto the camp to Gilgal.
We have here Joshua’s improvement of the late
glorious victory he had obtained, and the advan¬
tages he had gained by it, and to do this well is
a general’s praise.
I. Here is a particular account of the several
cities which he immediately made himself mastei
of. 1. The cities of three' of the kings whom lit
had conquered in the field, he went and took pos¬
session of, Lachish, v. 31, 32. Eglon, v. 34, 35. and
Hebron, v. 36, 37. The other two, Jerusalem and
Jarmuth, were not taken at this time; perhaps his
forces were either so much fatigued with what they
had done, or so well content with what they had
got, that they had no mind to attack those places,
and so they slipped the fairest opportunity they
could ever expect of reducing them with ease,
which afterward was not done without difficulty,
Judg. 1. 1. 2 Sam. 5. 6. 2. Three other cities, and
royal cities too, he took; Makkedah, into the neigh¬
bourhood of which the five kings were fled, which
brought Joshua and his forces thither in pursuit of
them, and so hastened its ruin, v. 28. Libnah, v. 29,
30. and Debir, v. 38, 39. 3. One king that brought
in his forces for the relief of Lachish, that had iost
its king, proved to meddle to his own hurt; it was
Horam king of Gezer, who, either in friendship to
his neighbours, or for his own security, offered to
stop the progress of Joshua’s arms, and was cut off
with all his forces, v. 33. Thus wicked men are
often snared in their counsels, and, by opposing God
in the way of his judgments, bring them the sooner
on their own heads.
II. A general account of the country which was
hereby reduced and brought into Israel’s hands, v .
40--42. The part of the land of Canaan winch
they first got possession of lay south of Jerusalem,
and afterward fell, for the most part, to the lot of
the tribe of Judah.
Observe in this narrative, 1. The great speed
Joshua made in taking these cities, which, some
think, is intimated in the manner of relating it,
which is quick and concise. He flew like lightning
from place to place; and though they all stood it out
to the last extremity, and none of these cities open¬
ed their gates to him, yet in a little time he got
them all into his hands, summoned them, and
seized them, the same day, v. 28. or in two days, v .
32. Now that they were struck with fear by the
defeat of their armies, and the death of their kings,
Joshua prudently followed his blow. See what a
great deal of work may be done in a little time, if
we will but be busy, and improve our opportunities.
2. The great severity Joshua used toward those he
conquered. He gave no quarter to man, woman,
or child, put to the sword all the souls, v. 28, 30,
32, 35, &c. utterly destroyed all that breathed, v.
40. and left none remaining. Nothing could justify
this militarv execution, but that herein they did as
the Lord God of Israel commanded, v. 40. which
was sufficient not only to bear them out, and save
them from the imputation of cruelty, but to sanctify
what they did, and make it an acceptable piece of
service to his justice. God would hereby, (1.)
Manifest his hatred of the idolatries, and other
abominations, which the Canaanites had been
guilty of, and leave us to judge how great the pro¬
vocation was, which they had given him, by the
greatness of the destruction which was brought
upon them when the measure of their iniquity was
full. (2.) He would hereby magnify nis love to his
59
JOSHUA, XL
people Israel, in giving so many men for them,
and fieofile for their life, Isa. -13. 4. when the hea¬
then are to be cast out to make room for this vine,
(Ps. 80. 8.) Divine justice appears more prodigal
than ever of human blood, that the Israelites might
find themselves for ever obliged to spend their
lives to the glory of that God, who had sacrificed
so many of the lives of his creatures to their inter¬
est. (3.) Hereby was typified the final and eternal
destruction of all the impenitent implacable enemies
of the Lord Jesus, who having slighted the riches
of his grace, must for ever feel the weight of his
wrath; and shall have judgment without mercy.
Nations that forget God, shall be turned into hell,
and no reproach at all to God’s infinite goodness.
3. Lhe great success of this expedition. The spoil
of these cities was now divided among the men of
war that plundered them; and the cities themselves,
with the land about them, were shortly to be di¬
vided among the tribes, for the Lord fought for
Israel, v. 42. They could not have gotten the vic¬
tory, if God had not undertaken the battfe; then we
conquer when God fights for us; and if he be for
us, who can be against us?
CHAP. XI.
This chapter continues and concludes the history of the
conquest of Canaan ; of the reduction of the southern
parts we had an account in the foregoing chapter ; after
which we may suppose Joshua allowed his forces some
breathing-time ; now here we have the story of the war
in the north, and the happy success of that war. I. The
confederacy of the northern crowns against Israel, v.
4 . . 5. II. The encouragement wluch God gave to
Joshua to engage them, v. 6. Ill.^iis victory over
them, v. 7 . . 9. IV. The taking of their cities, v. 10 . .
15. V. The destruction of the Anakims, v. 21, 22. VI.
The general conclusion of the story of this war, 16 . .
20, 23.
I. 4 ND it came to pass, when Jabin king;
zJL of Hazor had heard those things ,
that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and
to the king of Shimron, and to the king of
Achshaph, 2. And to the kings that were
on the north of the mountains, and of the
plains south ofChinneroth, and in the valley,
and in the borders of Dor on the west,
3. And to the Canaanite on the east and
on the west, and to the Amorite, and the
Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite
in the mountains, and to the Hivite under
Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh. 4. And
they went out, they and all their hosts with
them, much people, even as the sand that
is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with
horses and chariots very many. 5. And
when all these kings were met together,
they came and pitched together at the
waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
6. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not
afraid because of them: for to-morrow
about this time will I deliver them up all
slain before Israel : thou shalt hough their
horses, and burn their chariots with fire. 7.
So Joshua came, and all the people of war
with him, against them by the waters of
Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.
8. And the Lord delivered them into the
hand of Israel, who smote them, and
chased them unto great Zidon, and unto
Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of
Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them,
until they left them none remaining. 9.
And Joshua did unto them as the Lord
bade him : he houghed their horses, and
burnt their chariots with fire.
We are here entering upon the story cf another
campaign that Joshua made, and it was a glorious
one, no less illustrious than the former in the suc¬
cess of it, though in respect of miracles, it was in¬
ferior to it in glory. The wonders God then
wrought for them, were to initiate and encourage
them to act vigorously themselves. Thu the war
carried on by the preaching of the Gospel against
Satan’s kingdom, was at first forwarded by mira¬
cles; but the war being by them sufficiently proved
to be of God, the managers of it are now left to the
ordinary assistance of divine grace in the use cf the
sword of the Spirit, and must not expect hail¬
stones, or the standing still of the sun.
In this story we have,
I. The Canaanites taking the field against Israel.
Thev were the aggressors, God hardening their
he rts to begin the war, that Israel might be justi¬
fied beyond exception in destroying them. Joshua
and all Israel were returned to the camp at Gilgal,
and perhaps these kings knew no other than that
they intended to sit down content with the conquest
they had already made, and yet they prepare war
against them. Note, Sinners bring ruin upon their
own heads, so that God will be justified when he
sfieaks, and they alone shall bare the blame for
e er. Judah was now couched as a lion gone ufi
from the firey; if the northern kings rouse him up,
it is at their peril, Gen. 49. 9. Now,
I. Several nations joined in this confederacy,
seme in the mountains, and some in the plains, v.
2. Canaanites from east and west, Amorites, Hit-
tites, Perizzites, £cc. v. 3. of different constitutions,
and divided interests among themselves, and yet
they here unite against Israel, as against a common
enemy. Thus are the children of this world more
unanimous, and therein wiser, than the children of
light. The oneness of the church’s enemies should
shame the church’s friends out of their discords and
divisions, and engage them to be one. 2. The head
of this confederacy was Jabin king of Hazor, v. 1.
as Adoni-zedek was of the former; it is said, v. 10.
Hazor had been the head of all those kingdorns,
which could not have revolted, without occasioning
ill-will; but that was forgotten and laid aside upon
this occasion, by consent of parties, (Luke 23. 12.)
When they had all drawn up their forces together,
every kingdom bringing in its quota, they were a
very great army, much greater than the former, as
the sand on the sea-shore in multitude, and, upon
this account, much stronger and more formidable,
that they had horses and chariots very many, which
we do not find the southern kings had; thereby they
had a great advantage against Israel, for their army
consisted only of foot, and they never brought
horses or chariots into the field. Josephus tells us,
that the army of the Canaanites consisted of three
hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and
twenty thousand chariots. Many there be tha rise
ufi against God’s Israel; doubtless their nui ibers
made them very confident of success, but it proved
that so much the greater slaughter was made of
them.
II. The encouragement God gave to Joshua to
give them the meeting, even upon the ground of
their own choosing, v. 6, Be not afraid because oj
thein. Joshua was remarkable for his courage, it
60
JOSHUA, XI.
was his master-grace, and yet it seems, he had need i
to be again and again cautioned not to be afraid. |
Fresh dangers and difficulties make it necessary to
fetch in fresh supports and comforts from the word ■
of God, which we have always nigh unto us, to be
made use of in every time of need. Those that
ha\ e God on their side, need not be disturbed at the
number and power of their enemies; more are they
that are with us, than they that are against us; they
ha* e the hosts of the Lord, that have the Lord of
hosts engaged for them. For his encouragement,
1. God assures him ot success, and fixes the hour;
T j-morrow about this time, when an engagement
(it is probable) was expected and designed on both
sides, I will deliver them u/i slain. Though they
were to be slain by the sword of Israel, yet it is
spoken of as God’s work, that he would deliver
them up. 2. He appoints him to hough their
horses, hamstring them, lame them, and burn their
chariots, not only that Israel might not use them
hereafter, but that they might not fear them now,
their God designing this contempt to be put upon
them. Let Israel look upon their chariots but as
rotten wood designed for the fire, and their horses
of war as disabled things, scarcely good enough for \
the cart.
This encouragement which God here gave to
Joshua, no doubt, he communicated to the people, |
who perhaps were under some apprehensions of I
danger from this vast army, notwithstanding the |
experiences they had had of God’s power engaged
for them. And'the wisdom and goodness of God is
to be observed, (1.) In infatuating the counsels of
the enemy, that all the kings of Canaan, who were
not dispersed at such a distance from each other,
but that they might have got altogether in a bodv,
did not at first confederate against Israel, but were
divided into the southern and northern comb’nation,
and so became less formidable. And, (2.) In pre¬
paring his people to encounter the greater force, by
breaking the less. They first engage with five
kings together, and now with many more. God
propoitions our trials to our strength, and our
strength to our trials.
III. J shua’s march against these confederate
forces, v. 7, He came u/ion them suddenly, and
surprised them in their quarters. He made this i
haste, 1. That he might put them into the greater j
confusion, by giving them an alarm, when they 1
l^tle thought lie had been near them. 2. That lie
might be sure not to come short of the honour God j
had fixed, to give him the meeting at the enemy’s
camp, to-morrow about this time. It is fit we
should keep time with God.
IV. His success, v. 8. He obtained the honour
and advantage of a complete victory; he smote
than and chased them, in the several ways they
t > ik in their flight; some fled toward Zidon, which
l.y to the north-west, others toward Mizpeh, east¬
ward, both the parties Joshua sent out, pursued
them each way. So the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Israel-, they would not deliver them¬
selves into the hands of Israel to be made proselytes
and tributaries, and so offered up to God’s grace,
Rom. 15. 16. and therefore God delivered them
into their hands to be made sacrifices to his justice;
for God will be honoured by us or upon us.
V. His obedience to the orders given him, in
destroying the horses and chariots, v. 9. which was
an instance, 1. Of his subjection to the divine will,
as one under authority, that must do as he is bid¬
den. 2. Of his self-denial, and crossing his own
genius and inclination in compliance with God’s
command. 3. Of his confidence in the power of
God engaged for Israel, which enabled them to
despise the chariots and horses which others trusted
in, rs. 20. 7. — 33. 17. 4. Of his care to keep up in
the people the like confidence in God, by taking
that from them, which they would be tempted te
trust too much to. This was cutting off a right
hand.
10. And Joshua at that time turned back,
and took Hazor, and smote the king there¬
of with the sword: for Hazor beforetime
was the head of all those kingdoms. 1 1 .
And they smote all the souls that were
therein with the edge of the sword, utterly
destroying them : there was not any left to
breathe : and he burnt Hazor with fire.
12. And all the cities of those kings, and
all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and
smote them with the edge of the sword ;
and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the
servant of the Lord commanded. 13.
But as for the cities that stood still in theii
strength, Israel burned none of them, save
Hazor only ; that did Joshua burn. 1 4.
And all the spoil of these cities, and the
cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey
unto themselves ; but every man they smote
with the edge of the sword, until they had
destroyed them, neither left they any to
breathe.
We have here the same improvement made of
this victory, that was of that in the foregoing chap¬
ter.
1. The destruction of Hazor is particulai lv re¬
corded, because in it, and by the king thereof, this
daring design against Israel was laid, v. 10, 11.
The king of Hazor, it seems, escaped with his life
out of the battle, and thought himself safe when he
was got back into his own city, and Joshua was gone
in pursuit of the scattered troops another way; but
it proved that that which he thought would have
been for his welfare, was his trap, in it he was taken
as in an evil net, there he was slain, and his city,
for his sake, burnt. Yet we find that the remains
of it being not well-looked after by Israel, the Ca-
naanites rebuilt it, and settled there under another
king of the same name, Judg. 4. 2.
2. The rest of the cities of that part of the coun¬
try are spoken of only in general; that Joshua got
them all into his hands, but did not burn them as he
did Hazor, for Israel was to dwell in great and
goodly cities which they builded not, Deut. 6. 10. and
in these among the rest. And here we find Israel
rolling in blood and treasure. (1.) In the blood of
their enemies; they smote all the souls, v. 11.
neither left they any to breathe, v. 14. that there
might be none to infect them with the abominations
of Canaan, and none to disturb them in the possess¬
ion of it. The children were cut off, lest they
should afterward lay claim to any part of this land
in the right of their parents. (2.) In the wealth
of their enemies: the spoil, and the cattle, they took
for a prey to themselves, v. 14. As they were en¬
riched with the spoil of their oppressors when they
came out of Egypt, wherewith to defray the
charges of their apprenticeship in the wilderness;
so they were now enriched with the spoil of their
enemies, for a stock wherewith to set up in the land
of Canaan. Thus is the wealth of the sinner laid
up for the just.
15. As the Lord commanded Moses nis
servant, so did Moses command Joshua,
61
JOSHUA, XL
and so did Joshua ; he left nothing undone
of all that the Lord commanded Moses.
16. So Joshua took all that land, the hills,
and all the south country, and all the land
of Goshen, and the valley, and the plain,
and the mountain of Israel, and the valley
of the same; 17. Even from the mount
Halak, that goeth up to Seir, unto Baal-
gad, in the valley of Lebanon, unto mount
Hermon : and all their kings he took, and
smote them, and slew them. 1 8. Joshua
made war a long time with all those kings.
19. There was not a city that made peace
with the children of Israel, save the Hivites/
the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they
took in battle. 20. For it was of the Lord
to harden their hearts, that they should
come against Israel in battle, that he
might destroy them utterly, and that they
might have no favour, but that he might
destroy them, as the Lord commanded
Moses. 21. And at that time came Josh¬
ua, and cut off the Anakims from the
mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from
Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah,
and from all the mountains of Israel : Josh¬
ua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
22. There was none of the Anakims left
in the land of the children of Israel : only
in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there re-
Fiained. 23. So Joshua took the whole
land, according to all that the Lord said
unto Moses ; and Joshua gave it for an in¬
heritance unto Israel, according to their di¬
visions by their tribes. And the land rest¬
ed from war.
We have here the conclusion of this whole mat¬
ter.
I. A short account is here given of what was done
in four things,
1. The obstinacy of the Canaanites in their oppo-
s'tion to the Israelites. It was strange, that though
it appeared so manifestly that God fought for Israel,
and in every engagement the Canaanites had the
worst of it, yet they stood it out to the last; not one
city made peace with Israel, but the Gibeonites
only, who understood the things that belonged
to their peace better than their neighbours, z>.
19. It is intimated that other cities might have
made as good terms for themselves, without rag¬
ged clothes and clouted shoes, if they would
have humbled themselves, but they never so much
as desired conditions of peace. We are told whence
this unaccountable infatuation came, It was of the
Lord to harden their hearts , v. 20. As Pharaoh’s
heart was hardened by his own pride and wilfulness
first, and afterward by the righteous judgment of
God, to his destruction, so were the hearts of these
Canaanites. To punish them for all their other
follies, God left them to this, to make those their
enemies, whom they might have made their friends.
This was it that ruined them, they came against
Israel in battle , and gave the first blow, and there-
f re might have no favour showed them. Those
kn o\y not what they do, who give the provocation to
di. inc 'justice, or the authorised instruments of it. j
Are we stronger than God? Observe here, that
hardness of heart is the ruin of sinners. Those
that are stupid and secure, and heedless of divine
warnings, are already marked for destruction.
What hope is there "of those concerning whom
God has said, Go, male their hearts fat?
2. The constancy of the Israelites in prosecuting
this war, v. 18. Joshua made war a long time;
some reckon it five years, others seven, that were
spent in subduing this land. So long God would
train up Israel to war, and give them repeated in¬
stances of his power and goodness in e\ ery new vic¬
tory that he gave them.
3. The conquest of the Anakims at last, v. 21,
22. Either this was done, as they met with them
where they were dispersed, as seme think, or ra¬
ther, it should seem the Anakims were retired to
their fastnesses, and so were hunted out, and cut off
at last, after all the rest < f their enemies. The
mountains of Judah and Israel were the habitations
of those mountains of men; but neither their height,
nor the strength of their caves, nor the difficulty of
the passes to them, could secure, no, not these
mighty men from the sword of Joshua. The cutting
off of the sons of Anak is particularly mentioned,
because these had been such a terror to the spies
forty years before, and their bulk and strength had
been thought an insuperable difficulty in the way of
the reducing of Canaan, Numb. 13. 28, 33. Even
that opposition which seemed invincible, was got
over. Never let the sons of Anak be a terror to the
Israel of God, for even their day will come, to fall.
Giants are dwarfs to Omnipotence; yet this strug¬
gle with the Anakims was reser ed for the latter
end of the war, when the Israelites were become
more expert in the arts of war, and had had more ex¬
perience of the power and goodness of God. Note,
God sometimes reserves the sharpest trials of his
people by affliction and temptation for the latter end
of their days. Therefore let not him that girds on
the harness, boast as he that puts it off. Death,
that tremendous son of Anak, is the last enemy
that is to be encountered, but it is to be destroyed,
1 Cor. 15. 26. Thanks be to God, who will give
us the victory.
4. The end and issue of this long war. The Ca¬
naanites were rooted out, (not perfectly, as we shall
find after in the book of Judges,) but in a good mea¬
sure; they were not able to make any head, either,
(1.) So as to keep the Israelites out of possess¬
ion of the land, Joshua took all that land, v. 16, 17.
And we may suppose the people dispersed them¬
selves and their families into the countries they had
conquered, at least those that lay nearest to the
head-quarters at Gilgal, until an orderly distribu¬
tion should be made by lot, that every man might
know his own. Or, (2.) So as to keep them in ac¬
tion, or give them any molestation, v. 23, The
land rested from war. It ended not in a peace with
the Canaanites, (that was forbidden,) but in peace
from them. There is a rest, a rest from war, re¬
maining for the people of God, into which they
shall enter, when their warfare is accomplished.
II. That which was now done, is here compared
with that which had been said to Moses. God’s
word and his works, if viewed and considered to¬
gether, will mutually illustrate each other. It is
here observed in the close,
1. That all the precepts God had given to Mo¬
ses relating to the conquest of Canaan, were obeyed
on the people’s part, at least, while Joshua lived.
See how solemnly this is remarked, v. 15, As the
Lord commanded Moses his servant, by whose
hand the law was given, so did Moses command
Joshua, for Moses was faithful, as a lawgiver, to
him that appointed him, he did his part, and then
he died; but were the commands of Moses observ-
62
JOSHUA, XII
ed when he was In his grave? Yes, they were, so
did Joshua, who was, in his place, as faithful, as
Moses in his. He left nothing undone (Heb. he
removed nothing J of all that the Lord commanded
Moses. They that leave their duty undone, do
what they can to remove or make void the com¬
mand of God, by which they are obliged to it; but
Joshua, by performing the precept, confirmed it, as
the expression is, Deut. 27. 26. Joshua was him¬
self a great commander, and yet nothing was more
h's praise than his obedience. They that rule others
at their will, must themselves be ruled by the di¬
vine will, then their power is indeed their honour,
and not otherwise. The pious obedience for which
Joshua is here commended, respects especially the
command to destroy the Canaanites, and to break
down their altars, and burn their images, Deut. 7.
2.. 5. Exod. 23. 24. — 34. 13. Joshua, in his zeal
for the Lord of hosts, spared neither the idols
nor the idolaters. Saul’s disobedience, or ra¬
ther his partial obedience, to the command of
God, for the utter destruction of the Amalekites,
cost him his kingdom. It should seem, Joshua him¬
self gives this account of his most careful and punc¬
tual observance of his orders in the execution of
his commission, that in all respects he had done as
Moses commanded him; and then it intimates that
he had more pleasure and satisfaction in reflecting
upon h:s obedience to the commands of Gcd in all
this war, and valued himself more upon that, than
upon all the gains and triumphs with which he was
enriched and advanced.
2. That all the promises God had given to Mo¬
ses, relating to this conquest, were accomplished on
his part, v. 23. Joshua took the whole land, con¬
quered it, and took possession of it, according to all
that the Lord said unto Moses. God had promised
to drive out the nations before them, Exod. 33. 2.
— 34. 11. and to bring them down, Deut. 9. 3. And
now it was done. There failed not one word of the
promise. Our successes and enjoyments arc then
doubly sweet and comfortable to us, when we see
them flowing to us from the promise; this is accor¬
ding to what the Lord said: as our obedience is
then acceptable to God, when it has an eye to the
precept. And if we make conscience of our duty,
we need not question the performance of the pro¬
mise.
CHAP. XII.
This chapter is a summary of Israel’s conquests, I. Their
conquests under Moses, on the other side Jordan, (for
we now suppose ourselves in Canaan,) eastward, which
we had the history of, Numb. 21. 24, &c. And here the
abridgment of that history, v. 1 . . 6. II. Their con¬
quests under Joshua, on this side Jordan, westward. 1.
The country they reduced, v. 7, 8. 2. The kings they
subdued, thirty-one in all, v. 9 . . 24. And this comes in
here, not only as a conclusion of the history of the wars
of Canaan, (that we might at one view see what they
had got) but as a preface to the history of the dividing of
Canaan, that all that might be put together, which thev
were now to make a distribution of.
l.’^UTOW these are the kings of the land,
In which the children of Israel smote,
and possessed their land on the other side
Jordan, toward the rising of the son; from
the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and
all the plain on the east : 2. Sihon king
of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,
and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the
bank of the river Arnon, and from the mid¬
dle of the river, and from half Gilead, unto
the river Jabbok, which is the border of the
children of Ammon ; 3. And from the
plain to the sea of Chinneroth on the east,
and unto the sea of the plain, even the salt
! sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth ;
and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah:
4. And the coast of Og king of Bashan,
which was of the remnant of the giants, that
dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5. And
reigned in mount Hermon, and in Salcah,
and in all Bashan, unto the border of the
Geshurites, and the Maachathites, and half
Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Hesh¬
bon. 6. Them did Moses the servant of
the Lord and the children of Israel smite :
and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it
for a possession unto the Reubenites, and
Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
Joshua, or whoever else is the historian, before
he comes to sum up the new conquests Israel had
made, in these verses recites their fo: mer conquests
in Moses’s time, under whom they became masters
of the great and potent kingdoms of Sihon and Og.
Note, Fresh mercies must not drown the remem¬
brance of former mercies, nor must the glory cf the
present instruments of good to the church, be suf¬
fered to eclipse and diminish the justrhonour of
those who have gone before them, and who were
the blessings and ornaments of their day. Joshua’s
services and achievements are confessedly great, but
let not those under Moses be overlooked and for¬
gotten, since God was the same who wrought both,
and both put together, proclaim him the alpha and
omega of Israel’s great salvation. Here is,
1. A description of this conquered country, the
measure and bounds of it in general, v. 1, From
the river Arnon in the south, to mount Hermon in
the north. In particular, here is a description of
the kingdom cf Sihon, v. 2, 3. and that of Og, v.
4, 5. Moses had described this country very par¬
ticularly, Deut. 2. 36. — 3. 4, fee. and this descrip¬
tion here agrees with his. King Og is said to dwell
at Ashtaroth and Edrei, v. 4. probably, because
they were both his royal cities, he had palaces in
both, and resided sometimes in one, and sometimes
in the other; one perhaps was his summer-seat,
and the other his winter-seat; but Israel took both
from him, and made one grave to serve him, that
could not be content with one palace.
2. The distribution of this country; Moses as¬
signed it to the two tribes and a half, at their re¬
quest, and divided it among them, v. 6. of which
we have the story at large, Numb. 32. The divi¬
ding of it when it was conquered by Moses, is here
mentioned as an example to Joshua, what he must
do now that he had conquered the country on this
side Jordan. Moses, in his time, gave to one part
of Israel a very rich and fruitful country, but it was
on the outside of Jordan; Joshua gave to all Israel
the holy land, the mountain of God’s sanctuary,
within Jordan: so the law conferred upon some few
of God’s spiritual Israel, external temporal bless¬
ings, w’hich were earnests of good things to
come; but our Lord Jesus, the true Joshua, has
provided for all the children of promise spiritual
blessings, the privileges of the sanctuary, and the
heavenly Canaan. The triumphs and grants of the
Law were glorious, but those of the Gospel far ex¬
ceed in glory.
7. And these are the kings of the coun¬
try which Joshua and the children of Israe’
63
JOSHUA, XIII.
^mote on this side Jordan on the west, from
Haul-gad in the valley of Lebanon even
unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to
Seif; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of
Israel for a possession, according to tlieir
divisions: 8. In the mountains, and in the
valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs,
and in the wilderness, and in the south
country ; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the
Oanaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and
the Jebusites : 9. The king of Jericho,
one; the king of Ai, which is beside Beth¬
el, one; 10. The king of Jerusalem, one;
the king of Hebron, one ; 11. The king of
Jarmuth, one ; the king of Lachish, one ;
12. The king of Eglon, one; the king of
Gezer, one ; 1 3. The king of Debir, one ;
the king of Geder, one ; 1 4. The king of
Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; 15.
The king of Libnah, one ; the king of Adul-
lam, one;- 16. The king of Makkedah,
one; the king of Beth-el, one; 17. The
king of Tappuah, one ; the king of He-
pher, one; 18. The king of Aphek, one;
the king of Lasharon, one; 19. The king
of Madon, one ; the king of Hazor, one ;
20. The king of Shimron-meron, one ; the
king of Achshaph, one; 21. The king of
Taanach, one ; the king of Megiddo, one;
22. The king of Kedesh, one ; the king of
Jokneam of Carmel, one ; 23. The king
of Dor in the coast of Dor, one ; the king
of the nations of Gilgal, one ; 24. The king
of Tirzah, one: All the kings thirty and one.
We have here a breviate of Joshua’s conquests.
I. The limits of the country he conquered; it lay
between Jordan on the east, and the Mediterranean
sea on the west, and extended from Baal-gad near
Lebanon in the north, to Halak, which lay upon
the country of Edom in the south, v. 7. The
boundaries are more largely described, Numb. 34. !
2, 8cc. this only is enough to show that God had
been as good as his word, and had given them pos¬
session of all he had promised them by Moses, if
they would but have kept it.
II. The various kinds of land that were found in
this country, which contributed both to its pleasant¬
ness and to its fruitfulness, v. 8. There were
mountains, not craggy and rocky and barren, which
are frightful to the traveller, and useless to the in¬
habitants, but fruitful hills, such as put forth pre¬
cious things, Deut. 33. 15. which charmed the
spectator’s eye, and filled the owner’s hand. And
valleys, not mossy and boggy, but covered with corn,
Ps. 65. 13. There were plains, and springs to wa¬
ter them; and even in that rich land there were
wildernesses too, or forests, which were not so
thickly inhabited as other parts, yet had towns and
houses in them, but served as foils to set off the
more pleasant and fruitful countries.
III. The several nations that had been in posses¬
sion of this country, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites,
&c. all of them descended from Canaan the accurs¬
ed son of Ham, Gen. 10. 15- -18. Seven nations
they are called, Deut. 7. 1. and so many are there
reckoned up, but here six only are mentioned, the
Girgashites being here either lost or left out, though
we find them, Gen. 10. 16. and 15. 21. Eithei
they were incorporated with some other of these
nations, or, as the tradition of the Jews is, upon the
approach of Israel under Joshua, they all withdrew
and went into Africa, leaving their country to be
possessed by Israel, with whom they saw it was to
no purpose to contend, and therefore they are not
named among the nations that Joshua subdued.
IV. A list of the kings that were conquered and
subdued by the sword of Israel, some in the field,
others in their own cities. Thirty one in all, and
very particularly named and counted, it should
seem, in the order in which they .were conquered;
for the catalogue begins with the kings of Jericho
and Ai, then takes in the king of Jerusalem, and the
princes of the south that were in confederacy with
him, and then proceeds to those of the northern as¬
sociation. Now,
1. This shows what a very fmitful country
Canaan then was, which could support so many
kingdoms, and in which so many kings chose to
throng together, rather than disperse themselves
into other countries, which we may suppose not yet
inhabited, but where, though they might find more
room, they could not expect such plenty and plea¬
sure: this was the land God spied out for Israel ; and
yet at this day it is one of the most barren, despica¬
ble, and unprofitable, countries in the world; such
is the effect of the curse it lies under, since its pos¬
sessors rejected Christ and his Gospel, as was fore¬
told by Moses, Deut. 29. 23.
2. It shows what narrow limits men’s ambition
was then confined to. These kings contented them¬
selves with the government, each of them, of one
city, and the towns and villages that pertained to
it; and no one of them, for aught that appears,
aimed to make himself master of the rest, but,
when there was occasion, united for the common
safety. Yet it should seem that what was wanting
in the extent of their territories, was made up in
the absoluteness of their power, their subjects being
all their tenants and vassals, and entirely at their
command.
3. It shows how good God was to Israel, in giving
them victory over all these kings, and possession of
all these kingdoms, and what obligations he hereby
laid upon them to observe his statutes, and to Peep
his lavjs, Ps. 105. 44, 45. Here were thirty-one
kingdoms, or signiories, to be divided among nine
tribes and a half of Israel. Of these there fell
to the lot of Judah, the kingdoms of Hebron, Jar¬
muth, Lachish, Eglon, Debir, Arad, Libnath, and
Adullam, eight in all, beside part of the k ngdom
of Jerusalem, and part of Geder. Benjamin had
the kingdoms of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Makke
dah, Beth-el, and the nations of Gilgal, sx in all
Simeon had the kingdom of Hormah, and part of
Geder. Ephraim had the kingdoms of Gezer and
Tirzah. Manasseh (that half-tribe) had the king¬
doms of Tappuah and Hepher, Taanach and Me¬
giddo. Asher had the kingdoms of Aphek and
Achshaph. Zebulon had the kingdoms of L isha-
ron, Shimron-meron and Jokneam. Naphtali had
the kingdoms of Madon, Hazor, and Kedesh. And
Issachar had that of Dor. These were some of the
great and famous kings that God smote, for his
mercy endureth for ever; and gave their land for
a heritage, even a heritage unto Israel his servant,
for his mercy endureth for ever, Ps. 136. 17, &c.
CHAP. XIII.
At this chapter begins the account of the dividing of the
land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by lot; a nar¬
rative not so entertaining and instructive as that of the
conquest of it, and yet if is thought fit to be inserted in
the sacred history, to illustrate the performance of ti e
64
JOSHUA, XIII.
promise made to the Fathers, that this land should be
given to the seed of Jacob, to them, and not to any
other. The preserving of this distribution would be of
great use to the Jewish nation, who were obliged by the
law to keep up this first distribution, and not to transfer
inheritances from tribe to tribe, Numb. 36. 9. It is like¬
wise of use to us for the exp'aining of other scriptures:
the learned know how much light the geographical de¬
scription of a country gives to the history of it. And
therefore we are not to skip over these chapters of hard
names, as useless and not to be regarded; where God
has a mouth to speak, and a hand to write, we should
find an ear to hear, and an eye to read; and God give us
a heart to profit ! In this chapter, I. God informs Joshua
what parts of the country that were intended in the grant
to Israel, yet remained unconquered, and not got in pos¬
session, v. 1 . . 6. II. He appoints him, notwithstand¬
ing, to make a distribution of what was conquered, v. 7.
III. To complete this account, here is a repetition of the
distribution Moses had made of the land on the other
side Jordan; in general, v. 8 . . 14. In particular, the lot
of Reuben, v. 15 . . 23. Of Gad, v. 24 . . 28. Of the half¬
tribe of Manasseh, v. 29 . . 33.
1. lyrOW Joshua was old and stricken in
J3I years ; and the Lord said unto him,
Thou art old and stricken in years, and there
remaineth yet very much land to be pos¬
sessed. 2. This is the land that yet remain¬
eth : all the borders of the Philistines, and
all Geshuri, 3. From Sihor, which is be¬
fore Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron
northward, which is counted to the Canaan-
ite : five lords of the Philistines ; the Gazath-
ites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites,
the Gittites, and the Ekronites ; also the
Avites : 4. From the south, all the land of
the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside
the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders
of the Amorites : 5. And the land of the
Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sun¬
rising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon
unto the entering into Hamath : 6. All the
inhabitants of the hill country, from Leba¬
non unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Si¬
donians, them will I drive out from before
the children of Israel : only divide thou it by
lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance as
I have commanded thee.
Here,
I. God puts Joshua in mind of his old age, v. 1.
1. It is said that Joshua was old and stricken in
years, and he and Caleb were at this time the only
old men among the thousands of Israel; none (ex¬
cept them) or ail those who were numbered at
mount Sinai being now alive. He had been a man
of war from his youth, Exod. 17. 10. but now he
yielded to the infirmities of age, with which it is in
vain for the stoutest man to think of contesting. It
should seem Joshua had not the same strength and
vigour in his old age, that Moses had; all that come
to old age, do not find it alike good; generally, the
days of old age are evil days, and such as there is
no pleasure in them, nor expectation of service from
them. 2. God takes notice of it to him, God said
unto him, Thou art old. Note, It is good for those
who are old and stricken in years, to be put in re¬
membrance of their being so. Some have gray
hairs here and there upon them, and perceive it not,
Hos. 7. 9. they do not care to think of it, and there¬
fore need to be told of it, that they may be quick¬
ened to do the work of life, and make preparation
tor death which is coming toward them apace.
But God mentions Joshua’s age and growing infir
mities, (1.) Asa reason why he should now lay by
the thoughts of pursuing the war; he cannot expect
to see an end of it quickly, for there remained
much land, more perhaps than he thought, to be
possessed, in several parts remote from each other:
and it was not fit that at this age he should be put
upon the fatigue of renewing the war, and carrying
it to such distant places; no, it was enough for him
that he had reduced the body of the country, let
him be gathered to rest, with honour and the thanks
of his people, for the good services he had done
them, and let the conquering of the skirts of the
country be left for those that shall come after. As
he had entered into the labours of Moses, so let
others enter into his, and bring forth the top-stone;
the doing of which was reserved for David long
after. Observe, God considers the frame of his
people, and would not have them burthened with
work above their strength. It cannot be expected
that old peopld should do as they have done for God
and their country. (2.) As a reason why he shou'd
speedily apply himself to the dividing of that which
he had conquered. That work must be done, and
done quickly; it was necessary that he should pre¬
side in the doing of it, and therefore, he being old
and stricken in years, and not likely to continue
long, let him make that his concluding piece of ser¬
vice to God and Israel. All people, but especially
old people, should set themselves to do that quickly
which must be done before they die, lest death pre¬
vent them, Eccl. 9. 10.
II. He gives him a particular account of the land
that yet remained unconquered, which was intend¬
ed for Israel, and which, in due time, they should
be masters of, if they did not put a bar in their own
door. Divers places are here mentioned, some in
the south, as the country of the Philistines, govern¬
ed by five lords, and the land that lay toward
Egypt, v. 2, 3. Some westward, as that which lay
toward the Sidonians, v. 4. Some eastward, as all
Lebanon, v. 5. Joshua is told this, and he made
the people acquainted with it, 1. That they might
be the more affected with God’s goodness to them
in giving to them this good land, and might thereby
be engaged to love and serve him; for if this which
they had was too little, God would moreover erne
them such and such things, 2 Sam. 12. 8. 2. That
they might not be tempted to make any league, or
contract any dangerous familiarity with these their
neighbours, so as to learn their way, but might ra¬
ther be jealous of them, as people that kept them
from their right, and that they had just cause of
quarrel with. 3. That they might keep them¬
selves in a posture for war, and not think of putting
off the harness, as long as there remained any land
to be possessed. Nor must we lay aside our spirit¬
ual armour, or be off our watch, till our victory be
complete in the kingdom of glory.
III. He promises that he would make the Israel¬
ites masters of all those countries that were yet
unsubdued, though Joshua was old, and not able to
do it, old and not likely to live to see it done.
Whatever becomes of us, and however we may be
laid aside as dtspised broken vessels, God will do
his own work in his own time, v. 6, I will drive
them out. The original is emphatical, “ It is /that
will do it, I that can do it, when thou art dead and
gone, and will do it, if Israel be not wanting to
themselves.” “I will do it by my Word,” so the
Chaldee here, as in many other "places, “by the
eternal Word, the Captain of the hosts cf the
Lord.” This promise that he would drive them out
from before the children of Israel, plainly supposes
it as the condition of the promise, that the chil¬
dren of Israel must themselves attempt and endea
vour their extirpation, must go up against them,
65
JOSHU
rise they could not be said to be driven out before
them; if afterwards, Israel, through sloth, or cow¬
ardice, or affection to these idolaters, sit still and
let them alone, they must blame themselves, and
not God, if they be not driven out. We must work
out our salvation, and then God will work in us, and
work with us; we must resist our spiritual enemies,
and then God will tread them under our feet; we
must go forth to our Christian work and warfare,
and then God will go forth before us.
7. Now therefore divide this land for an
inheritance unto the nine tribes and the half
tribe of Manasseh, 8. With whom the
Reubenites and the Gadites have received
their inheritance, which Moses gave them,
beyond Jordan eastward, even as Moses the
servant of the Lord gave them ; 9. From
Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river
Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of
the river, and all the plain of Medeba unto
Dibon; 10. And all the cities of Sihon
king of the Amorites, which reigned in
Heshbon, unto the border of the children of
Ammon ; 11. And Gilead, and the border
of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all
mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Sal-
cah ; 12. All the kingdom ofOg in Bashan,
which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,
who remained of the remnant of the giants :
for these did Moses smite, and cast them
out. 13. Nevertheless the children of Is¬
rael expelled not the Geshurites, nor the
Maachathites ; but the Geshurites and the
Maachathites dwell among the Israelites
until this day. 1 4. Only unto the tribe of
Levi he gave none inheritance ; the sacrifi¬
ces of the Lord God of Israel made by fire
are their inheritance, as he said unto them.
1 5. And Moses gave unto the tribe of the
children of Reuben inheritance according to
their families: 16. And their coast was
from Aroer, that is on the bank of the river
Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of
the river, and all the plain by Medeba ; 1 7.
Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the
plain ; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-
baal-meon, 18. And Jahaza, and Kede-
moth, and Mephaath, 19. And Kirjathaim,
and Sibmah, and Zareth-shahar in the
mount of the valley, 20. And Beth-peor,
and Ashdoth-pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth,
21. And all the cities of the plain, and all
the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites,
which reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses
smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and
Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba,
which ivere dukes of Sihon, dwelling in the
country. 22. Baalam also the son of Beor,
the soothsayer, did the children of Israel
slay with the sword among them that were
slain by them. 23. And the border of the
Vol. ii. — T
V, XIII.
children of Reuben was Jordan, and the
border thereof. This was the inheritance
of the childi en of Reuben after their fami¬
lies, the cities and villages thereof. 24
And Moses gave inheritance unto the tribe
of Gad, even unto the children of Gad ac¬
cording to their families: 25 And their
coast was Jazer, and all^he cities of Gi
lead, and half the land of tlw children of Am
mon, unto Aroer that is before Rabbah ;
26. And from Heshbon unto Ramath-rniz-
peh, and Betonim ; and from Mahanaim
unto- the border of Debir ; 27. Ana in the
valley, Beth-aram, and Beth-nimrah, and
Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the king¬
dom of Sihon king of Heshbon, Jordan and
his border, even unto the edge of the sea of
Chinneroth, on the other side Jordan east¬
ward. 28. This is the inheritance of the
children of Gad after their families, the
cities, and their villages. 29. And Moses
gave inheritance unto the half tribe of Ma¬
nasseh : and this was the possession of the
half tribe of the children of Manasseh by
their families. 30. And their coast was
from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the king¬
dom of Og king of Bashan, and all the
towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, three¬
score cities; 31. And half Gilead, and
Ashteroth, and Edrei, cities of the kingdom
of Og in Bashan, were pertaining unto the
children of Machir the son of Manasseh,
even to the one half of the children of Machir
by their families. 32. These are the coun¬
tries which Moses did distribute for inherit¬
ance in the plains of Moab, on the other
side Jordan, by Jericho, eastward. 33. But
unto the tribe of Levi, Moses gave not any
inheritance : the Lord God of Israel was
their inheritance, as he said unto them.
Here we have,
I. Orders given to Joshua to assign to each tribe
its portion of this land, including that which was
yet unsubdued, which must be brought into the lot,
in a believing confidence that it should be conquered
when Israel was multiplied, so as to have occasion
for it, v. 7, JVoiv divide this land. Joshua thought
all must be conquered, before any must be divided:
“No,” said God, “there is as much conquered as
will serve your turn for the present, divide that,
and make your best of it, and wait for the remain¬
der hereafter.” Note, We must take the comfort
of what we have, though we cannot compass all we
would have. Observe,
1. The land must be divided among the several
tribes, and they must always live in common, as
now they did. Which way soever a just property
is acquired, it is the will of that God who has given
the earth to the children of men, that there should
be such a thing, and that every man should know
his own, and not invade that which is another’s.
The world must be governed, not by force, but
right, b.y the law of equity, not of arms.
2. That it must be divided for an inheritance,
though they got it by conquest. (1.) The promise
Joshua, xm.
of it came to them as an inheritance from their
fathers; the land of promise pertained to the chil-
Iren of promise, who were thus beloved for their
fathers’ sakes, and in performance of the covenant
with them. (2.) The possession of it was to be
transmitted by them, as an inheritance to their
children. Frequently, what is got by force, is soon
lost again; but Israeli having an incontestable title
to this land by the divine grant, might see it thereby
secured as ah inheritance to their seed after them,
and that God kep^lis mercy for thousands.
3. That Joshua must divide it, not by his own
will; though he was a very wise, just, and good man,
it must not be left to him to give what he pleased to
each tribe; but he must do it by lot, which referred
‘he matter wholly to God, and to his determination,
for he it is that appoints the bounds of our habita¬
tion, and every man’s judgment must proceed from
him. But Joshua must preside in this affair, must
manage this solemn appeal to Providence, and see
that the lot was drawn fairly and without fraud, and
that every tribe did acquiesce in it. The lot indeed
causeth contention to cease, Prov. 18. 18. But if
upon this lot any controversy should arise, Joshua
by his wisdom and authority must determine it,
arid prevent any ill consequences of it. Joshua
must have the honour of dividing the land, (1.) Be¬
cause he had undergone the fatigue of conquering
it; and when, through his hand, each tribe received
its allotment, they would thereby be made the
more sensible of their obligations to him. And
what a pleasure must it needs be to a man of such
a public spirit as Joshua was, to see the peop’e that
were so dear to him, eating the labour of his hands!
(2.) That he might be herein a type of Christ, who
has not only conquered for us the gates of hell, but
has opened to us the gates of heaven, and having
purchased the eternal inheritance for all believers,
will in due time put them all in possession of it.
II. An account is here given of the distribution
of the land on the other side Jordan, among the
Reubenites, and Gadites, and half of the tribe of
Manasseh, which comes in, 1. As the reason why
this land within Jordan must be divided only to the
nine tribes and a half, because the other two and a
half were already provided for. 2. As a pattern to
Joshua in the work he had now to do. He had
seen Moses distribute the land, which would give
him some aim in distributing this, and from thence
he might take his measures; only this was to be
done by lot, but it should seem, Moses did that him¬
self, according to the wisdom given unto him. 3.
As an inducement to Joshua to hasten the dividing
of thisdand, that the nine tribes and a half might
not be kept any longer than was necessary out of
their possession, since their brethren of the two
tribes and a half were so well settled in their’s; and
God, their common Father, would not have such a
difference made between his children.
(1.) Here is a general description of the country
that was given to the two tribes and a half, which
Moses gave them, even as Moses gave them, v. 8.
The repetition implies a ratification of the grant by
Joshua, Moses settled that matter, and as Moses
settled it, so shall it rest; Joshua will not, under any
pretence whatsoever, go about to alter it. And a
reason is intimated why he would not, because Mo¬
ses was the servant of the Lord, and acted in this
matter by secret direction from him, and was faith¬
ful as a servant. Here we have, [1.] The fixing
of the boundaries of this country, by which they
were divided from the neighbouring nations, v. 9,
ifc. Israel must know their own, and keep to it,
and may not under pretence of their being God’s
peculiar people, encroach upon their neighbours,
and invade their rights and properties, to which
they had a good and firm title by providence.
though not, as Israel, a title by premise. [2.] An
exception of one part of this country fr< m Israel’s
possession, though it was in their gr.mt, namely, the
Geshurites, and the Maachathites, v. 13. They
had not leisure to reduce all the remote and ob¬
scure corners of the country in Moses’s time, and
afterward they had no mind to it, being easy with
what they had. Thus those who are not straitened
in God’s promises, are yet straitened in their own
faith, and prayers, and endeavours.
(2.) A particular account of the inheritance of
these two tribes and a half; how they were sepa¬
rated from each other, and what cities, with the
towns, villages, and fields, commonly known and
reputed to be appurtenances- to them, belonged to
each tribe. This is very fully and exactly set
down, [1.] That posterity might, in reading this
history, be the more affected with the goedness of
God to their ancestors, when they found what a
large and fruitful country, and what abundance of
great and famous cities, he put them in possession
of. God’s grants look best, when we descend to the
particulars. [2.] That the limits of each tribe
being punctually set down in this authentic record,
disputes might be prevented, and such contests
between the tribes, as commonly happen where
boundaries have not been adjusted, nor this matter
brought to a certainty. And Ave ha\ e reason to
think that the register here prescribed and pub¬
lished of the lot of each tribe, was of great use to
Israel in after-ages, was often appealed to, and
always acquiesced in, for the determining of meuni
and iuam — mine and thine.
First, We have here the lot of the tribe of Reu¬
ben, Jacob’s first-born ; who, though he had lest
the dignity and power which pertained to the birth¬
right, yet, it seems had the advantage of being first
served. Perhaps those of that tribe had an eye to
this, in desiring to be seated on that side Jordan,
that, since they could not expect the benefit of the
best lot, they might have the credit of the first. In
the account of the lot of this tribe, mention is made
of the slaughter, 1. Of Sihon, king of the Amorites,
who reigned in this country, and might have kept
it and his life, if he would have been neighbourly,
and have suffered Israel to pass through his territo¬
ries, but, by attempting to oppose them, justly
brought ruin upon himself, Numb. 21. 21, Lfc. 2.
Of the princes of Midian, who were slain after¬
ward in another war, Numb. 31. 8. and yet are
here called dukes of Sihon, and are said to be
smitten with him, because they were either tributa¬
ries to him, or, in his opposition to Israel, confeder¬
ates with him, and hearty in his interests, and his
fall made rvay for their’s not long after. 3. Of Ba¬
laam particularly, that would, if he could, have
cursed Israel, and Avas soon after recompensed
according to the wickedness of his endeavour, Ps.
28. 4. For he fell with those that set him on.
This Avas recorded before, Numb. 31. 8. and is here
repeated, because the defeating of Balaam’s pur¬
pose to curse Israel, was the turning of that curse
into a blessing, and was such an instance of the
poiver and goodness of God, as was fit to be had in
everlasting remembrance. See Micah 6. 5.
Within the lot of this tribe Avas that mount Pis-
gah, from the top of which Moses took his aucav
of the earthly Canaan, and his flight to the hea¬
venly. And not far off thence Elijah avos, when he
was fetched up to heaven in a chariot of fire. The
separation of this tribe from the rest by the river
Jordan, was that Avhich Deborah lamented; and the
preference they gave to their private interests
above the public, was Avhat she censured, Judg. 5.
15, 16. In this tribe lay Heshbon and Sibmnh,
famed for their fruitful fields and vineyards. See
|j Tsa. 16. 8, 9. Jer. 48. 32. This tribe, with that
JOSHUA, XIV. (5?
of Gad, was sorely shaken by Hazael king of Syria,
2 Kings 10. 33. and afterward dislodged and carried
into captivity, twenty years before the general cap¬
tivity of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria, 1
Chron. 5. 26.
Secondly, The lot of the tribe of Gad, v. 24* *28.
This lay north of Reuben’s lot; the country of
Gilead lay in this tribe, so famous for its balm, that
it is thought strange indeed if there be no balm in
Gilead, and the cities of Jabesh-Gilead, and Ra-
moth-Gilead, which we often read of in scripture.
Succoth and Peniel, which we read of in the story
of Gideon, were in this tribe; and that forest which
is called the wood of Ephraim, (from the slaughter
Jephthah made thereof the Ephraimites,) in which
Absalom’s rebellious army was beaten, while his
father David lay at Mahanaim, one of the frontier-
cities of this tribe, v. 26. Sharon was in this tribe,
famous for Roses. And within the limits of this
tribe lived those Gadarenes, that loved their swine
better than their Saviour, fitter to be called Gar-
gashites than Israelites.
Thirdly, The lot of the half-tribe of Manasseh,
v. 29* *31. Bashan, the kingdom of Og, was in
this allotment, famous for the best timber, witness
the oaks of Bashan, and the best breed of cattle,
witness the bulls and rams of Bashan. This tribe
lay north of Gad, reached to mount Hermon, and
had in it part of Gilead. Mizpeli was in this half¬
tribe, and Jephthah was one of its ornaments; so
was Elijah, for in this tribe was Thisbe, whence he
is called the Tishbite, and Jair was another. In
the edge of the tribe stood Chorazin, honoured
with Christ’s wondrous works, but ruined by his
righteous woe for not improving them.
Lastly, Twice in this chapter it is taken notice
of, that to the tribe of Levi Afoses gave no inherit -
ance, v. 14. 33. for so God had appointed, Numb.
18. 20. If they had been appointed to a lot entire
by themselves, Moses would have served them first,
not because it was his own tribe, but because it was
God’s, but they must be provided for in another
manner; their habitations must be scattered in all the
tribes, and their maintenance brought out of all the
tribes, and God himself was the portion both of their
inheritance and of their cup, Deut. 10. 9. — 18. 2.
CHAR XIV.
Here is, I. The general method that was taken in dividing
the land, v. 1..5. II. The demand Caleb made of
Hebron, as his by promise, and therefore not to be put
into the lot with the rest, v. 6 . . 12. III. And Joshua’s
grant of that demand, v. 13.. 15. This was done at
Gilgal, which was as yet their head-quarters.
1. 4 ND these are the countries which the
J\ children of Israel inherited in the
land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest,
and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads
of the fathers of the tribes of the children
of Israel, distributed for inheritance to
them. 2. By lot was their inheritance, as
the Lord commanded by the hand of Mo¬
ses, for the nine tribes, and for the half
tribe. 3. F or Moses had given the inherit¬
ance of two tribes and a half tribe on the
other side Jordan : but unto the Levites he
gave none inheritance among them. 4.
For the children of Joseph were two tribes,
Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they
gave no part unto the Levites in the land,
save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs
for their cattle and for their substance. 5.
As the Lord commanded Moses, so the
children of Israel did, and they divided the
land.
The historian, having in the foregoing chapter
given an account of the disposal of the countries on
the other side Jordan, now comes to tell us whal
they did with the countries in the land of Canaan.
They were not conquered to be left desert, a habi¬
tation for dragons, and a court for owls, Isa. 34.
13. tfo. The Israelites that had hitherto been
closely encamped in a body, and the greatest part
of them such as never knew any other way cf liv¬
ing, must now disperse themselves to replenish
these new conquests. It is said of the earth, Goa
created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited,
Isa. 45. 18. Canaan would have been subdued in
vain, if it had not been inhabited. Yet every man
might not go and settle where he pleased, but as
there seems to have been in the days of Peleg an
orderly and regular division of the habitable earth
among the sons of Noah, Gen. 10. 25, 32. so there
was now such a division of the land of Canaan
among the sons of Jacob. God had given Moses
directions how this distribution should be made, and
those directions are here punctually observed. See
Numb. 33. 53, Lfc.
I. The managers of this great affair, were Joshua
the chief magistrate, Eleazar the chief priest, and
ten princes, one of each of the tribes that were now
to have their inheritance, whom God himself had
nominated (Numb. 34. 17, itfc.) some years before,
and it should seem, they were all now in being, and
attended this service, that every tribe having a
representative of its own, might be satisfied that
there was fair dealing, and might the more con¬
tentedly sit down by its lot.
II. The tribes among whom this dividend was to
be made, were nine and a half. 1. Not the two
and a half that were already seated, v. 3. though
perhaps now that they saw what a good land Ca¬
naan was, and how effectually it was subdued, they
might some of them repent their choice, and wish
they had now been to have their lot with their bre¬
thren, upon which condition they would gladly
have given up what they had on the other side Jor¬
dan; but it would not lie admitted, they had made
their election without power of -revocation, and so
must their dorm be, themselves have decided it,
they must adhere to their choice. 2. Not the tribe'
of Levi, that was to be otherwise provided for.
God had distinguished them from, and dignified
them above, the other tribes, and they must not
now mingle themselves with them, nor cast in their
lot among them, for that would entangle them in
the affairs of this life, which would not consist with
a due attendance on their sacred function. But, 3.
Joseph made two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim,
pursuant to Jacob’s adoption of Joseph’s two sons,
and so the number of the tribes was kept up to
twelve, though Levi was taken out, which is inti¬
mated here, v. 4, The children of Joseph were two
tribes, therefore they gave no part to Levi, they be¬
ing twelve without him.
III. The rule by which they went, was the lot,
v. 2. The disposal of that is of the Lord, Prov. 16.
33. It was here used in an" affair of weight, and
which could not otherwise be accommodated to uni¬
versal satisfaction, and it was used in a solemn reli¬
gious manner as an appeal to God, by consent of
parties. In dividing by lot, 1. They referred them¬
selves to God, and to his wisdom and sovereignty,
believing him fitter to determine for them, than
they for themselves, Ps. 47. 4, He shall choose our
inheritance for us. 2. They professed a willingness
to abide by the determination of it; for every man
must take what is his lot, and make the best of it.
r»s
JOSHUA, XIV.
In allusion to this, we are said to obtain an inherit¬
ance in Christ, Eph. 1. 11* we have
obtained it by lot. So the word signifies; for it is
obtained by a divine designation. Christ, our Josh¬
ua, gives eternal life to us many as were given him,
John 17. 2.
G. Then the children of Judah came unto
Joshua in Gilgal : and Caleb the son of Je-
phunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou
knowest the thing that the Lord said unto
Moses the man of God concerning me and
thee in Kadesh-barnea. 7. Forty years old
mas I when Moses the servant of the Lord
sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out
the land ; and I brought him word again as
it was in mine heart. 8. Nevertheless my
brethren that went up with me made the
heart of the people melt : but 1 wholly fol¬
lowed the Lord my God. 9. And Moses
sware on that day, saying, Surely the land
whereon thy feet have trodden shall be
thine inheritance, and thy children’s for
ever, because thou hast wholly followed
the Lord my God. 10. And now, behold,
the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said,
these forty and five years, even since the
Lord spake this word unto Moses, while
the children of Israel wandered in the wil¬
derness : and now, lo, I am this day four¬
score and five years old. 11. As yet I am
as strong this clay as I teas in the day that
Moses sent me: as my strength was then,
even so is my strength now, for war, both
to go out and to come in. 12. Now there¬
fore give me this mountain, whereof the
Lord spake in that day ; for thou heardest
in that day how the Anakims were there,
and that the cities were great and fenced : if
so be the Lord will he with me, then I
shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord
said. 1 3. And Joshua blessed him, and gave
unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron
for an inheritance. 14. Hebron therefore
became the inheritance of Caleb, the son
of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day,
because that he wholly followed the Lord
God of Israel. 15. And the name of He¬
bron before was Kirjath-arba : which Arha
was a great man among the Anakims. And
the land had rest from war.
Before the lot was cast into the lap for the deter¬
mining of the portions of the respective tribes, the
particular portion of Caleb is assigned him, who
was now, except Joshua, not only the oldest man in
all Israel, but was twenty years older than any of
them, for all that were above twenty years old
when he was forty, were dead in the wilderness; it
was fit therefore that this phoenix of his age should
have some particular marks of honour put upon
him in the dividing of the land. Now,
I. Caleb here presents his petition, or rather,
makes his demand, to have Hebron given him for
a possession, ( this mountain , he calls it, v. 12.) and
not to have that put into the lot with the other
parts of the country. To justify his demand, he
shows that God had long since, by Moses, promised
him that very mountain; so that God’s mind being
already made known in this matter, it would be a
vain and needless thing to consult it any further by
casting lots, by which we are to appeal to God in
those cases only which, cannot otherwise be decided,
not in those which like this here, are already de¬
termined. Caleb is here called the Kenezite, some
think, from some remarkable victory obtained by
him over the Kenezites, as the Romans gave their
great generals titles from the countries they con¬
quered, as Africanus, Germanicus, & c.
To enforce his petition, 1. He brings the children
of Judah, that is, the heads and great men of that
tribe, along with him, to present it, who were will¬
ing thus to pay their respects to that ornament of
their tribe, and to testify their consent that he should
be provided for by himself, and that they would
not take it as any reflection upon the rest of his
tribe. Caleb was the person whom God had
chosen out of that tribe to be employed in dividing
the land, Numb. 34. 19. And therefore, lest he
should seem to improve his authority as a commis¬
sioner for his own private advantage and satisfac¬
tion, he brings his brethren along with him, and
waving his own power, seems rather to rely upon
their interest. 2. He appeals to Joshua himself
concerning the truth of the allegations, upon which
he grounded his petition. Thou knowest the thing;
v. 6. 3. He makes a very honourable mention of
Moses, which he knew would not be at all unpleas¬
ing to Joshua, Moses the man of God, v. 6. and the
servant of the Lord, v. 7. \V hat Moses said, he
took as from God himself, because Moses was his
mouth, and his agent, and therefore he had reason
both to desire and expect it should be made good.
What can be more earnestly desired than the to¬
kens of God’s favour? And what more confidently
expected than the grants of his promise?
Caleb, in his petition, sets forth,
( 1. ) The testimony of his conscience concerning
his integrity in the management of that great affair,
on which it proved the fate of Israel turned, the
spying out of the land. Caleb was one of the twelve
that were sent out on that errand, v. 7. and he now
reflected upon it with comfort, and mentioned i:,
not in pride, but as that which, being the consider¬
ation of the grant, was necessary to be inserted in
the plea. [1.] That he made his report as it was
in his heart, that is, he spake as he thought, when
he spake so honourably of the land of Canaan, so
confidently of the power of God to put them in pos¬
session of it, and so contemptibly of the opposition
that the Canaanites, even the Anakims themselves,
could make against them, as we find he did, Numb.
13. 30. — 14. 7* -9. He did not do it merely to please
Moses, or to keep the people quiet, much less frojn
a spirit of contradiction to his fellows, but from a
full conviction of the truth of what he said, and a
firm belief of the divine promise. [2.] That hcreip
he wholly followed the Lord his God, that is,? lie
kept close to his duty, and sincerely aimed at tqe
glory of God in it. He conformed himself to the
divine will with an eye to the divine favour. He
had obtained this testimony from God himself,
Numb. 14. 24. and therefore it was not vain-glory
in him to speak of it, any more than it is for thpse
who have God's S/iirit witnessing with their s/drits
that they arc the children of God, humbly and
thankfully to tell others for their encouragement
what God has done for their souls. Note;, They
that follow God fully when they are young, shall
have both the credit and comfort of if when they
are old, and the reward of it for ever in the heaven¬
ly Canaan. [3.] That he did this when all his
69
JOSHUA, XIV.
brethren and companions in that service, except
Joshua, did otherwise. They made the heart of the
f ieople melt, v. 8. and how pernicious the conse¬
quences of it were, was very well known. It adds
much to the praise of following God, if we adhere
to him when others desert and decline from him.
Caleb needed not to mention particularly Joshua’s
conduct in this matter, it was sufficiently known,
and he would not seem to flatter him; it was enough
to say, v. 6, Thou knowest what the Lord s/iake
concerning me and thee.
(2. ) The experience he had had of God’s good¬
ness to him ever since to this day. Though he had
wandered with the rest in the wilderness, and had
been kept thirty-eight years out of Canaan, as they
were, for that sin, which he was so far from having
a hand in, that he had done his utmost to prevent;
yet, instead of complaining of that, he mentions, to
the glory of God, his mercy to him in two things,
[1.] That he was kept alive in the wilderness, not
only notwithstanding the common perils and fa¬
tigues of that tedious march, but though all the
generation of Israelites, except himself and Joshua,
were one way or other cut off by death: with what
a grateful sense of God’s goodness to him does he
speak it! v. 10, Now, behold, (behold and wonder,)
the Lord hath kef it me alive these forty and five
years — thirty-eight years in the wilderness, through
the plagues of the desert, and seven years in Ca¬
naan through the perils of war! Note, First,
While we live, it is God that keeps us alive; by his
power he protects us from death, and by his bounty
supplies us continually with the supports and com¬
forts of life. He holdeth our soul in life. Secondly,
The longer we live, the more sensible we should be
of God’s goodness to us in keeping us alive, his care
in prolonging our frail lives, his patience in prolong¬
ing our forfeited lives. Has he kept me alive these
f n'ty-five years? Is it about that time of life with
us"1 Or is it more? Or is it less? We have reason
to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not
consumed. How much are we indebted to the fa¬
vour of God, and what shall we render? Let the
life thus kept by the providence of God, be devoted
to his praise. Thirdly, The death of many others
round about us, should make us the more thankful
to God for sparing us and keeping us alive. Thou¬
sands falling on our right hand and our left, and yet
ourselves spared — these distinguishing favours im¬
pose on us strong obligations to singular obedience.
[2.] That he was fit for business, now that he was
in Canaan. Though eighty-five year^ old, yet as
hearty and lively as when he was forty, v. 11, As
my strength was then, so it is now. This was the
fruit of the promise, and out-did what was said; for. I
God not only gives what he promises, but he gives
more; life by promise, shall be life, and health, and
strength, and all that which will make the pro¬
mised life a blessing and a comfort. Moses had
said in his prayer, Ps. 90. 10. that at eighty years
old even their strength is labour and sorrow, and
so it is most commonly, but Caleb was an excep¬
tion to the rule; his strength at eighty-five was
ease and joy, this he got by following the Lord ful¬
ly. Caleb takes notice of this here to the glory of
God, and as an excuse for his asking a portion
which he must fetch out of the giants’ hands: let
not Joshua tell him he knew not what he asked; could
he get the possession of that which he begged for a ;
title to? “Yes,” says he, “why not? I am as fit
for war now as ever I was. ”
(3.) The promise Moses had made him in God’s
name, that he should have this mountain, v. 9.
This promise is his chief plea, and that on which
he relies. As we find it, Numb. 14. 24. it is gene¬
ral, him will I bring into the land whereunto fc
went, and his seed shall possess it: but it seems it
was more particular, and Joshua knew it; both
sides understood this mountain for which Caleb was
now a suitor, to be intended. This was the place
from which, more than any other, the spies took
their report, for here they met with the sons of
Anak, Numb. 13. 22. the sight of whom made such
an impression upon them, v. 33. We may suppose
that Caleb, observing what stress they laid upon
the difficulty of conquering Hebron, a city garri¬
soned by the giants, and how from thence they in¬
ferred that the conquest of the whole land was ut¬
terly impracticable, in opposition to their sugges¬
tions, and to convince the people that he spake as
he thought, bravely desired to have that city which
they called invincible, assigned to himself for his
own portion; “I will undertake to deal with that,
and if I cannot get it for my inheritance, I will be
without.” “ Well,” said Moses, “it shall be thine
own then, win it and wear it.” Such a noble heroic
spirit Caleb had, and so desirous was he to inspire
his brethren with it, that he chose this place, only
because it was the most difficult to be conquered.
And to show that his soul did not decay any more
than his body, now forty five years after he adheres
to his choice, and is still of the same mind.
(4.) The hopes he had of being master of it,
though the som of Anak were in possession of it,
v. 12, If the Lord will be with me, then I shall be
able to drive them out. The city of Hebron Joshua
had already reduced, ch. 10. 37. but the mountain
which belonged to it, and which was inhabited by
the sons of Anak, was yet unconquered, for though
the cutting off the Anakimsfrom Hebron was men¬
tioned, ch. 11. 21. because the historian would re¬
late all the military actions together, yet it seems it
was not conquered till after they had begun to di¬
vide the land. Observe, He builds his hopes of
driving out the sons of Anak upon the presence of
God with him. He does not say, “ Because I am
now as strong for war as I was at forty, therefore I
shall drive them out,” depending upon his personal
valour; nor does he depend upon his interest in the
warlike tribe of Judah, who attended him now in
making this address, and no doubt would assist him.
Nor does he court Joshua’s aid, or put it upon that.
If thou wilt be with me I shall gain my point.”
But if the Lord will be with me. Here, [1.] He
seems to speak doubtfully of God’s being with him,
not from any distrust of his goodness or faithfulness.
He had spoken without the least hesitation of God’s
presence with Israel in general, Numb. 14. 9, The
Lord is with us; but for himself, from a humble
sense of his own unworthiness of such a favour, he
chooses to express himself thus, If the Lord will be
with me. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, If the
Word of the Lord be my helper, that Word which
is God, and in the fulness of time was made flesh,
and is the Captain of our salvation. [2.] But
he speaks without the least doubt, he is assured
that if God were with him, he should be able to
dispossess the sons of Anak. “ If God be with us,
if God be for us, who can be against us, so as to pre¬
vail?” It is also intimated that if God were not
with him, though all the forces of Israel should
come in to his assistance, he should not be able to
gain his point. Whatever we undertake, God’s
favourable presence with us is all in all to our suc ¬
cess; that therefore we must earnestly pray for,
and carefully make sure of, by keeping ourselves in
the love of God; and on that we must depend, and
from that take our encouragement against the
greatest difficulties.
Upon the whole matter, Caleb’s request is, 12,
Give me this mountain, First, Because it was for¬
merly in God’s promise, and he would le^ Israel
know how much he valued the promise, insisting
upon this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that
JOSHUA, XV.
( lay, as nv'st desirable, though perhaps as good a
portion might have fallen to him by lot in common
with the rest. They that live bv faith, value that
which is given bv promise far above that which is
given by providence only. Secondly , Because it was
now in the Anakims’ possession, and he would let
Israel know how little he feared the enemy, and
would bv his example animate them to push on their
conquests. Herein Caleb answered his name, which
signifies all heart.
IT. Joshua grants his petition, v. 13, Joshua bless¬
ed him, commended his bravery, applauded his re¬
quest, and ga\ e him what he asked. He also prayed
for him, and for his good success in his intended
undertaking against the . sons of Anak. Joshua was
both a prince and a prophet, and upon both accounts
it was proper for him to give Caleb his blessing, for
the less is blessed of the better. Hebron was settled
on Caleb and his heirs, v. 14, because he wholly
followed the Lord God of Israel. And happy are
we if we follow him. Note, Singular piety shall be
crowned with singular favours. Now, 1. We are
here told what Hebron had been;, the city of Arba,
a great man among the Anaidms, v. 15. we find it
called Kirjath-arba, Gen. 23. 2. as the place where
Sarah died. Hereabouts Abraham, Isaac, and Ja¬
cob, lived most of their time in Canaan, and near to
it was the cave of Machpelah where they were bu¬
ried, which perhaps had led Caleb hither, when he
went to spy out the land, and had made him covet
tills rather than any other part for his inheritance.
2. We are afterward told what Hebron was. (1.)
It was one of the cities belonging to the priests.
Josh. 21. 13. and a city of refuge. Josh. 20. 7. when
Caleb had it, he contented himself with the country
about it, and cheerfully gave the city to the priests
and Lord’s ministers: thinking it coukl not be better
bestowed, no not upon his own children, nor that it
was the less his own for being thus devoted to God.
(2 ) It was a royal city, and in the beginning of Da¬
vid’s reign the metropolis of the kingdom of Judah;
tliither the poople resorted to him, and there he
reigned seven years. Thus highly was Caleb’s city
honoured; pity there should have been such a ble¬
mish upon his family long after, as Nabal was, who
was of the house of Caleb, lSm 25.3. But the
nest men cannot entail their \irtues.
CHAP. XV.
The land, though not completely conquered, yet being (as
was said in the close of the foregoing chapter) at rest
from mar, for the present, their armies all drawn out of
the field to a general rendezvous at Gilgal, there they
began to divide the land, though the work was afterward
perfected at Shiloh, ch. 18. l,&e. In this chapter, we
have the lot of the tribe of Judah, which in this, as in
other things, had the precedency; I. The borders or
bounds of the inheritance of Judah, v. 1. .12. II. The
particular assignment of Hebron and the country there¬
about to Caleb and his family, v. 13.. 19. III. The
names of the several cities that fell within Judah’s lot,
v. 21 . . 63.
l . rpHIS then was the lot of the tribe of the
Jl children of Judah by their families,
even to the border of Edom ; the wilderness of
Zin southward was the uttermost part of the
*;out.h coast. 2. And their south border was
from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay
that looketh southward : 3. And it went out
to tin1 south side to Maaleh-acrabbim, and
passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the
south side unto Kadesh-barnea ; and passed
along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and
fetched a compass to Karkaa: 4. From
thence it passed toward Azmon, and went
out unto the river of Egypt ; and the goings
out of that coast were at the sea : This shall
be your south coast. 5. And the east bor¬
der was the salt sea even unto the end of
Jordan. And their border in the north
quarter was from the bay of the sea at the
uttermost part of Jordan: 6. And the bor¬
der went up to Beth-hoglah, and passed
along by the north of Beth-arabah ; and the
border went up to the stone of Bohan the
son of Reuben : 7. And the border went up
toward Debir from the valley of Achor, and
so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that is
before the going up to Adummim, which is
on the south side of the river : and the bor¬
der passed toward the waters of En-she-
mesh, and the goings out thereof were at
En-rogel : 8. And the border went up by the
valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south
side of the Jebusite ; the same is Jerusalem :
and the border went up to the top of the
mountain that lieth before the valley of
Hinnom westward, which is at the end of
the valley of the giants northward : 9. And
the border was drawn from the top of the
hill unto the fountain of the water of Neph-
toah, and went out to the cities of mount
Ephron; and the border w as drawn to Baa-
lah, wdiich is Kirjath-jearim : 10. And the
border compassed from Baalah westward
unto mount Seir, and passed along unto the
side of mount Jearim, which is Chesalon,
on the north side, and went down to Beth-
shemesh, and passed on to Timnah : 11.
And the border went out unto the side of
Ekron northward: and the border was
drawn to Shicron, and passed along to
mount Baalah, and went out unto Jabneel;
and the goings out of the border were at the
sea: 12. Wild the west border teas to the
great sea, and the coast thereof. This is the
coast of the children of Judah round about,
according to their families.
Judah and Joseph were the two sons of Jacob, on
whom Reuben’s forfeited birthright devolved. Ju¬
dah had the dominion entailed on him, and Joseph
the double portion, ar,d therefore these two tribes
were first seated; Judah in the southern pavtcf the
land of Canaan, and Joseph in the northern part, and
on them the other seven did attend, and had their
respective lots as appurtenances to these two; the
lots of Benjamin, Simeon, and Dan, were appendant
to Judah, and those of Issachar and Zebulon, Naph-
tali and Asher, to Joseph. These two were first set
up to be provided for, it should seem, before there
was such an exact survey of the land as *we find af¬
terward, ch. 18. 9. It is probable that the most
considerable parts of the northern and southern
countries, and those that lay nearest to Gilgal, and
which the people were best acquainted with, were
first put into two portions, and the lot was cast upon
them between these two principal tribes, of the one
of which Joshua was, and of the other Caleb, whe
JOSHUA, XV.
was the first commissioner in this writ of partition;
and by the decision of that lot, the southern country
fell to Judah, and which we have an account of in
this chapter, and the northern to Joseph, of which
we have an account in the two following chapters.
And when this was done, there was a more equal
dividend (either in quantity or quality) of the re¬
mainder among the seven tribes. And this, proba¬
bly, was intended in that general rale which was
given concerning this partition, Numb. 33. 54, to the
more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the
fewer ye shall give the less, and every man's inheri¬
tance shall be where his lot falleth, that is, “ Ye shall
appoint two greater portions which shall be deter¬
mined by lot to those more numerous tribes of Ju¬
dah and Joseph, and then the rest shall be lesser
portions to be allotted to the less numerous tribes. ”
The former was done in Gilgal, the latter in Shiloh.
In these verses we have the borders of the lot of
Judah, which as the rest, is said to be by their fami¬
lies, that is, with an eye to the number of their fa¬
milies. And it intimates that Joshua and Eleazar,
and the rest of the commissioners, when they had
by lot given each tribe its portion, did afterward (it
is probable by lot likewise) subdivide those larger
portions, and assign to each family its inheritance,
and then to each household, which would be better
done by this supreme authority, and be apt to give
less disgust, than if it had been left to the inferior
magistrates of each tribe to make that distribution.
The borders of this tribe are here largely fixed,
yet not unalterably, for a good deal of that which
lies within these bounds was afterward assigned to
the lots of Simeon and Dan.
1. The eastern border was all, and only, the salt
sea, v. 5. Every sea is salt, but this was of an ex¬
traordinary and more than natural saltness, the ef¬
fects of that fire and brimstone with which Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed in Abraham’s time,
whose ruins lie buried in the bottom of this dead
water, which never either was moved itself, or had
any living thing in it.
2. The southern border was that of the land of
Canaan in general as will appear by comparing v.
1**4. with Numb. 34. 3- *5. So that this power¬
ful and warlike tribe of Judah guarded the frontiers
of the whole land, on that side which lay toward
their old sworn enemies, (though their two fathers
were twin-brethren,) the Edomites. Our Lord
therefore, who sprang out of Judah, and whose
the kingdom is, shall judge the mount of Esau,
Obad. 21.
3. The northern border divided it from the lot
of Benjamin. In this, mention is made of the stone
of Bohan a Reubenite, v. 6. who, probably, was a
great commander of those forces of Reuben that
came over Jordan, and died in the camp at Gilgal,
and was buried not far off under this stone. The
valley of Achor likewise lies under this border, v. 7.
to remind the men of Judah of the trouble which
Achan, one of their tribe, gave to the congregation of
Israel, that they might not be too much lifted up with
their services. This northern line touched close upon
Jerusalem, v. 8. so close as to include in the lot of
this tribe, mount Zion and mount Moriah, though
the greater part of the city lay in the lot of Ben¬
jamin.
4. The west border went near to the great sea at
first, v. 12. but afterward the lot of the tribe of Dan
took off a good part of Judah’s lot on that side; for
the lot was only to determine between Judah and
Joseph, which should have the north, and which
die south, and not immoveably to fix the border of
either.
Judah’s inhertarce had its boundaries determin¬
ed; though it w s a powerful warlike tribe, and had
a great interest in the other tribes, yet they must
not therefore be left to their own choice, to enlarge
their possessions at pleasure, but must li\ e so as
that their neighbours might live by them. Those
that are placed high, yet must not think to be
placed alone in the midst of the earth.
13. And unto Caleb the son of Jephun
neh he gave a part among the children of
Judah, according to the commandment of
the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba
the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.
14. And Caleb drove thence the three sons
of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talnrai.
the children of Anak. 15. And he went up
thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the
name of Debir before teas Kirjath-sepher.
16. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kir¬
jath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will 1 give
Achsali my daughter to wife. 17. And
Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Ca
leb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his
daughter to wife. 18. And it came to pass,
as she came vnto him , that she moved him to
ask of her father a field : and she lighted off
her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What
wouldest thou? 19. Who answered, Give
me a blessing; for thou hast given me a
south land; give me also springs of water.
And he gave her the upper springs, and the
nether springs.
The historian seems pleased with every occasion
to make mention of Caleb, and to do him honour,
because he had honoured God in following him full v.
The grant Joshua made him of the mountain of He¬
bron for his inheritance is here repeated, v. 13.
And it is said to be given him, 1. According to the
command of the Lord to Joshua. Though Caleb, in
his petition, had made out a very good title to it by
promise, yet because God had ordered Joshua to di¬
vide the land by lot, he would not in this one single
instance, no not to gratify his old friend Caleb, do
otherwise, without orders from God, whose oracle,
it is probable, he consulted upon this occasion. In
every doubtful case it is very desirable to know the
mind of God, and to see the way of our duty plain.
2. It is said to be a part among the children of Ju¬
dah; though it was assigned him before the lot of
the tribe came up, yet it proved, God so directing
the lot, to be in the heart of that tribe, which was
graciously ordered in kindness to him, that he
might not be as one separated from his brethren,
and surrounded by those of other tribes.
Now Caleb having obtained this grant, we are
told,
I. How he signalized- his own valour in the con-
j quest of Hebron, v. 14. He drove thence the three
sons of Anak; he and those that he engaged to ass;st
him in this service. This is mentioned here, to
show that the confidence he had expressed of suc¬
cess in this affair through the presence of God with
; him, ch. 14. 12. did not deceive him, but the event
answered his expectation. It is not said that he slew
! these giants, but he drove them thence, which inti-
j mates that they retired upon his approach, and fled
| before him; the strength and stature of their bodies
! could not keep up the courage of their minds, but,
I with the countenances of lions, thev had the hearts
I of trembling hares. Thus does God often cut off
the spirit of princes, Ps. 76, 12. take awav the heart
| of the chief of the people. Job 12, 24. and so shame
72
JOSHUA, XV.
tne confidence of the proud; and thus if we resist
the devil, that roaring lion, though he fall not, yet
he will flee.
II. How he encouraged the valour of those about
him in the conquest of Debir, v. 15, itfc. It seems,
tnough Joshua had once made himself master of
bebir, c/i. 10. 39. yet the Canaanites had regained
ti.e possession in the absence of the army, so that the
work was to be done a second time ; and when Caleb
had completed the reduction of Hebron, which was
for himself and his own family, to show his zeal for
the public good, as much as for his own private in¬
terest, he pushes on his conquest to Debir, and will
not lay down his arms till he sees that city also ef¬
fectually reduced, which lay but ten miles south¬
ward from Hebron, though he had not any particu¬
lar concern in it, but the reducing of it would be to
the general advantage of his tribe. Let us learn
hence, not to seek and mind our own things only,
but to concern and engage ourselves for the welfare
of the community we are members of; we are not
born for ourselves, nor must we live to ourselves.
1. Notice is taken of the name of this city. It
had been called Kirjath-sefiher, the city of a book,
and Kirjath-sanha, v. 40. which some translate
the city of learning; so the LXX. IIsxk ypa/u/udruv,
whence some conjecture that it had been an uni¬
versity among the Canaanites, like Athens in
Greece, in which their youth were educated; or
perhaps the books of their chronicles or records on
the antiquities of the nation, were laid up there;
and, it may be, this was it that made Caleb so de¬
sirous to see Israel master of this city, that they
might get acquainted with the ancient learning of
the Canaanites.
2. The proffer that Caleb made of his daughter,
and a good portion with her, to any one that would
undert ike to reduce that city, and to command the
forces that should be employed in that service, v.
15. Thus S ml promised a daughter to him that
would kill Goliath, 1 Sam. 17. 25. neither of them
intending to force their daughter to marry such as
they could not love, but both of them presuming
upon their daughter’s obedience, and submission to
their father’s will though it might perhaps be con¬
trary to their own humour or inclination. Caleb’s
family was not only honourable and wealthy, but
religious; he that himself followed the Lord fully,
no doubt, t night his children to do so, and therefore
it could not bat be a desirable match to any young
gentleman. Caleb, in making the proposal, aims,
(1.) To do service to his country by the reducing
of that important place: And, (2.) To marry a
daughter well, to a man of learning, that would
have a particular affection for the city of books, and
a man of war, that would Oe likely to serve his
country and do worthily in his generation. Could
he but marry his child to a man of such a charac¬
ter, he would think her well bestowed, whether
the share in the lot of his tribe were more or less.
3. The place w is bravely taken by Othniel, a
nephew of Caleb’s, whom, probably, Caleb had
thoughts of when he made the proffer, v. 17. This
Othnigl, who thus signalized himself when he was
young, long after, in his advanced years, was led
by the Spirit to be both a deliverer and a judge in
Israel, the first single person that presided in their
affairs after Joshua’s death; it is good for those who
are setting out in the world, to begin betimes with
that which is great and good; that, excelling in
service when they are young, they may excel in
honour when they grow old.
4. Hereupon (all parties being agreed) Othniel
married his cousin-german, Achsali, Caleb’s daugh¬
ter. It is. probable that he had a kindness for her
before, which put him upon this bold undertaking
m obtain her. Love to his country, an ambition of
honour, and a desire to find favour with the princes
of his people, might not have engaged him in this
great action, but his affection for Achsah did, that
made it intolerable to him to think that any one
else should do more to win her favour than he
would, and so inspired him with this generous fire.
Thus is love strong as death, and jealousy cruel as
the grave.
5. Because the historian is now upon the dividing
of the land, he gives us an account of Achsah ’s
portion, which was in land, as more valuable, be¬
cause enjoyed by virtue of the divine promise,
though we may suppose the conquerors of Canaan,
who had had the spoil of so many rich cities, were
full of money too. (1.) Some land she obtained by
Caleb’s free grant, which was allowed while she
married within her own tribe and family, as Zelo-
phehad’s daughter did. He gave her a south land,
v. 19. Land indeed, but a south land, dry, and
apt to be parched. (2. ) She obtained more upon
her request; she would have had her husband to
ask for a field, probably, some particular field, or
champaign ground, which belonged to Caleb’s
lot, and joined to that south land which he had
settled upon his daughter at marriage. She thought
her husband had the best interest in her father,
who, no doubt, was extremely pleased with his late
glorious achievement, but he thought it was more
proper for her to ask, and she would be more
likely to prevail; accordingly she did, submitting to
her husband’s judgment, though contrary to her
own; and she managed the undertaking with great
address. [1.] She took the opportunity when her
father brought her home to the house of her hus¬
band, when the satisfaction of having disposed of
his daughter so well, would make him think nothing
too much to do for her. [2.] She lighted off her
ass, in token of respect and reverence to her fath¬
er, whom she would honour still, as much as before
her marriage. She cried or sighed, from off her ass,
so the LXX. and the vulgar Latin read it, she ex¬
pressed some grief and concern, that she might
give her father occasion to ask her what she want¬
ed. [3.] She calls it a blessing, because it would
add much to the comfort of her settlement; and
she was sure, that since she married, not only with
her father’s consent, but in obedience to his com¬
mand, he would not deny her his blessing. [4. ]
She asks only for the mater, without which the
ground she had would be of little use, either for
tillage or pasture, but she means the field in which
the springs of water were; the modesty and rea¬
sonableness of her request gave it a great advan¬
tage. Earth without water would be like a tree
without sap, or the body of an animal without blood;
therefore when God gathered the waters into one
place, he wisely and graciously left some in every
place, that the earth might be enriched for the
service of man. See Ps. 104. 10, &c. Well,
Achsah gained her point, her father gave her what
she asked, and perhaps more, for he gave her the
u/i/ter springs and the nether springs. Two fields,
so called from the springs that were in them; as we
commonly distinguish between the higher field and
the lower field. Those who understand it but of
one field, watered both with the rain of heaven and
the springs that issued out of the bowels of the
earth, gave countenance to the allusion we com¬
monly make to this, when we pray for spiritual and
heavenly blessings which relate to our souls, as
blessings of the upper springs, and those which re¬
late to the body and the life that now is, as bless
ings of the nether springs.
From this story, we learn, First, That it is no
breach of the tenth commandment, moderately to
desire those comforts and conveniences of this life,
which we see attainable in a fair and regular way.
73
JOSHUA, XV.
Secondly, That husbands and wives should mutually
advise, and jointly agree about that which is for the
common good of their family; and much more
should they concur in asking of their heavenly
Father the best blessings, those of the ufifier
springs. Thirdly , That parents must never think
that lost, which is bestowed upon their children for
their real advantage, but must be free in giving
them portions as well as maintenance, especially
when they are dutiful. Caleb had sons, 1 Chron.
4. 15. and yet gave thus liberally to his daughter.
Those parents forget themselves and their rela¬
tions, who grudge their children what is convenient
for them, when they can conveniently part with it.
20. This is the inheritance of the tribe
of the children of Judah according to their
families. 21. And the uttermost cities of
the tribe of the children of Judah, toward
the coast of Edom southward, were Kab-
zeel, and Eder, and Jagur, 22. And Kinah,
and Dimonah, and Adadah, 23. And Ke-
desh, and Hazor, and Ithnan, 24. Ziph,
and Telem, and Bealoth, 25. And Hazor,
Hadattah, and Kerioth, and Hezron, which
is Hazor, 26. Amam, and Shema, and
Moladah, 27. And Hazar-gaddah, and
Heshmon, and Beth-palet, 28. And Hazar-
shual, and Beer-sheba, and Bizjothjah, 29.
Baalah, and Iim, and Azem, 30. And
Eltolad, and Cliesil, and Hormah, 31.
And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and San-
sannah, 32. And Lebaoth, and Shilhim,
and Ain, and Rimmon : all the cities are
twenty and nine, with their villages : 33.
And in the valley, Eshtaol, and Zoreah,
and Ashnah, 34. And Zanoah, and En-
gannim, Tappuah, and Enam, 35. Jar-
muth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,
36. And Sharaim, and Adithaim, and Ge-
derah, and Gederothaim ; fourteen cities
with their villages : 37. Zenan, and Ha-
dashah, and Migdal-gad, 38. And Dilean,
and Mizpeh, and Joktheel, 39. Lachish,
and Bozkath, and Eglon, 40. And Cab-
bon, and Lahmam, and Kithlish, 41. And
Gederolh, Beth-dagon, and Naamah, and
Makkedah ; sixteen cities with their vil¬
lages: 42. Libnah,and Ether, and Ashan,
43. And Jiphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib,
44. And Keilah, and Achzib, and Ma-
reshah ; nine cities with their villages. 45.
Ekron with her towns and her villages:
46. From Ekron even unto the sea, all that
lay near Ashdod, with their villages : 47.
Ashdod with her towns and her villages,
Gaza with her towns and her villages, unto
the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and
the border thereof: 48. And in the moun¬
tains, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, 49.
And Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which
is Debir, 50. And Anab, and Eshtemoh,
and Anim, 51. And Goshen, and Holon,
Yol. ii. — K
and Giloh ; eleven cities with their villages :
52. Arab, and Dumah, and Eshean, 53.
And Janum, and Beth-tappuah, and Aphe-
kah, 54. And Humtah, and Kirjath-arba
(which is Hebron,) and Zior ; nine cities
with their villages: 55. Maon, Carmel,
and Ziph, and Juttah, 56. And Jezreel,
and Jokdeam, and Zanoah, 57. Cain,
Gibeah, and Timnah ; ten cities with their
villages : 58. Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
59. And Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and
Eltekon ; six cities with their villages : 60.
Kirjath-baal (which is Kirjath-jearim,) and
Rabbah ; two cities with their villages : 61.
In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin,
and Secacah, 62. And Nibshan, and the
city of Salt, and En-gedi ; six cities with
their villages. 63. As for the Jebusites, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of
Judah could not drive them out: but the
Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah
at Jerusalem unto this day.
We have here a list rf the several cities that fell
within the lot of the tribe of Judah, which are men¬
tioned by name, that they might know their own,
and both keep it, and keep to it, and might, neither
through cowardice nor sloth, lose the possession of
what was their own, nor through covetousness, seek
the possession of what was not their own. The
cities are here named, and numbered in several
classes, which they then could account for the rea¬
son of, better than we can now. Here are, 1. Some
that are said to be the uttermost cities toward the
coast of Eden , v. 21* *32. Here are thirty-eight
named, and yet said to be twenty-nine, v. 32. be¬
cause nine cf these were afterward transferred to
the lot of Simeon, and are reckoned as belonging to
that, as appears by comparing ch. 19. 2, Zjfc. there¬
fore those only are counted, (though the rest are
named,) which remained to Judah. 2. Others that
are said to be in the valley, v. 33. are counted to be
fourteen, yet fifteen are named; but it is probable,
that Gederah, and Gederothaim were either two
names, or two parts, of one and the same city. 3.
Then sixteen are named without any head of dis¬
tinction, v. 37* *41. and nine mere, 42.. 44. 4.
Then the three Philistine cities, Ekron, Ashdod,
and Gaza, v. 45.. 47. 5. Cities in the mountains ,
eleven in all, v. 48* *51. nine more, v. 52* *54. ten
more, v. 55* -57. six more, v. 58, 59. then two, v.
CO. and six in the wilderness, a part cf the country
not so thick of inhabitants as some others were.
Now here, (1.) We do not find Bethlehem,
which was afterward the city cf David, and was
ennobled by the birth of our Lord Jesus in it. But
that city, which at the best was but little among the
thousands of Judah, Mic. 5. 2. except that it was
thus dignified, was now so little as not to be ac¬
counted one of the cities, but perhaps was one of
the villages not named. Christ came to give
honour to the places he was related to, not to re¬
ceive honour from them. (2.) Jerusalem is said to
continue in the hands of the Jebusites, v. 63, for
the children of Judah could not drive them out,
through their sluggishness, stupidity and unbelief;
had they attempted it with vigour and resolution,
we have reason to think God would not have been
wanting to them, to give them success; but they
could not do it, because they would not. Jerusalem
was afterward to be the holy city, the royal city,
74
JOSHUA, AVI
the city of the great King, the brightest ornament
of all the land of Israel, God had designed it should
be so. It may therefore be justly looked upon as a
punishment of their neglect to conquer other cities
which God had given them, that they were so long
kept out of this.
Among the cities of Judah (in all one hundred
and fourteen) we meet with Libnah, which in Jo-
ram’s days revolted, and probably set up for a free
independent state, 2 Kings 8. 22. and Lachish,
where king Amaziah was slain, 2 Kings 14. 19. it
led the dance in idolatry, Mic. 1. 13. it was the be¬
ginning of sin to the daughter of Sion. Giloh,
Ahitophei’s town, is here mentioned, and Tekoa,
of which the prophet Amos was, and near which
Jehoshaphat obtained that glorious victory, 2
Chron. 20. 20, Itfc. and Maresha, where Asa was
a conqueror. Many of the cities of this tribe occur
in the history of David’s troubles. Adullam, Ziph,
Kellah, Maon, En-gedi, Ziklag, were places here
reckoned in this tribe, near which David had most
of his haunts; for though sometimes Saul drove
him out from the inheritance of the Lord, yet he
kept as close to it as he could. The wilderness of
Judah he frequented much, and in it John Baptist
preached, and there the kingdom of heaven com¬
menced, Matt. 3. 1. The riches of this country,
no doubt, answered Jacob’s blessing of this tribe,
that he should wash his garments in wine, Gen. 49.
11. And in general, Judah, thou art he whom thy
brethren should praise, not envy.
CHAP. XVI.
It is a pity that this and the following chapter should be
separated, for both of them give us the lot of the chil¬
dren of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, who, next to
Judah, were to have the post of honour, and there¬
fore had the first and best portion in the northern
part of Canaan, as Judah now had in the southern part,
in this chapter, we have, I. A general account of the lot
of these two tribes together, v. 1..4. II. The borders
of the lot of Ephraim in particular, v. 5. . 10. That of
Manasseh following in the next chapter.
1. 4 NO the lot of the children of Joseph
f\ fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the
water of Jericho on the east, to the wilder¬
ness that goeth up from Jericho throughout
mount Beth-el, 2. And goeth out from
Beth-el to Luz, and passeth along unto the
borders of Archi to Ataroth, 3. And goeth
down westward to the coast of Japhleti,
unto the coast of Beth-horon the nether, and
to Gezer : and the goings out thereof are at
the sea. 4. So the children of Joseph,
Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inherit¬
ance.
Though Joseph was one of the younger sons of
Jacob, yet he was his eldest by his most just and best
beloved wife, Rachel; was himself his best beloved
son, and had been the greatest ornament and sup¬
port of his family, kept it from perishing in a time
of famine, and had been the shepherd and stone o f
Israel, and therefore his posterity were very much
favoured by the lot. Their portion lay in the very
heart of the land of Canaan. It extended from
Jordan in the east, v. 1. to the sea, the Mediterra¬
nean sea, in the west, so that it took up the whole
breadth of Canaan from side to side; and, no ques¬
tion, the fruitfulness of the soil answered the bless¬
ings both of Jacob and Moses, Gen. 49. 25, 26.
and Deut. 33. 13, itfc.
The portions allotted to Ephraim and Manas I
sell are nut so particularly described as thoso ot i
|| the other tribes; we have only the limits and boun
daries of them, not the particular cities in them, as
before we had of the cities of Judah, and after¬
ward those of the other tribes. For which no rea¬
son can be assigned, unless we may suppose that
Joshua, being himself of the children of Joseph,
they referred it to him alone to distribute among
them the several cities that lay within their
lot, and therefore did not bring in the names of
their cities to the great council of their princes
which sat upon this affair; by which means it came
to pass that they were not inserted with the rest in
the books.
5. And the border of the children of
Ephraim, according to their families, was
thus; even the border of their inheritance
on the east side was Ataroth-addar, unto
Beth-horon the upper : 6. And the border
went out toward the sea to Michmethah, on
the north side ; and the border went about
eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, and passed
by it on the east to Janohah : 7. And it
went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and
to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went
out at Jordan. 8. The border went out
from Tappuah westward unto the liver Ka-
nah ; and the goings out thereof were at the
sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of
the children of Ephraim by their families.
9. And the separate cities for the children
of Ephraim were among the inheritance of
the children of Manasseh, all the cities with
their villages. 10. And they drave notout
the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer ; but the
Canaanites dwell among the Ephrai mites
unto this day, and serve under tribute.
Here,
1. The border of the lot of Ephraim is set down,
by which it was divided on the south from Ben¬
jamin and Dan, who lay between it and Judah,
and on the north from Manasseh; for east and
west it reached from Jordan to the great sea. The
learned, who aim to be exact in drawing the line
according to the directions here, find themselves
very much at a loss, the description here being short
and intricate. The report of those who in these
latter ages have travelled those countries, will not
serve to clear the difficulties, so vastly unlike is it
now to what it was then; not only cities have been
so destroyed, as that no mark or footstep of them
remains, but brooks are dried up, rivers alter their
courses, and even the mountain falling cometh to
naught, and the rock is removed out of his place.
Job. 14. 18. Unless I could hope to solve the
doubts that arise upon this draught of the border of
Ephraim, it is to no purpose to mention them;
no doubt, they were then perfectly understood, so
as that the first intention of recording them was ef¬
fectually answered, which was to notify the ancient
landmarks, which posterity must by no means re¬
move.
2. Some separate cities are sprken of, that lav not
within these borders, at least, not if the line were
drawn direct, but lay within the let of Manasseh,
v. 9. which might better be read, and there were
separate citiesfor the children of Ephraim, among the
inheritance of the children of Manasseh ; because
I .it proved that Manasseh could sp ire them, and
i Ephraim had need of them, and it might be hoped
JOSHUA, XVH.
that no inconvenience would arise from this mixtui'e
of these two tribes together, who were both the
sons of Joseph, and should love as brethren. And
by this it appears, that though when the tribes were
numbered in the plains of Moab, Manasseh had got
the start of Ephraim in number, for Manasseh was
then fifty-two thousand, and Ephraim but thirty-
two thousand, Numb. 26. 34, 37. yet by the time
they were well settled in Canaan, the hands were
crossed again, and the blessing of Moses was veri¬
fied, Deut. 33. 17, They are the ten thousands of
Efihraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Families and kingdoms are diminished and increas¬
ed, increased and diminished again, as God pleases.
3. A .brand is put upon the Ephraimites, that
they did not drive out the Canaanites from Gezer,
x1. iO. Either through carelessness or cowardice,
either for want of faith in the promise of God, that j
he would give them success if they would make a
vigorous effort, or for want of zeal for the command
of God, which obliged them utterly to drive out
the Canaanites, and to make no peace with them.
And though they hoped to satisfy the law by put¬
ting them under tribute, yet (as Calvin thinks)
that made the matter worse, for it shows that they
spared them out of covetousness, that they might
be profited by their labours, and by dealing with
them for their tribute they were in danger of being
infected with their idolatry; yet some think, when
they brought them under tribute, they obliged them
to renounce their idols, and to observe the seven
precepts of the sons of Noah; and I should think so,
but that we find in the sequel of the story, that the
Israelites were so far from restraining idolatry in
others, that they soon fell into it themselves.
Many famous places were within this lot of the
tribe of Ephraim, though not mentioned here. In
it were Ramah, Samuel’s city, called in the New
Testament, Arimathea, of which Joseph was, that
look care of our Saviour’s burial, and Shiloh,
where the tabernacle was first set up. Tirzah, also,
(.he royal city of Jeroboam and his successors, and
Deborah’s palm-tree, under which she judged Is¬
rael, were in this tribe. Samaria, built by Omri,
after the burning of the royal palace of Tirzah, was
in this tribe, and was long the royal city of the king¬
dom of the ten tribes ; not far from it were She- j
chem, and the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, and
Svchar, near which was Jacob’s well, where Christ
talked with the woman of Samaria. We read much
of mount Ephraim in the story of the Judges, and of
a city called Efihraim , it is probable in this tribe,
to which Christ retired, John 1 1. 54. The whole
kingdom of the ten tribes is often in the prophets,
especially in Hosea, called Efihraim.
CHAP. XVII.
The half-tribe of Manasseh comes next to be provided for;
and here we have, I. The families of that tribe that were
to be portioned, v. 1..6. II. The country that fell to
their lot, v. 7 . . 13. III. The joint request of the two
tribes that descended from Joseph, for the enlargement
of their lot, and Joshua’s answer to that request, v. 14 . . ,
18.
1 . *T*HERE was also a lot for the tribe of
aL Manasseh, for he was the first-born
of Joseph ; to wit , for Machir the first-born
of Manasseh, the father of Gilead ; because
he was a man of war, therefore he had Gi¬
lead and Bashan. 2. There was also a
Jot for the rest of the children of Manas¬
seh by their families ; for the children of
Abiezer, and for the children of Helek,and
for the children of Asriel, and for the chil-
75
dren of Shechem, and for the children of
Hepher, and for the children of Shemida:
these were the male children of Ma¬
nasseh the son of Joseph by their fa¬
milies. 3. But Zelophehad, the son of
Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of
Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons,
but daughters : and these are the names of
his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah,_
Milcah, and Tirzah. 4. And they came
near before Eleazar the priest, and before
Joshua the son of Nun, and before the prin¬
ces, saying, The Lord commanded Moses
to give us an inheritance among our breth¬
ren. Therefore, according to the com¬
mandment of the Lord, he gave them an
inheritance among the brethren of their fa¬
ther. 5. And there fell ten portions to Ma¬
nasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Ba¬
shan, which were on the other side Jordan ;
6. Because the daughters of Manasseh had
an inheritance among his sons : and the
rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of
Gilead.
Manasseh was itself but one half of the tribe of
Joseph, and yet was divided and subdivided.
1. It was divided into two parts, one already set¬
tled on the other side Jordan, consisting of those
who were the posterity of Machir, v. 1. This Ma¬
chir was born to Manasseh in Egypt, there he
had signalized himself as a man of war, probably,
in the contest between the Ephraimites and the
men of Gath, 1 Chron. 7. 21. His warlike disposi¬
tion descended to his posterity, and therefore Moses
gave them Gilead and Bashan, on the other side
Jordan, of which before, ch. 13. 31. It is here said,
that the lot came to Manasseh, for he was the first¬
born of Joseph. Bishop Patrick thinks it should be
translated, though he was the first-born of Joseph,
and then the meaning is plain, that the second lot
was for Manasseh, because, though he was the
first-born, yet Jacob had preferred Ephraim be¬
fore him. See the names of those heads of the fa¬
milies that settled on the other side Jordan, 1
Chron. 5. 24.
2. That part on this side Jordan was subdivided
into ten families, v. 5. There were six sons of
Gilead here named, v. 2. the same that are record¬
ed, Numb. 26. 30. 32. only that he who is there
called Jeezer, is here called" Abiezer; five of these
sons had each of them a portion, the sixth, which
was Hepher, had his male line cut off in his son
Zelophehad, who left daughters only, five in num¬
ber, of whom we have often read, and these five
had each of them a portion; though perhaps they
claiming under Hepher, all the'r five portions were
but equal to one of the portions of the five sons. Or if
Hepher had other sons beside Zelophehad, in whom
the name of his family was kept up, their posterity
married to the daughters of Zelophehad the elder
brother, and in their right had these portions as¬
signed them. See Numb. 36. 12.
Here is, (1.) The claim which the daughters of
Zelophehad made, grounded upon the commands
God gave to Moses concerning them, v. 4. They
had themselves, when they were young, pleaded
their own cause before Moses, and obtained the
grant of an inheritance with their brethren, and
now they would not lose the benefit of th_t grant
76
JOSHUA, XVII.
tor want of speaking to Joshua, but seasonable
put in their demand themselves, as it should seem,
and not their husbands for them. (2.) The assign¬
ment of their portions according to their claim ;
Joshua knew very well what God had ordered in
their case, and did not object, that they having net
served in the wars of Canaan, there was no reason
why they should share in the possessions of Ca¬
li ian, but readily gave them an inheritance among
the brethren of their father. And now they reaped
the benefit of their own pious zeal and prudent
forecast in this matter. Thus they who take care
in the wilderness of this world, to make sure to
themselves a place in the inheritance of the saints
in l.ght, will certainly have the comfort of it in the
other world, while those that neglect it now, will
lose it for ever.
7. And the coast of Manasseh was from
Asher to Miehmethah, that lieth before She-
chem ; and the border went along on the
right hand unto the inhabitants of En-tap-
puah. 8. Now Manasseh had the land of
Tappuah: but Tappuah, on the border of
Manasseh, belonged to the children of
Ephraim. 9. And the coast descended unto
the river Kanah, southward of the river:
these cities of Ephraim are among the cities
of Manasseh: the coast of Manasseh also
was on the north side of the river, and the
out-goings of it were at the sea: 10. South¬
ward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it
was Manasseh’s, and the sea is his border ;
and they met together in Asher on the
north, and in Issachar on the east. 11.
And Manasseh had in Issachar, and in
Asher, Beth-shean and her towns, and lb-
leam and her towns, and the inhabitants of
Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of
En-dor and her towns, and the inhabitants
of Taanach and her towns, and the inha¬
bitants of Megiddo and her towns, even
three countries. 12. Yet the children of
Manasseh could not drive out the inhabit¬
ants of those cities; but the Canaanites
would dwell in that land. 13. Yet it came
to pass, when the children of Israel were
waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites
to tribute ; but did not utterly drive them
out. _
We have here a short account of the lot of this
half-tribe. It reached from Jordan on the east, to
the great sea on the west, on the south it lay all
along contiguous to Ephraim, but on the north it
abutted upon Asher and Issachar ; Asher lay north¬
west, and Issachar north-east, which seems to be
the meaning of that, v. 10. that they (that is, Ma¬
nasseh, and Ephraim as related to it, both together
making the tribe of Joseph) met in Asher on the
north, and Issachar on the east, for F,phraim itself
reached not those tribes.
Some things are particularly observed concerning
this lot:
1. That there was great communication between
this tribe and that of Ephraim. The city of Tap¬
puah belonged to Ephraim, but the country adjoin¬
ing to Manasseh, v. 8. there were likewise many
cities of Ephraim, that lay within the border of Ma
nasseh, v. 9. of which before, ch. 16. 9.
2. That Manasseh likewise had cities with their
appurtenances in the tribes of Issachar and Ash¬
er, v. 11. God so ordering it, that though each
tribe had its peculiar inheritance, which might not
be alienated from it, yet they should thus intermix
one with another, to keep up mutual acquaintance
and correspondence between the tribes, and to give
occasion for the doing of good offices one to anoth¬
er, as became those, who, though of different
tribes, were all one Israel, and were bound to love
as brethren.
3. That they suffered the Canaanites to live
among them, contrary to the command of God, ser¬
ving their own ends by conniving at them, for they
made them tributaries, v. 12, 13. The Ephraim-
ites had done the same, ch. 16. 10, and from them
perhaps the Man<;ssites learned it, and with their
example excused themselves in it.
The most remarkable person of this half-tribe in
after time, was Gideon, whose great actions were
done within this lot. He was of the family of Abie-
zer; Cesai’ea was in this lot, and Antipatris, famed
in the latter ages of the Jewish state.
14. And the children of Joseph spake
unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given
me but one lot and one portion to inherit,
seeing I am a great people, forasmuch as
the Lord hath blessed me hitherto? 15.
And Joshua answered them, If thou be a
great people, then get thee up to the wood
country , and cut down for thyself there in
the land of the Perizzites and of the giants,
if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
16. And the children of Joseph said, The
hill is not enough for us : and all the Ca¬
naanites that dwell in the land of the valley
have chariots of iron, both they who are of
Beth-shean and her towns, and they who
are of the valley of Jezreel. 1 7. And Josh
ua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to
Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou
art a great people, and hast great power ;
thou shalt not have one lot only : 1 8. But
the mountain shall be thine ; for it is a wood,
and thou shalt cut it down : and the outgo¬
ings of it shall be thine : for thou shalt drive
out the Canaanites, though they have iron
chariots, and though they be strong.
Here,
I. The children of Joseph quarrel with their lot;
if they had had any just cause to quarrel with it, we
have reason to think Joshua would have relieved
them, by adding to it, or altering it, which it dees
not appear he did. It is probable, because Joshua
was himself of the tribe of Ephraim, they promised
themselves that they should have some particular
favour showed them, and should not be confined to
the decision of the lot so closely as the other tribes;
but Joshua makes them know that in the discharge
of his office, as a public person, he had no more re¬
gard to his own tribe than to any other, but would
administer impartially, without favour or affection;
wherein he has left an excellent example to all in
public trusts! It was a very competent provision
that was made for them, as much, for aught that
appears, as they were able to manage, and yet they
call it in disdain but one lot, as if that which was
JOSHUA, XVIII. 77
assigned to them both, was scarcely sufficient for
one. The word for com/ilainers (Jude 16.) is
blamers of their lot, like the children
of Joseph, who would have that altered, the dispo¬
sal whereof is from the Lord. Two things they
suggest, to enforce their petition for an augmenta¬
tion of their lot. 1. That they were very nume¬
rous, through the blessing of God upon them, v. 14,
lam a great people, for the Lord has blessed me;
and we have reason to hope that he that hath sent
mouths, will send meat. “/ am a great people,
and in so small a lot shall not have room to thrive.”
Yet, observe, when they speak thankfully of their
present increase, they do not speak confidently of
the continuance of it; “the Lord has blessed me
hitherto, however he may see fit to deal with me
for the future.” The uncertainty of what may be,
must not make us unthankful for what has been,
and is done in kindness to us. 2. That a good part
of that country which was now fallen to their lot,
was in the hands of the Canaanites, and that they
were formidable enemies, who brought into the field
of battle chariots of iron, v. 16. that is, chariots with
long scythes fastened to the sides of them, or the
axle-tree, which made great destruction of all that
came in their way, mowing them down like com.
They urge, that though they had a good portion
assigned them, yet it was in bad hands, and they
could not come to the possession of it, wishing to
have their lot in those countries that were more
thoroughly reduced than this Avas.
II. Joshua endeavours to reconcile them to their
lot, he owns they were a great people, and being
two tribes, ought to have more than one lot only, v.
17. but tells them, that what was fallen to their
share, would be a sufficient lot to them both, if they
would but work and fight. They desired a lot in
which they might indulge themselves in ease and
luxury; “No,” says Joshua, “you must not count
upon that; in the sweat of thy face shall thou eat
bread, is a sentence in force, even in Canaan itself.”
He retorts their own argument, that they were a
great people, “ If so, you are the better able to help
yourselves, and have the less reason to expect help
from others. If thou hast many mouths to be fill¬
ed, thou hast twice as many hands to be employed;
earn, and then eat.”
1, He bids them work for more, v. 15. Get
thee up to the wood-country , which is within thy
own border, and let all hands be set on work to cut
down the trees, rid the rough lands, and make
them, with art and industry, good arable ground.
Note, Many wish for large possessions, who do not
cultivate and make the best of what they have,
think they should have more talents given them,
who do not trade with those with which they are
entrusted. Most people’s poverty is the effect of
their idleness ; would they dig, they need not beg.
2. He bids them fight for more, v. 17, 18. when
they pleaded that they could not come at the wood¬
lands he spoke of, because in the valley between
them and it, there were Canaanites whom they
durst not enter the list with. “ Never fear them,”
said Joshua, “thou hast God on thy side, and thou
shalt drive out the Canaanites, if thou wilt set
about it in good earnest, though they have iron cha¬
riots.” We straiten ourselves by apprehending the
difficulties in the way of our enlargement to be
greater than really they are. What can be insu¬
perable to faith and holy resolution?
CHAP. XVIII.
In this chapter we have, I. The setting up of the taberna¬
cle at Shiloh, v. 1. II. The stirring up of the seven
tribes that were yet unsettled, to look after their lot,
and the putting oi them in a method for it, by Joshua, v.
1..1. Ill T?ie distributing of the land into seven lots,
by certain men employed for that purpose, v. 8, 9. IV.
The determining of these seven portions to the seven
tribes yet unprovided for by lot, v. 10. V. The particu¬
lar lot of the tribe of Benjamin, the borders of it, v. 11 . .
20. And the cities contained in it, v. 21 . . 28. The
other six tribes we shall find well provided for in the
next chapter.
1. 4 ND the whole congregation of the
.TjL children of Israel assembled together
at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the
congregation there. And the land was
subdued before them.
In the midst of the story of the dividing of the
land, comes in this account of the setting up the ta¬
bernacle, which had hitherto continued in its old
place in the centre of their camp; but now that
three of the four squadrons that used to surround it
in the wilderness, were broken and diminished,
those of Judah, Ephraim, and Reuben, by the re¬
moval of those tribes to their respective possessions,
and that of Dan only remained entire, it was time
to think of removing the tabernacle itself into a city.
Many a time the priests and Le\ites had taken it
down, carried it, and set it up again in the wilder¬
ness, according to the directions given them.
Numb. 4. 5, &c. but now they must do it for good
and all, not one of the stakes thereof must any more
be removed, nor any of the cords thereof broken,
Isa. 33. 20. Observe,
1. The place to which the tabernacle was remov¬
ed, and in which it was set up. It was Shiloh, a
city in the lot of Ephraim, but lying close upon the
lot of Benjamin. Doubtless, God himself did some
way or other direct them to this place, for he had
romised to choose the place where he would make
is name to dwell, Deut. 12. 11. It is most proba¬
ble, God made known his mind in this matter by
the judgment of Urim. This place was pitched
upon, (1.) Because it was in the heart of the coun¬
try, nearer the centre than Jerusalem was, and
therefore the more com enient for the meeting of
all Israel there from the several parts of the coun¬
try; it had been in the midst of their camp in the
wilderness, and therefore must now be in the midst
of their nation, as that which sanctifieth the whole,
and was the glory in the midst of them. See Ps.
46. 5. (2. ) Because it was in the lot of that tribe
of which Joshua was, who was now their chief ma¬
gistrate, and it would be both for his honour and
convenience, and for the advantage of the country,
to have it near him. The testimony of Israel and
the thrones of judgment do well together, Ps. 122.
4, 5. (3.) Some think there was an eye to the
name of the place, Shiloh being the name by which
the Messiah was known, in dying Jacob’s prophecy,
Gen. 49. 10. which prophecy, no doubt, was well
known among the Jews; the settingup of the taber¬
nacle in Shiloh gave them a hint, that in that
Shiloh, whom Jacob spoke of, all the ordinances of
this worldly sanctuary should have their accom¬
plishment in a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
Heb. 9. 1, 11. And Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the
place where the tabernacle was set up, was there¬
fore called Shiloh, because of the peaceableness of
the land at this time; as afterward in Salem was his
temple, which also signifies peaceable.
2. The solemn manner of doing it. The vihole
congregation assembled together to attend the so¬
lemnity, to do honour to the ark of God, as the token
of his presence, and to bid it welcome to its settle¬
ment. Every Israelite was interested in it, and
therefore all testified their joy and satisfaction upon
this occasion. See 2 Sam. 6. 15. It is probable,
those tribes that were yet encamped when the ta
bemacle was removed to Shiloh, decamped from
JOSHUA, XVIII.
78
Gilgal, and pitched about Shiloh, for every Israel¬
ite will desire to fix there where God’s tabernacle
fixes. Mention is made, on ftiis occasion, of the
land’s being subdued before them, to intimate, that
the country, hereabouts at least, being thoroughly
reduced, they met with no opposition, nor were
they apprehensive of any danger, but thought it
time to make this grateful acknowledgment of
God’s goodness to them in the constant series of
successes with which he had blessed them. It was
a good presage of a comfortable settlement to them¬
selves in Canaan, when their first care was to see
the ark well settled, as soon as they had a safe
place ready to settle it in. Here the'ark continued
about three hundred years, till the sins of Eli’s
house forfeited the ark, lost it, and ruined Shiloh,
and its ruins were long after made use of as warn¬
ings to Jerusalem; Go, see what I did to Shiloh,
Jer. 7. 12. Ps. 78. 60.
2. And there remained among the chil¬
dren of Israel seven tribes which had not
yet received their inheritance. 3. And Josh¬
ua said unto the children of Israel, How
long are ye slack to go to possess the land
which the Lord God of your fathers hath
given you ? 4. Give out from among you
three men for each tribe: and I will send
them, and they shall rise and go through the
land, and describe it, according to the inhe¬
ritance of them ; and they shall come again
to me. 5. And they shall divide it into seven
parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on
the south, and the house of Joseph shall
abide in their coasts on the north. 6. Ye
shall therefore describe the land into seven
parts, and bring the description hither to me,
that I may cast lots for you here before the
Lord our God. 7. But the Levites have
no part among you ; for the priesthood of
the Lord is their inheritance : and Gad, and
Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh,
have received their inheritance beyond Jor¬
dan on the east, which Moses the servant
of the Lord gave them. 8. And the men
arose, and went away : and Joshua charged
them that went to describe the land, saying,
Go and walk through the land, and describe
it, and come again to me, that I may here
cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh.
9. And the men went, and passed through
the land, and described it by cities, into
seven parts, in a book, and came again to
Joshua to the host at Shiloh. 10. And Josh¬
ua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the
Lord : and there Joshua divided the land
unto the children of Israel, according to their
divisions.
Here,
I. Joshua reproves those tribes which were yet
unsettled, that they did not bestir themselves to
gain a settlement in the land which God had given
them. Seven tribes were yet unprovided for: though
sure of an inheritance, yet uncertain where it should
be, and, it seems, in no great care about it, v. 2.
and with them Joshua reasons, v. 3, How long are
ye slack ? 1. They were too well pleased with their
present condition, liked well enough to In e in a
body together, the more the merr.er, and, like the
Babel-builders, had no mind to be scattered abroad,
and break good company. The spoil of the cities
they had taken, served them to live plentifully upon
for the present, and they banished the thoughts of
time to come. Perhaps, the tribes cf Judah and
Joseph, who had already received their inheritance
in the countries next adjoining, were generous in
entertaining their brethren, who were yet unpro¬
vided for, so that they went from one good house to
another among their friends, with which, instead of
grudging that they were postponed, they were so
well pleased, that they cared not of going to houses
of their own. 2. They were slothful and dilatory;
it may be, they wished the thing done, but hau not
spirit to stir in it, or move toward the doing of ft,
though it was so much for their own advantage; like
the sluggard, that hides his hand in his bosom, and
it grieves him to bring it to his mouth again. The
countries that remained to be divided, lay at a dis¬
tance, and some parts of them in the hands of the
Canaanites. If they go to take possession of them,
the cities must be rebuilt or repaired, they must
drive their flocks and herds a great way, and carry
their wi\ es and children to strange places, and this
will not be done without care and pains, and break¬
ing through some hardships; thus, He that observes
the wind, shall not sow; and he that regards the
clouds shall not reap, Eccl. 11. 4. Note, Many are
diverted from real duties, and debarred from real
comforts, by seeming difficulties. Gcd by his grace
has given us a title to a good land, the heavenly Ca¬
naan, but we are slack to take possession, we enter
not into that rest, as we might, by faith, and hope,
and holy joy; we live not in heaven, as we might,
by setting our affections on things above, and hav¬
ing our conversation there. How long shall it be
thus with us? How long shall we thus stand in our
own light, and forsake our own mercies for lying
vanities? Joshua was sensible of the inconveniences
of this delay, that while they neglected to take pos¬
session of the land that was conquered, the Canaan¬
ites were recovering strength and spirit, and
fortifying themselves in the places that were yet in
their hands, which would make the total expulsion
of them the more difficult. They would lose their
advantages by not following their blow; and there¬
fore as an eagle stirreth up her nest, so Joshua stirs
them up to take possession of their lot. He is ready
to do his part, if they will but do their’s.
II. He puts them in a way to settle themselves
1. The land that remained must be surveyed, a)
account taken of the cities, and the territories be
longing to them, v. 4. These must be divided into
seven equal parts, as near as they could guess at
their true value, which they must have an eye to,
and not only to the number of the cities, and extent
of the country. Judah is fixed on the south, and
Joseph on the north, of Shiloh, to protect the taber¬
nacle, v. 5. and therefore they need not describe
their country, but those countries only that were
yet undisposed of. He gives a reason, v. 7. why
they must divide it into seven parts only, becausp
the Levites were to have no temporal estate, ( a.‘
we say,) but their benefices only, which were en
tailed upon their families. The priesthood of tht
Lord is their inheritance, and a very honourable,
comfortable, plentiful inheritance it was. Gad and
Reuben, with half of the tribe of Manasseh, were
already fixed, and needed not to have any further
care taken of them. Now, (1.) The surveyors
were three men out of each of the seven tribes that
were to be provided for, v. 4. one-and-twenty in all,
who, perhaps, for greater expedition, because they
had already lost time, divided themselves into three
79
JOSHUA, XVIII.
companies, one of each tribe m each company,
and took each their district to survey. The mat¬
ter was thus referred equally, that there might be
neither any partiality used in making up the seven
lots, nor any umbrage or suspicion given, but all
might be satisfied that they had right done them.
(2. ) The survey was accordingly made, and brought
in to Joshua, v. 8, 9. Josephus says it was seven
months in the doing. Ana we must in it observe,
[1.] The faith and courage of the persons employ¬
ed, abundance of Canaanites remained in the land,
and all raging against Israel, as a bear robbed of her
whelps, the business of these surveyors would soon
be known, and what could they expect but to be
waylaid, and have their brains knocked out by the
fierce observers? But, in obedience to Joshua’s
command, and in dependence upon God’s power,
they thus put their lives in their hands to serve
their country. [2. ] The good providence of God
in protecting them from the many deaths they were
exposed to, and bringing them all safe again to the
host at Shiloh. When we are in the wav of our
duty, we ait; under the special protection of the
Almighty.
2. When it was surveyed, and reduced to seven
lots, then Joshua would by appeal to God, and di¬
rection from him, determine which of these lots
should belong to each tribe, v. 6. That I may cast \
lots for you here at the tabernacle (because it was a !
sacred transaction) before the Lord our God, to
whom each tribe must have an eye, with thankful¬
ness for the conveniences, and submission to the in¬
conveniences, of their allotment. What we have
in the world, we mufct acknowledge God’s property ;
in, and dispose of it as before him, with justice and
charity, and dependence upon Providence. The
heavenly Canaan is described to us in a book, the
book of the scriptures, and there are in it mansions
and portions sufficient for all God’s spiritual Israel;
Christ is our Joshua that divides it to us, on him we
must attend, and to him we must apply ourselves,
for an inheritance with the saints in light. See
John 17. 2, 3.
1 1 . And the lot of the tribe of the child¬
ren of Benjamin came up according to their
families : and the coast of their lot came up
forth between the children of Judah and (he
children of Joseph. 12. And their border,
on the north side, was from Jordan : and the
border went up to the side of Jericho on the
north side, and went up through the moun¬
tains westward ; and the goings out thereof
were at the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13.
And the border went over from thence to¬
ward Luz, to the side of Luz, (which is
Beth-el,) southward ; and the border de¬
scended to Ataroth-adar, near the hill that
lielh on the south side of the nether Beth-
horon. 14. And the border was drawn
thence , and compassed the corner of the sea
southward, from the hill that lieth before
Beth-horon southward; and the goings out
thereof were at Kirjath-baal (which is Kir-
jath-jearim,) a city of the children of Judah :
this was the west quarter. 15. And the
south quarter teas from the end of Kirjath-
jearim ; and the border went out on the
west, and went out to the well of waters of
Nephtoah: 16. And the border came down
! to the end of the mountain that lieth before
the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which
is in the valley of the giants on the north,
and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to
the side of Jebusi on the south, and descend¬
ed to En-rogel, 17. And was drawn from the
north, and went forth to En-shemesh, and
went forth toward Geliloth, which is over
against the going up of Adummim, and de¬
scended to the stone of Bohan the son of
Reuben, 18. And passed along toward the
side over against Arabah northward, and
went down unto Arabah : 1 9. And the bor¬
der passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah
northward: and the outgoings of the border
were at the north bay of the salt sea, at the
south end of Jordan : this was the south coast.
20. And Jordan was the border of it on the
east side. Tins teas the inheritance of the
children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof
round about, according to their families. 21 .
Now the cities of the tribe of the children of
Benjamin, according to their families, were
Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of
Keziz, 22. And Beth-arabah, and Zema-
raim, and Beth-el, 23. And Avim, and Pa-
rah, and Oplnah, 24. And Chephar-haam-
monai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities
with their villages : 25. Gibeon, and Ramah,
and Beeroth, 26. And Mizpeh, and Che-
phirah, and Mozah, 27. And Rekem, and
Irpeel, and Taralah, 28. And Zelah, Eleph,
and Jebusi (which is Jerusalem,) Gibeath,
and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their vil¬
lages. This is the inheritance of the children
of Benjamin, according to their families.
We have here the lot of the tribe of Benjamin,
which Providence cast next to Joseph on the one
hand, because Benjamin was own and only brother
to Joseph, and was little Benjamin, Ps. 68. 27. that
needed the protection of great Joseph, and yet had
a better Protector, for the Lord shall cover him all
the day long, Deut. 33. 12. And next to Judah, on
the other hand, that this tribe might hereafter unite
with Judah in an adherence to the throne of David,
and the temple at Jerusalem. Here we have,
1. The exact borders and limits of this tribe,
which we need not be exact in the explication of; as
it had Judah on the south, and Joseph on the north,
so it had Jordan on the east, and Dan on the west.
The western border is said to compass the corner
of the sea southward, v. 14. whereas no part of the
lot of this tribe came near to the great sea. Bishop
Patrick thinks the meaning is, that it ran along in a
parallel line to the great sea, though at a distance.
Dr. Fuller suggests that since it is not called the
great sea, but only the sea, which often signifies any
lake or mere, it may be meant of the pool of Gibeon,
which may be called a corner or canton of a sea; it
is called the great waters in Gibeon, Jer. 41. 12. and
it is compassed by the western border of this tribe.
2. The particular cities in this tribe, not all, but
the most considerable, twenty-six, are here named.
Jericho is put first, though dismantled, and forbid¬
den to be rebuilt as a city with gates and walls, be¬
cause it might be built and inhabited as a country
BO JOSHUA, XIX.
village, and so was not useless to this tribe. Gilgal
was in this tribe, where Israel first encamped when
Saul was made king, 1 Sam. 11. 14. It was afterward
a very profane place, Flos. 9. 15, All their wicked¬
ness is in Gilgal. Beth-el was in this tribe, a fa¬
mous place; though Benjamin adhered to the house
of David, yet Beth-el, it seems, was in the posses¬
sion of the house of Joseph, Judg. 1.23.. 25. and
there Jeroboam set up one of his calves. Gibeon
was in this tribe, where the altar was in the begin¬
ning of Solomon’s time, 2 Chron. 1. 3. Gibeah like¬
wise, that infamous place, where the Levite’s con-
eubine was abused; Mizpeh, and near it, Samuel’s
Eben-ezer; Anathoth also, Jeremiah’s city, were in
this tribe, as was the northern part of Jerusalem.
Paul was the honour of this tribe, Rom. 11. 1. Phil.
3. 5. but where his land lay, we know not, he sought
the better country.
CHAP. XIX.
In the description of the lots of Judah and Benjamin, we
have an account both of the borders that surrounded
them, and of the cities contained in them. In that of
Ephraim and Manasseh we have the borders, but not the
cities; in this chapter, Simeon and Dan are described by
their cities only, and not their borders, because they lay
very much within Judah, especially the former, the rest
have both their borders described, and their cities named,
especially frontiers. Here is, 1. The lot of Simeon,
v. 1 . . 9. II- Of Zebulun, v. 10. . 16. III. Of Issachar,
v. 17.. 23. IV. Of Asher, v. 24. .31. V. Of Naphta-
li, v. 32 . . 39. VI. Of Dan, v. 40 . . 48. Lastly, the in¬
heritance assigned to Joshua himself and his own fa¬
mily, v. 49 . . 51.
1. A ND the second lot came forth to Si-
meon, even for the tribe of the child¬
ren of Simeon according to their families :
and their inheritance was within the inhe¬
ritance of the children of Judah. 2. And
they had in their inheritance, Beer-sheba or
Sheba, and Moladah, 3. And Hazar-shual,
and Balah, and Azem, 4. And Eltolad, and
Bethul, and Hormah, 5. And Ziklag, and
Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, 6. And
Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen ; thirteen cities
and their villages : 7. Ain, Remmon, and
Ether, and Ashan ; four cities and their vil¬
lages : 8. And all the villages that were round
about these cities to Baalath-beer, Ramath
of the south. This is the inheritance of the
tribe of the children of Simeon according to
their families. 9. Out of the portion of the
children of Judah ivas the inheritance of the
children of Simeon ; for the part of the child¬
ren of Judah was too much for them ; there¬
fore the children of Simeon had their inherit¬
ance within the inheritance of them.
Simeon’s lot was drawn after Judah’s, Joseph’s,
and Benjamin’s, because Jacob had put that tribe
under disgrace, yet it is put before the two younger
sons of Leah and the three sons of the hand-maids.
Not one person of note, either judge or prophet,
was of the tribe, that we know of.
1. The situation of their lot was within that of
Judah, -v. 1. and was taken from it, v. 9. It seems,
they that first surveyed the land, thought it larger
than it was, and that it would have held out, to give
every tribe in proportion as large a share as they
had carved out of Judah; but, upon a more strict in¬
quiry, it was found that it would not reach, v. 9, the
fiart of the children of Judah was too much for
them, more than they needed, and more, as it
proved, than fell to their share. Yet God did not
by the lot lessen it, but left it to their prudence and
care afterward to discover and rectify the mistake,
which when they did, (1.) The men of Judah did
not oppose the taking away of the cities again,
which by the first distribution fell within their bor¬
der, when they were convinced that they had more
than their proportion. In all such cases, errors
must be expected, and a review admitted if there
be occasion. Though, in strictness, what fell to
their lot, was their right against all the world, yet
they would not insist upon it, when it appeared that
another tribe would want what they had to spare.
Note, We must look on the things of others, and
not on our own only. The abundance of some must
supply the wants of others, that there may be some¬
thing of an equality, for which there may be equity
where there is not law. (2.) That which was thus
taken off from Judah to be put into a new lot, Pro¬
vidence directed to the tribe of Simeon, that Jacob’s
prophecy concerning this tribe might be fulfilled, I
will divide them in Jacob. The cities of Simeon
were scattered in Judah, with which tribe they
were surrounded, except on that side toward the
sea. This brought them into a confederacy with
the tribe of Judah, Judg. 1. 3. and afterward was a
happy occasion of the adherence of many of this
tribe to the house of David, at the time of the re¬
volt of the ten tribes to Jeroboam, 2 Chron. 15. 9,
out of Simeon they fell to Asa in abundance. It is
good being in a good neighbourhood.
2. The cities within their lot are here named.
Beer-sheba, or Sheba, for they seem to be the same
place, is put first, Ziklag is one of them, which we
read of in David’s story. What course they took to
enlarge their borders and make room for them¬
selves, we find 1 Chron. 4. 39, & c.
10. And the third lot came up for the
children of Zebulun, according to their fa¬
milies: and the border of their inheritance
was unto Sarid : 11. And their border went
up toward the sea, and Maralah, and reach¬
ed to Dabbasheth, and reached to the
river that is before Jokneam; 12. And
turned from Sarid eastward, toward the
sun-rising, unto the border of Chisloth-ta-
bor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and
goeth up to Japhia, 13. And from thence
passeth on along on the east to Gittah-he-
pher, to Ittah-kazin, and goeth out to Rem-
mon-melhoar to Neah: 14. And the border
compasseth it on the north side to Hanna-
thon : and the outgoings thereof are in the
valley of Jiphthah-el: 15. And Kattath, and
Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and
Beth-lehem: twelve cities with their vil¬
lages. 16. This is the inheritance of the
children of Zebulun according to their fami¬
lies, these cities with their villages.
•
This is the lot of Zebulun, who, though born of
Leah after Issachar, yet was blessed by Jacob and
Moses before him; and therefore it was so ordered,
that his lot was drawn before that of Issachar’s,
north of which it lay, and south of Asher.
1. The lot of this tribe was washed by the great
sea on the west, and by the sea of Tiberius on the
east, answering Jacob’s prophecy, Gen. 49. 13, Ze¬
bulun shall be a haven of shifis; trading ships on
the great sea, and fishing ships on the sea of Galilee.
2. Though there were some palaces in this tribe
31
JOSHUA, XIX.
which were made famous in the Old Testament,
especially mount Carmel , on which the famous
trial was between God and Baal in Elijah’s time,
yet it was made much more illustrious in the New
Testament, for within the lot of this tribe was Na¬
zareth, where our blessed Saviour spent so much
of his time on earth, and from which he was
called Jesus of Arazareth, and mount Tabor on
which he was transfigured, and that coast of the sea
of Galilee on which Christ preached so many ser¬
mons, and wrought so many miracles.
17. And the fourth lot came out to Issa-
char, for the children of lssachar according
to their families. 1 8. And their border was
toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shu-
nem, 19. And Haphraim, and Shihon, and
Anaharath, 20. And Rabbith, and Kishion,
and Abez, 21. And Remeth, and En-gan-
nim, and En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez ; 22.
And the coast reacheth to Tabor, and Sha-
hazimah, and Beth-shemesh ; and the out¬
goings of their border were at Jordan : six¬
teen cities with their villages. 23. This is
the inheritance of the tribe of the children
of lssachar according to their families, the
cities and their villages.
The lot of lssachar ran from Jordan in the east,
to the great sea in the west, Manasseh on the south,
and Zebulun on the north. A numerous tribe,
Numb. 26. 25. Tola, one of the judges, was of this
tribe, Judg. 10. 1. So was Baasha, one of the kings
of Israel, 1 Kings 15. 27. The most considerable
places in this tribe were, 1. Jezreel , in which was
Ahab’s palace, and near it Naboth’s vineyard. 2.
Shunem, where lived the good Shunamite, that en¬
tertained Elisha. 3. The river Kishon, on the
banks of which, in this tribe, Sisera was beaten by
Deborah and Barak. 4. The mountains of Gilboa,
on which Saul and Jonathan were slain, which were
not far from En-dor, where Saul consulted the
witch. 5. The valley of Megiddo, where Josiah
was slain, near Hadad-rimmon, 2 Kings 23. 29.
Zech. 12. 11.
24. And the fifth lot came out for the tribe
of the children of Ash§r according to their
families. 25. And their border was Hel-
kath, and Hah, and Beten, and Achshaph,
26. And Alammelech, and Amad, and Mi- j
sheal ; and reacheth to Carmel westward,
and to Shihor-libnath ; 27. And turncth to¬
ward the sun-rising to Beth-dagon, and
reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of
Jiphthah-el, toward the north side of Beth-
emek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul
on the left hand, 28. And Hebron, and Re¬
hob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even unto
great Zidon ; 29. And then the coast turn-
eth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre ;
and the coast turneth to Hosah; and- the
outgoings thereof are at the sea, from the
coast to Achzib : 30. Ummah also, and
Aphek, and Rehob : twenty and two cities
with their villages. 31. This is the inherit¬
ance of the tribe of the children of Asher
Vol. ii. — L
according to their families, these cnies with
their villages.
The lot of Asher lay upon the coast of the great
sea; we read not of any famous person of this tribe,
but Anna the prophetess, who was a constant resi¬
dent in the temple at the time of our Saviour’s birth,
Luke 2. 36. Nor were there many famous places
in this tribe. Aphek, mentioned v. 30. was the
place near which Ben-hadad was beaten by Ahab,
1 Kings 20. 30. But dose adjoining to this tribe
were the celebrated sea-port towns of Tyre and Si-
don, which we read so much of. Tyre is called here
that strong city , v. 29. but Bishop Patrick thinks it
was not the same Tyre that we read of afterwards,
for that was built on an island; this old strong city
was on the continent. And it is conjectured by
some, that into these two strong holds, Sidon and
Tzor, or Tyre, many of the people of Canaan fled
and took shelter, when Joshua invaded them.
32. The sixth lot came out to the chil¬
dren of Naphtali, even for the children of
Naphtali according to their families. 33.
And their coast was from Heleph, from Al¬
ton to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb,
and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the outgo¬
ings thereof were at Jordan; 34. And then
the coast turneth westward to Aznoth-tabor,
and goeth out from thence to Hukkok, and
reacheth to Zebulun on the south side, and
reacheth to Asher on the west side, and to
Judah upon Jordan toward the sun-rising.
35. And the fenced cities are Ziddim, Zer,
and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth,
36. And Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor,
37. And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor,
38. Andiron, andMigdal-el,Horem,Beth-
anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities
with their villages. 39. This is the inherit¬
ance of the tribe of the children of Naph¬
tali according to their families, the cities
and their villages.
Naphtali lay furthest north of all the tribes, bor¬
dering on mount Libanus. The city of Leshem, or
Laish, lay on the utmost edge of it to the north, and
therefore, when the Danites had made themselves
masters of it, and called it Dan, the length of Ca¬
naan from north to south was reckoned from Dan to
Beer-sheba. It had Zebulun on the south, Asher
en the west, and Judah upon Jordan, probably, a
city of that name, and so distinguished from the
tribe of Judah, on the east. It was in the lot of this
tribe, near the waters of Merom, that Joshua fought
and routed Jabin, ch. 11. 1. & c. In this tribe stood
works; and the mountain (as is supposed) on which
Christ preached, Matt. 5. 1.
40. And the seventh tot came out for the
tribe of the children of Dan, according to
their families. 4 1 . And the coast of their
inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and
lr-shemesh, 42. And Shaalabbin, and Aja-
! ton, and Jethlah, 43. And Eton, and Thim-
! nathah, and Ekron, 44. And Eltekeh, and
I Gibbethon, and Baalath, 45. And Jehud*
32
JOSHUA, XX.
and Bene-berak, and Gath-rimmon, 46.
And Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the bol ¬
der before Japho. 47. And the coast of the
children of Dan went out too little for them ;
therefore the children of Dan went up to
fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote
it with the edge of the sword, and possessed
it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem,
Dan, after the name of Dan their father.
43. This is the inheritance of the tribe of
the children of Dan according to their fami¬
lies, these cities with their villages.
Dan, though commander of one of the four squa¬
drons of the camp of Israel, in the wilderness, that
which brought up the rear, yet was last provided
for in Canaan, and his lot fell in the southern part
of Canaan, between Judah on the east, and the land
of the Philistines on the west; Ephraim on the
north, and Simeon on the south. Providence or¬
dered this numerous and powerful tribe into a post
of danger, as best able to deal with those vexatious
neighbours the Philistines, and so it was found in
Samson. Here is,
1. An account of what fell to this tribe by lot:
Zorah, and Eshtaol, and the camp of Dan there¬
abouts, we read of in the story of Samson. And
near there was the vallev of Eshcol, whence the
spies brought the famous bunch of grapes. Japho,
or Joppa, was in this lot.
2. An account of what they got by their own in¬
dustry and valour, which is mentioned here, v. 47.
but related at large, Judg. 18. 7,
49. When they had made an end of di¬
viding the land for inheritance by their
coasts, the children of Israel gave an inhe¬
ritance to Joshua the son of Nun among
them : 50. According to the word of the
Lord, they gave him the city which
he asked, even Timnath-serah in mount
Ephraim : and he built the city, and dwelt
therein. 51. These are the inheritances
which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the
son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of
the tribes of the children of Israel, divided
for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the
Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. So they made an end of di¬
viding the country.
Before this account of the dividing of the land is
solemnly closed up, in the last verse, which inti¬
mates that the thing was done to the satisfaction of
all, here is an account of the particular inheritance
assigned to Joshua.
1. He was last served, though the eldest and
greatest man of all Israel, and who, having com¬
manded in the conquest of Canaan, might have de¬
manded the first settlement in it for himself and his
family. But he would make it appear that in all he
did, he sought the good of his country, and not any
private interest of his own. He was content to be
unfixed till he saw them all placed; and herein is a
great example to all in public places, to prefer the
common welfare before their particular satisfaction.
Let the public first be served.
2. He had his lot according unto the word of the
Lord; it is probable, when God by Moses tola Ca¬
leb what inheritance he should have, Josh. 14. 9. he
gave the like promise to Joshua, which he had an
eye to in making his election, which made his por¬
tion doubly pleasant, that he had it, not as the rest,
by common pro\ idence, but by special promise.
3. He chose it in mount Ephraim, which belong¬
ed to his own tribe, with which he thereby put him¬
self in common, when he might by prerogath e have
chosen his inheritance in some other tribe, as sup¬
pose that of Judah, and thereby have distinguished
himself from them. Let no man’s preferment or
honour make him ashamed of his family or country,
or estrange him from it. The tabernacle was set
up in the lot of Ephraim, and Joshua would forecast
not to be far from that.
4. The children of Israel are said to give it him ,
v. 49. which bespeaks his humility, that he would
not take it to himself without the people’s consent
and approbation, as if he would thereby own him¬
self, though major singulis — greater than any one,
yet minor unrversis — less than the whole assem¬
blage, and would hold even the estate cf his family,
under God, by the grant of the people.
5. It was a city that must be built before it was
fit to be dwelt in: while others dwelt in houses
which they builded not, Joshua must build for him¬
self, that he might be a pattern of industry and con¬
tentment with mean things, such buildings as he
could hastily run up, without curiosity or magnifi¬
cence. Our Lord Jesus thus came and dwelt among
us, not in pomp but poverty, providing rest for us,
yet himself not having where to lay his head. Even
Christ pleased not himself.
CHAP. XX.
This short chapter is concerning the cities of refuge, which
we often read of in the writings of Moses, but this is the
last time that we find mention of them, for now that
matter was thoroughly settled. Here is, I. The law
God gave concerning them, V.1..6. II. The people's
designation of the particular cities for that use, v. 7- .9.
And this remedial law was a figure of goM things to
come.
1. 7 1 TIE Lord also spake unto Joshua
JL saying, 2. Speak to the children of
Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of
refuge, whereof 1 spake unto you by the
hand of Moses: 3. That the slayer that
killeth any person unawares and unwitting¬
ly may flee thither : and they shall be your
refuge from the aveiger of blood. 4. And
when he that doth flee unto one of those ci¬
ties shall stand at the entering of the gate of
the city, and shall declare his cause in the
ears of the elders of that city, they shall
take him into the city unto them, and give
him a place, that he may dwell among
them. 5. And if the avenger of blood pur¬
sue after him, then they shall not deliver
the slayer up into his hand; because he
smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated
him not beforetime. 6. And he shall dwell
in that city, until he stand before the con¬
gregation for judgment, and until the death
of the high priest that shall be in those days:
then shall the slayer return, and come unto
his own city, and unto his own house, unto
the city from whence he fled.
Many things were by the law of Moses ordered
to be done when they came to Canaan, and this
JOSHUA, XX.
83
among the rest, the appointing of sanctuaries for
the protecting of those th t were guilty of casual
murder; which was a privilege to all Israel, since
no man could be s ire but some time or other it
might be his own case; and it was for the interest
of the land, that the blood of an innocent person,
whose hand only was guilty, but not his heart,
should not be shed, no not by the avenger of blood:
of this law God here reminds them, which was so
much for their advantage, that they might remind
themselves of the other laws he had given them,
which concerned his honour.
I. Orders are given for the appointing of these
cities, v. 2. and very seasonably at this time when
the land was surveyed, and so they were the better
able to divide the coasts of it into three parts, as
God had directed them, in order to the more con¬
venient situation of these cities of refuge, Deut. 19. 3.
Yet, it is probable that it was not done till after the
Levites had their portion assigned them in the next
chapter, because the cities of refuge were all to be
Levites* cities. As soon as ever God had given
them cities of rest, he bade tnem appoint cities of
refuge, to which none cf them knew but they might
be glad to escape. Thus God provided, not only for
their ease at all times, but for their safety in time
of danger, and such times we must expect and pre¬
pare for in this world. And it intimates what God’s
spiritual Israel have, and shall have in Christ and
heaven, not only to repose themselves in, but refuge
to secure themselves in. And we cannot think these
cities of refuge would have been so often and so
much spoken of in the law of Moses, and have had
so much care taken about them, (when the inten¬
tion of them might have been effectually answered,
as it is in our law, by authorising the courts of judg¬
ment to protect and acquit the manslayer in all
those cases wherein he was to have privilege of
sanctuary,) if they were not designed to typify the
relief which the gospel provides for poor penitent
sinners, and their protection from the curse of the
law and the wrath of God, in our Lord Jesus, to
whom believers flee for refuge, Heb. 6. 18. and in
whom they are found , Phil. 3. 9. as in a sanctuary,
where they are privileged from arrests, and there is
now no condemnation to them, Rom. 8. 1.
II. Instructions are given for the using of these
cities. The laws in this matter we had before,
Numb. 35. 10, rCfc. where they were opened at
large.
1. It is supposed that a man might possibly kill
a person, it may be, his own child, ordearest friend,
unawares and unwittingly, v. 3. not only whom he
hated not, but whom he truly loved, beforetime, v.
5, for the way of man is not in hirhself. What rea¬
son have we to thank God who has kept us both
from slaying, and from being slain by accident!
In this case, it is supposed that the relations of
the person slain would demand the life of the
slayer, as a satisfaction to that ancient law, that
who sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be
shed.
2. It is provided, that if upon trial it appeared,
that the murder was done purely by accident, and
not by design, either upon an old grudge, or a sud¬
den passion, then the slayer should be sheltered
from the avenger of blood in any one of these cities,
v. 4, 6. By this law he was entitled to a dwelling
in that city, was taken into the care of the govern¬
ment of it, but was confined to it, as a prisoner at
large; only if he survived the High Priest, then,
and not till then, he might return to his own city.
And the Jews say, “If he died before the High
Priest in the city of his refuge and exile, and was
buried there, yet at the death of the High Priest,
his bones should be. removed with respect to the
place of his fathers’ sepulchres.”
7. And they appointed lvedesh in Galilee
in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount
Ephraim, and Kiijath-arba (which is He¬
bron,) in the mountain of Judah. 8. And
on the other side Jordan by Jericho east¬
ward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness
upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben,
and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of
Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe
| of Manasseh. 9. These were the cities ap¬
pointed for all the children of Israel, and
j lor the stranger that sojourneth among them,
| that whosoever killeth any person at un-
| a wares might flee thither, and not die by
> the hand of the avenger of blood, until he
stood before the congregation.
We have here the nomination of the cities of re¬
fuge in the land of Canaan, which was made by the
advice and authority of Joshua and the princes, v.
7. and upon occasion of the mention of this, is re¬
peated the nomination of the other three in the lot
of the other two tribes and a half, which was made
by Moses, Deut. 4. 43. but (as Bishop Patrick
thinks) they had not the privilege till now.
1. They are said to sanctify these cities, that is
the original word for appointed, v. 7. Not that anv
ceremony was used to signify the consecration c’f
them, only they did by a public act of court solemn¬
ly declare them cities of refuge; and, as such, sa¬
cred to the honour of God, as the protector of ex¬
posed innocency. If they were sanctuaries, it was
proper to say, they were sanctified. Christ, our
Refuge, was sanctified by his Father; nay, for our
sakes he sanctified himself, John 17. 19.
2. These cities (as those also on the other side
Jordan) stood in the three several parts of the coun¬
try, so conveniently that a man might (they say) in
half a day reach some one of them from any corner
of the country. Kedesh w-as in Naphtali, the mosi
northern tribe, Hebron in Judah, the most southern,
and Shechem in Ephraim, which lay in the mid¬
dle, about equally distant from the other two. God
is a refuge at hand.
3. They were all Levites’ cities, which put an
honour upon God’s tribe, making them judges in
those cases wherein divine providence was so nearly
concerned, and protectors to oppressed innocency;
it was also a kindness to the poor refugee, that
when he might not go up to the house of the Lord,
nor tread his courts, yet he had the servants of
God’s house with him, to instruct him, and pray
for him, and help to make up the want of public
ordinances. If he must be confined, it shall be to
a Levite-city, where he may, if he will, improve
his time.
4. These cities were upon hills to be seen afar
off, for a city on a hill cannot be hid; and this would
both direct and encourage the poor distressed man
that was making that way; and though therefore
his way at last was up-hill, yet this would comfort
him, that he would be in his place of safety quick¬
ly; and if he could but get into the suburbs of the
city, he was well enough off.
5. Some observe a significancy in the names of
these cities with application to Christ our Refuge.
I delight not in quibbling upon names, yet am wall¬
ing to take notice of these. Kedesh signifies holy,
and our refuge is the holy Jesus. Shechem, a shoul¬
der, and the government is upon his shoulder. He¬
bron, fellowship, and believers are called into the
fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord. Bezer, a for¬
tification, for he is a Strong-hold to all them that
84 JOSHUA, XXI.
trust in him. llamath, high or exalted , for him
hath God exalted wkli his own right hand. Golan,
joy or exultation, for in him all the saints are justi¬
fied, and shall glory.
Lastly, Beside all these, the horns of the altar,
wherever it was, were a refuge to those who took
hold on them, if the crime were such as that sanc¬
tuary allowed. This is implied in that law, Exod.
21. 14, that a wilful murderer shall be taken from
God’s altar and be put to death. And we find the
altar used for this purpose, 1 Kings 1. 50. — 2. 28.
Christ is our Altar, who not only sanctifies the gifts,
but protects the giver.
CHAP. XXI.
It had been often said that the tribe of Levi should have
no inheritance with their brethren, no particular part of
the country assigned them, as the other tribes had, no
not the country about Shiloh, which, one would have
expected, should have been appropriated to them as the
lands of the church; but though they were not thus cast
into a country by themselves, it appears, by the provision
made for them in this chapter, that they were no losers,
but the rest of the tribes were very much gainers, by
their being dispersed. We have here, I. The motion they
made to have their cities assigned them, according to
God’s appointment, v. 1, 2. II. The nomination of the
cities accordingly, out of the several tribes, and the dis¬
tribution of them to the respective families of this tribe,
v. 3. . 8. III. A catalogue of the cities, forty-eight in
all, v. 9.. 42. IV. A receipt entered in full of all that
God had promised to his people Israel, v. 43.. 45.
HEN came near the heads of the
fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar
t he priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun,
and unto the heads of the fathers of the
tribes of the children of Israel ; 2. And
they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land
of Canaan, saying, The Lord commanded
by the hand of Moses to give us cities to
dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our
cattle. 3. And the children of Israel gave
unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at
the commandment of the Lord, these cities
and their suburbs. 4. And the lot came
out for the families of the Kohathites : and
the children of Aaron the priest, which were
of the Levites, had by lot, out of the tribe
of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon,
and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen
cities. 5. And the rest of the children of
Kohath had by lot, out of the families of the
tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of
Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh,
ten cities. 6. And the children of Gershon
had by lot, out of the families of the tribe
of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher,
and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of
the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thir¬
teen cities. 7. The children of Merari, by
their families, had, out of the tribe of Reu¬
ben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of
the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 8. And
the children of Israel gave by lot unto the
Levites these cities with their suburbs, as
the Lord commanded by the hand of
Moses.
Here is,
I. The Levites’ petition presented to this general
convention of the states, now sitting at Shiloh, v .
1, 2. Observe,
1. They had not their lot assigned them till they
made their claim. There is an inheritance pro¬
vided for all the saints, that royal priesthood, but
then they must petition for it, Ask, and it shall be
given you. Joshua had quickened the rest of the
tribes who were slack, to put in their claims, but
the Levites, it may be supposed, knew their duty
and interest better than the rest, and were there¬
fore forward in this matter, when it came to their
turn, without being called upon. They build their
claim upon a very good foundation, not their own
merits or services, but the divine precept. “ The
Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us
cities, commanded you to grant them, which im¬
plied a command to us to ask them.” Note, The
maintenance of ministers is not an arbitrary thing,
left purely to the good-will cf the people, who may
let them starve if they please; no, as the God of Is¬
rael commanded that the Levites should be well
provided for, so has the Lord Jesus, the King of
the Christian church, ordained, and a peYpetual or¬
dinance it is, that they which preach the gospel,
should live of the gospel, 1. Cor. 9. 14. and should
live comfortably.
2. They did not make their claim till all the rest
of the tribes were provided for, and then they did it
immediately. There was some reason for it: every
tribe must first know their own, else they would
not know what they gave the Levites, and so it
could not be such a reasonable service as it ought
to be. But it is also an instance of their humility,
modesty, and patience, (and Levites should be ex¬
amples cf these and other virtues,) that they were
willing to be served last, and they fared never the
worse for it. Let not God’s ministers complain if
at any time they find themselves postponed in men’s
thoughts and cares, but let them make sure of the
favour of God, and the honour that comes from
him, and then they may well enough afford to bear
the slights and neglects of men.
II. The Levites’ petition granted immediately,
without any dispute, the princes of Israel being per¬
haps ashamed that they needed to be called upon
in this matter, and that the motion had not been
made among themselves for the settling of the Le¬
vites.
1. The children of Israel are said to give the ci¬
ties for the Levites. God had appointed how many
they should be in all, forty-eight. It is probable
that Joshua, and the princes, upon consideration, of
the extent and value of the lot of each tribe as it
was laid before them, had appointed how many ci •
ties should be taken out of each; and then the fa¬
thers of the several tribes themselves agreed which
they should be, and therefore are said to give them
as an offering, to the Lord; so God had appointed.
Numb. 35. 8, Every one shall give of his cities to
the Levites. Here God tried their generosity, and
it was found to praise and honour, for it appears by
the following catalogue, that the cities they gave to
the Levites, were generally some of the best and
most considerable in each tribe. And it is probable,
that they had an eye to the situation of them, taking
care they should be so dispersed, as that no part of
the country should be too far distant from a Levites’
city.
2. They gave them at the comir.andment of tin.
Lord, that is, with an eye to the command, and in
obedience to it, which was it that sanctified the
grant. They gave the number that God command¬
ed, and it was well that matter was settled, that the
Levites might not ask more, nor the Israelites offer
less. They gave them also with their suburbs, or
glebe-lands, belonging to them, so many cubits by
measure from the walls of the city, as God had
86
JOSHUA. XXL
commanded, Numb. 35. 4, 5. and did not go about
to cut them short.
3. When the forty-eight cities were pitched upon,
they were divided into four lots, as they lay next
together, and then by lot were determined to the
four several families of the tribe of Levi. When
the Israelites had surrendered the cities into the
hand of God, he would himself have the distributing
of them among his servants. (1.) The family of
Aaron, who were the only priests, had to their
share the thirteen cities that were given by the
tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, v. 4. God
in wisdom ordered it thus, that though Jerusalem
itself was not one of their cities, it being as yet in
the possession of the Jebiisites, (and those generous
tribes would not mock the Levites who had an¬
other warfare to mind, with a city that must be re¬
covered by the sword before it could be enjoyed,)
yet the cities that fell to their lot were those which
lay next to Jerusalem, because that was to be in
process of time, the holy cit^, where their business
would chiefly lie. (2.) The Kohathite Levites
(among whom were the posterity of Moses, though
never distinguished from them) had the cities that
lay in the lot of Dan, which lay next to Judah, and
in' that of Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
which lay next to Benjamin. So they who descend¬
ed from Aaron’s father, joined nearest to Aaron’s
s ns. (3. ) Gershcn was the eldest son of Levi, and
therefore, though the younger house of the Kohath-
ites was preferred before his, yet his children had
the precedency of the other family of Merari, v. 6.
(4. ) The Merarites, the youngest house, had their
lot last, and it lay furthest off, v. 7. The rest of
the sons of Jacob had a lot for every tribe only, but
Levi, God’s tribe, had a lot for each of its families;
for there is a particular providence directing and at¬
tending the removes and settlements of ministers,
and appointing where they shall fix, who are to be
the lights of the world.
9. And they gave out of the tribe of the
children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the
children of Simeon, these cities which are
here mentioned by name, 10. Which the
children of Aaron, being of the families of
the Kohathites, who were of the children of
Levi, had : for theirs was the first lot. 11.
And they gave them the city of Arba, the
father of Anak, (which city is Hebron,) in
the hill-cozm/r?/ of Judah, with the suburbs
thereof round about it. 12. But the fields
of the city, and the villages thereof, gave
they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his
possession. 13. Thus they gave to the
children of Aaron the priest, Hebron with
her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the
slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, 14.
And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa
with her suburbs, 1 5. And Holon with her
suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, 16.
And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with
her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her
suburbs ; nine cities out of those two tribes.
1 7. And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibe-
on with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,
18. Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon
with her suburbs; four cities. 19. All the
cities of the children of Aaron the priests,
were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 20
And the families of the children of Kohath
the Levites which remained of the children
of Kohath, even they had the cities of their
lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21. For
they gave them Shechem with her suburbs
in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for
the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,
22. And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and
Beth-horon with her suburbs ; four cities.
23. And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh
with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her sub¬
urbs, 24. Ajalon with her suburbs, Gatli-
rirmnon with her suburbs ; four cities. 26.
And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Taa-
nach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon
with her suburbs ; tw^o cities. 26. All the
cities were ten, with their suburbs, for the
families of the children of Kohath that re¬
mained. 27. And unto the children of
Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out
of the other half tribe of Manasseh, they
gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to
be a city of refuge for the slayer ; and Beesh-
terali with her suburbs; two cities. 28.
And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon
with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs,
29. Jarmuth with her suburbs, En-gannim
with her suburbs ; four cities. 30. And
out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her
suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 31. Hel-
kath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her
suburbs ; four cities. 32. And out of the
tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with
her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the.
slayer ; and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs,
and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
33. All the cities of the Gershonites, accord¬
ing to their families, were thirteen cities with
their suburbs. 34. And unto the families
of the children of Merari, the rest of the Le¬
vites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam
with her suburbs, and Kartah with her
suburbs, 35. Dimnah with her suburbs,
Nahalal w ith her suburbs ; four cities. 36.
And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with
her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs.
37. Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Me-
phaath with her suburbs ; four cities. 38.
And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in
Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of re¬
fuge for the slayer ; and Mahanaim with
her suburbs, 39. Heshbon with her suburbs,
Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all.
40. So all the cities for the children of Me¬
rari, by their families, which were remain¬
ing of the families of the Levites, were, by
their lot, twelve cities. 41. All the cities
of the Levites within the possession of the
children of Israel were forty and eight cities
86
with their suburbs. 42. These cities were
every one with their suburbs round about
them : thus were all these cities.
We have here a particular account of the cities
which were given to the children of Levi, out of the
several tribes, not only to be occupied and inha¬
bited by them, as tenants to the several tribes in
which they lay; no, their interest in them was not
dependent and precarious, but to be owned and
possessed by them as lords and proprietors, and as
having the same title to them that the rest of the
ti ibes had to their cities or lands, as appears by the
law which presen ed the houses in the Levites’ ci¬
ties from being alienated any longer than till the
year of jubilee, Lev. 25. 32, 33. \ et it is probable,
that the Levites having only the cities and suburbs,
while the land about pertained to the tribes in
which they lay, those of that tribe, for the conve¬
nience of occupying that land, might commonly rent
houses of the Levites, as they could spare them
in their cities, and so live among them as their
tenants.
Several things may be observed in this account,
beside what was observed in the law concerning it,
Numb. 35.
1. That the Levites were dispersed into all the
tribes, and not suffered to live ail together in any¬
one part of the country: this would find them all
with work, and employ them all for the good of
. thers; for ministers, of all people, must neither be
idle, nor live to themselves, or to one another only.
Christ left his twelve disciples together in a body,
but left orders that they should in due time disperse
themselves, that they ' might preach the gospel to
n’ery creature. The mixing of the Levites thus
with the other tribes, would be an obligation upon
them to walk circumspectly, and as became their
sacred function, and to avoid every thing that might
disgrace it; had they lived all together, they would
have been tempted to wink at one another’s faults,
and to excuse one another when they did amiss; but
by this means they were made to see the eyes of all
Israel upon them, and therefore saw it their con¬
cern to walk so as that their ministry might in no¬
thing be blamed, nor their high character suffer by
their ill carriage.
2. That every tribe of Israel was adorned and
enriched with its share of Levites’ cities, in propor¬
tion to its compass, even those that lay most remote.
They were all God’s people, and therefore they all
had Levites among them. (1.) To show kindness
to, as God appointed them, Lieut. 12. 19. — 14. 29.
They were God’s r ceivers, to whom the people
might give their grateful acknowledgments of God’s
goodness, as the occasion and disposition were. (2.)
To receive advice and instruction from; when they
could not go up to the tabernacle to consult those
who attended there, they might ro to a Levites’
city, and be taught the good knowledge of the Lord.
Thus God set up a candle in every room of his
house, to give light to all his family; as those that
attended the altar, kept the charge of the Lord, to
see that no divine appointment was neglected there;
so they that were scattered in the country, had
their charge too, which was to see that no idolatrous
superstitious usages were introduced at a distance,
and to watch for the souls of God’s Israel. Thus
did God graciously pro\ ide for the keeping up of
religion among them, and that they might have the
word nigh them; yet, blessed be God, we under the
Gospel, have it yet nigher, not only Levites in every
county, but Lev ites in every parish, whose office it
is still to teach the pe pie knowledge, and to go be¬
fore them in the things of God.
3. That here were thirteen cities, and these some
of the best, appointed for the priests, the sons of
\, XXI.
Aaron, v. 19. Aaron left but two sons, Eleaz ir and
Ithamar, yet his family was now so much increased,
and it was foreseen that it would in process of time
grow so numerous, as to replenish all these cities;
thoi gh a considerable number must of necessity be
resident wherever the ark and the altar were. We
read in both Testaments of such numbers of priests,
that we may suppose none of all the families of Is¬
rael that came out of Egypt, increased afterward so
much as that of Aaron did; and the premise after¬
ward to the house of Aaron, is, God shall increase
you more and more, you and your children, Ps.
115. 12, 14. He will raise up a seed to serve him.
4. That some of the Levites’ cities were after¬
ward famous upon other accounts. Hebron was
the city in which David began his reign, and in
Mahanaim, another Levites’ city, v. 38. he lay, and
had his head-quarters when he fled from Absalom.
The first Israelite that ever wore the title cf king,
namely, Abimelech, the sen of Gideon, reigned in
Schechem, another Levites’ city, xc 21.
5. That the number of them in all was more than
of most of the tribes, except Judah, though the
tribe of Levi was one of the least of the tribes, to
show how liberal God is, and his people should be,
to his ministers; yet the disproportion will not ap¬
pear so great as at first it seems, if we consider that
the Levites had cities, only with the suburbs to
dwell in, but the rest of the tribes, beside their ci¬
ties, (and those perhaps were many more than <;
named in the account of their lot,) hadmany i.;.-
walled towns and villages which they inhabited,
beside country-houses.
LTpon the whole, it appears that effectual care
was taken, that the Levites should live both com¬
fortably and usefully; and those, whether ministers
or others, for whom Providence has done well,
must look upon themselves as obliged thereby to do
good, and, according as their capacity and oppor¬
tunity are, to serve their generation.
43. And the Lord gave unto Israel all
the land which he sware to give unto their
fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt
therein. 44. And the Lord gave them rest
round about, according to all that he sware
unto their fathers : and there stood not a
man of all their enemies before them ; the
Lord delivered all their enemies into their
hand. 45. There failed not aught of any
good thing which the Lord had spoken
unto the house of Israel ; all came to pass.
We have here the conclusion of this whole mat¬
ter, the foregoing history summed up, and, to make
it appear the more bright, compared with the pro¬
mise, of which it was the full accomplishment.
God’s word and his works mutually illustrate each
other. The performance makes the promise ap¬
pear very true, and the promise makes the per¬
formance appear very kind.
1. God had promised to give the seed of Abraham
the land of Canaan for a possession, and now at last
he performed that promise, v. 43. they possessed it,
and dwelt therein. Though they had often forfeited
the benefit of that promise, and God had long
delayed the performance of it, yet, at last, all
difficulties were conquered, and Canaan was their
own. And the promise of the heavenly Canaan is
as sure to all God’s spiritual Israel, for it is the pro¬
mise of him that cannot lie.
2. God had promised to give them rest in that
land, and now they had rest round about. Rest
from the fatigues of their tra\ el through the wil¬
derness, which tedious march, perhaps, was long
JOSHUA, XX1J. 8?
in their bones; rest from their wars in Canaan, and
the insults which their enemies there had at first
offered them. They now dwelt, not or.ly in habita¬
tions of their own, but those, quiet and peaceable
ones; though therew ere Canaanites that lemained,
yet none that had either strength or spirit to attack
them, or so much as to give them an alarm. This
rest continued, till they by their own sin and folly
put thorns into their- own beds, and their own eyes.
3. God had promised to give them victory and
success in their wars, and this promise likewise was
fulfilled, there stood not a man before them, v. 44.
They had the better in every battle, and which way
soever they turned their forces, they prospered. It
is true, there were Canaanites now remaining in
many parts of the land, and such as afterward made
head against them, and became very formidable.
But, (1.) As to the present remains of the Canaan¬
ites, they were no contradiction to the promise, for
God had said he would not drive them out all at
once, but by little and little, Exod. 23. 30. They
had now as much in their full possession as they had
occasion for, and as they had hands to manage; so
that the Canaanites only kept possession of some of
the less cultivated parts of the country against the
beasts of the field, till Israel, in process of time,
should become numerous enough to replenish them,
(2. ) As to the after-prevalency of the Canaanites,
that was purely the effect of Israel’s cowardice and
slothfulness, and the punishment of their sinful in¬
clination to the idolatries and other abominations
of the heathen, which the Lord would have cast
out before them, but they harboured and indulged
them.
So that the foundation of God stands sure: Israel’s
experience of God’s fidelity is here upon record,
and is an acquittance under their hands to the ho¬
nour of God, the vindication of his promise which
had been so often distrusted, and the encourage¬
ment of all believers to the end of the world. There
failed not any good thing, no, nor aught of any
good thing, (so full is it expressed,) which the Lord
had sfxoken unto the house of Israel, but in due time
all came to pass, v. 45. Such an acknowledgment
as this, here subscribed by Joshua, in the name of
all Israel, we afterward find made by Solomon, and
all Israel did in effect say- amen to it, 1 Kings 8. 56.
The inviolable truth of God’s promise, and the per¬
formance of it to the utmost, is what all the saints
have been ready to bear their testimony to; and if
in any thing it has seemed to come short, they have
been as ready to own that they themselves must
bear all the blame.
CHAP. XXII.
Many particular things we have read concerning the two
tribes and a half, though nothing separated them from
the rest of the tribes except the river Jordan, and this
chapter is wholly concerning them. I. Joshua’s dismis¬
sion of the militia of those tribes from the camp of Israel,
in which they had served as auxiliaries during all the
wars of Canaan, and their return thereupon to their own
country, v. 1 . .9. II. The altar they built on the borders
of Jordan, in token of their communion with the land of
Israel, v. 10. III. The offence which the rest of the tribes
took at this altar, and the message they sent thereupon,
v. 11 . .20. IV. The apology which the two tribes and a
half made for what they had done, v. 21. .29. V. The sa¬
tisfaction which their apology gave to the rest of the
tribes, v. 30- .34. And (which is strange) whereas in most
differences that happen, there is a fault on both sides, on
this there Was fault on no side; none (for aught that ap¬
pears) were to be blamed, but all to be praised.
HEN Joshua called the Reubenites,
and the Gadites, and the half tribe
of Manasseh, 2. And said unto them, Ye
have kept all that Moses the servant of the
Lord commanded you, and have obeyed
my voice in all that I commanded you : 3
V e have not left your brethren these many
days unto this day, but have kept the charge
of the commandment of the Lord your
God. 4. And now the Lord your God
hath given rest unto your brethren, as he
promised them : therefore now return ye,
and get you unto your tents, and unto the
land ol your possession, which Moses the
servant ol the Lord gave yTou on the other
side Jordan. 5. But take diligent heed
to do the commandment and the law, which
Moses the servant of the Lord charged
you, to love the' Lord your God, and to
walk in all his ways, and to keep his com¬
mandments, and to cleave unto him, and to
serve him with all your heart and with all
your soul. 6. So Joshua blessed them, and
sent them away: and they went unto theii
tents. 7. Now, to the o?rehalf of the tribe ol
Manasseh Moses had given possession in Ba
shan;but untothe o/Aer half thereof gave Josh¬
ua among their brethren on this side Jordan
westward. And when Joshua sent them
away also unto their tents, then he blessed
them; 8. And he spake unto them, saying,
Return with much riches unto your tents,
and with very much cattle, with silver, and
with gold, and with brass, and with iron,
and with very much raiment: divide the
spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
9. And the children of Reuben, and the
children of Gad, and the half tribe of Ma¬
nasseh, returned, and departed from the
children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in
the land of Canaan, to go unto the country
of Gilead, to the land of their possession,
whereof they were possessed, according to
the word of the Lord by the hand ol
Moses.
The war being ended, and ended gloriously,
Joshua, as a prudent general, disbands his army,
who never designed to make war their trade, and
sends them home to enjoy what they had conquer¬
ed, and to beat their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks; and, particularly,
the forces of these separate tribes, who had receiv¬
ed their inheritance on the other side Jordan from
Moses, upon this condition, that their men of war
should assist the other tribes in the conquest of Ca¬
naan, which they promised to do. Numb. 32. 32.
and renewed the promise of Joshua at the opening
of the campaign, Josh. 1. 16. And now that they
had performed their bargain, Joshua publicly and
solemnly in Shiloh gives them their discharge.
Whether this was done, as it was placed, not till
after the land was divided, as some think, ( r
whether after the war was ended, and before the
division was made, as others think, (because there
was no need of their assistance in diuding the land,
but only in conquering it, nor were there any of
their tribes employed as commissioners in that affair,
but only of the other ten, Numb. 34. 18, See.) this is
i certain, it was not done till after Shiloh was made
its JOSHUA, XXI I.
the head-quarters, v. 2. and the land was begun to
be divided before thev removed from Gilgal, ch.
14. 6.
It is probable that this army of Reubenites and
Gadites, which had led the van in all the wars of
Canaan, had sometimes, in the intervals of action,
and when the rest of the army retired into wintei’-
quarters, some of them, at least, made a step over
Jordan, for it was not far, to visit their families, and
f.i look after their private affairs, and perhaps tar¬
ried at home, and sent others in their room more
serviceable; but still these two tribes and a half had
their quota of troops ready, forty thousand in all,
which, whenever there was occasion, rendered
themselves at their respective posts, and now at¬
tended in a body to receive their discharge. Though
their affection to their families, and concern for
their affairs, could not but make them, after so long
absence, very desirous to return, yet, like good sol¬
diers, they would not move till they had orders
from their general. So though our heavenly Fa¬
ther’s house above be never so desirable, (it is
Bishop Hall’s allusion,) yet must we stay on earth
till our warfare be accomplished, wait for a due dis¬
charge, and not anticipate the time of our removal.
I. Joshua dismisses them to the land of their pos¬
session, v. 4. They that were first in the assignment
of their lot, were last in the enjoyment of it; they got
the start of their brethren in title, but their breth¬
ren were before them in full possession; so the last
shall be first, and the first last, that there may be
something of equality.
II. He dismisses them with their pay; for who
goes a warfare at his own charge? v. 8, Return
with much riches unto your tents. Though all the
land they had helped to conquer, was to go to the
other tribes, yet they should have their share of the
plunder, and had so, and that was all the pay that
any of the soldiers expected; for the wars of Canaan
bore their own charges. “ Go,” says Joshua, “ go
home to your tents,” that is, “ your houses,” which
he calls tents, because they had been so much used
to tents in the wilderness; and indeed the strongest
and stateliest houses in this world are to be looked
upon but as tents, mean and moveable in compari¬
son with our house above. “Go home with much
riches, not only cattle, the spoil of the country, but
silver and gold, the plunder of the cities, and,” 1.
“Let your brethren whom you leave behind, have
your good word, who have allowed you your share
in full, though the land is entirely their’s, and have
not offered to make any drawback. Do not say that
you are losers by us.” 2. “Let your brethren
whom you go to, who abode by the stuff, have some
share of the spoil. Divide the spoil with your breth¬
ren, as that was divided, which was taken in the
war with Midian, Numb. 31. 27. Let your breth¬
ren that have wanted you all this while, be the bet¬
ter for you when you come home.”
IIT. He dismisses them with a very honourable
character. Though their service was a due debt,
and the performance of a promise, and they had
done no more than was their duty to do, yet he
highly commends them; not only gives them up
their bonds, as it were, now that they had fulfilled
the condition, but applauds their good services.
Though it was by the favour of God and his power,
that Israel got possession of this land, and he must
hav e all the glory, yet Joshua thought there was a
thankful acknowledgment due to their brethren
who assisted them, and whose sword and bow were
employed for them. God must be chiefly eyed in
nur praises, yet instruments must not be altogether
overlooked. He here commends them, 1. For the
readiness of their obedience to their commanders, v.
2. When Moses was gone, they remembered and
observed the charge he had given them; and all the
orders which Joshua, as general of the forces, had
issued out, they had carefully obeyed, went, and
came, and did, as he appointed, Matt. 8. 9. It is as
much as any thing the soldier’s praise, to observe
the word of command. 2. For the constancy of
their affection, and adherence to their brethren,
Ye have not left them these many days. How many
days, he does not say, nor can we gather it for cer¬
tain from any other place. Calvisius and others of
the best chronologers compute, that the conquering
and dividing the land was the work of about six or
seven years, and so long, these separate tribes at¬
tended their camp, and did them the best service
they could. Note, It will be the honour of those
that have espoused the cause of God’s Israel, and
twisted interests with them, to adhere to them, and
never to leave them till God has given them rest,
and then they shall rest with them. 3. For the
faithfulness of their obedience to the divine law.
They had not only done their duty to Joshua and Is¬
rael, but, which was best of ali, they had made
conscience of their duty to God, Ye have kept the
charge ; or, as the word is, Ye have kept the keep¬
ing, that is, “Ye have carefully and circumspectly
kept the commandment of the Lord your God ; not
only in this particular instance of continuing in the
service of Israel to the end of the war, but, in gene¬
ral, you have kept up religion in your part of the
camp, a rare and excellent thing among soldiers,
and where it is worthy to be praised. ”
IV. He dismisses them with good counsel, not to
cultivate their ground, fortify their cities, and now
that their hands were inured to war and victory, to
invade their neighbours, and so enlarge their own
territories, but to keep up serious godliness among
them in the power of it. They were not politic but
pious instructions that he gave them, v. 5. In gen¬
eral, to take diligent heed to do the commandment
and the law. They that have the commandment
have it in vain, unless they do the commandment;
and it will not be done aright, (so apt are we to turn
aside, and so industrious are our spiritual enemies to
turn us aside,) unless we take heed, diligent heed.
In particular, to love the Lord our Gocl, as the best
of beings, and the best of friends, and as far as that
principle rules in the heart, and is the spring of its
pulses, there will be a constant care and sincere en¬
deavour to walk in his ways, in all his ways, even
those that are narrow and up hill, in every particu¬
lar instance, and in all manner of conversation to
keep his commandments ; and at all times, and in all
conditions, with purpose of heart to cleave unto him,
and to serve him and his honour, and the interests
of his kingdom among men, with all our heart, and
with all our soul. What good counsel was here
given to them, is given to us all; God give us grace
to take it!
V. He dismisses them with a blessing, v. 6. par¬
ticularly the half tribe of Manasseh, to which
Joshua, as an Ephraimite, was somewhat nearer
akin than to the other two, and who, perhaps, were
the more loath to depart, because they left one half
of their own tribe behind them, and therefore, bid¬
ding often farewell, and lingering behind, had a
second dismission and blessing, v. 7. Joshua not
only prayed for them as a friend, but blessed them
as a father in the name of the Lord, recommending
them, their families and affairs, to the grace of God.
Some, by the blessing Joshua gave them, understand
the presents he made them, in recompense of their
services; but Joshua being a prophet, and having
given them one part of a prophet’s reward, in the
instructions he gave them, v. 5. no doubt, we must
understand this of the other, even the prayers he
made for them, as one having authority, and as
God’s vicegerent.
Being thus dismissed, they returned to the land
JOSHUA, XXII. 89
of their possession in a body, v. 9. ferry-boats being,
it is likely, provided for their repassing Jordan.
Though masters of families may have occasion to be
absent, long absent, from their families sometimes,
yet, when their business abroad is finished, they
must remember home is their place, from which
they ought not to wander as a bird from her nest.
10. And when they came unto the bor-.
ders of Jordan, that are in the land of Ca¬
naan, the children of Reuben, and the child¬
ren of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar
to see to. 11. And the children of Israel
heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben,
and the children of Gad, and the half tribe
of Manasseh, have built an altar over against
the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jor¬
dan, at the passage of the children of Israel.
1 2. And when the children of Israel heard
of it, the whole congregation of the children
of Israel gathered themselves together at
Shiloh, to go up to war against them. 1 3.
And the children of Israel sent unto the
children of Reuben, and to the children of
Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into
the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Ele-
azar the priest ; 1 4. And with him ten
princes, of each chief house a prince through¬
out all the tribes of Israel ; and each one
was a head of the house of their fathers
among the thousands of Israel. 15. And
they came unto the children of Reuben,
and to the children of Gad, and to the half
tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead ;
and they spake with them, saying, 1G.
Thus saith the whole congregation of the
Lord, What trespass is this that ye have
committed against the God of Israel, to turn
away this day from following the Lord, in
that ye have builded you an altar, that ye
might rebel this day against the Lord ? 17.
Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from
which we are not cleansed until this day,
although there was a plague in the congre¬
gation of the Lord, 18. But that ye must
turn away this day from following the Lord?
and it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against
the Lord, that to-morrow he will be wroth
with the whole congregation of Israel. 1 9.
Notwithstanding, if the land of your posses¬
sion be unclean, then pass ye over unto the
land of the possession of the Lord, wherein
the Lord’s tabernacle dwelleth, and take
possession among us: but rebel not against
the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building
you an altar, besides the altar of the Lord
our God. 20. Did not Achan the son of
Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed
thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation
of Israel ? and that man perished not alone
in his iniquity.
Vol. ii. — M
Here is,
I. The pious care of the separated tribes to keep
their hold of Canaan’s religion, then when they
were leaving Canaan’s land, that they might not be
as the sons of the stranger, utterly separated from
God's people, Isa. 56. 3. In order to this, they
built a great altar on the borders of Jordan, to be a
witness for them that they were Israelites, and as
such partakers of the altar of the Lord, 1 Cor. 10.
18. When they came to Jordan, v. 10. they did not
consult how to preserve the remembrance of their
own exploits in the wars of Canaan, and the ser¬
vices they had done their brethren, by erecting a
monument to the immortal honour of the two tribes
and a half. But their relation to the church of God,
together with their interest in the communion of
saints, is that which they are solicitous to preserve
and perpetuate the proofs and evidences of; and
therefore, without delay, when the thing was first
proposed by some among them, who, though glad
to think that they were going toward home, were
sorry to think that they were going from the altai
of God, immediately they erected this altar, which
served as a bridge to keep up their fellowship with
the other tribes in the things of God. Some think
they built this altar on the Canaan-side of Jordan,
in the lot of Benjamin, that looking over the river,
they might see the figure of the altar at Shiloh,
when they could not conveniently go to it; but it is
more likely that they built it on their own side of
the water, for what had they to do to build upon
another man’s land without hiis consent? And it is
said to be over-against the land of Canaan, nor
would there have been any cause of suspecting it
designed for sacrifice, if they had not built it among
themselves.
This altar was very innocently and honestly de¬
signed, but it had been well, if, since it had in it an
appearance of evil, and might be an occasion of of¬
fence to their brethren, they had consulted the
oracle of God about it before they did it; or at least
acquainted their brethren with tjieir purpose, and
given them the same explication of their altar be¬
fore, to prevent their jealousy, which they did after,
to remove it. Their zeal was commendable, but it
ought to have been guided with discretion; there
was no need to hasten the building of an altar for
the purpose they intended this, but they might have
taken time to consider and take advice; yet, when
their sincerity was made to appear, we do not fiitd
that they were blamed for their rashness; God does,
and men should, overlook the weakness of an hon¬
est zeal.
II. The holy jealousy of the other tribes for the
honour of God, and his altar at Shiloh. Notice was
immediately brought to the princes of Israel of the
setting up this altar, z>. 11. And they, knowing
how strict and severe that law was, which required
them to offer all their sacrifices in the place which
God should choose, and not elsewhere, Deut. 12. 5,
7. were soon apprehensive, that the getting up of
another altar, was an affront to the choice which
God had lately made of a place to put his name in,
and had a direct tendency to the worship of some
other God.
Now, 1. Their suspicion was very excusable, for
it must be confessed, the thing prima facie — at first
sight, looked ill, and seemed to shadow forth a de¬
sign to set up and maintain a competitor with the
altar at Shiloh. It was no strained inuendo, from
the building an altar, to infer an intention to offer
sacrifice upon it, and that might introduce idolatry,
and end in a total apostasy from the faith and wor¬
ship of the God of Israel. So great a matter might
this fire kindle. God is jealous for his own institu¬
tions, and therefore we should be so too, and afraid
of every thing that looks like, or leads to, idolatry.
90
JOSHU
2. Their zeal, upon this suspicion, was very com¬
mendable, v. 12. When they apprehended that
these tribes, which by the river Jordan were sepa¬
rated from them, were separating themselves from
God, they took it as the greatest injury that could
be done to themselves, and showed a readiness, if it
were necessary, to put their lives in their hands, in
defence of the altar of God, and to take up arms for
the chastising and reducing of these rebels, and to
prevent the spreading of the infection, if no gentle
methods would serve, by cutting off from their body
the gangrened member. They all gathered toge¬
ther, and Shiloh was the place of their rendezvous,
because it was in defence of the divine charter lately
granted to that place, that they now appeared;
their resolution was as became a kingdom of priests,
who, being devoted to God and his service, did not
acknowledge their brethren, nor know their own
children, Deut. 33. 9. They would immediately
go ufi to war against them, if it appeared they were
revolted from God, and in rebellion against him:
though they were bone of their bone, had been com-
/ tanions with them in tribulation in the wilderness,
and serviceable to them in the wars of Canaan; yet
if they turn to serve other gods, they will treat
them as enemies, not as sons of Israel, but as chil¬
dren of whoredoms, for so God had appointed,
Deut. 13. 12, &c. They had but lately sheathed
their swords, and retired from the perils and fa¬
tigues of war to the rest God had given them, and
yet they are willing to begin a new war, rather than
be any way wanting in their duty to restrain, re¬
press, and revenge idolatry, and every step towrards
it. A brave resolution, and which shows them
hearty for their religion, and, we hope careful and
diligent in the practice of it themselves. Corrup¬
tions in religion are best dealt with at first, before
they get a head, and plead prescription.
3. Their prudence in prosecution of this zealous
resolution, is no less commendable. God had ap¬
pointed them in cases of this nature, to inquire and
make search, Deut. 13. 14. that they might not
wrong their brethren under pretence of righting
their religion; accordingly, they resolve here not
to send forth their armies to wage war, till they
had first sent their ambassadors to inquire into the
merits of the cause, and these men of the first rank,
one out of each tribe, and Phinehas at the head of
them to be their spokesman, v. 13, 14. Thus was
their zeal for God tempo ed, guided, and governed
by the meekness of wisdotn. He that knows all
things, and hates all evil things, would not punish
the worst of criminals, but he would first go down
and see, Gen. 18. 21. Many an unhappy strife
would be prevented, or soon taken up, by an im¬
partial and favourable inquiry into that which is the
matter of the offence. The rectifying of mistakes
and misunderstandings, and the setting of miscon¬
strued words and actions in a true light, would be
the most effectual way to accommodate both pri¬
vate and public quarrels, and bring them to a happy
period.
4. The ambassadors’ management of this matter
came fully up to the sense and spirit of the congre¬
gation concerning it, and bespeaks much both of
zeal and prudence.
(1.) The charge they draw up against their bre¬
thren, is indeed very high, and admits no other ex¬
cuse than that it was in their zeal for the honour of
God, and was now intended to justify the resent¬
ments of the congregation at Shiloh, and to awaken
the supposed delinquents to clear themselves,
otherwise they might have suspected their judg¬
ment, or mollified it at least, and not have taken it
for granted, as they do here, v. 16. that the build¬
ing of this altar was a trespass against the God of
Israel, and a trespass, no less heinous than the re-
A, XXII.
volt of soldiers from their captain, ( to turn from
following the Lord,) and the rebellion of subjects
against their sovereign ( that ye might rebel this day
against the Lord. ) Hard words! It is well they
were not able to make good their chaige. Let not
innocency think it strange to be thus misrepresent¬
ed and accused; they laid to my charge things that
I knew not.
(2.) The aggravation of the crime charged upon
their brethren, is somewhat far-fetched, v. 17. Is
the iniquity of Peor too little for us? Probably, that
is mentioned, because Phinehas, the first commis¬
sioner in this treaty, had signalized himself in that
matter, Numb. 25. 7. and because we may suppose
they were now about the very place in which that
iniquity was committed on the other side Jordan.
It is good to recollect and improve those instances
of the wrath of God, revealed from heaven against
the ungodliness and unrighteous?iess of men, which
have fallen out in our own time, and which we our¬
selves have been eye-witnesses of. He reminds
them of the iniquity of Peor, [1.] As a very great
sin, and very provoking to God. The building of
this altar seemed but a Small matter, but it might
lead to iniquity as bad as that of Peor, and there¬
fore must be crushed in its first rise. Note, The re¬
membrance of great sins committed formerly, should
engage us to stand upon our guard against the least
occasions and beginnings of sin: for the way of sin is
down hill. [2.] As a sin that the whole congregation
had smarted for; There was a plague in the congre¬
gation of the Lord, of which, in one day, there died no
less than twenty-four thousand; was not that enough
forever to warn you against idolatry? What, will ycu
bring upon yourselves another plague? Are you so
mad upon an idolatrous altar, that you will run your¬
selves thus upon the sword’s point of God’s judg¬
ments? Does not our camp still feel from that sin,
and the punishment of it? We are not cleansed
from it unto this day; there are remaining sparks,”
First, “Of the infection of that sin; some among
us so inclined to idolatry, that if ycdi set up another
altar, they will soon take occasion from that, whe¬
ther you intend it or no, to worship another god.”
Secotidly, “Of the wrath of God against us for
that sin: we have reason to fear, that if we provoke
God by another sin to visit, he will remember
against us the iniquity of Peor, as he threatened to
do that of the golden calf, Exod. 32. 34. And dare
you wake the sleeping lion of divine vengeance?”
Note, It is a foolish and dangerous thing for people
to think their former sins little, too little for them,
as those do who add sin to sin, and so treasure up
wrath against the day of wrath. Let therefore the
time past suffice, 1 Pet. 4. 3.
(3.) The reason they give for their concerning
themselves so warmly in this matter, is very suffi¬
cient; they were obliged to it, in their own neces¬
sary defence, by the law cf self-preservation; “for
if you revolt from God to-day, who knows, but to¬
morrow, his judgments may break in upon the
whole congregation, v. 18. as in the case of Achan,
v. 20. He sinned, and we all smarted for it, by
which we should receive instruction, and from what
God did then, infer what we may do, and fear what
he will do, if. we do not witness against your sin,
who are so many, and punish it?” Note, The con¬
servators of the public peace are obliged, in justice
to the common safety, to use their power for the
restraining and so suppressing of vice and profane¬
ness, lest, if it be connived at, the sin thereby be¬
come national, and bring God’s judgments upon the
community. Nay, We are all concerned therefore
to reprove our neighbour when he does amiss, lest
we bear sin for him. Lev. 19. 17.
(4.) The offer they make is very fair and kind,
v. 19. that if they thought the land of their pos-
01
JOSHUA, XXII.
session unclean for want of an altar, and therefore
could not be easy without one, rather than they
should set up another in competition with that of
Shiloh, they should be welcome to come back to
the land where the Lord's tabernacle was, and set¬
tle there, and they would very willingly straiten
themselves to make room for them. By this they
showed a sincere and truly pious zeal against
schism, that rather than their brethren should have
any occasion to set up a separate altar, though their
pretence for it, as here supposed, was very weak,
and grounded upon a great mistake, yet they were
willing to part with a considerable share of the land
which God himself had by the lot assigned them,
to comprehend them and take them in among them.
This was the spirit of Israelites indeed.
21. Then the children of Reuben, and
the children of Gad, and the half tribe of
Manasseh, answered and said unto the
heads of the thousands of Israel, 22. The
Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods,
he knoweth, and Israel he shall know ; if it
be in rebellion, or if in transgression against
the Lord, (save us not this day,) 23. That
we have built us an altar to turn from fol¬
lowing Ihe Lord, or if to offer thereon
burnt-offering or meat-offering, or if to offer
peace-offerings thereon, let the Lord him¬
self require it; 24. And if we have not
rather done it for fear of this thing, say ing,
In time to come your children might speak
unto our children, saying, What have you
to do with the Lord God of Israel ? 25.
For the Lord hath made Jordan a border
between us and you ; ye children of Reu¬
ben, and children of Gad, ye have no part
in the Lord : so shall your children make
our children cease from fearing the Lord.
26. Therefore we said, Let us now prepare
to build us an altar, not for burnt-offering,
nor for sacrifice : 27. But that it may be a
witness between us and you, and our gene¬
rations after us, that we might do the ser¬
vice of the Lord before him with our
burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and
with our peace-offerings ; that your children
may not say to our children in time to come,
Ye have no part in the Lord. 28. There¬
fore said we, that it shall be, when they
should so say to us, or to our generations in
time to come, that we may say again , Be¬
hold the pattern of the altar of the Lord,
which our fathers made, not for burnt-offer¬
ings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness
between us and you. 29. God forbid that
we should rebel against the Lord, and turn
this day from following the Lord, to build
an altar for burnt-offerings, for meat-offer¬
ings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the
Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.
We may suppose there was a general convention
called cf the princes and great men of the separate
tribes, to give audience to these ambassadors; or
perhaps, the army, as it came home, were still en¬
camped together in a body, and not yet dispersed;
however it was, there were enough to represent the
two tribes and a half, and to give their sense.
Their reply to the warm remonstrance of the
ten tribes is very fair and ingenuous. They do not
retort their charge, upbraid them with the injus¬
tice and unkindness of their threatenings, or re¬
proach them for their rash and hasty censures; but
give them that soft answer which turns away
wrath, avoiding all those grievous words which stir
up anger; they demur not to their jurisdiction, nor
plead that they were not accountable to them for
what they had done, nor bid them mind their own
business; but, by a free and open declaration of
their sincere intention in what they did, free them¬
selves from the imputation they were under, and
set themselves right in the opinion of their bre¬
thren; to do which they only needed to state the
case, and put the matter in a true light.
I. They solemnly protest against any design to
use this altar for sacrifice or offering, and therefore
were far from setting it up in competition with the
altar at Shiloh, or from entertaining the least
thought of deserting that. They had indeed set
up that which had the shape and fashion of an altar,
but they had not dedicated it to a religious use, had
had no solemnity of its consecration, and therefore
ought not to be charged with a design to put it to
any such use. To gain credit to this protestation,
here is,
1. A solemn appeal to God concerning it, with
which they begin their defence, intending thereby
to give glory to God first, and then to give satisfac¬
tion to their brethren, v. 22.
(1.) A profound awe and reverence of God are ex¬
pressed in the form of their appeal; The Lord God
of gods, the J.ord God of gods, he knows. Or, as it
might lie read somewhat closer to the original, 7 he
God of gods, Jehovah, the God of gods, Jehovah, he
knows; which bespeaks his self-existence and self-
sufficiency, he is Jehovah, and has sovereignty and
supremacy over all beings and powers whatsoever,
even those that are called gods, or that are wor¬
shipped. This brief confession of their faith would
help to obviate and remove their brethren’s suspi¬
cion of them, as if they intended to desert the God
of Israel, and worship other gods: how could they
entertain such a thought, who believed him to be
God over all? Let us learn hence always to speak
of God with reverence and seriousness, and to men¬
tion his name with a solemn pause. Those who
make their appeals to heaven with a slight, care¬
less, “ God knows!” have reason to fear lest they
take his name in vain, for it is very unlike this
here.
(2. ) It is a great confidence of their own integrity,
which they express in the matter of their appeal.
They refer the controversy to the God of gods,
whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth,
such as the guilty have reason to dread, and the up¬
right to rejoice in. “ If it be in rebellion or trans¬
gression that we have built this altar, to confront
the altar of the Lord at Shiloh, to make a party, or
to set up any new gods or worships;” [1.] “He
knows it, v. 22. for he is perfectly acquainted with
the thoughts and intents of the heart, and particu¬
larly with all inclinations to idolatry, Ps. 44. 20, 21.
that is in a particular manner before him, we be¬
lieve he knows it, and we cannot by any arts con¬
ceal it from him.” [2.] “ Let him require it, as we
know he will, for he is a jealous God.” Nothing
but a clear conscience would have thus imprecated
divine justice to avenge the rebellion, if there had
been any. Note, First, In every thing we do in re¬
ligion, it highly concerns us to appr. ve ourselves to
God in our integrity therein, remembering that he
92
JOSHUA, XXII.
knows the heart. Secondly, When we fall under
the censures of men, it is very comfortable to be
able with a humble confidence to appeal to God
concerning our sincerity. See 1 Cor. 4. 3, 4.
2. A sober apology presented to their brethren.
Israel, he shall know. Though the record on high,
and the witness in our bosoms, are principally to be
made sure for us, yet there is a satisfaction besides,
which we owe to our brethren, who doubt concern¬
ing our integrity, and which we should be ready to
give with meekness and fear. . If our sincerity be
known to God, we should study likewise to let
others know it by its fruits, especially those, who,
though they mistake us, yet show a zeal for the
glory of God, as the ten tribes here did.
3. A serious abjuration or renunciation of the de¬
sign which they were suspected to be guilty of.
With this they conclude their defence, v. 29. “ God
forbid that we should rebel against the Lord, as we
own we should, if we had set up this altar for burnt-
offerings; no, we abhor the thought of it. We have
as great a value and veneration for the altar of the
Lord at Shiloh, as any of the tribes of Israel have,
and are as firmly resolved to adhere to it, and con¬
stantly to attend it; we have the same concern that
you have for the purity of God’s worship, and the
unity of his church ; far be it, far be it from us, to
think of turning away from following God.”
II. They fully explain their true intent and
meaning in building this altar; and we have all the
reason in the world to believe that it is a true re¬
presentation of their design, and not advanced now
to palliate it afterward; as we have reason to think
that these same persons meant very honestly, when
they petitioned to have their lot on that side Jordan,
though then also it was their unhappiness to be mis¬
understood even by Moses himself.
In their vindication they make it out, that the
building of this altar was so far from being a step
toward a separation from their brethren, and from
the altar of the Lord at Shiloh, that, on the contra¬
ry, it was really designed for a pledge and preser¬
vative of their communion with their brethren, and
with the altar of God, and a token of their resolu¬
tion to do the service o f the Lord before him, v. 2 7.
and to continue to do so.
1. They gave an account of the fears they had,
lest in process of time, their posterity, being seated
at such a distance from the tabernacle, should be
looked upon and treated as strangers to the com¬
monwealth of Israel, v. 24. it was for fear of this
thing, and the word signifies a great perplexity and
solicitude of mind which they were in, until they
eased themselves by this expedient. As they were
returning home, (and we may suppose it was not
thought of before, else they would have made
Joshua acquainted with their purpose,) some of
them in dicourse started this matter, and the rest
took the hint, and represented to themselves and
one another, a very melancholy prospect of what
might, probably, happen in after-ages, that their
children would be looked upon by the other tribes
as having no interest in the altar of God, and the
sacrifices there offered. Now indeed they were
owned as brethren, and were as welcome at the ta¬
bernacle as any other of the tribes; but what if their
children after them should be disowned? They by
reason of their distance, and the interposition of
Jordan, which it was not easy at all times to pass
and repass, could not be so numerous and constant
in their attendance on the three yearly feasts as the
other tribes to make a continual claim to the privi¬
leges of Israelites, and would therefore be looked
upon as inconsiderable members of their church,
and by degrees would be rejected as not members
of it at all, so shall your children, (who in their
pride will be apt to monopolize the privileges of the
altar,) make our children (who perhaps will not be
so careful as they ought to be to keep hold of those
privileges) cease from fearing the Lord. Note, (1.)
They that are cut off from public ordinances, are
likely to lose all religion, 'and will by degrees ^ase
from fearing the Lord. Though the form and pro¬
fession of godliness are kept up by many without
the life and power of it, yet the life and power of it
will not long be kept up without the form and pro¬
fession of it. You take away grace, if you take away
the means of grace. (2.) They who have them¬
selves found the comfort and benefit of God’s ordi¬
nances, cannot but desire to preserve and perpetuate
the entail of them upon their seed, and use all pos¬
sible precautions that their children after them
may not be made to cease from following the Lord,
or be looked upon as having no part in him.
2. The project they had to prevent this, v. 26- •
28. “Therefore to secure an interest in the altar
of God to those who shall come after us, and to
prove their title to it, we said, Let us build an altar,
to be a witness between us and you.” That having
this copy of the altar in their custody, it might be
produced as an evidence of their right to the privi¬
leges of the original. Every one that saw this altar,
and observed it was never used for sacrifice and of¬
fering, would inquire what was the meaning of it,
and this answer would be given to that inquiry, that
it was built by those separate tribes, in token of
their communion with their brethren, and their
joint-interest with them in the altar of the Lord.
Christ is the great Altar that sanctifies every gift;
the best evidence of our interest in him will be the
pattern of his Spirit in our hearts, and our confor¬
mity to him : if we can produce that, it will be testi¬
mony for us, that we have a fart in the Lord, and
an earnest for our perseverance in following him.
30. And when Phinehas the priest, and
the princes of the congregation, and heads
of the thousands of Israel which were with
him, heard the words that the children of
Reuben and the children of Gad, and the
children of Manasseh, spake, it pleased
them. 31. And Phinehas the son of Elea*
zar the priest said unto the children of Reu¬
ben, and to the children of Gad, and to the
children of Manasseh, This day we perceive
that the Lord is among us, because ye have
not committed this trespass against the
Lord : now ye have delivered the children
of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. 32.
And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,
and the princes, returned from the children
of Reuben, and from the children of Gad,
out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of
Canaan, to the children of Israel, and
brought them word again. 33. And the
thing pleased the children of Israel ; and
the children of Israel blessed God, and did
not intend to go up against them in battle,
to destroy the land wherein the children of
Reuben and Gad dwelt. 34. And the
children of Reuben, and the children of Gad,
called the altar Ed : for it shall he a witness
between us that the Lord is God.
We have here the good issue of this controversy,
which, if there had not been on both sides a dispo¬
sition to peace, as there was on both sides a zeal for
JOSHUA, XXIII.
9.3
(rod, might have been of ill consequence; for quar¬
rels about religion, for want of wisdom and love,
often prove the most fierce and most difficult to be
taken up. But these contending parties, when the
matter was fairly stated and argued, were so happy
as to understand one another very well, and so the
difference was presently compromised.
1. The ambassadors" were exceedingly pleased,
when the separate tribes had given in a protesta¬
tion of the innocency of their intentions in building
this altar. (1.) The ambassadors did not call in
question their sincerity in that protestation, did not
s iv, “You tell us you design it not for sacrifice and
offering, but who can believe you? What security
will you give us that it shall never be so used?5’
No, charity believes all things, hopes all things, be¬
lieves and hopes the best, and is very loath to give
the lie to any.
(2. ) They did not upbraid them with the rashness
and unadvisedness of this action; did not tell them,
“ If you would do such a thing, and with this good
intention, yet you might have had that respect for
Joshua and Eleazar, as to have advised with them,
or at least have made them acquainted with it, and
so have saved the trouble and expense of this em¬
bassy.” But a little want of consideration and good
manners should be excused and overlooked in those
who, we have reason to think, mean honestly. (3.)
Much less did they go about to fish for evidence to
make out their charge, because they had once exhi¬
bited it, but were glad to have their mistake recti¬
fied, and were not at all ashamed to own it. Proud
and peevish spirits, when they have past an unjust
censure upon their brethren, though never so much
convincing evidence be brought of the injustice of it,
will stand to it, and can by no means be persuaded
to retract it. These ambassadors were not so pre¬
judiced; their brethren’s vindication pleased them,
v. 30. They looked upon their innocency as a token
of God’s presence, v. 31. especially when they
found what was done, was so far from being an in¬
dication of their growing cool to the altar of God,
that, on the contrary, it was a fruit of their zealous
affection to it; Ye have delivered the children of Is¬
rael out of the hand of the Lord, that is, “You
have not, as we feared, delivered them into the hand
of the Lord, or exposed them to his judgments, by
the trespass we were jealous of.”
2. The congregation was abundantly satisfied,
when their ambassadors reported to them their
brethren’s apology for what they had done. It
should seem, they staid together, at least by their
representatives, until they heard the issue, v. 32.
And when they understood the truth of the matter,
it pleased them, v. 33. and they blessed God.
Note, Our brethren’s constancy in religion, their
zeal for the power of godliness, and their keeping
the unity of the Spirit in faith and love, notwith¬
standing the jealousies conceived of them as break¬
ing the unity of the church , are things which we
should be very glad to be satisfied of, and should
make the matter both of our rejoicing and of our
thanksgiving; let God have the glory of it, and let
us take the comfort of it. Being thus satisfied, they
laid down their arms immediately, and were so far
from any thoughts of prosecuting the war they had
been meditating against their brethren, that we may
suppose them wishing for the next feast, when they
should meet them at Shiloh.
3. The separate tribes were gratified, and since
they had a mind to preserve among them this pat¬
tern of the altar of ( Jod, though there was not likely
to be that occasion for it which they fancied, yet
Joshua and the princes let them have their humour,
and did not give orders for the demolishing of it,
though there was as much reason to fear that it
might in process of time be an occasion of idolatry,
as there was to hope that ever it might be a preser¬
vation from idolatry. Thus did the strong bear the
infirmities of the weak. Only , care was taken that they
having explained the meaning of their altar, that
it was intended for no more than a testimony of theft
communion with the altar at Shiloh, this explana
tion should be recorded, which was done according
to the usage of those times, by giving a name to it,
signifying so much, v. 34. they called it Ed, a wit¬
ness, to that and no more. A witness of the relation
they stood in to God and Israel, and of their concur¬
rence with the rest of the tribes in the same common
faith, that Jehovah he is God, he and no other. It
was a witness to posterity of their care to transmit
their religion pure and entire to them, and would
be a witness against them if ever they should forsake
God, and turn from following after him.
CHAP. XXIII.
In this and the following- chapter we have two farewell ser¬
mons, which Joshua preached to the people of Israel a
little before his death. Had he designed to gratify the
curiosity of succeeding ages, he would rather have re¬
corded the method of Israel’s settlement in their new
conquests, their husbandry, manufactures, trade, cus¬
toms, courts of justice, and the constitutions of their
infant commonwealth, which one would wish to be
informed of; but that which he intended in the registers
of this book, was, to entail on posterity a sense of reli¬
gion and their duty to God; and therefore, overlooking
these things which are the usual subjects of a common
history, he here transmits to his reader the methods he
took to persuade Israel to be faithful to their covenant
with their God, which might have a good influence on the
generations to come who should read those reasonings,
as we may hope they had on that generation which then
heard them. In this chapter we nave, I. A convention
of the states called, v. 1, 2. probably to consult about
the common concerns of their land, and to set in order
that which, after some years’ trial, being left to their
prudence, was found wanting. II. Joshua’s speech to
them at the opening, or perhaps, at the concluding, of
the sessions, to hear which w as the principal design of
their coming together. In it, 1. Joshua reminds them
of what God had done for them, v. 3, 4, 9, 14. and what
he was ready to do yet further, v. 5, 10. 2. He exhorts
them carefully and resolutely to persevere in their auty
to God, v. 6, 8, 11. III. He cautions them against all
familiarity with their idolatrous inmates, v. 7. IV. He
gives them fair warning of the fatal consequences of it,
if they should revolt from God and turn to idols, v. 12,
13, 13, 16. In all which he showed himself zealous for
his God, and jealous over Israel with a godly jealousy.
1. A ND it came to pass, a long time af-
A ter that the Lord had given rest
unto Israel from all their enemies round
about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken
in age. 2. And Joshua called for all Israel,
and for their elders, and for their heads, and
for their judges, and for their officers, and
said unto them, I am old and stricken in
age: 3. And ye have seen all that the
Lord your God hath done unto all these
nations because of you : for the Lord your
God is he that hath fought for you. 4. Be¬
hold, I have divided unto you by lot these
nations that remain, to be an inheritance for
your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations
that I have cut off, even unto the great sea
westward. 5. And the Lord your God,
he shall expel them from before you, and
drive them from out of your sight; and ye
shall possess their land, as the Lord your
God hath promised unto you 6. Be ye
94
JOSHUA, xxin.
therefore vorv courageous, to keep aud to do
all that is written in the book of the law of
M oses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to
the right hand or to the left ; 7. That ye
come not among these nations, these that
remain among you ; neither make mention
of the name of their gods, nor cause to
swear by them , neither serve them, nor bow
yourselves unto them : 3. But cleave unto
the Lord your God, as ye have done unto
this day. 9. For the Lord hath driven out
from before you great nations and strong :
but ns for you, no man hath been able to
stand before you unto this day. 10. One
man of you shall chase a thousand : for the
Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for
you, as he hath promised you.
As to the date of this edict of Joshua’s,
I. No mention at all is made of the place where
this general assembly was held; some think it was
at Timnath-serah, Joshua’s own city, where he
lived, and whence, being old, he could not well re¬
move: but it does not appear that he took so much
state upon him, therefore it is more probable this
meeting was at Shiloh, where the tabernacle of
meeting was, and to which place, perhaps, all the
males that could, were now come up to worship be¬
fore the Lord, at one of the three great feasts,
which Joshua took the opportunity of, for the deli¬
vering of this charge to them.
II. There is only a general mention of the time
when this was done. It was long after the Lord
had given them rest, but it is not said how long, v.
1. It was, 1. So long as that Israel had time to feel
the comforts ol their rest and possessions in Canaan,
and to enjoy the advantages of that good land. 2.
So long as that Joshua had time to observe which
way their danger lav of being corrupted, namely, by
their intimacy with the Canaanites, that remained,
against which he is therefore careful to arm them.
III. The persons to whom Joshua made this
speech, to all Israel, even their elders, 8tc. So it
might be read, v. 2. they could not all come within
hearing, but he called for all the elders, that is, the
privy-counsellors, which in latter times constituted
the great Sanhedrim, the heads of the tribes, that
is, the noblemen and gentlemen of their respective
countries, the judges learned in the laws, that tried
criminals and causes, and gave judgment upon
them — and, lastly, the officers or sheriffs, who were
intrusted with the execution of those judgments.
These Joshua called together, and to them he ad¬
dressed himself, 1. That they might communicate
what he said, or at least the sense and substance of
it, to those under them in their respective countries,
and so this charge might be dispersed through the
whole nation. 2. Because if they would be prevail¬
ed with to serve God and cleave to him, they, by
their influence on the common people, would keep
them right. If great men be good men, they will
help to make many good men.
IV. Joshua’s circumstances when he gave them
this charge; he was old and stricken in age, v. 1.
probably, it was in the last year of his life, and he
lived to be one hundred and ten years old, ch. 24. 29.
And he himself takes notice of it, in the first words
of his discourse, v. 2. when he began to be old, some
years ago, God reminded him of it, ch. 13. 1,
Thou art old. But now that he did himself feel so
much of the decavs of age that he needed not to be
told of it, he readily speaks of it himself, lam old
and stricken in age. He uses it, 1. As an argument
with himself to give them this charge, because be¬
ing old he could expect to be but a little while with
them to advise and instruct them, and therefore
(as St. Peter speaks, 2 Pet. 1. 13.) as long as he is
in this tabernacle , he will take all opportunities to
put them in remembrance of their duty, knowing
by the increasing infirmities of age, that he must
shortly put off this tabernacle, and desiring that af¬
ter his decease they might continue as good as they
were now. When we see death hastening towards
us, that should quicken us to do the work of dfe
with all our might. 2. As an argument with them
to give heed to what he said. He was old and ex¬
perienced, and therefore to be the more regarded,
for days should speak; he was grown old m their
service, and had spent himself for their good, and
therefore was to be the more regarded by them.
He was old and dying, they would not have him
long to preach to them, therefore let them observe
what he said now, and lay it up in store for the
time to come.
V. The discourse itself, the scope of which is to
engage them, if possible, them, and their seed after
them, to persevere in the true faith and worship of
the God of Israel.
1. He puts them in mind of the great things God
had done for them, now in his days, and under his
administration, for here he goes no further back.
And for the proof of this, he appeals to their own
eves, x'. 3, “ Ye have seen all that the Lord your
Clod hath done, not what I have done, oT what you
have done, we were only instruments in God’s hand,
but what God himself has done by me, and for you.”
(1.) “ Many great and mighty nations (as the rate of
nations then went) were driven out from as fine a
country as any was at that time upon the face of the
earth, to make room for Israel.” “You see what
he has done to these nations who were his creatures,
the work of his hands, and whom he could have
made new creatures, and fit for his service; yet see
what destruction he has made of them because of
you, v. 3. how he has driven them out from before
you, v. 9. as if they were of no account with him,
though great and strong in comparison with you.”
(2.) They were not only driven out, (that they
might have been, and yet sent to some other coun¬
try less rich, to begin a new plantation there, sup¬
pose to that wilderness in wit fch Israel had wander¬
ed so long, and so they had only exchanged seats
with them,) but they were trodden down before
them; though they held out against them with the
greatest obstinacy that could be, yet they were
subdued before them, which made the possessing
of their land so much the more glorious to Israel,
and so much the more illustrious an instance of the
power and goodness of the God of Israel, v. 3.
“ The Lord your God has not only led you, and fed
you, and kept you, but he has fought for you as a
man of war, by which title he was known among
them when he first brought them out of Egypt,
Exod. 15. 3. So clear and cheap were all their
victories during the course of th)s long war, that no
man had been able to stand before them, v. 9. that is,
to make head against them, so as either to put
them in fear, create them any difficulty, or give
any check to the progress of their victorious arms.
In every battle they carried the day, and in every
siege they carried the city; their loss before Ai was
upon a particular occasion, was inconsiderable, and
only served to show them on what terms thev stood
with God; but otherwise, never was army crowned
with such a constant uninterrupted series of succes¬
ses, as the armies of Israel were in the wars of Ca¬
naan. (3.) They had not only conquered the Ca
naanites, but were put in full possession of their
land, v. 4, “ I have divided to you by lot these na
95
JOSHUA, XXIII.
tions, botli those which are cut off, and those which [
remain, not only that you may spoil and plunder
them, and live at discretion in them for a time, but
to be a sure and lasting inheritance for your tribes.
You have it not only under your feet, but in your
hands. ”
2. He assures them of God’s readiness to carry
on, and complete, this glorious work in due time. It
is true, some of the Canaanites did yet remain, and
in some places were strong and daring, but that
should be no disappointment to their expectations;
when Israel was so multiplied as to be able to re¬
plenish this land, God would expel the Canaanites
to the last man, provided Israel would pursue their
advantages, and carry on the war against them with
vigour, v. 5, “ The Lord your God will drive
them from out of your sight, so that there shall not
be a Canaanite to be seen in the land; and even that
part of the country which is yet in their hands, ye
shall possess. ” If it were objected, that, the men
of war of the several tribes being dispersed to their
respective countries, and the army disbanded, it
would be difficult to get them together when there
was occasion to renew the war upon the remainder
of the Canaanites; in answer to that, he tells them
what little need they had to be in care about the
numbers of their forces, v. 10, One man of you
shall chase a thousand, as Jonathan did, 1 Sam.
14. 13. “ Each tribe may venture for itself, and
for the recovery of its own lot, without fearing dis¬
advantage by the disproportion of numbers; for
the Lord your God, whose all power is, both to in-
spirit and to rfispirit, and who has all creatures at
his beck, he it is, that fghteth for you; and how
many do you reckon him for?”
3. He hereupon most earnestly charges them to
adhere to their duty, to go on and persevere in the
good ways of the Lord wherein they were so well set
out. He exhorts them,
(1. ) To be very courageous, v. 6. “ God fighteth
for you against your enemies, do you therefore be¬
have yourselves valiantly for him. Keep and do
with a firm resolution all that is written in the book
of the law.” He presses upon them no more than
what they were already bound to. “Keep with
care, do with diligence, and eye what is written
with sincerity.”
(2.) To be very cautious. “ Take heed of missing
it, either on the right hand, or on the left, for there
are errors and extremes on both hands. Take heed ;
of running either into a profane neglect of any of
God’s institutions, or into a superstitious addition of
any of your own inventions.” They must especially
take heed of all approaches toward idolatry, the sin
to which they were first inclined, and wTould be
most tempted, v. 7. [1.] They must not acquaint
themselves with idolaters, nor come among them to
visit them, or be present at any of their feasts or
entertainments, for they could not contract any inti¬
macy, or keep up any conversation with them,
without danger of infection. [2.] They must not
show the least respect to any idol, nor make men¬
tion of the name of their Gods, but endeavour to
bury the remembrance of them in perpetual obli¬
vion, that the worship of them may never be re¬
vived; let the very name of them be forgotten.
“ Look upon idols as filthy detestable things, not to
be named without the utmost loathing and detesta¬
tion.” The Jews would not suffer their children to
name swine’s flesh, because it was forbidden, lest
the naming of it should occasion their desiring of it;
but if they had occasion to speak of it, they must
call it, that strange thing. It is. pity, that among
Christians the names of the heathen gods are so '
commonly used, and made so familiar as they are,
especially in plays and poems: Let these names
which have been set up in rivalship with God, be
for ever loathed and lost. [3.] They must not
countenance others in showing respect to them.
They must not only not swear by them themselves,
but they must not cause others to swear by them,
which supposes that they must not make any cove¬
nants with idolaters, because they, in the confirming
of their covenants, would swear by their idols; ne\ er
let Israelites admit such an oath. [4.] They must
take heed of these occasions of idolatry, lest by de¬
grees they should arrive at the highest step of it,
which was serving false gods, and bowing down to
them, against the letter of the second command¬
ment.
(3.) To be very constant, v. 8. Cleave unto the
Lord your God, that is, “ delight in him, depend
upon him, devote yourseh es to his glory, and con¬
tinue to do so to the end, as you have done unto
this day, ever since you came to Canaan;” for, being
willing to make the best of them, he looks not so
far back as the iniquity of Pec r. There might be
many things amiss among them, but they had not
forsaken the Lord their God, and it is in order to
insinuate his exhortation to perseverance wTith the
more pleasing power, that he praises them. “ Go
on and prosper, for the Lord is with you while you
are with him.” Those that command, should com¬
mend; the way to make people better, is, to make
the best of them. “ You have cleaved to the Lord
unto this day, therefore go on to do so, else you lose
the praise and recompense of what you ha\e
wrought. Your righteousness will not be mentioned
unto you, if you turn from it. ”
11. Take good heed therefore unto your¬
selves, that ye love the Lord your God. 12.
Else if ye. do in any wise go back, and
cleave unto the remnant of these nations,
even these that remain among you, and
shall make marriages with them, and go in
unto them, and they to you : 1 3. Know for
a certainty that the Lord your God will
no more drive out any of these nations from
before you ; but they shall be snares and
traps unto you, and scourges in your sides,
and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from
off this good land, which the Lord your God
hath given you. 14. And, behold, this day
I am going the way of all the earth : and ye
know in all your hearts, and in all your
souls, that not one thing hath failed of all
the good things which the Lord your God
spake concerning you ; all are come to pass
unto you, and not one thing hath failed
thereof. 15. Therefore it shall come to
pass, that as all good things are come upon
you, which the Lord your God promised
you ; so shall the Lord bring upon you all
evil things, until he have destroyed you from
off this good land which the Lord your
God hath given you. 16. When ye have
transgressed the covenant of the Lord
your God, which he commanded you, and
have gone and served other gods, and bow¬
ed yourselves to them ; then shall the anger
of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye
shall perish quickly from off the good land
which he hath given unto you.
Here,
% JOSHUA, XXIV.
I. Joshua directs them what to do, that they
might persevere in religion, v. 11. Would we
cleave to the Lord, and not forsake him, 1. We
must always stand upon our guard, for many a pre¬
cious soul is lost and ruined through carelessness;
“Take heed therefoi'e, take good heed to your¬
selves, to your souls, (so the word is,) that the in¬
ward man be kept clean from the pollutions of sin,
and closely employed in the service of God. God
has given us precious souls, with this charge,
“ Take good heed to them, keep them with all di¬
ligence, above all keepings.” 2. What we do in re¬
ligion, we must do from a principal of love, not by
constraint or from a slavish fear of God, but of
choice and with delight. “ Love the Lord your
God, and you will not leave him.”
II. He urges God’s fidelity to them as an argu¬
ment why they should be faithful to him, v. 14, “7
am going the way of all the earth, I am old and dy¬
ing:” to die, is to go a journey, a journey to our
long home; it is the way of all the earth, the way
that all mankind must go, sooner or later. Joshua
himself, though so great and good a man, and one
that could so ill be spared, cannot be exempted
from this common lot. He takes notice of it here,
that they might look upon these as his dying words,
and regard them accordingly. Or thus, “ 7 am dy¬
ing, and leaving you, me ye have not always, but if
you cleave to the Lord, he will never leave you.”
Or thus, “ Now that I am near my end, it is proper
to look back upon the years that are past; and in
the review, I find, and ye yourselves know it in all
your hearts, and in all your souls, by a full convic¬
tion on the clearest evidence, and the thing has
made an impression upon you,” (that knowledge
does us good, which is seated, not in the head only,
but in the heart and soul, and with which we are
duly affected,) “ye know that not one thing hath
failed, of all the good things which the Lord sfiake
concerning you;” (and he speaks a great many;)
see cli. 21. 45. God had promised them victory,
rest, plenty, his tabernacle among them, c. and
not one thing had failed of all he had promised.
“Now,” said he, “ has God been thus true to you?
Be not you false to him.” It is the apostle’s argu¬
ment for perseverance, Heb. 10. 23, He is faithful
that has promised.
III. He gives them fair warning, what would be
the fatal consequences of apostasy, v. 12, 13, 15, 16.
“ If you go back, know for a certainty it will be
your ruin. ” Observe,
1. How he describes the apostasy which he
warns them against. The steps of it would be, v.
12. growing intimate with idolaters, who would
craftily wheedle them, and insinuate themselves
into their acquaintance, now that they were be¬
come lords of the country, to serve their own ends.
The next step would be intermarrying with them,
drawn to it by their artifices, who would be glad to
bestow their children upon these wealthy Israelites.
And the consequence of that would be, v. 16. serv¬
ing their gods, (which were pretended to be the
ancient deities of the country,) and bowing down to
them. Thus the way of sin is down-hill, and those
who have fellowship with sinners, cannot avoid
having fellowship with sin. This he represents, ( 1. )
As a base and shameful desertion ; “ it is going back
from what you have so well begun,” v. 12. (2.)
As a most perfidious breach of promise, v. 16. “ It
is a transgression of the covenant of the Lord your
God, which he commanded you, and which you
yourselves set your hand to.” Other sins were
transgressions of the law God commanded them,
but this was a transgression of the covenant that he
commanded them, and amounted to a breach of the
relation between God and them, and a forfeiture of
all the benefits of the covenant.
2. How he describes the destruction which he
warns them of. He tells them, (1.) That these
remainders of the Canaanites, if they should har¬
bour them, and indulge them, and join in affinity
with them, would be snares and traps to them, both
to draw them to sin, (not only to idolatry, but to all
immoralities, which would be the ruin, not only of
their virtue, but of their wisdom and sense, their
spirit and honour,) and also to draw them into fool¬
ish bargains, unprofitable projects, and all manner
of inconveniences; and having thus by underhand
practices decoyed them into one mischief or other,
so as to gain advantages against them, they would
then act more openly, and be scourges in their
sides, and thorns in their eyes, would perhaps kill
or drive away their cattle, burn or steal their com,
alarm or plunder their houses, and would by all
ways possible be vexatious to them : for, whatever
pretences of friendship they might make, a Ca-
naanite, unless proselyted to the faith and worship
of the true God, would in every age hate the very
name and sight of an Israelite. See how the punish¬
ment would be made to answer the sin, nay, how
the sin itself would be the punishment. (2.) That
the anger of the Lord would be kindled against
them. Their making leagues with the Canaanites,
would not only give them the opportunity of doing
them a mischief, and be the fostering of snakes in
their bosoms, it would likewise provoke God to be¬
come their enemy, and would kindle the fire of his
displeasure against them. (3.) That all the threat-
enings of the word would be fulfilled, as the pro¬
mises had, for the God of eternal truth is faithful to
both, v. 15. “ As all good things have come upon
you according to the promise, so long as you have
kept close to God, so all evil things will come upon
you according to the threatening, if you forsake
him.” Moses had set before them good and evil;
they had experienced the good, and were now in
the enjoyment of it, and the evil would as certainly
come, if they were disobedient. As God’s promises
are not a fool’s paradise, so his threatenings are not
bugbears. (4. ) That it would end in the utter ruin
of their church and nation, as Moses had foretold.
This is three times mentioned here. Your enemies
will vex you until ye perish from off this good land,
v. 13. Again, “ God will plague you until he have
destroy edyou from off this good land, v. 15. Heaven
and earth will concur to root you out. So that, v.
16, ye shall perish from off the good land. ” It will
aggravate their perdition, that the land from which
they shall perish, is a good land, and a land which
God himself had given them, and which therefore
he would have secured to them, if they by their
wickedness had not thrown themselves out of it
Thus the goodness of the heavenly Canaan, and
the free and future grant God has made of it, will
aggravate the misery of those that shall for ever be
shut out and perish from it. Nothing will make
them see how wretched they are, so much as to see
how happy they might have been. Joshua thus
sets before them the fatal consequences of their
apostasy, that, knowing the terror of the Lord,
they might be persuaded with purpose of heart to
cleave to him.
CHAP. XXIV.
This chapter concludes the life and reign of Joshua^in
which we have, 1. The great care and pains he took to
confirm the people of Israel in the true faith and worship
of God, that they might, after his death, persevere there¬
in. In order to this, he called another general assembly
of the heads of the congregation of Israel, v. 1. and dealt
with them, 1. By way of narrative, recounting the
great things God had done for them and their fathers,, v.
2.. 13. 2. By way of charge to them, in consideration
thereof, to serve God, v. 14. 3. By wav of treaty with
them, wherein he aims to bring them, (1.) To make rcli
JOSHUA, XXIV.
gion their deliberate choice; and they did so, with rea¬
sons for their choice, v. 15- .18. (2.) To make it their
determinate choice, and to resolve to adhere to it, v. 19
..24. 4. By way of covenant upon that treaty, v. 25..
28. II. The conclusion of this history, with, 1. The
death and burial of Joshua, v. 29, 30. and Eleazar, v.
33. and the mention of the burial of Joseph’s bones upon
that occasion, v. 32. 2. A general account of the State
of Israel at that time, v. 31.
1. | ND Joshua gathered all the tribes of
JTlL Israel to Shechem, and called for the
elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for
their judges, and for their officers ; and they
presented themselves before God. 2. And
Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in old
time, even Terah, the father of Abraham,
and the father of Nachor: and they served
other gods. 3. And I took your father
Abraham from the other side of the flood,
and led him throughout all the land of Ca¬
naan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him
Isaac. 4. And 1 gave unto Isaac, Jacob
and Esau ; and 1 gave unto Esau mount
Seir, to possess it : but Jacob and his chil¬
dren went down into Egypt. 5. I sent Mo¬
ses also and Aaron, and 1 plagued Egypt,
according to that which I did among them :
and afterward I brought you out. 6. And
I brought your fathers out of Egypt : and
you came unto the sea; and the Egyptians
pursued after your fathers with chariots and
horsemen unto the Red Sea. 7. And when
they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness
between you and the Egyptians, and
brought the sea upon them, and covered
them : and your eyes have seen what
I have done in Egypt : and ye dwelt
in the wilderness a long season. 8. And
I brought you into the land of the Am-
orites, which dwelt on the other side
Jordan ; and they fought with you : and I
gave them into your hand, that ye might
possess their land ; and I destroyed them
from before you. 9. Then Balak the son
of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred
against Israel, and sent and called Balaam
the son of Beor to curse you : 10. But I
would not hearken unto Balaam ; therefore
he blessed you still: so I delivered you out
of his hand. 1 1. And ye went over Jordan,
and came unto Jericho : and the men of
Jericho fought against you, the Amorites,
and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites,
and th^ Hittites, and the Girgashites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites ; and. I delivered
them into your hand. 12. And I sent the
hornet before you, which drave them out
from before you, even the two kings of the
Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with
thy bow. 13. And I have given you a land
Vol. ii.— N
for which ye did not labour, and cities which
ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the
vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted
not, do ye eat. 14. Now therefore fear the
L( rd, and serve him in sincerity and in
truth : and put away the Gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in Egypt ; and serve ye the Lord.
Joshua thought he had taken his last farewell of
Israel, in the solemn charge he gave them in the
foregoing chapter, when he said, I go (he ’way of
all the earth; but God graciously continuing his life
longer than he expected, and renewing his strength,
he was desirous to improve it for the good of Israel:
he did not say, “ I have taken my leave of them
once, and let that serve;” but, having yet a longer
space given him, he summons them together again,
that he might try what more he could do to engage
them for God. Note, We must never think our
work for God done, till our life is done; and if he
lengthen out our days beyond what we thought, we
must conclude it is because he has some further ser¬
vice for us to do.
The assembly is the same with that in the fore¬
going chapter, the elders, heads, judges and officers
of Israel, v. 1. But it is here made something
more solemn than it was there.
I. The place appointed for their meeting is She-
chem, nr t only because that lay nearer to Joshua
than Shiloh, and therefore more convenient now
that he was infirm and unfit for travelling, but be¬
cause it was the place where Abraham, the first
trustee of God’s co\ enant with this people, settled
at his coming to Canaan, and where God appeared
to him, Gen. 12. 6, 7. and near which stood mount
Ger'zim and Ebal, where the people had renewed
their covenant with God at their first coming into
Canaan, Josh. 8. 30. Of the promises God had
made to their fathers, and of the promsies they
themselves had made to God, this place might serve
to put them in mind.
II. They presented themselves, not only before
Joshua, but before God, in this assembly; that is,
they came together in a solemn religious manner,
as into the special presence of God, and with an eye
to him speaking to them by Joshua; and, it is pro¬
bable, the service began with prayer. It is the
conjecture of interpreters, that upon this great oc¬
casion, Joshua ordered the ark rf God to be brought
by the priests to Shechem, which, they say, was
but, about ten miles from Shiloh, and to be set down
in the place of their meeting, which is therefore
called, v. 26, the sanctuary of the Lord, the pre¬
sence ( f the ark making it so at that time; and this
was done to grace the solemnity, and to strike an
awe upon the people that attended. We have not
now any such sensible tokens of the divine pre¬
sence, but are to believe that \vhere two or three
are gathered together in Christ’s name, he is as
really in the midst of them, as God was where the
ark was, and they are indeed presenting them¬
selves before him.
III. Joshua spake to them in God’s name, and as
from him, in the language of a prophet, v. 2.
“ Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah, the great God,
and the God of Israel, your God in covenant, whom
therefore you are bound to hear and give heed to.”
Note, The word of God is to be received by us as
his, whoever is the messenger that brings it, whose
greatness cannot add to it, nor his meanness dimin¬
ish from it.
His sermon consists of doctrine and application.
1. The doctrinal part is a history of the °re it
things God had done for his people, and for th?ir
9
JOSHUA, XXIV.
fathei-s before them. God by Joshua recounts the
marvels of old, “I did so and so.” They must
know and consider, not only that such and such
things were done, but that God did them. It is a
series of wonders that is here recorded, and perhaps
many moi-e were mentioned by Joshua, which for
brevity’s sake are here omitted. See what God
had wrought; (1.) He brought Abraham out of Ur
of the Chaldees, v. 2, 3. He and his ancestors had
served other gods there, for it was the country in
which, thoirgh celebrated for learning, idolatry, as
some think, had its rise; there the world by wisdom
knew not God. Abraham, who afterward was the
friend cf God, and the great favourite of heaven,
was bred up in idolatry and lived long in it, till God
by his grace snatched him as a brand out of that
burning. Let them remember that rock out of
which they were hewn, and not relapse into that
sin from which their fathers by a miracle of free
grace were delivered. “ I took him,” says God,
“else he had never come out of that sinful state.”
Hence Abraham’s justification is made by the apos¬
tle an instance of God’s justifying the ungodly ,
Rom. 4. 5. (2.) He brought him to Canaan, and
built up his family, led him through the land to
Shechem, where they now were, multiplied his
seed by Ishmael, who begat twelve princes, but at
last gave him Isaac the pronvsed son, aryl in him
multiplied his seed. When Isaac had two sons, Jacob
and Esau, God provided an inheritance for Esau
elsewhere in Mount Seir, that the land of Canaan
might be reserved entire for the seed of Jacob, and
the posterity of Esau might not pretend to a share in
it. (3. ) He delivered the seed of Jacob out of Egypt
with a high hand, v. 5, 6. and rescued them out of the
hands of Pharaoh and his host at the Red-sea, v.
6, 7. The same waters were the Israelites’ guard,
and the Egyptians’ grave; and this in answer to
prayer; for though we find in the story, that
they in that distress murmured against God,
Exod. 14. 11, 12. notice is here taken of their cry¬
ing to God; he graciously accepted those that pray¬
ed to him, and overlooked the folly of those that
quarrelled with him. (4.) He protected them in
the wilderness, where they are here said, not to
wander, but to dwell for a long season, v. 7. So
wisely were all their motions directed, and so safely
were they kept, that even there they had as certain
a dwelling place as if they had been in a walled
city. (5. ) He gave them the land of the Amorites,
on the other side Jordan, ?>. 8. and there defeated
the plot of Balak and Balaam against them, so that
Balaam could not curse them, as he desired, and
therefore Balak durst not fight them, as he de¬
signed, and, because he designed it, is here said to
do it. The turning of Balaam’s tongue to bless Is¬
rael, when he intended to curse them, is often men¬
tioned as an instance of the divine power put forth
in Israel’s favour, as remarkable as any other, be¬
cause in it God proved (and does still, more than
we are aware of) his dominion over the powers of
darkness, and over the spirits of men. (6.) He
brought them safely and triumphantly into Canaan,
delivered the Canaanites into their hand, v. 11, sent
hornets before them, when they were actually enga¬
ged in battle with the enemy, which with their
stings tormented them, and with their noise terri¬
fied them, so that thev became a very easy prey to
Israel. These dreadful swarms first appeared in
their war with Sihon and Og, the two kings of
the Amorites, and afterwards in their other bat¬
tles, v. 12. God had promised to do this for them,
Exod. 23. 27, 28. Deut. 7. 20. These hornets, it
should seem, annoyed the enemy more than all the
artillery of Israel, therefore he adds, not with thy
- word nor bow. It was purely the Lord’s doings.
iMst/y, They were now in the peaceable possess¬
ion of a good land, and lived comfortably upon the
fruit of other people’s labour, v. 13.
2. The application of this history of God’s mer¬
cies to them, is by way of exhortation, to fear and
serve God, in gratitude for his favour, and that it
might be continued to them, v. 14. Now therefore,
in consideration of all this, (1.) “ Fear the Lord,
the Lord and his goodness, Hos. 3. 5. Reverence
a God of such infinite power, fear to offend him, and
to forfeit his goodness. Keep up an awe of his ma¬
jesty, a deference to his authority, a dread of his
displeasure, and a continual regard to his all-seeing
eye upon you.” (2.) “ Let your practice be conso
nant to th:s principle, and serve him, both by the
outward acts of religious worship, and every in¬
stance of obedience in your whole conversation, and
this, in sincerity and truth, with a single eye and
an upright heart, and inward impressions, answer-
able to outward expressions.” That is the truth in
the inward part, which God requires, Ps. 51. 6.
For what good will it do us to dissemble with a God
that searches the heart? (3. ) Put away the strange
gods, both Chaldean and Egyptian idols, for those
they were most in danger of revolting to. It should
seem by this charge, which is repeated, v. 23. that
there were some among them that privately kept
in their closets the images or pictures of these
dunghill-deities, which came to their hands from
their ancestors, as heir-looms of their families,
though it may be, they did not worship them; these
Joshua earnestly urges them to throw away. “De¬
face them, destroy them, lest you be tempted to
serve them. ” Jacob pressed his household to do
this, and at this very place; for when they gave him
up the little images they had, he buried them wi¬
der the oak that grows by Shechem, Gen. 35. 2, 4.
Perhaps the oak mentioned here, v. 26. was the
same oak, or another in the same place, which
might be well called the oak of reformation, as
there were idolatrous oaks.
15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve
I the Lord, choose you this day whom you
! will serve ; whether the gods which your
fathers served, that were on the other side
of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land ye dwell : but as for me and
my house, we will serve the Lord. 1 6.
And the people answered and said, God
forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to
j serve other gods; 17. For the Lord our
I God, he it is that brought us up, and our fa¬
thers, out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage, and which did those
great signs in our sight, and preserved us in
all the way wherein we went, and among
all the people through whom we passed :
1 8. And the Lord drave out from before
us all the people, even the Amorites which
dwelt in the land : therefore will we also
serve the Lord; for he is our God. 19.
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye can¬
not serve the Lord: for he is a holy God:
he is a jealous God ; he will not forgive
your transgressions nor your sins. 20. If
ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange
gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and
consume you, after that he hath done you
good. 21. And the people said unto Josh-
99
JOSHUA
ua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. 22.
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are
witnesses against yourselves that ye have
chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And
they said, We are witnesses. 23. Now
therelore put away, said he , the strange
gods which are among you, and incline your
heart unto the Lord God of Israel. 24.
And the people said unto Joshua, the Lord
our God will we serve, and his voice will
we obey. 25. So Joshua made a covenant
with the people that day, and set them a
statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26.
And Joshua wrote these words in the book
of the law of God, and took a great stone,
and set it up there under an. oak, that was
by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27. And
Joshua said unto all the people, Behold,
this stone shall be a witness unto us ; for
it hath heard all the words of the Lord
which he spake unto us : it shall be there¬
fore a witness .unto you, lest ye deny your
God. 28. So Joshua let the people depart,
every man unto his inheritance.
Never was any treaty carried on with better
management, nor brought to a better issue, than
this of Joshua’s with the people, to engage them to
serve God; the manner of his dealing with them
shows him to be in earnest, and that his heart was
much upon it, to leave them under all possible obli¬
gations to cleave to Him, particularly the obligation
of a- choice, and of a covenant.
I. Would it be any obligation upon them, if they
made the service of God their choice — he here puts
them to their choice; not as if it were antecedently
indifferent whether they served God or no, or as if
they were at their liberty to refuse his service, but
because it would have a great influence upon their
perseverance in religion, if they embraced it with
the reason of men, and with the resolution of men.
These two things he here brings them to.
1. He brings them to embrace their religion ra¬
tionally and intelligently, for it is a re sonable ser¬
vice. The will of man is apt to glory in its native
liberty, and, in a jealousy for the honour of that,
adheres with most pleasure to that which is its own
choice, and is not imposed upon it; therefore it is
God’s will that this service should be, not our
chance, or a force upon us, but our choice. Accord¬
ingly,
(1.) Joshua fairly puts the matter to their choice,
v. 15. Where, [i.] He proposes the candidates
that stand for the election. The 1 <ord, Jehovah,
on one side, and on the other side, either the gods
of their ancestors, which would pretend to recom¬
mend themselves to these that were fond of antiqui¬
ty, and that which was received by tradition from
their fathers, or the gods of their jieighbours, the
Amorites, in whose land they dwelt, which would
insinuate themselves into the affections of those that
were complaisant and fond of good fellowship. [2. ]
He supposes there were those to whom, upon some
account or other, it would seem evil to serve the
Lord. There are prejudices and objections which
some people raise against religion, which, with
those that are inclined to the world and the flesh,
have great force. It seems evil to them, hard and
unreasonable, to be obliged to deny themselves,
mortify the flesh, take up their cross, &c. But be-
, XXIV.
ing in a state of .probation, it is fit there should be
some difficulties in the way, else there were no
trial. [3.] He refers it to themselves, “ Choose
you whom ye will serve, choose this day, now th'.t
the matter is laid thus plainly before you, speedily
bring it to a head, and do not stand hesitating.”
Elijah, long after this, referred the decision cf the
controversy between Jehovah and Baal to the con¬
sciences of those with whom he was treating, 1
Kings 18. 21. Joshua’s putting off the matter here to
this issue, plainly intimates two things, First, That
it is the will of God we should every one of us make
religion our serious and deliberate choice. Let us
state the matter impaitially to ourselves, weigh
things in an even bal nee, and then determine ft r
that which we find to be really true and good. Lot
us resolve on a life of serious godliness, not merelv
because we know no other way, but because really,
upon search, we find no better. Secondly, That
religion has so much self-evident reason and right¬
eousness on its side, that it may safely be refei red
to every man that allows himself a free thought,
either to choose or refuse it; for the merits of the
cause are so plain, that no considerate man can do
otherwise but choose it. The case is so clear that
it determines itself. Perhaps Joshua designed, bv
putting them to their choice, thus to try if there
were any among them, who, upon so fair an occa¬
sion given, would show a coolness and indifference
toward the service of God; whether they would de¬
sire time to consider and consult their friends,
before they gave in an answer; that if any such
should appear, they might set a mark upon them,
and warn the rest to avoid them. [4.] He directs
their choice in this matter, by an open declaration
of his own resolutions. “ But as for me and my
house, whatever you do, we willseri'e the Lord, and
I hope you will all be cf the same mind.” Here he
resolves, First, For himself; As forme, I will serve
the Lord. Note, The service of God is nothing
below the greatest of men; it is so far from being a
diminution and disparagement to princes and those
of the first rank to be religious, that it is their great¬
est honour, and adds the brightest crown of glory
to them. Observe how positive he is, “I will serve
God. ” It is no abridgment of our liberty to bind
ourselves with a bond to God.” Secondly, For his
house, that is, his family, his children, and servants,
such as were immediately under his eye and care,
his inspection and influence. Joshua was a ruler, a
judge in Israel, yet he will not make his necessary
application to public affairs an excuse for the neg¬
lect of family-religion. Those that have the charge
of many families, as magistrates and ministers, must
take special care of their own, 1 Tim. 3. 4, 5. 1
and my house will serve God.
1. “Not my house, without me.” He would net
engage them to that work, which he would not set
his own hand to. As some who would have their chil¬
dren and servants good, but will not be so them¬
selves; that is, they would have them go to heaven,
but intend to go to hell themselves. 2. “Not 7,
without my house.” He supposes he might be for¬
saken by his people, but in his house, where his
authority was greater, and more immediate, there
he would overrule. Note, When we cannot bring
as many as we would to the service of God, we must
bring as many as we can, and extend our endea¬
vours to the utmost sphere of our activity; if we
cannot reform the land, let us put away iniquity far
from our own tabernacle. 3. “ First, I, and then
my house.” Note, Those that lead and rule in
other things, should be first in the service of Gcd,
and go before in the best things. Lastly, He resolves
to do this, whatever others did. Though all the
families of Israel should revolt from God, and serve
idols, yet Joshua and his family will steadfastly ad
100 JOSHUA
here to the God of Israel. 'Note, Those that resolve
to serve God, must not mind beifig singular in it,
nor be drawn by the crowd to forsake his service.
Those that are bound for heaven, must be willing
to swim against the stream, and must not do as the
most do, but as the best do.
(2. ) The matter being thus put to their choice,
they immediately determine it by a free, ra¬
tional, and intelligent, declaration, for the God of
Israel, against all competitors whatsoever, v. 16* •
18. Here, [1.] They concur with Joshua in this
resolution, being influenced by the example of so |
great a man, who had been so great a blessing to
them, v. 18, We also will serx>e the Lord. See
how much good great men might do, if they were but
zealous in religion, by their influence on their infe¬
riors. [2.] They startle at the thought of aposta¬
tising from God, v. 16. God forbid l the word
intimates the greatest dread and detestation ima¬
ginable; “ Far be it, far be it from us, that we or
our’s should ever forsake the Lord to seive other
gods. We must be lost to all sense of justice, grati¬
tude, and honour, ere we can harbour the least
thought of such a thing.” Thus must cur hearts
rise against all temptations to desert the service of
God: Get thee behind me, Satan. [3.] They give
very substantial reasons for their choice, to show
that they did not make it purely in compliance to
Joshua, but from a full conviction of the reasonable¬
ness and equity of it. They make this choice for,
and in consideration, First, Of the many great and
very kind things God had done for them, bringing
them out of Lgyfit through the wilderness into Ca¬
naan, v. 17, 18. Thus they repeat to themselves
Joshua’s sermon, and then express their sincere com¬
pliance with the intentions of it. Secondly, Of the
relation they stood in to God, and his covenant with
them, “ We will serve the Lord, v. IS, for he is our
God, who has graciously engaged himself by pro¬
mise to us, and to whom we have by solemn vow
engaged ourselves.”
2. He brings them to embrace their religion reso¬
lutely, and to express a full purpose of heart to
cleave to the Lord. Now that he has them in a
good mind, he follows his blow, and drives the nail
to the head, that it might, if possible, be a nail in a
sure place. Fast bind, fast find.
(1. ) In order to this he sets before them the diffi¬
culties of religion, and that in it, which might be
thought discouraging, v. 19, 20. Ye cannot serve \
the Lord, for he is a holy God, or as it is in the He¬
brew, he is the holy Gods, intimating the mystery j
of the Trinity, three in one; holy, holy, holy, holy ;
Father, holy Son, holy Spirit. He will not forgive.
And if ye forsake him, he will do you hurt. Cer¬
tainly Joshua does not intend hereby to deter them
from the service of God as impracticable and dan¬
gerous. But, [1.] He perhaps intends to represent
here the suggestions of seducers, who tempted |
Israel from their God, and from the serv ice of him, |
with such insinuations as these; that he was a hard
master, his work impossible to be done, and he
not to be pleased, and if displeased, implacable
and revengeful; that he would confine their respects :
to himself only, and would not suffer them to show
the least kindness for any other, and that herein he
was very unlike the gods of the nations, which
were easy, and neither holy nor jealous. It is pro¬
bable that this was then commonly objected against j
the Jewish religion, as it has all along been the arti¬
fice of Satan ever since he tempted our first parents,
thus to misrepresent God and his laws, as harsh
and severe; and Joshua by his tone and manner of
speaking might make them perceive he intended it
as an objection, and would put it to them how they
would keep their ground against the force of it. Or,
[2.] He thus expresses his godly jealousy over
, XXIV.
them, and his fear concerning them, that, notwith¬
standing the professions they now made of zeal for
God and his service, they would afterward draw
back, and if they did, they would find him just and
jealous to avenge it. Or, [3.] He resolves to let
them know the worst of it, and what strict terms
they must expect to stand upon with God, that
they might sit down and count the cost.- “ 1 e can¬
not serve the Lord, except you put away all other
gods, for he is holy and jealous, and will by no means
admit a rival, and therefore you must be very
watchful and careful, for it is at your peril, if you
desire hjs service; better you had never known it.”
Thus though our Master has assured us that his
yoke is easy, yet lest, upon the presumption of that,
we should grow remiss and careless, he has also t Id
us that the gate is straight, and the way narrow,
that leads to life, that we may therefore strive to
enter, and not seek only. “ You cannot serve God
and mammon ; therefore if you resOlv e to serve G< d,
you must renounce all competitois with him. You
cannot serve God in your own strength, nor will he
forgive your transgressions for any righteousness of
your own; but all the seed of Israel must be jits /fed
and must glory in the Lord alone, as their righte¬
ousness and strength, Isa. 45. 24, 25. They must
therefore come off from all confidence in their own
sufficiency, else their purposes woidd be to no pur¬
pose. Or, [4.] Joshua thus urges on them the
seeming discouragements which lay in their way,
that he might sharpen their resolutions, and draw
from them a promise yet more expiessand solemn,
that they would continue faithful to God and their
religion. He draws it from them that they might
catch at it the more earnestly, and hold it the
faster.
(2.) Notwithstanding this statement of the diffi¬
culties of religion, they declared a firm and fixed
resolution to continue and persevere therein, v. 21.
“Nay, but we will serve the Lord, we will think
never the worse of him for his being a holy and
jealous God, nor for his confining his servants to
worship himself only. Justly will he consume them
that forsake him, but we never will forsake h;m;
not only we have a good mind to serve him, and we
hope we shall, but we are at a point, we cannot
bear to hear any entreaties to leave him, or to turn
from following after him, Ruth 1. 16. in the
strength of divine grace we are resolved that we
will serve the Lord. ” This resolution they repeat
with an explication, v. 24. “ The Lord our God
will we serve, not only be called his servants, and
wear his livery, but our religion shall rule us in
everything, and his voice will we obey.” And in
vain do we call him Master and Lord, if we do not
the things which he saith, Luke 6. 46. This last
promise they make, in answer to the charge Joshua
gave them, v. 23. that, in order to their perseve¬
rance, they should, [1.] Put away the images and
relics of the strange gods, and not keep any of the
tokens of those other lov ers in their custody, if they
resolv ed their Maker should he their Husband ; they
promise in this to obey his voice. [2.] That they
should incline their hearts to the Goa of Israel, use
their authority over their own hearts to engage
them for God, not only to set their affections upon
him, but to settle them so. These terms they
agreed to, and thus, as Joshua explains the
bargain, they strike it, The Lord our God will we
serve.
II. The service of God being thus made their de¬
liberate choice, Joshua binds them to it by a solemn
covenant, v. 25. Moses had twice publicly ratified %
this covenant between God and Israel, at mount
Sinai, Exod. 24. and in the plains of Moab, Dent.
29. 1. Joshua had likewise done it once, ch. 8. 31,
8c c. and now the second time. It is here called a
JOSHUA
statute and an ordinance, because of the strength
and perpetuity of its obligation; and because even
this covenant bound them to no more than what
they were antecedently bound to by the divine com¬
mand.
Now, to give it the formalities of a covenant, 1.
He calls witnesses, no other than themselves, v. 22,
Ye are witnesses that ye have chosen the Lord; he
promises himself that they would never forget the
solemnities of this day, but if hereafter they should
break this covenant, he assures them that the pro¬
fessions and promises they had now made, would
certainly rise up in judgment against them, and
condemn them; and they agreed to it, “ We are
witnesses ; let us be judged out of our own mouths,
if ever we be false to our God.” 2. He put it in
writing, and inserted it, as we find it here, in the
sacred canon; he wrote it in the book of the law, v.
26. in that original which was laid up in the side of
the ark, and from thence, probably, it was trans¬
cribed into the several copies which the princes had
for the use of each tribe. There it was written,
that their obligation to religion by the divine pre¬
cept, and that by their own promise, might remain
on record together. 3. He erected a memorandum
of it, for the benefit of those who perhaps were not
conversant with writing, v. 26, 27. He set up a
great stone wider an oak, as a monument of this co¬
venant, and perhaps wrote an inscription upon it,
(by which stones are made to speak,) signifying the
intention of it. When he says, It had heard what
was past, he tacitly upbraids the people with the
hardness of their hearts, as if this stone had heard
to as good purpose as some of them; and if they
should forget what was now done, this stone would
so far preserve the remembrance of it, as to re¬
proach them for their stupidity and carelessness,
and be a witness against them.
The matter being thus settled, Joshua dismissed
this assembly of the grandees of Israel', v. 28. and
took his last leave of them, well satisfied in having
done his part, by which he had delivered his soul;
if they perished, their blood would be upon their
own heads.
29. And it came to pass after these things,
that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of
the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten
years old. 30. And they buried him in the
border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah,
which is in mount Ephraim, on the north
side of the hill of Gaash. 31. And Israel
served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and
all the days of the elders that overlived
Joshua, and which had known all the
works of the Lord, that he had done for
Israel. 32. And the bones of Joseph, which
t lie children of Israel brought up out of Egypt,
buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of
ground which Jacob bought of the sons of
ITamor, the father of Shechem, for a hun¬
dred pieces of silver: and it became the
inheritance of the children of Joseph. 33.
And Eleazar, .the son of Aaron, died; and
they buried him in a hill that pertained to
Phinehas his son, which was given him in
mount Ephraim.
This book, which began with triumphs, here ends
with funerals, by which all the glory of man is
stained.
, XXIV. * 101
1. Here is Joseph buried, v. 32. He died about
two hundred years before in Egypt, but gave com¬
mandment concerning his bones, that they should
not rest in their grave until Israel had rest in the land
of promise; now therefore, the children of Israel,
who had brought this coffin full of bones with them
out of Egypt, carried it along with them in all then-
marches through the wilderness, (the two tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh, it is probable, taking par¬
ticular care of it,) and kept it in their camp till
Canaan was perfectly reduced, now at last they de¬
posited it in that piece of ground which his father
gave him near Shechem, Gen. 48. 22. Probably
it was upon this occasion that Joshua called cut fi r
all Israel to meet him at Shechem, (x>. 1.) to attend
Joseph’s coffin to the grave there; so that the ser- •
mon in this chapter served both for Joseph’s fune¬
ral sermon, and his own farewell sermon; and if it
was, as is supposed, in the last year of his life, the
occasion might very well remind him of his own
death being at hand, for he was now just at the
same age that his illustrious ancestor Joseph was ar¬
rived at when he died, one hundred and ten years
old; compare v. 29. with Gen. 50. 26.
Here is the death and burial of Joshua, v. 29. 30.
We are not told how long he lived after the com¬
ing of Israel into Canaan. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it
was about seventeen years; but the Jewish chro-
nologers generally say it was about twenty-seven or
twenty-eight years. He is here called tbe servant
of the Lord, the same title that wras given to Mo¬
ses, ( ch . 1. 1.) when mention was made cf his
death; for though Joshua was in many respects in¬
ferior to Moses, yet in this he was equal to him,
that, according as his work was, he approved him¬
self a diligent and faithful servant of God. And he
he that traded with his two talents, had the same
approbation that he had who traded with five;
Well done, good and faithful sen’ant. Joshua’s
burying place is here said to be on the north* side
of the hill of Gaash, or the quaking hill; the Jews
say it was so called, because it trembled at the
burial of Joshua, to upbraid the people of Israel
with their stupidity, in that they did not lament the
death of that great and good man so as they ought
to have done. Thus, at the death of Christ, our
Joshua, the earth quaked. The learned Bishop
Patrick observes, that there is no mention of any
days of mourning for Joshua, as there were for Mo¬
ses and Aaron, in which, he says, St. Hierom and
other of the fathers think there is a mystery,
namely, that under the law, when life and immor¬
tality were not brought to so clear alight as they are
now, they had reason to mourn and weep for the
death of their friends; but now that Jesus, our Josh¬
ua, has opened the kingdom of heaven, we mav
rather rejoice.
3. Here is the death and burial of Eleazar the
cnief priest, who, it is probable, died about the same
time that Joshua did, as Aaron in the same year
with Moses, v. 33. The Jews sav that Eleazar, a
little before he died, called the elders together, and
gave them a charge as Joshua had done. He was
buried in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son,
which came to him, not by descent, for then it
would have pertained to his father first, nor had
the priests any cities in mount Ephraim; but either
it fell to him by marriage, as the Jews conjecture,
or it was freely bestowed upon him, to build a
countrv-seat on, by some pious Israelite, that was
well-affected to the priesthood, for it is here said
to be given him; and there he buried his dear fa¬
ther.
Last lit. We have a general idea given us of the
state of Israel at this time, v. 31. While Joshua
lived, religion was kept up among them under his
care and influence; but soon after he and his con-
JUDGES, 1.
temporaries died, it went to decay, so much often¬
times does one head hold up: how well is it for the
gospel church, that Christ, our Joshua, is still with
it, by his Spirit, and will be always, even unto the
end of the world!
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE BOOK OF
JUDGES.
This is called in the Hebrew Shcfiher Shophtim, the Book of Judges, which the Syriac and Arabic ver¬
sions enlarge upon, and call it, The Book of the Judges of the children of Israel; the judgments of that
nation being peculiar, so were their judges, whose office differed vastly from that of the Judges of our
nations. The LXX entitle it only KfiT*i, Judges. It is the history of the commonwealth of Israel,
during the government of the Judges from Othniel to Eli; so much of it as God saw fit to transmit to
us. It contains the history (according to Dr. Lightfoot’s computation) of two hundred and ninety-nine
years; reckoning to Othniel of Judah, forty years; to Ehud of Benjamin, eighty years; to Barak of
Naphtali, forty years; to Gideon of Manasseh, forty years; to Abimelech his son, three years; to Tola
of Issachar, twenty-three; to Jair of Manasseh, twenty-two; to Jephthah of Manasseh, six; to Ibzan of
Judah, seven; toElon of Zebulon, ten; to Abdon of Ephraim, eight; to Samson of Dan, twenty; in all
two hundred and ninety-nine. As for the years of their servitude, as where Eglon is said to oppress
them eighteen years, and Jabin twenty years, and so some others, those must be reckoned to fall in
with some or other of the years of the Judges. The judges here appear to have been of eight several
tribes; that honour was thus diffused, until at last it centered in Judah. Eli and Samuel, the two Judges
that fell not within this book, were of Levi. It seems, there was no Judge of Reuben or Simeon, Gad or
Asher. The history of these Judges in their order we have in this book, to the end of ch. 16. And then
in the five last chapters we have an account of some particular memorable events which happened, as
the story of Ruth did, (Ruth 1. 1.) in the days when the Judges ruled, but it is not certain in which
Judge’s days; but they are put together at the end of the book, that the thread of the general history
might not be interrupted. Now as to the state of the commonwealth of Israel during this period.
I. They do not appear here either so great or so good as one might have expected the character of such
a peculiar people should have been; that were governed by such laws, and enriched by such promises.
We find them wretchedly corrupted and wretchedly oppressed, by their neighbours about them, and
no where in all the book, either in war or council, do they make any figure proportionable to theii
glorious entry into Canaan. What shall we say to it? God would hereby show us the lamentable im¬
perfection of all persons and things under the sun, that we may look for complete holiness and happi¬
ness in the other world, and not in this. Yet,
II. We may hope that though the historian in this book enlarges most upon their provocations and griev¬
ances, yet there was a face of religion upon the land; and however there were those among them, that
were drawn aside to idolatry, yet the tabernacle-service, according to the law of Moses, was kept up,
and there were many that attended it. Historians record not the common course of justice and com¬
merce in a nation, taking that for granted, but only the wars and disturbances that happen; but the
reader must consider the other, to balance the blackness of them.
III. It should seem that in these times each tribe had very much its government in ordinary within it¬
self, and acted separately, without one common head, or council, which occasioned many differences
among themselves, and kept, them from being or doing any thing considerable.
IV. The government of the Judges was not constant, but occasional, when it is said that after Fluid's
victory the land rested eighty years, and after Barak’s forty, it is not certain that thev lived, much less
that they governed, so long; but they and the rest were raised up and animated by the spirit of God to
do particular service to the public when there was occasion, to avenge Israel of their enemies, and t ■
purge Israel of their idolatries, which are the two things principally meant by their judging Israel. Ye
Deborah, as a prophetess, was attended for judgment by all Israel, before there was occasion for her
agency in war, ch. 4. 4.
JUDGES, J. 103
V. During the go\ eminent of the Judges, God was in a more especial manner Israel’s king, so Samuel
tells them when they were resolved to throw eft' this form cf government, 1 Sam. 12. 12. Gcd would
try what his own law and the constitutions of that would do to ki ep them in order, and it proved that
when there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his oun eyes; lie therefore,
toward the latter end of this time, made the government of the judges more constant and universal
than it was at first, and at length gave them David, a king after his own heart; then, and not till then,
Israel began to flourish; which should make us very thankful for magistrates both supreme and subor¬
dinate, for they are ministers of God unto us for good. Four of the Judges of Israel are here canon¬
ized, Heb. 11. 32. Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. The learned Bishop Patrick thinks the
prophet Samuel was the penman of this Book.
JUDGES, I.
CHAP. 1.
This chapter gives us a particular account of what sort of
progress the several tribes of Israel made in the reducing
of Canaan after the death of Joshua. He did (as we say )
break the neck of that great work, and put it into such a
posture, that they might easily have perfected it in due
time, if they had not been wanting to themselves; what
they did in order hereunto, and wherein they come short,
we are here told. I. The united tribes of Judah and
Simeon did bravely. 1. God appointed Judah to begin,
v. 1, 2. 2. Judah took Simeon to act in conjunction
with him, v. 3. 3. They succeeded in their enterprises
against Bezek, (v. 4. 7.) Jerusalem, (v. 8.) Hebron and
Debir, (v. 9. . 15.) Hormah, Gaza, and other places, v.
17, 19. 4. Yet where there were chariots of iron, their
hearts failed them, v. 19. , Mention is made of the ICen-
ites settling among them, v. 16. II. The other tribes,
in comparison with these, acted a cowardly part. 1. Ben¬
jamin failed, v. 21. 2. The house of Joseph did well
against Beth-el, (v. 22. 26.) but in other places did not
improve their advantages, nor Manasseh, (v. 27. 28. ) nor
Ephraim, v. 29. 3. Zehulun spared the Canaanites, v. 30.
4. Ashur truckled worse than any of them to the Canaan¬
ites, v. 31, 32. 5. Naphtali was kept out of the full pos¬
session of several of his cities, v. 33. 6. Dan was straitened
by the Amorites, v. 34. No account is given of lssachar,
nor of the two tribes and a half on the other side Jordan.
1. VTOW, after the death of Joshua, it
X nI came to pass, that the children of
Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall
go up for us against the Canaanites first, to
tight against them ? 2. And the Lord said,
Judah shall go up : behold, 1 have delivered
the land into his hand. 3. And Judah said
unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me
into my lot, that we may fight against the
Canaanites ; and I likewise will go up with
thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with
him. 4. And Judah went up ; and the
Lord delivered the Canaanites and the
Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of
them in Bezek ten thousand men. 5. And
they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek ; and they
fought against him, and they slew the Ca¬
naanites and the Perizzites. G. But Adoni-
bezek fled: and they pursued after him, and
caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his
great toes. 7. And Adoni-bezek said, three¬
score and ten kings, having their thumbs and
their great toes cut off, gathered their meat,
under my table : as 1 have done, so God
hath requited me. And they brought him to
Jerusalem, and there he died. 8. Now the
children of Judah had fought against Jeru- 1
salem, and had taken it, 'and smitten it with j
the edge of the sword, and set the city
on fire.
Here,
I. The children of Israel consult the oracle of
God for direction, which of all the tribes should
first attempt to clear their country of the Canaan¬
ites, and to animate and encourage the rest. It was
after the death of Joshua: while he lived, he direct¬
ed them, and all the tribes were obedient to him;
but when he died, he left no successor in the same
authority that he had had: but the people must con¬
sult the breast-plate of judgment, and thence re¬
ceive the word of command; for God himself, as he
was their King, so he was the Lord of their h< sis.
The question they ask is, Who shall go up first ? v.
1. By this time, we may suppose, they were so
multiplied, that the places they were in possession
of, began to be too strait for them, and they must
thrust out the enemy to make room: now they in¬
quire, who should first take up arms. Whether
each tribe wds ambitious cf being first, and so strove
for the honour cf ;t, or whether each -was afraid of
being first, and so strove to decline it, does not ap¬
pear; but by common consent the matter was refer¬
red to God himself, who is the fittest both tc
dispose of honours, and to cut out work.
II. God appointed that Judah should go up first,
and promised him success; (v. 2.) “ I have deliver¬
ed the land into his hand to be possessed, and there¬
fore will deliver the enemy into his hand, that
keeps him out of possession, to be destroyed. ” And
why must Judah be first in this undertaking? 1.
Judah was the most numerous and powerful tribe,
and therefore let Judah venture first. Note, God
appoints service according to the strength he has
given. Those that are most able, from them most
work is expected. 2. Judah was first in dignity,
and therefore must be first in duty. He it is, whom
his brethren must praise, and therefore he it is, who
must lead in perilous services. Let the burthen of
honour and the burthen of work go together. 3.
Judah was first served; the lot came up for Judah
first, and therefore Judah must first fight. 4. Judah
was the tribe out of which our Lord was to spring:
so that in Judah, Christ, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, went before them. Christ engaged the
powers of darkness first, and foiled thfem, which
animates us for our conflicts; and it is in him that
we are more than conquerors. Observe, The service
and the success are put together: “Judah shall go
up, let him do his part, and then he shall find, 1
have delivered the land into his hand.'” His serv ice
will not avail unless God give the success: but Gcd
will not give the success, unless he \ igorously ap
ply himself to the service.
III. Judah hereupon prepares to go up, but courts
his brother and neighbour the tribe of Simeon (the
lot of which tribe fell within that of Judah, and was
assigned out of it) to join forces with him, v. 3. Ob
104
JUDGES, 1.
serve here, 1. That the str1 ngest should not de¬
spise, but desire the assistance even of those that
■ire weaker. Judas was the most considerable of all
the tribes, and Simeon the least considerable, and
yet Judah begs Simeon’s' friendship, and prays an
aid from him; the head cannot say to the foot, I
have no need of thee, for we are members one of an¬
other. 2. Those that crave assistance, must be
ready to give assistance; Come with me into my lot,
and then I will go with thee into thine . It becomes
Israelites to help one another against Canaanites;
and all Christians, even those of different tribes, to
strengthen one another’s hands against the common
interests of Satan’s kingdom. Those who thus help
une another in love, have reason to hope that God
will graciously help them both.
IV. The confederate forces of Judah and Simeon
take the field. Judah went up, (x». 4.) and Simeon
with him, v. 3. Caleb, it is probable, was com¬
mander in chief of this expedition; for who so fit as
he who had both an old man’s head and a young
man’s hand; the experience of age and the vigour
oi youth! Josh. 14. 10, 11. It should seem too, by
what follows, that he (x\ 10, 11.) was not yet in
possession of his own allotment. It was happy for
them that they had such a general, as, according to
nis name, was all heart. Some think that the Ca¬
naanites were got together into a body, a formidable
body, when Israel consulted who should go fight
against them; and that they then began to stir when
they heard of the death of Joshua, whose name had
been so dreadful to them ; but, if so, it proved they
did but meddle to their own hurt.
V. God gave them great success. Whether they
invaded the enemy, or the enemy first gave them
the alarm, The Lord delivered them into their hand,
. 4. Though the army of Judah was strong and
bo’d, yet the victory is attributed to God! he deli¬
vered the Canaanites into their hand; having given
them authority, he here gives them ability to de¬
stroy them — put it in their power, and so tried their
obedience to his command, which was utterly to cut
them off. Bishop Patrick observes upon this, that
we meet not with such religious expressions in the
he then writers, concerning the success of their
arms, as we have here and elsewhere in this sacred
history. I wish such pious acknowledgments of the
Divine Providence were not grown into disuse at
this time, with many that are called Christians.
Now, 1. We are told how the army of the Canaan¬
ites was routed in the field, in or near Bezek, the
place where they drew up, which afterward Saul
made the place of a general rendezvous; (1 Sam.
11. 8.) they slew ten thousand men, which blow, if
followed, could not but be a very great weakening to
those that were brought already so very low. 2.
How their king was taken and mortified His name
was Adoni-bezek, which signifies, lord of Bezek.
There have been those that called their lands by
their own names, (Ps. 49. 11.) but here was one
(and there has been many another) that called him¬
self by his land’s name. He was taken prisoner
after the battle, and we are here told how they
used him : they cut off his thumbs, to disfit him for
fighting, and his great toes, that he might not be able
to run away, v. 6. It had been barbarous thus to
triumph over a man in misery, and that lay at their
merov, but that he was a devoted Canaanite, and
one that had in like manner abused others, which,
probably, they had heard of. Josephus says, “They
cut off his hands and his feet,” probably supposing
those more likely to be mortal wounds, than only
the cutting off his thumbs and his great toes. But
this indignity which they did him, extorted from
him an acknowledgment of the righteousness of
find, v. 7. Where observe, (1.) What a great
man this Adoni-bezek had been, how great in the
field, where armies fled before him, how great at
i home, where kings were set with the dogs of his
j flock; and yet now himself a prisoner, and reduced
i to the extremity of meanness and disgrace. See
how changeable this world is, and how slippery its
j high places are. Let not the highest be proud, nor
the strongest secure, for they know not how low
| they may be brought before they die. (2.) What
| desolation he had made among liis neighbours, he
had wholly subdued seventy kings, to that degree
I as to have them his prisoners; he that was the chief
person in a city, was then called a king, and the
greatness of their title did but aggravate their dis¬
grace, and fired the pride of him that insulted over
them. We cannot suppose that Adoni-bezek had
seventy of these petty princes at once his slaves,
but first and last, in the course of his reign, he had
thus deposed and abused so many, who perhaps
were many of them kings of the same cities that
successively opposed him, and whom he thus treat¬
ed to please his own imperious barbarous fancy, and
for a terror to others. It seems, the Canaanites
had been wasted by civil wars, and those bloody
ones, among themselves, which would very much
facilitate the conquest of them by Israel. “ Judah,”
says Dr. Liglitfoot, “in conquering Adoni-bezek,
did, in effect, conquer seventy kings.” (3.) How
justly he was treated as he had treated others. Thus
the righteous God sometimes, in his providence,
makes the punishment to answer the sin, and ob¬
serves an equality in his judgments; the spoiler
should be spoiled, and the' treacherous dealer dealt
treacherously with, Isa. 33. 1. And they that
showed no mercy, shall have no mercy showed them.
Jam. 2. 13. See Rev. 13. 10. — 18. 6. (4.) How
honestly he owned the righteousness of God herein.
As I have done, so God has requited me. See the
power of conscience, when God by his judgments
awakens it, how it brings sin to remembrance, and
subscribes to the justice of God. He that in his
pride had set God at defiance, now yields to him,
and reflects with as much regret upon the kings un¬
der his table, as ever he had looked upon them with
pleasure when he had them theie. He seems to
own that he was better dealt with than he had
dealt with his prisoners; for though the Israelites
maimed him, (according to the law of retaliation,
an eye for an eye, so a thumb for a thumb,) yet
they did not put him under the table to be fed with
the crumbs there; because, though the other might
well be looked upon as an act of justice, that would
have savoured more of pride and haughtiness thai
did become an Israelite
VI. Particular notice is taken of the conquest of
Jerusalem, v. 8. Our translators judge it spoken
of here, as done formerly in Joshua’s time, and only
repeated on occasion of Adoni-bezek’s dying there,
and therefore read it, “they had fought against Je¬
rusalem,” and put this verse in a parenthesis; but
the original speaks of it as a thing now done; and
that seems most probable, because it is said to be
done by the children of Judah in particular, not by
all Israel in general, whom Joshua commanded.
Joshua indeed conquered and slew Adoni-zedek,
king of Jerusalem, Josh. 10. but we read not there
of his taking the city; probably, while he was put-
suing his conquests elsewhere, this Adoni-bezek, a
neighbouring prince, got possession of it, whom,
hav ing conquered in the field, the city fell into their
hands, and they slew the inhabitants, except those
who retreated into the castle, and held cut there till
David’s time, and they set the city on fire, in token
of their detestation of the idolatry wherewith it had <
been deeply infected, yet, probably, not so as utterly
to consume it, but to leave convenient habitations
for as many : s they had to put into the possession
of it.
105
JUDGES, I.
9. And afterward the children of Ju¬
dah went down to fight against the Canaan-
ites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the
south, and in the valley. 10. And Judah
went against the Canaanites that dwelt in
Hebron, (now the name of Hebron before
was Kirjath-arba,) and they slew Sheshai,
and Ahiman, and Talmai. 11. And from
thence he went against the inhabitants of
Debir ; (and the name of Debir before was
Kirjath-sepher:) 1 2. And Caleb said, He
that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it,
to him will I give Achsah my daughter to
wife. 13. And Othniel the son of Kenaz,
Caleb’s younger brother, took it : and he
gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 1 4.
And it came to pass, when she came to him,
that she moved him to ask of her father a
field : and she lighted from off her ass ; and
Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou ? 1 5.
And she said unto him, Give me a blessing :
for thou hast given me a south land, give me
also springs of water. And Caleb gave her
the upper springs and the nether springs.
16. And the children of the Kenite, Mo¬
ses’ father-in-law, went up out of the city of
palm-trees with the children of Judah into
the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the
south of Arad : and they went and dwelt
among the people. 17. And Judah went
with Simeon his brother, and they slew the
Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and
utterly destroyed it : (And the name of the
city was called Hormah.) 1 8. Also Judah
took Gaza with the coast thereof, and
Ashkelon with the coast thereof, and
Ekron with the coast thereof. 19. And the
Lord was with Judah, and he drave out
the inhabitants of the mountain, but could
not drive out the inhabitants of the valley,
because they had chariots of iron. 20.
And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Mo¬
ses said : and he expelled thence the three
sons of Anak.
We have here a further account of that glorious and
successful campaign which Judah and Simeon made.
1. The lot of Judah was pretty well cleared of
the Canaanites, yet not thoroughly. Those that
dwelt in the mountain (the mountains that were
round about Jerus dem) were driven out, (y. 9. 19.)
but those in the valley kept their ground against
them, having chariots of iron, such as we read of,
Josh. 17. 16. Here the men of Judah failed, and
thereby spoiled the influence, which otherwise their
example hitherto might have had on the rest of the
tribes, who followed them in this instance of their
cowardice, rather than in all the other instances of
their courage. They had iron chariots, and there-
f ire it was thought not safe to attack them ; but had
not Israel God on their side, whose chariots are
thousands of angels, (Ps. 68. 17.) before whom
these iron chariots would be but as stubble to the
fire? Had not God expressly promised by the ora¬
cle, ( v . 2. ) to give them success against the Canaan-
Vol. II. — O
ites in this very expedition, without excepting those
that had iron chariots’1 Yet they suffered their fears
to prevail against their faith, they could not trust
God under any disadvantages, and therefore durst
not face the iron chariots, but meanly withdrew their
forces, then when with one bold stroke they might
have completed their victories; and it proved of
pernicious consequence. They did run well, what
hindered them ; Gal. 5. 7.
2. Caleb was put in possession of Hebron, which,
though given him by Joshua ten or twelve years
ago, (as Dr. Lightfoot computes,) yet being em¬
ployed in public service, for the settling of the
tribes, which he preferred before his own private
interests, it seems he did not till now make himself
master of; so well content was that good man to
serve others, while he left himself to be served last;
few men are like-minded, for all seek their own,
Phil. 2. 23, 21. Yet now the men of Judah all came
in to his assistance for the reducing of Hebron,
( v . 10.) slew the sons of Anak, and put him in pos¬
session of it, v. 20. They gave Hebron unto Caleb.
And now Caleb, that he might return the kindness
of his countrymen, is impatient to see Debir re¬
duced, and put into the hands of the men of Judah,
to expedite which, he proffers his daughter to the
person that will undertake to command in the siege
of that important place, v. 11, 12. Othniel bravely
undertakes it, and wins the town and the lady;
( v . 13.) and by his wife’s interest and management
with her father, gains a very good inheritance for
himself and family, v. 14, 15. We had this passage
before, Josh. 15. 16* *19, where it was largely ex¬
plained and improved.
3. Simeon got ground of the Canaanites in his
border, v. 17, 18. In the eastern part of Simeon’s
lot, they destroyed the Canaanites in Zephath, and
called it Hormah, destruction; adding this to some
other devoted cities not far off, which they had
some time ago, with that reason, called by that
name, Numb. 21. 2, 3. And this perhaps was the
complete performance of the vow they then made,
that they would utterly destroy these cities of the
Canaanites in the south. In the western part they
took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, cities of the Phi¬
listines; they gained present possession of the cities,
but not destroying the inhabitants, the Philistines
in process of time recovered the cities, and proved
inveterate enemies to the Israel of God, and no
better could come of doing their work by the
halves.
4. The Kenites gained a settlement in the tribe
of Judah, choosing it there, rather than in any other
tribe, because it was the strongest, and there they
hoped to be safe and quiet, v. 16. These were the
posterity of Jethro, who either went with Israel
when Moses invited them, (Numb. 10. 29.) or met
them about the same place, when they came up
from their wanderings in the wilderness thirty-
eight years after, and went with them then to Ca¬
naan, Moses having promised them that they should
fare as Israel fared, Numb. 10. 32, They had at
first seated themselves in the city of palm trees, that
is, Jericho, a city which never was to be rebuilt,
and therefore the fitter for them who dwelt in tents,
and did not mind building. But afterward they re¬
moved into the wilderness of Judah, either out of
their affection to that tribe, which perhaps had
been in a particular manner kind to them. Yet we
find the tent of Jael, who was of that family, far
north, in the lot of Naphtali, when Sisera tnok shel¬
ter there, ch. 4. 17. This respect Israel showed
them to let them fix where they pleased, being a
quiet people, who, wherever they were, were con¬
tent with a little. They that molested none, were
molested by none. Blessed are the meek, for thus
they shall inherit the earth .
JUDGES, 1.
10G
21. And the children of Benjamin did not
drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jeru¬
salem ; but the Jebusites dwell with the
children of Beniamin in Jerusalem unto
this day. 22. And the house of Joseph,
they also went up against Beth-el: and the
Loud was with them. 23. And the house
of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el : (Now the
name of the city before was Luz.) 24. And
the spies saw a man come forth out of the
city; and they said unto him, Show us, we
pray thee, the entrance into the city, and
we will show thee mercy. 25. And when
he showed them the entrance into the city,
they smote the city with the edge of the
sword ; but they let go the man and all his
family. 26. And the man went into the
land of the Hittites, and built a city, and
called the name thereof Luz : which is the
name thereof unto this day. 27. Neither
did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of
Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach
and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor
and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam
and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Me-
giddo and her towns; but the Canaanites
would dwell in that land. 28. And it came
to pass, when Israel was strong, that they
put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not
utterly drive them out. 29. Neither did
Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that
dwelt in Gezer ; but the Canaanites dwelt
in Gezer among them. 30. Neither did
Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron,
nor the inhabitants of Nahalol ; but the Ca¬
naanites dwelt among them, and became
tributaries. 31. Neither did Asher drive
out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabi¬
tants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib,
nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob :
32. But the Asherites dwelt among the Ca¬
naanites, the inhabitants of the land ; for
they did not drive them out. 33. Neither
did Naphtali drive out. the inhabitants of
Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-
anath ; but he dwelt among the Canaanites,
the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless
the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of
Beth-anath became tributaries unto them.
34. And the Amorites forced the children
of Dan into the mountain : for they would
not Suffer them to comedown to the valley:
35. But the Amorites would dwell in mount
Ueres in Ajalon, and in Shaalbim; yet the
hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so
that they became tributaries. 36. And the
coast of the Amorites was from the going
up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and up¬
ward.
We are here told upon what terms the rest of
the tribes stood with the Canaanites that remained
I. Benjamin neglected to drive the Jebusites out
of that part of the city of Jerusalem which fell to
their lot, v. 21. Judah had set them a good exam¬
ple, and gained them great advantages by what
they did, (a;. 9. ) but they did not follow the blow
for want of resolution.
II. The house of Joseph bestirred themselves a
little to get possession of Beth-el, v. 22. That this
city is mentioned in the tribe of Benjamin, Josh.
18. 22. Yet it is spoken of there, ( v . 13.) as a city
in the borders of that tribe, and it should seem, the
line went through it, so that one half of it only be¬
longed to Benjamin, the other half to Ephraim; and
perhaps the activity of the Ephraimites at this time,
to recover it from the Canaanites, secured it entirely
to them from henceforward, or at least the greatest
part of it, for afterward we find it so much under the
power of the ten tribes, (and Benjamin was none ot
them,) that Jeroboam set up one of his calves in it.
In this account of the expedition of the Ephraimites
against Beth-el, observe, 1. Their interest in the
divine favour. The Lord wan with them, and would
have been with the tribes, if they would have ex¬
erted their strength. The Chaldee reads it here,
as in many other places, The word of the Lord was
their Hel/ier, namely, Christ himself, the Captain
of the Lord’s host, now that they acted separately,
as well as when they were all in one body. 2. The
prudent measures they took to gain the city. They
sent spies to observe what part of the city was
weakest, or which way they might make their at¬
tack with most advantage, v. 23. These spies got
very good information from a man they providen¬
tially met with, who showed them a private way
into the town, which was therefore left unguarded,
because, being not generally known, no danger was
suspected on that side. And here, (1.) He is not
to be blamed for giving them this intelligence, if he
did it from a conviction that the Lord was with
them , and that by his donation the land was theirs
of right, any more than Rahab was for entertaining
those whom she knew to be enemies of her country,
but friends of God. Nor, (2.) Are they to be
blamed who showed him mercy, gave him and
his family not only their lives, but liberty to go
wherever they pleased: for one good turn requires
another. But, it seems, he would not join himself
to the people of Israel, he feared them rather than
loved them, and therefore he removed after a colo¬
ny of the Hittites, which, it should seem, was gone
into Arabia, and settled thei’e upon Joshua’s inva¬
sion of the country; with them this man chose to
dwell, and among them he built a city, a small one,
we may suppose, such as planters used to build, and
in the name of it preserved the ancient name of his
native city, Luz, an almond tree, preferring that
before its new name which carried religion in it,
Beth-el, the house of God. 3. Their success; the
spies brought or sent notice of the intelligence they
had gained to the army, which improved their ad-
vantages, surprised the city, and put them all to the
sword, v. 25. But beside this achievement, it seems,
the children of Joseph did nothing remarkable.
(1.) Manasseh failed to drive out the Canaanites
from several very considerable cities in their lot,
and did not make any attempt upon them, v. 27.
But the Canaanites being in possession, were re¬
solved not to quh it, they would dwell in that land,
and Manasseh had not resolution enough to offer to
dispossess them; as if there were no meddling with
them, unless they were willing to resign, which it
was not to be expected they ever would be. Onlv
as Israel got strength, they got ground, and served
themselves, both by their contributions, and by
their personal services, v. 28, 35. (2.) Ephraim
likewise, though a powerful tribe neglected Gezer,
JUDGES, II.
a considerable city, and suffered the Canaanites to
dwell among them, (v. 29.) which some think, inti¬
mates their allowing them a quiet settlement, and
indulging them the privileges of an unconquered
people, not so much as making them their tributa¬
ries.
III. Zebulun, perhaps inclining to the sea-trade,
for it was foretold that it should be a haven for ships,
neglected to reduce Kitron and Nahalol, (v. 30. )
and only made the inhabitants of those places tribu¬
taries to them.
IV. Asher quitted itself worse than any of the
tribes, ( v . 31, 32.) not only in leaving more towns
than any of them in the hands of the Canaanites,
but in submitting to the Canaanites, instead of
making them tributaries; for so the manner of ex¬
pression intimates, that the Asherites dwelt among
the Canaanites, as if the Canaanites were the more
numerous, and the more powerful, would still be
lords of the country, and the Israelites must be only
upon sufferance among them.
V. Naphtali also permitted the Canaanites to live
among them, (x». 33.) only by degrees they got
them so far under as to exact contributions from
them.
VI. Dan was so far from extending his conquests
there where his lot lay, that, wanting spirit to make
head against the Amorites, he was forced by them
to retire into the mountains and inhabit the cities
there, but durst not venture into the valley, where,
it is probable, the chariots of iron were, v. 34. Nay,
and some of the cities in the mountains were kept
against them, v. 35. Thus were they straitened in
their possessions, and forced to seek for more room
at Laish, a great way off, ch. 18. 1, isfc. In Jacob’s
blessing, Judah is compared to a lion, Dan to a ser¬
pent; now observe how Judah with his lion-like
courage prospered and prevailed, but Dan with all
his serpentine subtlety could get no ground; craft
and artful management do not always effect the
wonders they pretend to. What Dan came short i
of doing, it seems his neighbours the Ephraimites
in part did for him; they put the Amorites under ;
tribute, v. 35.
Upon the whole matter, it appears that the peo¬
ple of Israel were generally very careless both of
their duty and interest in this thing; they did not
what they might have done to expel the Canaanites
and make room for themselves. And, 1. It was
owing to their slothfulness and cowardice; they
would not be at the pains to complete their con¬
quests; like the sluggard, that dreamed of a lion in
the way, a lion in the streets, they fancied insuper¬
able difficulties, and frightened themselves with
winds and clouds from sowing and reaping. 2. It
was owing to their covetousness; the Canaanites’
labour and money would do them more good (they
thought) than their blood, and therefore they were
willing to let them live among them, that they
might make a hand of them. 3. They had not that
dread and detestation of idolatry, which they ought
to have had; they thought it pity to put these Ca¬
naanites to the sword, though the measure of their
iniquity was full; thought it would be no harm to
let them live among them, and that they should be
in no danger from them. 4. The same thing that
kept their fathers forty years out of Canaam kept
them now out of the full possession of it, and that
was, unbelief. Distrust of the power and promise
of God lost them their advantages, and run them
into a thousand mischiefs.
CHAP. IL
In mis chapter, we have, I. A particular message which
God sent to Israel by an angel, and the impression it
made upon them, v. ] . . 3. II. A general idea of the
state of Israel during the government of the Judges. In
which observe, 1. Their adherence to God while Joshua
and the elders lived, v. 6 . . 10. 2. Their revolt afterward
to idolatry, v. 11 . . 13. 3. God’s displeasure against them,
and his judgments upon them for it, 14. . 15. 4. His
pity toward them, showed in raising them up deliverers,
v. 16, 18. 5. Their relapse into idolatry after the judg¬
ment was over, v. 17, 19. 6. The full stop God in anger
put to their success, v. 20. . 23. These are the contents,
not only of this chapter, but of the whole book.
!• 4 ND an angel of the Lord came up
l from Gilgal to Bochiin, and said, J
[ made you to go up out of Egypt, and have
brought you unto the land which 1 svvare
unto your fathers ; and i said, I will never
break mv covenant w ith you. 2. And ye
shall make no league with the inhabitants
of this land; ye shall throw down their al
tars : but ye have not obeyed my voice :
why have ye done this ? 3. Wherefore ]
also said, I will not drive them out from be¬
fore you ; but they shall be ns thorns in your
sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto
you. 4. And it came to pass, when the an¬
gel of the Lord spake these words unto all
the children of Israel, that, the people lifted
up their voice, and wept. 5. And they
called the name of that place Bochim : and
they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
It was the privilege of Israel, that they had not
only a law in general sent them from heaven, once
for all, to direct them into, and keep them in, the
way to happiness, but that they had particular mes¬
sages sent them from heaven, as there was occa¬
sion, f r reproof, for correction, and for instruction
in righteousness, when at any time they turned aside
out of that way. Beside the written word which
they had before them to read, they often heu d a
word behind them, saying, This is the wav, Isa. 30.
21. Here begins that way of God’s dealing with
them. When they would not hear Moses, let it be
tried whether they will hear the prophets. In
l these verses we have a very awakening sermon
that was preached to them when they began to cool
in their religion.
I. The preacher was an angel of the Lord, (n. 1.)
not a prophet, not Phinehas, as the Jews conceit;
gospel ministers are indeed called angels of the
churches, but the Old Testament prophets are ne¬
ver called angels of the Lord; no doubt, this was
a messenger from heaven. Such extraordinary
messengers we sometimes find in this book, em¬
ployed in the raised up of the Judges that delivered
Israel, as Gideon and Samson, and now, to show
how various the good offices are they do for God’s
Israel, here is one sent to preach to them, to pre¬
vent their falling into sin and trouble. This extra¬
ordinary messenger was sent to command, if possi¬
ble, their great regard to the message, and to affect
the minds of a people, whom nothing seemed to af¬
fect but what was sensible. The learned Bishop
Patrick is clearly of opinion, that this was not a
created angel, but the angel of the covenant; the
same that appeared to Joshua as Ca/itain of the
hosts of the Lord, who was God himself. Christ
himself, says Dr. Lightfoot: who but God and
Christ could say, I made you to go vfi out of Egypt?
Joshua had lately admonished them to take heed
of entangling themselves with the Canaanites, but
they regarded not the words of a dying man; the
same warning therefore is here brought them by
the living God himself, the Son of God appearing
as an angel. If they slight his servants, surely they
1 o8 JUDGES, JI.
will reverence his Son. This angel of the Lord is
said to come up from Gilgal, perhaps not walking
on the earth, but flying swiftly, as the angel Ga¬
briel did to Daniel, in the open firmament of hea¬
ven; but whether walking or flying, he seemed to
come from Gilgal, for a particular reason; Gilgal
was long their head quarters after they came into
Canaan, many signal favours they had there re¬
ceived from God, and there the covenant of cir¬
cumcision was renewed, (Mic. 6. 5.) of all which it
was designed they should be reminded by his coming
from Gilgal. The remembrance of what we have
recerved and heard , will prepare us for a warning
to hold fast, Rev. 3. 2, 3.
II. The persons to whom this sermon was
preached, were all the children of Israel, v. 4. A
great congregation for a great preacher! They were
assembled either for war, each tribe sending id its
forces for some great expedition, or rather for wor¬
ship, and then the place of their meeting must be
Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, at which they
were all to come together, three times a year.
When we attend upon God in instituted ordinances,
we may expect to hear from him, and to receive
his gifts at his own gates. The place is called Bo-
chim, (v. 1.) because it gained that name upon this
occasion. All Israel need the reproof and warning
here given, and therefore it is spoken to them all.
III. The sermon .itself is short, but very close.
God here tells them plainly, 1. What had he done
for them, v. 1. He had brought them out of Egypt,
a land of slavery and toil, into Canaan, a land of
rest, liberty, and plenty. The miseries of the one
served as a foil to the felicities of the other. God
had herein been kind to them, true to the oath
sworn to their fathers, had given such proofs of his
power as left them inexcusable if they distrusted it,
and such engagement to his service, as left them,
inexcusable if they deserted it. 2. What he had
promised them; I said, I will never break my cove¬
nant with you. When he took them to be his pe¬
culiar people, it was r^>t with any design to cast
them on again, or to change them for another peo¬
ple at his pleasure; let them but be faithful to him,
and they should find him unchangeably constant to
them. He told them plainly that the covenant he
entered into with them should never break, unless
it broke on their side. 3. What were his just and
reasonable expectations from them, v. 2. 1 hat be¬
ing taken into covenant with God, they should
make no league with the Canaanites, who were
both his enemies and theirs. That having set up
his altar, they should throw down their altars, lest
they should be a temptation to them to serve their
gods. Could any thing be demanded more easy?
4. How they had in this very thing, which he had
most insisted on, disobeyed him. “ But ye have not
in so small a matter obeyed my voice.” In con¬
tempt of their covenant with God, and their con¬
federacy with each other in that covenant, they
made leagues of friendship with the idolatrous de¬
voted Canaanites, and connived at their altars,
though they stood in competition with God’s:
“ Why have ye done this? What account can you
give of this perverseness of your’s at the bar of right
reason? What apology can you make for your¬
selves, or what excuse can you offer?” They that
throw off their communion with God, and have fel¬
lowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
know not what they do now, and will have nothing
to say for themselves in the day of account shortly.
5. How thev rriust expect to smart by and by for
this their folly, v. 3. Their tolerating of the Ca¬
naanites among them would, (1.) Put a period to
their victories; “ You will not drive them out,”
savs God, “and therefore / will not;” thus their
sin was made their punishment. Thus they who
indulge their lusts and corruptions, which they
should mortify, forfeit the grace of God, and it is
justly withdrawn from them. If we will not resist
the Devil, we cannot expect that God should tread
him under our feet. (2. ) It would involve them in
continual troubles. “ They shall be thorns in your
sides to gore you, which way soever you turn, al¬
ways doing you one mischief or other.* Those de¬
ceive themselves, who expect advantage by friend¬
ship with those that are enemies to God. ' (3. ) It
would (which was worst of all) expose them to con¬
stant temptation, and draw them to sin. “ Their
gods” (their abominations, so the Chaldee) “ will
be a snare to you, you will find yourselves wretch¬
edly entangled in an affection to them, and it will
be your ruin;” so some read it. Those that ap¬
proach sin, are justly left to themselves to fall into
sin, and to perish in it. God often makes men’s sin
their punishment; and thorns and snares are in the
way of the froward, who will walk contrary to
God.
IV. The good success of this sermon is very re¬
markable — the people lifted ufi their voice and
we/i t, v. 4. 1. The angel had told them of their
sins, which they thus expressed their sorrow for;
they lifted up their voice in confession of sin, crying
out against their own folly and ingratitude, and
wept, as those that were both ashamed of them¬
selves, and angry at themselves, as having acted so
directly contrary both to their reason and to their
interest. 2. The angel had threatened them with
the judgment of God, which they thus expressed
their dread of; they lifted up their voice in prayer
to God to turn away his wrath from them, and wept
for fear of that wrath. They relented upon this
alarm, and their hearts melted within them, and
trembled at the word, and not without cause. This
was good, and a sign that the word they heard,
made an impression upon them; it is a wonder sin¬
ners can ever read their Bibles with dry eyes: but
this was not enough; they wept, but we do not find
that they reformed, that they went home and de¬
stroyed all the remains of idolatry and idolaters
among them. Many are melted under the word,
that harden again, before they are cast into a new
mould. However, this general weeping, (1.) Gave
a new name to the place, (v. 5. ) they called it Bo-
chim, Wee/iers, a good name for our religious assem¬
blies to answer. Had they kept close to God and
their duty, no voice but that of singing had been
heard in their congregation; but by their sin and
folly they had made other work for themselves,
and now nothing is to be heard but the voice of
weeping. (2.) It gave occasion for a solemn sacri¬
fice; they sacrificed there unto the Lord, being (as
is supposed) met at Shiloh, where God’s altar was.
They offered sacrifice to turn away God’s wrath,
and to obtain his favour, and in token of their dedi¬
cation of themselves to him, and to him only,
making a covenant by this sacrifice. The disease
being thus taken in time, and the physic adminis¬
tered working so well, one would have hoped a
cure might have been effected. But by the sequel
of the story, it appears to have been too deeply root¬
ed to be wept out.
6. And when Joshua had let the people
go, the children of Israel went every man
unto his inheritance to possess the land.
7. And the people served the Lord all the
days of Joshua, and all the days of the
elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen
all the great works of the Lord, that he
did for Israel. 8. And Joshua the son of
Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being
109
JUDGES, IJ.
a hundred and ten year.; old. 9. And they
Diiiied him in the border of his inheritance
in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim,
on the north side of the hill Gaash. 10.
And also all that generation were gathered
unto their fathers : and there arose another
generation after them, which knew not the
Lord, nor yet the works which he had
done for Israel 1 1 . And the children of
Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
and served Baalim: 12. And they forsook
the Lord God of their fathers, which
brought them out of the land of Egypt, and
followed other gods, of the gods of the peo¬
ple that were round about them, and bowed
themselves unto them, and provoked the
Lord to anger. 13. And they forsook the
Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
1 4. And the anger of the Lord was hot
against Israel, and he delivered them into
the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and
he sold them into the hands of their enemies
round about, so that they could not any long¬
er stand before their enemies. 1 5. Whither¬
soever they went out, the hand of the Lord
was against them for evil, as the Lord had
said, and as the Lord had sworn unto
them : and they were greatly distressed.
16. Nevertheless the Lord raised up
judges, which delivered them out of the
hand of those that spoiled them. 1 7. And
yet they would not hearken unto their
judges, but they went a whoring after other
gods, and bowed themselves unto them :
they turned quickly out of the way which
their fathers walked in, obeying the com¬
mandments of the Lord ; but they did not
so. 18. And when the Lord raised them
up judges, then the Lord was with the
judge, and delivered them out of the hand
of their enemies all the days of the judge:
for it repented the Lord because of their
groanings, by reason of them that oppressed
them and vexed them. 1 9. And it came to
pass, when the judge was dead, that they
returned and corrupted themselves more than
their fathers, in following other gods to
serve them, and to bow down unto them :
they ceased not from their own doings, nor
from their stubborn way. 20. And the an¬
ger of the Lord was hot against Israel ;
and he said, Because that this people hath
transgressed my covenant which I com¬
manded their fathers, and have not hearken¬
ed unto my voice, 21. I also will not
henceforth drive out any from before them
of the nations which Joshua left when he
died ; 22. That through them I may prove
Israel, whether they will keep the way of
(he Lord, to walk therein, as their fathers
I did keep it, or not. 23. Therefore the Lord
left those nations, without driving them out
hastily ; neither delivered he them into the
hand of Joshua.
The beginning of this paragraph is only a repe¬
tition of what account we had before of the people’s
good ch&racter, during the government of Joshua,
and of his death and burial, Josh. 24. 29, 30. Which
| comes in here again, only to make way for the fol-
lowing account, which this chapter gives, of their
! degeneracy and apostasy. The angel had foretold
1 that the Canaanites and their idols would be a snare
to Israel: now the historian undertakes to show
that they were so, and that they may appear the
more clear, he looks back a little, and "takes notice,
1. Of their happy settlement in the land of Canaan.
Joshua, having distributed this land among them,
dismissed them to the qu:et and comfortable pos¬
session of it, v. 6. He sent them away, not cnlv
every tribe, but every man to his inheritance, no
doubt, giving them his blessing. 2. Of their con¬
tinuance in the faith and fear of God’s holy name as
long as Joshua lived, v. 7. As they went to their
possessions with good resolutions to cleave to God,
so they persisted for some time in these good reso¬
lutions, as long as they had good rulers that set them
good examples, gave them good instructions, and
reproved and restrained the corruptions that crept
in among them; and as long as they had in remem¬
brance the great things God did for them when he
brought them into Canaan: they that had seen
these wonders, had so much sense as to believe
their own eyes, and so much reason as to serve that
God who had appeared so gloriously on their be¬
half; but they that followed, because they had not
seen, believed not. 3. Of the death and burial of
Joshua, which gave a fatal stroke to the interests
of religion among the people, v. 8, 9. Yet so much
sense they had of their obligations to him, that they
did him honour at his death, and buried him in Tim¬
nath-heres ; so it is called here, not, as in Joshua,
Timnath-serah. Hercs signifies the sun; a repre¬
sentation of which, some think, was set upon his se¬
pulchre, and ga\e name to it, in remembrance of
the sun’s standing still at his word. So divers of the
Jewish writers say; but I much question whether
an image of the sun would be allowed to the honour
of Joshua, at that time, when, by reason of men’s
general proneness to worship the sun, it would be
in danger of being abused to the dishonour of God.
4. Of the rising of a new generation, v. 10. All
that generation in a few years wore off, their good
instructions and examples died and were buried
with them, and there arose another generation of
Israelites who had so little sense of religion, and
were in so little care about it, that notwithstanding
all the advantages of their education, one might
truly say, that they knew not the Lord, knew him
not aright, knew him not as he had revealed him¬
self, else they would not have forsaken him. They
were so entirely devoted to the world, sq intent
upon the business of it, and so indulgent of the flesh
in ease and luxury, that they never minded the
true God and his holy religion, and so were easily
drawn aside to false gods and their abominable su¬
perstitions.
And so he comes to give us a general idea of the
series of things in Israel, during the time of the
Judges; the same repeated in the same order.
I. The people of Israel forsook the God of Israel,
and gave that worship and honour, to the dunghill-
deities of the Canaanites, which was due to him
alone, Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and won¬
der, O earth! Hath a nation, such a nation, so well
fed, so well taught, changed its God, such a God, a
no
JUDGES, II.
God of infinite power, unspotted purity, inexhausti- '
ble goodness, and so very jealous of a competitor, |
for stocks and stones that could do neither good nor
evil? Jer. 2. 11, 12. Never was there such an
instance of folly, ingratitude, and perfidiousness.
Observe how it is described here, v. 11, 13. In
general, they did evil , nothing could be more evil,
that is, more provoking to God, nor more prejudi¬
cial to themselves; and it was in the sight of the
Lord; all evil is before him, but he takes special
notice of the sin of having any other god. In par¬
ticular, 1. They forsook the Lord ; (x>. 12. and again,
v. 13.) this was one of the great evils they were
guilty of, Jer. 2. 13. They had been joined to the
Lord in covenant, but now they forsook him, as a
wife treacherously defiarteth from her husband.
“ They forsook the worship of the Lord,” so the
Ch ildee: for they that forsake the worship of God,
do in effect forsake God himself. It aggravated this,
that he was the God of their fathers, so that they
were born in his house, and therefore bound to serve
him; and that he brought them out of the land of
Rgyjit, he loosed their bonds, and upon that account
also they were obliged to serve him. 2. When they
forsook the only true God they did not turn athe¬
ists, nor were they such fools as to say, There is no
God; but they followed other gods: so much re¬
mained of pure nature as to own a God, yet so much
appeared of corrupt nature as to multiply gods, and
to take up with any, and to follow the fashion, not
the rule, in religious worship. Israel had the ho¬
nour of being a peculiar people, and dignified above j
all others, and yet so false were they to their own
privileges, that they were fond of the gods of the
people that were round about them. Baal and Ash-
taroth, he-gods and she-gods; they made their court
to sun, and moon, Jupiter and Juno. Baalim signifies
lords, and Ashtaroth, blessed ones, both plural, for
when they forsook Jehovah, who is one, they had gods
many, and lords manv, as a luxuriant fancy pleased
to multiply them. Whatever they took for their
gods, they served them, and bowed down to them,
gave honour to them, and begged favours from |
them.
II. The God of Israel was hereby provoked to j
anger, and delivered them up. into the hand of their
enemies, v. 14, 15. He was wrath with them, for
he is a jealous God, and true to the honour of his
own name; and the way he took to punish them for
their apostasy, was, to make those their tormentors
whom they yielded to as their tempters. They
made themselves as mean and miserable by forsak¬
ing God, as they would have been great and happy
if they had continued faithful to him. 1. The scale
of victory turned against them. After they forsook
God, whenever they took the sword in hand, they
were as sure to be beaten as before they had been
sure to conquer. Formerly, their enemies could
not stand before them, but wherever they went, the
hand of the Lord was for them; when they began
to cool in their religion, God suspended his favour,
stopped the progress of their successors, and would
not drive out their enemies any more, ( v . 3.) only
suffered them to keep their ground: but now, when
they were quite revolted to idolatry, the war turn- !
ed directly against them, and they could not any \
longer stand before their enemies. God would rather |
give the success to those that had never known nor
owned him. Wherever they went, they might per¬
ceive that God himself was turned to be their ene¬
my, ax\<S. fought against them, Isa. 63. 10. 2. The
balance of power then turned against them of
course. Whoever would, might spoil them; who¬
ever would, might oppress them; God sold them
into the hands of their enemies; not only he deliver¬
ed them up freely, as we do that which we have
sold, but he did it upon a valuable consideration, ;
that he might get himself honour as a jealous God,
who would not spare even his own peculiar people
when they provoked him. He sold them as insol¬
vent debtors are sold, (Matth. 18. 25.) by their suf¬
ferings to make some sort of reparation to his glory
for the injury it sustained by their apostasy. Ob¬
serve how their punishment, (1.) Answered what
they had done; they served the gods of the nations
that were round about them, even the meanest, and
God made them serve the princes of the nations
that were round about them, even the meanest.
He that is company for every fool, is justly made a
fool of by every company. (2. ) How it answered
what God had s/ioken. The hand of heaven was
thus turned against them, as the Lord had said, and
as the Lord had sworn; (y. 15. ) i eferring to the
curse and death set before them in the covenant,
with the blessing and life. Those that have found
God true to his promises, may from thence infer that
he will be as true to his threatenings.
III. The God of infinite mercy took pity on them,
in their distresses, though they had brought them¬
selves into them by their own sin and folly, and
wrought deliverance for them. Nevertheless,
though their trouble was the punishment of their
sin, and the accomplishment of God’s word, yet
they were in process of time saved out of their
troubles, v. 16* *18. Where observe, 1. The in¬
ducement of their deliverance. It came purely from
God’s pity and tender compassion, the reason was
fetched from within himself. It is not said, It re¬
pented them because of their iniquities, (for it
appears, v. 17. that many of them continued unre¬
formed,) but, It repented the Lord because of their
groanings; though it is not so much the burthen of
sin, as tne burthen of affliction, that they are said to
groan under. It was true, they deserved to perish
for ever under his curse, yet this being the day of
his patience and our probation, he does not stir up
all his wrath. He might in justice have abandoned
them, but he could not for pity do it. 2. The in¬
struments of their deliverance; God did not send
angels from heaven to do it, or bring in any foreign
power for their rescue, but raised up judges from
among themselves, as there was occasion, men to
whom God gave extraordinary qualifications for,
and calls to, that special service for which they
were designed, which was to reform and deliver Is¬
rael, and whose great attempts he crowned with
wonderful success; the Lord was with the judges
when he raised them up, and so they became
saviours. Observe, (1.) Iii the days of the greatest
degeneracy and distress of the church, there shall
be some whom God will either find or make fit tc
redress its grievances, and set things to rights.
(2. ) God must be acknowledged in the seasonable
rising up of useful men for public service. He en¬
dues men with wisdom and courage, gives them
hearts to act and venture. All that are in any way
the blessings of their country, must be looked upon
as the gifts of God. (3.) Whom God calls, he will
own, and give them his presence; whom he raises
up, lie wiil be with. (4. ) The judges of a land are
its saviours.
IV. The degenerate Israelites were not effectu¬
ally and thoroughly reformed, no not by their
judges, v. 17--19. i. Even while their judges were
with them, and active in the work of reformation,
there were those that would not hearken to their
judges, but at that very time went a whoring after
other gods; so mad were they ujJbn their idols, and
so obstinately bent to backslide. They had been es¬
poused to God, but broke the marriage-covenant,
and went a whoring after false gods. Idolatry is
spiritual adultery; so vile and base and perfidious a
thing is it, and so hardly are those reclaimed, that
are addicted to it. 2. Those that in the times of refor-
Ill
JUDGES, III.
mation began to amend, yet turned quickly out of
the way again, and became as bad as ever. The
way they turned out of, was that which their godly
ancestors walked in, and set them out in; but they
soon started from under the influence both of their
fathers’ good example, and of their own good edu¬
cation. The wicked children of godly parents do
so, and will therefore have a great deal to answer
for. 3. However, "alien the judge was dead, they
looked upon the dam which checked the stream of
their idolatry as removed, and then it flowed down
again. with so much the more fury, and the next
age seemed to be rather the worse for the attempts
that were made toward reformation; ( v . 19.) They
corrupted themselves more than their fathers; strove
to outdo them in multiplying strange gods, and in-
\ enting profane and impious rites of worship, as it
were in contradiction to their reformers. They
ceased not from, or, as the word is, they would not
let fall, any of their own doings; grew not ashamed
of those idolatrous services that were most odious,
nor weary of those that were most barbarous; would
not so much as diminish one step of their hard and
stubborn way. Thus they that have forsaken the
good ways of God, which they have once known
and professed, commonly grow most daring and
desperate in sin, and have their hearts most har¬
dened.
V. God’s just resolution hereupon was, still to
continue the rod over them. 1. Their sin was,
sparing the Canaanites; and this, in contempt and
violation of the covenant God had made with them,
and the commands he had given them, v. 20. 2. 1
Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were
spared, and so they were beaten with their own rod.
They were not all delivered into the hand of Joshua
while he lived, v. 23. Our Lord Jesus, though he
spoiled principalities and powers, yet did not com¬
plete his victory at first; we see not yet all things ;
put under him; here are remains of Satan’s interest
in the church, as theye were of the Canaanites in j
the land; but yet Joshua lives for ever, and will in
the great day perfect his conquests. After Joshua’s i
death, little was done for a long time against the
Canaanites: Israel indulged them, and grew familiar
with them, and therefore God would not drive them
out any more, v. 21. If they will have such inmates
as these among them, let them take them, and see
what will come of it. God chose their delusions,
Isa. 66. 4. Thus men cherish and indulge their
own corrupt appetites and passions, and, instead of
mortifying them, make provision for them, and
therefore God justly leaves them to themselves un¬
der the power of their sins, which will be their
ruin: So shall their doom be, themselves have decid¬
ed it. These remnants of the Canaanites were left
to prove Israel, (v. 22.) whether they will keep the
way of the Lord or not; not that God might know i
them, but that they might know themselves. It ;
was to try, (1.) Whether they could resist the
temptations to idolatry which the Canaanites would
lay before them. God had told them they could
not, (Deut. 7. 4.) but they thought they could; :
“Well,” said God, “I will try you;” and, upon
trial, it was found that the tempter’s charms were
quite too strong for them. God has told us how
deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are,
but we are not willing to believe it, until, by making
bold with temptation, we find it too true by sad ex¬
perience. (2.) Whether they would make a good
ase of the vexations which the remaining natives
would give them, and the many troubles they would
occasion them, and would thereby be convinced of
sin and humbled for it, reformed, and driven to God
and their duty; whether by continual alarms from
them they would be kept in awe, and made afraid I
of provoking God.
CHAP. III.
In this chapter, I. A general account of Israel’s enemies
is premised, and of the mischief they did them, v. 1 . .7
II. A particular account of the brave exploits done by
the three first of the judges. 1. Othniel, whom Cod
raised up to fight Israel’s battles, and plead their cause
against the king of Mesopotamia, v. 8. . II. 2. Ehud,
who was employed in rescuing Israel out of the hands ot
the Moabites, and did it by stabbing the king of Moab,
v. 12- -30. 3. Shamgar, who signalized himself in an
encounter with the Philistines, v. 31.
1. "VTOW these are the nations which the
Lord left, to prove Israel by them ,
(even as many of Israel as had not known
all the wars of Canaan ; 2. Only that the
generations of the children of Israel might
know to teach them war, at the least such
as before knew nothing thereof;) 3. Namely ,
five lords of the Philistines, and all the Ca¬
naanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites
that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount
Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Ha¬
math. 4. And they were to prove Israel by
them, to know whether they would hearken
unto the commandments of the Lord, which
he commanded their fathers by the hand of
Moses. 5. And the children of Israel dwelt
among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amo-
rites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebu-
sites : 6. And they took their daughters to
be their wives,, and gave their daughters to
their sons, and served their gods. 7. And
the children ol Israel did evil in the sight of
the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God,
and served Baalim and the groves.
We are here told what remained of the old inha¬
bitants of Canaan. 1. There were some of them
that kept together in united bodies, unbroken; (v.
3.) The five lords of the Philistines, namely, Ash-
dod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron, 1 Sam. 6.
17. Three of these cities had been in part reduced,
(ch. 1. 18.) but, it seems, the Philistines (probably
with the help of the other two, which strengthened
I their confederacy with each other from thencefor¬
ward) recovered the possession of them. These
gave the greatest disturbance to Israel of any of the
j natives, especially in the latter times of the Judges,
and they were never quite reduced until David did
I it. There was a particular nation called Canaan-
! ites, that kept their ground with the Sidonians, upon
| the coast of the great sea. And in the north the
Hivites held much of mount Lebanon, it being a re¬
mote corner, in which perhaps they were supported
by some of the neighbouring states. But beside
: these, 2. There were every where in all parts of
J the country some scatterings of the nations; (i>. 5.)
Hittites, Amorites, &c. which, by Israel’s foolish
connivance and indulgence, were so many, so easy,
and so insolent, that the children of Israel are said
to dwell among them, as if the right had still re¬
mained in the Canaanites, and the Israelites had
been taken in by their permission, and only as te¬
nants at will.
Now concerning these remnants of the natives,
observe,
I. How wisely God permitted them to remain.
It had been mentioned in the close of the foregoing
I chapter, as an act of God’s justice, that he let them
remain for Israel’s correction. But here anothei
112
construction is put upon it, and it appears to have
been an act of God’s wisdom, that he let them re¬
main for Israel’s real advantage, that those who
had. not known the wars of Canaan, might learn
war, v. 1, 2. It was the will of God that the peo¬
ple of Israel should be inured to war, 1. Because
their country was exceeding rich and fruitful, and
abounded with dainties of all sorts, which, if they
were not sometimes made to know hardship, would
be in danger of sinking them into the utmost degree
of luxury and effeminacy. They must sometimes
wade in blood, and not always in milk and honey,
lest even their men of war, by the long disuse of
arms, should become as soft and nice as the tender
and delicate woman, that would not set so much as
the sole of her foot to the ground for tenderness and
delicacy; a temper as destructive to every thing
that is good, as it is to every thing that is great, and
therefore to be carefully watched against by all
God’s Israel. 2. Because their country lay very
much in the midst of enemies, by whom they must
expect to be insulted; for God’s heritage was as a
sfieckled bird, the birds round about were against
her, Jer. 12. 9. It was therefore necessary they
should be well disciplined, that they might defend
their coasts when invaded, and might hereafter
enlarge their coast as God had promised them.
The art of war is best learned by experience,
which not only acquaints men with martial disci¬
pline, but (which is no less necessary) inspires
them with a martial disposition. It was for the in¬
terest of Israel to breed soldiers, as it is the interest
of an island to breed seamen, and therefore God left
Canaanites among them, that, by the lesser difficul¬
ties and hardships they met with in encountering
them, they might be prepared for greater; and, by
running with the footmen, might learn to contend with
horses, Jer. 12. 5. Israel was a figure of the church
militant, that must fight its way to a triumphant
state. The soldiers of Christ must endure hardness,
2. Tim. 2, 3. Corruption is therefore left remain¬
ing in the hearts even of good Christians, that they
may learn war, may keep on the whole armour of
God, and stand continually upon their guard. The
learned Bishop Patrick offers another sense of v.
2, that they might know to teach them war, that is,
they shall know what it is to be left to themselves.
Their fathers fought by a divine power, God
taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight;
but now that they have forfeited his favour, let
them learn what it is to fight like other men.
II. How wickedly Israel mingled themselves
with those that did remain. One thing God intend¬
ed in leaving them among them, was to prove Is¬
rael, (y. 4.) that those who were faithful to the God
of Israel, might have the honour of resisting the
Canaanites’ allurements to idolatry, and that those
who were false and insincere, might be discovered,
and might fall under the shame of yielding to those
allurements. Thus in the Christian churches there
must needs be heresies, that they which are fierfect
may be made manifest, 1 Cor. 11. 19. Israel, up¬
on trial, proved bad. 1. They joined in marriage
with the Canaanites, ( v . 6.*) .though they could not
advance either their honour or estate by marrying
with them. They would mar their blood instead
f f mending it, and sink their estates instead of rais¬
ing them, by such marriages. 2. Thus they were
brought to join in worship with them; they served
their gods, (~v. 6. ) Baalim and the groves; (v. 7. )
that is, the images that were worshipped in groves
of thick trees, which were a sort of natural temples.
In such unequal matches there is more reason to
fear that the bad will corrupt the good, than to
hope that the good will reform the bad; as it is
in laying two pears together, the one rotten, and
the other sound. When they inclined to worship
S, III.
other gods, they forgat the Lord their God. In
complaisance to their new relations, they talked of
nothing but Baalim and the groves; so that by de¬
grees they lost the remembrance of the true God,
and forgot there was such a Being, and what obli¬
gations they lay under to him. In nothing is the
corrupt memory of man more treacherous than in
this, that it is apt to forget God; because out of
sight, he is out of mind; and here begins all the
wickedness that is in the world; they have per¬
verted their way, for thev have forgotten the Lora
their God.
8. Therefore the anger of the Lord was
hot against Israel, and he sold them into
the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of
Mesopotamia : and the children of Israel
served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. 9.
And when the children of Israel cried unto
the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer
to the children of Israel, who delivered
them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Ca¬
leb’s younger brother. 10. And the Spirit
of the Lord came upon him, and he judg¬
ed Israel, and went out to war : and the
Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of
Mesopotamia into his hand ; and his hand
prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. 1 1.
And the land had rest forty years : and
Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
We now come to the records of the government
of the particular judges, the first of which was Oth¬
niel, in whom the story of this book is knit to that
of Joshua, for even in Joshua’s time, Othniel began
to be famous; by which it appears that it was not
long after Israel’s settlement in Canaan, before
their purity began to be corrupted, and their peace
(by consequence) disturbed. And those who have
taken pains to inquire into the sacred chronology,
are generally agreed, that the Danites’ idolatry, and
the war with the Benjamites for abusing the Le-
vite’s concubine, though related in the latter end of
this book, happened about this time, under or be¬
fore Othniel’s government, who, though a judge,
was not such a king in Israel, as would keep men
from doing what was right in their own eyes.
In this short narrative of Othniel’s government,
we have,
I. The distress that Israel was brought into for
their sin, v. 8. God, being justly displeased with
them for plucking up the hedge of their peculiari¬
ty, and laying themselves in common with the na¬
tions, plucked up the hedge of their protection, and
laid them open to the nations; set them to sale as
goods he would part with, and the first that laid
hands on them was Chushan-rishathaim, king of
that Syria which lay between the two great rivers
of Tigris and Euphrates, thence called Mesopota¬
mia-, which signifies the midst of rruers. It is prob¬
able that this was a warlike prince, and, aiming to
enlarge his dominions, invaded the two tribes first
on the other side Jordan that lay next him, and af¬
terward, perhaps by degrees, penetrated in the
heart of the country, and, as far as he went, put
them under contribution, exacting it with rigour,
and perhaps quartering soldiers upon them. Laban
was of this country, who oppressed Jacob with a
hard service; but it lay at such a distance, that one
could not have thought Israel’s trouble should have
come from such a far conn tty, which shows so much
the more of the hand of God in it.
113
JUDGES, III.
IT. Their return to God in this distress. When he
slew them, then they sought him whom before they
had slighted. The children of Israel, even the ge¬
nerality of them, cried unto the Lord, v. 9. At
first, they made light of their trouble, and thought
they could easily shake off the yoke of a prince at
such a distance; but when it continued eight years,
they began to feel the smart of it, and then they
cried under it, who before had laughed at it. They
who in the day of their mirth had cried to Baalim
and Ashtaroth, now that they are in trouble, cry to
the Lord from whom they had revolted, whose
justice brought them into this trouble, and whose
power and favour alone could help them out of it.
Affliction makes those cry to God with importu¬
nity, who before would scarcely speak to him.
III. God’s return in mercy to them for their deliv¬
erance. Though need drove them to him, he did not
the efore reject their prayers, but graciously raised
up a deliverer, or saviour, as the word is. Observe,
1. Who the deliverer was; it was Othniel, who mar¬
ried Caleb’s daughter; one of the old stock that
had seen the works of the Lord, and had himself, no
question, kept his integrity, and secretly lamented
the apostasy of his people, but waited for a divine
call to appear publicly for the redress of their
grievances. He was now, we may suppose, far ad¬
vanced in years, when God raised him up to this
honour; but the decays of age were no hinderance
to his usefulness, when God had work for him to
do. 2. Whence he had his commission, not of
man, or by man; but the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him, v. 10. The spirit of wisdom and cou¬
rage to qualify him for the sen ice, and a spirit of
power to excite him to it, so as to give him and
others full satisfaction that it was the will of God he
should engage in it, the Chaldee says, The spirit
of prophecy remained on him. 3. What method
he took; he first judged Israel, reproved them,
called them to an account for their sins, and reform¬
ed them, and then went out to war; that was the
light method. Let sin at home be conquered, that
worst of enemies, and then enemies abroad will be
more easily dealt with. Thus let Christ be our
Judge and Law-giver, and then he will save us, and
on no other terms, Isa. 33. 22. 4. What good suc¬
cess he had. He prevailed to break the yoke of
the oppression, and, as it should seem, to break the
neck of the oppressor; for it is said, The Lord de¬
livered Chushan-rishathaim into his hand. Now was
Judah, of which tribe Othniel was, as a lion's whelp
gone up from the prey. 5. The happy conse¬
quence of Othniel’s good services. The land, though
not getting ground, yet had rest, and some fruits of
the reformation, forty years; and it had been per¬
petual, if they had kept close to God and their duty.
1 2. And the children of Israel did evil
again in the sight of the Lord : and the
Lord strengthened Eglon the king ofMoab
against Israel, because they had done evil in
the sight of the Lord. 1 3. And he gather¬
ed unto him the children of Ammon and
Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and
possessed the city of palm-trees. 14. So
the children of Israel served Eglon the king
of Moab eighteen years. 15. But when
the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,
the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud
the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-
nanded : and by him the children of Israel
sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
1 6. But Ehud made him a dagger, which
VOL. II. -P
had two edges, of a cubit length ; and he
did gird it under his raiment upon his right
thigh. 17. And he brought the present
unto Eglon king of Moab ; and Eglon wan
a very lat man. 18. And when he had
made an end to offer the present, he sent
away the people that bare the present. 19
But lie himself turned again from the
quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, 1
have a secret errand unto thee, O king :
who said, Keep silence. And all that stood
by him went out from him. 20. And Ehud
came unto him ; and he was sitting in a
summer parlour, which he had for himself,
alone : and Ehud said, I have a message
from God unto thee. And he arose out of
his seat. 2 1 . And Ehud put forth his left
hand, and took the dagger from his right
thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22. And
the haft also went in after the blade ; and
the fat closed upon the blade, so that
he could not draw the dagger out of his
belly; and the dirt came out. 23. Then
Ehud went forth through the porch, and
shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and
locked them. 24. When he was gone out,
his servants came ; and when they saw
that, behold, the doors of the parlour were
locked, they said, Surely he covereth his
feet in his summer chamber. 25. And they
tarried till they were ashamed ; and, be¬
hold, he opened not the doors of the par¬
lour : therefore they took a key and opened
them: and, behold, their lord was fallens
down dead on the earth. 26. And Ehud
escaped while they tarried, and passed be¬
yond the quarries, and escaped unto Sei-
rath. 27. And it came to pass, when he
was come, that he blew a trumpet in the
mountain of Ephraim, and the children of
Israel wTent down with him from the mount,
and he before them. 28. And he said unto
them, Follow after me ; for the Lord hath
delivered your enemies the Moabites into
your hand. And they went down after
him, and took the fords of Jordan toward
Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29. And they slew of Moab at that time
about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all
men of valour; and there escaped not a
man. 30. So Moab was subdued that day
under the hand of Israel. And the land
had rest fourscore years.
Ehud is the next of the judges whose achieve¬
ments are related in this history, and here is an ac¬
count of his actions.
I. When Israel sins again, God raises up a new
oppressor, v. 12 . . 14. It was an aggravation of
their wickedness, that they did evil again, after
they had smarted so long for their former iniqui¬
ties, promised so fair when Othniel judged them,
114
JUDGES, III.
and received so much mercy from God in their de- !
liverance. What, and after all this, again to break
his commandments! Was the disease obstinate to
all the methods of cure, both corrosives and leni¬
tives? It seems it was. Perhaps they thought
they might make the more bold with their own
sins, because they saw themselves in no danger
erom their old oppressor, the powers of that king¬
dom were weakened and brought low; but God
made them know that he had a variety of rods
wherewith to chastise them, he strengthened Eglon
king of Moab against them. This oppressor lay
nearer them than the former, and therefore would be
the more mischievous to them; God’s judgments
thus approached them gradually, to bring them to
repentance. When Israel dwelt in tents, but kept
their integrity, B dak, king of Moab, that would
have strengthened lrmself against them, was baf¬
fled; but now that thev had forsaken God, and
worshipped the gods of the nations round about
them, (and perhaps those of the Moabites among
the rest,) here was another king of Moab whom
God strengthened against them, put power into his
hands, though a wicked man, that he might be a
scourge of Israel; the staff in his hand, with which
he beat Israel, was, God’s indignation; howbeit he
meant not so, neither did his heart think so, Isa. 10.
6, 7. Israelites did ill, and, we may suppose,
Moab:tes did worse; yet because God punishes the
sins of his own people in this world, that, the flesh
being destroyed, the spirit mav be saved, Israel is
weakened, and Moab strengthened against them.
God would not suffer the Israelites, when they were
the stronger, to distress the Moabites, nor give
them any disturbance though they were idolaters;
(Deut. 2. 9. ) yet now he suffered the Moabites to dis¬
tress Israel, and strengthened them on purpose that
thev might: Thy judgments, 0 God, are a great
deefi. The king of Moab took to his assistance the
Ammonites and Amalekites, ( v . 13.) and that
strengthened him ; and we are here told how they
prevailed.
1. They beat them in the field, they went and
smote Israel, (v. 13.) not only those tribes that lay
next them on the other side of Jordan, who, though
first settled, being frontier-tribes, were most dis¬
turbed; but those also within Jordan, for they made
themselves masters of the city o f halm-trees, which,
it is probable, was a strong-hold erected near the
place where Jericho had stood, for tint was so call¬
ed. (Deut. 34. 3.) into which the Moabites put a ,
garrison, to be a bridle upon Israel, and to secure
the passes of Jordan, for the preservation of the
communication with their own country. It was
well for the Kenites that thev had left this city,
(ch. 1. 16.) before it fell into the hands of the ene¬
my. See how quickly the Israelites lost that by
their own sin, which they had gained by miracles
of divine mercy.
2. They made them to serve, (t>. 14.) that is, ex-
acted tribute from them, either the fruits of the
earth in kind, or monev in lieu of them. They ne¬
glected the service of God, and did not pay him his
tribute; thus therefore did God recover from them
that wine and oil, that silver and gold, which they
prepared for Baal, Hos. 2. 8. What should have
been paid to the divine grace, and was not, was
distrained for, and paid to the divine justice. The
former servitude (7'. 8.) lasted but eight years, this
eighteen; for if lesser troubles do not do the work,
God will send greater.
IT. When Israel prays again, God raises up a
new deliverer, (y. 15.) his name Ehud. We are
here told, 1. Tt was a Bcnjamite. The city of palm-
trees lav within the lot of this tribe, by which, it
is probable, thev suffered the most, and therefore
stirred first to shake off the yoke. It is supposed by
the chronologer, that the Israelites’ war with Ben
jamin tor the wickedness of Gibeah, by which that
whole tribe was reduced to six hundred men, hap¬
pened before this, so that we may well think that
tribe to be now the weakest of all the tribes; yet out
of it God raised up this deliverer, in token of his
being perfectly reconciled to them, to manifest his
own power in ordaining strength out of weakness,
and that he might bestow more abundant honoui
ufion that fiart which lacked , 1 Cor. 12. 24. 2.
That he was left-handed, as it seems, many of that
tribe were, ch. 20. 16. Benjamin signifies the son of
the right hand, and yet multitudes of them were
left-handed: for men’s natures do not always answer
their names. The LXX. say, he was an ambidex¬
ter, one that could use both hands alike, supposing
that that was an advantage to him in the action he
was called to; but the Hebrew phrase, that he was
shut of his right hand, intimates that either through
disease or disuse, he made little or no use of that,
but of his left hand only; and so was the less fit for
war, because he must needs handle his sword but
awkwardly; yet God chose this left-handed man to
be the man of his right hand, whom he would make
strong for himself, Ps. 80. 17. It was God’s right
hand that gained Israel the victory, (Ps. 44. 3.) not
the right of the instruments he emploved.
We are here told what Ehud did for the deli¬
verance of Israel out of the hands of the Moabites.
He saved the oppressed by destroying the oppres¬
sors, when the measure of their iniquity was full,
and the set time to favour Israel was come.
(1.) He put to death Eglon the king of Moab; I
say, fiut him to death ; not he murdered or assassi¬
nated him, but, as a judge, or minister of divine jus¬
tice, executed the judgments of God upon him, as
an implacable enemy to God and Israel. This story
is particularly related.
[1.] He had a fair occasion of access to him; be¬
ing an ingenious active man, and fit to stand befoi-c
kings, his people chose him to carry a present in
the name of all Israel, over and above their tribute,
to their great lord the king of Moab, that they
might find favour in his eyes, v. 15. The present is
called mincha in the original, which is the word
used in the law for the offerings that were present¬
ed to God, to obta’n his favrur; these the children
of Israel had not offered in their season, to the God
that loved them; and now, to punish them for their
neglect, they are laid under a necessity of bringing
their offerings to a heathen prince that hated them.
Ehud went on his errand to Eglon, offered his pre¬
sent with the usual ceremony, and expressions of
dutiful respect, the better to colour what he intend¬
ed, and to prevent suspicion.
[2.] It should seem, from the first, he designed
to be the death of him, God putting it into his heart,
and letting him know' also that the motion was from
himself, by the Spirit that came upon him, the im¬
pulses of which carried with them their own evi¬
dence, and so gave him full satisfaction both as to
the lawfulness and the success of this daring at¬
tempt, of both which he would have had reason
enough to doubt. If he be sure that God bids him
do it, he is sure both that he may do it, and that he
shall do it; for a command from God is sufficient to
bear us out, and bring us off, both against our con¬
science, and against all the world. That he com¬
passed and imagined the death of this tyrant, ap¬
pears by the preparation he made of a weapon for
the purpose; a short dagger, but half a yard long,
like a bayonet, which might easily be concealed
under his clothes, (7;. 10.) perhaps, because none
were suffered to come near the king with their
swords by their sides. This he wore on his right
thigh, that it might be the more ready to his left
hand, and might be the less suspected.
JUDGES, III.
116
[3.] He contrived how to be alone with him; I
which he might the more easily be, now that he
h td not only made himself known to him, but in- |
gradated himself by the present, and the compli¬
ments, which, perhaps, on that occasion, he had
passed upon him. Observe how he laid his plot.
First, He concealed his design even from his own
attendants; brought them part of the way, and then
ordered them to go forward towards home, while
he himself, as if he had forgot something behind
him, went back to the king of Moab’s court, v. 18.
There needed but one hand to do the execution;
h id more been engaged they could not so safely
have kept counsel, nor so easily have made an es¬
cape. Secondly, He returned from the quarries by
Gilg d, (z\ 16.) from the graven images (so it is in
the margin) which were with Gilgal; set up perhaps
by the IVf oabites with the twelve stones which Joshua
had set up there. Some suggest that the sight of j
these idols stirred up in him such an indignation
ag tinst the king of Moab, as put him upon the exe¬
cution of that design, which otherwise he had
thought to have let fall for the present. Or, per¬
haps, he came so far as to these images, that telling
from what place he returned, the king of Moab
might be the more apt to believe he had a message
from God. Thirdly, He begged a private audience,
and obtained it in a withdrawing room, here called
a summer parlour. He told the king he had a se¬
cret errand to him, who, thereupon, ordered all his
attendants to withdraw, v. 19. Whether he ex¬
pected to receive some private instructions from an
oracle, or some private information concerning the
present state of Israel, as if Ehud would betray his
country, it was a very unwise thing for him to be all
alone with a stranger, and whom he had reason to
look upon as an enemy; but those that are marked
for ruin, are infatuated, and their hearts hid from
understariding; God deprives them of discretion.
[4] When he had him alone, he soon despatched
him. His summer parlour, where he used to in¬
dulge himself in ease and luxury, was the place of
his execution. First, Ehud demands his attention
to a message from God, {y. 20. ) and that message
was a dagger: God sends to us by the judgment
of his hand, as well as by the judgment of his
mouth. Secondly, Eglon pays respect to a mes¬
sage from God. Though a king; though a heathen
king; though rich and powerful; though now tyran¬
nizing over the people of God; though a fat un¬
wieldy man, that could not easily rise, nor stand
long; though in private, and what he did not under
observation; yet, when he expected to receive or¬
ders from heaven, he rose out of his seat; whether
it was low and easy, or whether.it was high and
stately, he quitted it, ahd stood up when God was
about to speak to him, thereby owning God his Su¬
perior. This shames the irreverence of many who
are called Christians, and yet when a message from
God is delivered to them, study to show, by all the
marks of carefulness, how little they regard it.
Ehud, in calling what he had to do, a message from
God, plainly avouches a divine commission for it;
and God’s inclining Eglon to stand up to it, did both
confirm the commission, and facilitate the execu¬
tion. Thirdly, The message was delivered, not to
his ear, but immediately, and literally, to his heart,
into which the fatal knife was thrust, and was left
there, v. 21, 22. His extreme fatness, made him
unable to resist, or to help himself; probably, it was
the effect of his luxury and excess; and when the
fat closed ufi the blade, God would by that circum¬
stance show how those that pamper the body, do
but prepare for their own misery. However, it
was an emblem of his carnal security and senseless¬
ness. His heart was as fat as grease, and in that
he thought himself enclosed. See Ps. 119. 70. — 17.
II 10. Eglon signifies a calf and he fell like a fatted
calf, by the knife, ah acceptable sacrifice to divine
(justice. Notice is taken of the coming out of the
dirt or dung, that the death of this proud tyrant
may appear the more ignominious and shameful.
He that had been so very nice and curious about his
own body, to keep it easy and clean, shall now be
i found wallowing in his own blood and excrements.
Thus does God pour contempt upon princes. Now
this act of Ehud’s, 1. May justify itself, because he
had special direction from God to do it, and it was
agreeable to the usual method, which, under that
dispensation, God took to avenge his people of
their enemies, and to manifest to the world his own
justice. But, 2. It will by no means justify any now
in doing the like. No such commissions are now
given, and to pretend to them is to blaspheme God,
and make him patronise the worst of villanies.
Christ bid Peter sheathe the sword, and we find not
that he bid him draw it again.
[5.] Providence wonderfully favoured his escape,
when he had done the execution. First, The ty¬
rant fell silently, without any shriek or outcry,
which might have been overheard by his servants
at a distance. How silently does he go down to the
pit, choked up, it may be, with his own fat, which
stifled his dying groans, though he had made so
great a noise in the world, and had been the terror
of the mighty in the land of the living. Secondly,
The heroic executioner of this vengeance, with
such a presence of mind, as discovered not only no
consciousness of guilt, but a strong confidence in the
divine protection, shut the doors after him, took the
key with him, and passed through the guards with
such an air of innocence, and boldness, and uncon¬
cernedness, as made them not at all to suspect his
having done any thing amiss. Thirdly, The ser¬
vants that attended in the antechamber, coming to
the door of the inner parlour, when Ehud was
gone, to know their master’s pleasure, and finding it
locked, and all quiet, they concluded he was lain
down to sleep, and covered his feet upon his couch,
and was gone to consult his pillow about the mes¬
sage he had received, and to dream upon it, ( v . 24 )
and therefore would not offer to open the door.
Thus by their care not to disturb his sleep, they
lost the opportunity of revenging his death. See
what comes of men’s taking state too much, and
obliging those about them to keep their distance;
some time or other, it may come against them more
than they think of. Fourthly, The servants at
length opened the door, and found their master had
slefit indeed his long slecfi, v. 25. The horror of
this tragical spectacle, and the confusion it must
needs put them into, to reflect upon their own in¬
consideration in not opening the door sooner, quite
put by the thoughts of sending pursuers after him
that had done it, whom now they despaired of over¬
taking. Lastly, Ehud by this means made his
escape to Sierath, a thick wood; so some. v. 26. It
is not said any where in this story, what was the
place in which Eglon lived now; but there being no
mention of Ehud’s passing and repassing Jordan, I
am inclined to think that Eglon had left his own
country of Moab, on the other side Jordan, and
made his principal residence at this time in the city
of palm-trees, within the land of Canaan, a richer
country than his own, and that there he was slain,
and then the quarries by Gilgal were not far off
him. There where he had settled himself, and
thought he had sufficiently fortified himself to lord
it over the people of God, there he was cut off, and
proved to be fed for the slaughter like a lamb in a
larger place.
(2.) Ehud having slain the king of Moab, gave a
total rout to the forces of the Moabites that were
among them, and so effectually shook off the yoke
JUDGES, IV.
of their oppression. [1.] He raised an army imme¬
diately in mount Ephraim, at some distance from
the head-quarters of the Moabites, and headed
them himself, v. 27. The trumpet he blew was
indeed a jubilee-trumpet, proclaiming liberty, and
a joyful sound it was to the oppressed Israelites,
who for a long time had heard no other trumpets
than those of their enemies. [2.] Like a pious
man, and as one that did all this in faith, he took
encouragement himself, and gave encouragement to
his soldiers, from the power of God engaged for
them; (v. 28.) “ Follow me, for the Lord hath de¬
livered your enemies into your hands; we are sure
to have God with us, and therefore may go on
boldly, and shall go on triumphantly.” [3.] Like
a politic general, he first secured the fords of Jor¬
dan, set strong guards upon all those passes, to cut
off communications between the Moabites that were
in the land of Israel, (for upon them only his design ,
was,) and their own country on the other side Jor¬
dan; that if, upon the alarm given them, they re¬
solved to fly, they might not escape thither, and if
they resolved to fight, they might not have assist¬
ance thence. Thus he shut them up in that land as
their prison, in which they were pleasing them¬
selves as their palace and paradise. [4.] He then
fell upon them, and put them all to the sword, ten
thousand of them, which, it seems, was the number
appointed to keep Israel in subjection; (x>. 29.)
There escaped not a man of them. And they were
the best and choicest of all the king of Moab’s
forces; all lusty men of bulk and stature, and not
only able bodied, but high spirited too, and men of
valour, x'. 20. But neither their strength nor their
courage stood them in any stead, when the set time
was come for God to deliver them into the hand of
Israel. [5.] The consequence of this victory was,
that the power of the Moabites was wholly broken
in the land of Israel; the country was cleared of
these oppressors, and the land had rest eighty years,
v. 30. We may hope that there was likewise a re¬
formation among them, and a check given to idola¬
try, by the influence of Ehud, which continued a
good part of this time. It was a great while for the
land to rest, fourscore years; yet what is that to the
saints’ everlasting rest in the heavenly Canaan?
31. And after him was Shamgar, the son
of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six
hundred men with an ox-goad : and he also
delivered Israel.
When it was said the land had rest eighty years,
some think it is meant chiefly of that part of the
land which lay eastward on the banks of Jordan,
which had been oppressed by the Moabites; but it
seems, by this passage here, that the other side of
the country which lay south-west, was in that time
infested by the Philistines, against whom Shamgar
made head.
1. It seems Israel needed deliverance, for he deli¬
vered Israel; how great the distress was, Deborah
afterward related in her song, (c/;. 5, 6.) that in the
days of Shamgar the highways were unoccupied,
&c. That part of the country which lay next to
the Philistines was so infested with plunderers,
that the people could not travel the roads in safety,
but were in danger of being set upon and robbed;
nor durst they dwell in the unguarded villages, but
were forced to take shelter in the fortified cities.
2. God raised him up to deliver them, as it
should seem, while Ehud was yet living, but super¬
annuated. So inconsiderable were the enemies for
number, that it seems the killing of six hundred of
them amounted to a deliverance of Israel, and so
many he slew with an ox-goad, or, as some read it,
a plough -share. It is probable that he was himself
following the plough, when the Philistines made an
inroad upon the country to ravage it, and God put
it into his heart to oppose them : the impulse being
sudden and strong, and having neither sword nor
spear to do execution with, he took the instrument
that was next at hand, some of the tools of his
plough, and with that killed so many hundred men,
and came off unhurt. See here (1.) That God can
make those eminently serviceable to his glory and
his church’s good, whose extraction, educatk n, and
employment, are very mean and obs ure. He that
has the residue of the Spirit, could, when he
pleased, make ploughmen judges and generals, and
fishermen apostles. (2.) It is no matter how weak
the weapon is, if God direct and strengthen the
arm. An ox-goad, when God pleases, shall do
more than Goliath’s sword. And sometimes he
chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the
excellency of the power may appear to be of God.
CHAP. IV.
The method of the history of Deborah and Barak, (the he¬
roes in this chapter,) is the same with that before. Here
is, I. Israel revolted from God, v. 1. II. Israel oppress¬
ed by Jabin, v. 2, 3. III. Israel judged by Deborah, v.
4,5. IV. Israel rescued out of the hands of Jabin. 1.
Their deliverance is concerted between Deborah and Ba¬
rak, v. 6.. 9. 2. It is accomplished by their joint agen¬
cy. Barak takes the field; (v. 10. ) Sisera, Jabin’s gem -
ral, meets him; (v. 12, 13.) Deborah encourages him, (v.
14.) and God gives him a complete victory. The army
routed, v. 15, 16. The general forced to flee; (v 17.)
and there where he expected shelter, had his life stolen
from him by Jael while he was asleep, (v. 18. .21.) which
completes Barak’s triumph, (v. 22.) and Israel’s deliver*
ance, v. 23, 24.
1. 4 ND the children of Israel again did
evil in the sight of the Lord, when
Ehud was dead. 2. And the Lord sold
them into the hand of Jabin king of Ca¬
naan, that reigned in Hazor ; the captain
of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in
Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3. And the chil¬
dren of Israel cried unto the Lord; for h6
had nine hundred chariots of iron : and
twenty years he mightily oppressed the chil¬
dren of Israel.
Here is,
I. Israel backsliding from God; They again did
ei'il in. his sight, forsook his service, and worship¬
ped idols; for that was the sin which now most
easily beset them, v. 1. See in this, 1. The strange
strength of corruption, which hurries men into sin,
notwithstanding the most frequent instances of its
fatal consequences. The bent to backslide is very
hardly restrained. 2. The common ill effects of a
long peace. The land had rest eighty years, which
should have confirmed them in their religion; but,
on the contrary, it made them secure and wanton,
and indulgent of those lusts which the worship of
the false gods was calculated for the gratification of.
Thus the prosperity of fools destroys them. Jeshu-
run waxeth fat and kicketh. 3. The great loss
which the people sustain by the death of good go¬
vernors, They did evil, because Ehud was dead.
So it may be read. He kept a strict eye upon them,
restrained and punished every thing that looked
towards idolatry, and keptXhem close to God’s ser¬
vice. But when he was gone, they revolted, fear¬
ing him more than God.
II. Israel oppressed by their enemies. When
they forsook God, he forsook them; and then they
became an easy prey to every spoiler. They alien¬
ated themselves from God, as if he were none of
| their’s; and then God alienated them as none of his.
t
11?
JUDGES, IV.
They that threw themselves out of God’s service,
threw themselves out of his protection. What has
my beloved to do in my house, when she has thus
played the harlot? Jer. 11. 15. He sold them into
the hands of Jabin, v. 2. This Jabin reigned in Ha-
zor, as another of the same name, and perhaps his
ancestor, had done before him, whom Joshua rout¬
ed, slew, and burnt his city. Josh. 11. 1, 10. But
it seems, in process of time, the city was rebuilt,
the power regained, the loss retrieved, and by de¬
grees, the king of Hazor becomes able to tyrannize
over Israel, who by sin had lost all their advan¬
tage against the Canaanites. This servitude was
longer than either of the former, and much more
grievous. Jabin, and his general Sisera, did mighti¬
ly oppress Israel. That which aggravated the op¬
pression was, 1. That this enemy was nearer them
than any of the former, in their borders, in their
bowels; and by that means, had the more opportu¬
nity to do them a mischief. 2. That they were
the natives of the country, who bore an implacable
enmity to them, for invading and dispossessing
them ; and when they had them in their power,
would be so much the more cruel and mischievous
toward them in revenge of the old quarrel. 3. That
these Canaanites had, when time was, been con¬
quered and subdued by Israel, were of old sen¬
tenced to be their servants, (Gen. 9. 25.) and might
now have been under their feet, and utterly inca¬
pable of giving them any disturbance, if their own
slothfulness, cowardice, and unbelief, had not suf¬
fered them thus to get head. To be oppressed by
those whom their fathers had conquered, and whom
they themselves had foolishly spared, could not but
be very grievous.
III. Israel returning to their God; They cried
unto the Lord, when distress drove them to him;
and they saw no other way of relief. Those that
slight God in their prosperity, will find themselves
under a necessity of seeking him when they are in
trouble,
4. And Deborah a prophetess, the wife
of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5. And she dwelt under the palm-tree of
Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-el in
mount Ephraim ; and the children of Israel
came up to her for judgment. 6. And she
sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam,
out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him,
Hath not the Lord God of Israel com¬
manded, saying , Go, and draw toward
mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thou¬
sand men of the children of Naphtali and
of the children of Zebulun ? 7. And I will
draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera,
the captain of Jabin’s army, with his cha¬
riots and his multitude ; and I will deliver
him into thine hand. 8. And Barak said unto
her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go ;
but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will
not go. 9. And she said, I will surely go
with thee : notwithstanding the journey that
thou takest shall not be for thine honour;
for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand
of a woman. And Deborah arose, and
went with Barak to Kedesh.
The year of the redeemed is at length come,
a' hen Israel was to be delivered out of the hands of
Jabin, and restored again to their liberty; which,
we may suppose, the northern tribes, that lay near¬
est the oppressor, and felt most the effects of his
fury, did in a particular manner cry to God for.
For the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of
the needy, now will God arise. Now here we lia\ e,
I. The preparation of the people for their deli¬
verance, by the prophetic conduct and government
of Deborah, v. 4, 5. Her name signifies a bee; and
she answered her name by her industry, sagacity,
and great usefulness to the public, her sweetness to
her friends, and sharpness to her enemies. She
is said to be the wife of Lapidoth: the termina¬
tion is not commonly found in the name of a man;
therefore some make it the name of a place, she
was a woman of Lapidoth. Others take it appel-
latively; Lapidoth signifies lamps. The rabbins
say, she had employed herself in making wicks f< r
the lamps of the tabernacle; and having stooped to
that mean office for God, she was afterwards thus
preferred. Or, she was a woman of illuminations,
or “of splendors: one that was extraordinary know¬
ing and w'ise, and so came to be very eminent and
illustrious. Concerning her we are here told, 1.
That she was intimately acquainted with God: she
was a prophetess; one that was instructed in divine
knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the
Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, which she
attained to not in an ordinary way; she heard the
words of God, and probably saw the visiotis of the
Almighty. 2. That she was entirely devoted to
the services of Israel. She judged Israel at the
time that Jabin oppressed them; and perhaps, un¬
being a woman, she was the more easily permitted
by the oppressor to do it. She judged, not as a
princess, by any civil authority conferred upon her,
but as a prophetess, and as God’s mouth to them,
correcting abuses, and redressing grievances, espe¬
cially those which related to the worship of God.
The children of Israel came up to her from all
parts for judgment, not so much tor the deciding of
controversies between man and man, as for advice
in the reformation of what was amiss in things per¬
taining to God. Those among them, who before
had secretly lamented the impieties and idolatries
of their neighbours, but knew not where to apply
themselves for the restraining of them, now made
their complaints to Deborah; who, by the sword
of the Spirit, showing them the judgment of Grd,
reduced and reclaimed many, and excited and ani¬
mated the magistrates in their respective districts to
put the laws in execution. It is said she dwelt, or,
as some read it, sat under a palm-tree, called ever
after, from her, the palm-tree of Deborah. Either
she had her house under a tree, a mean habitation
which would couch under a tree; or she had her
judgment-seat in the open air, under the shadow of
that tree; which was an emblem of the justice she
sat there to administer, which will thrive and grow
against opposition, as palms under pressuie. Jo¬
sephus says, that the children of Israel came to
Deborah to desire her to pray to God for them,
that they might be delivered out of the hand of Ja¬
bin; and Samuel is said at one particular time to
judge Israel in Mizpeh, that is, bring them back
again to God, when they made the same address to
him upon a like occasion, 1 Sam. 7. 6, 8.
II. The project laid for their deliverance. When
the children of Israel came to her for judgment,
with her they found salvation. So they that seek
to God for grace, shall have grace and peace; grace
and comfort, grace and glory-. She was not herself
fit to command an army in person, being a woman;
but she nominates one that was fit, Barak of Naph¬
tali, who, it is probable, had already signalized him¬
self in some rencontres with the forces of the op¬
pressor, living near him, (for Hazor and Haroslietb
«
118
JUDGES, IV.
lay within the lot of that tribe,) and thereby had
stoned a reputation and interest among his people.
Some struggles, we may suppose, that brave man
had used toward the shaking off of the yoke, but
could not effect it til! he had his commission and in
structions from Deborah. He could do nothing
without her head, nor she without his hands; but
both together made a complete deliverer, and ef¬
fected a complete deliverance. The greatest and
best are not self-sufficient, but need one another.
1. By God’s direction, she orders Barak to raise
an army, and engage Jabin’s forces, that were un¬
der Sisera’s command, v. 6, 7. Barak, it may be,
had been meditating some great attempt against
the common enemy; a spark of generous fire was
glowing in h's breast, and fain he would do some¬
thing to the purpose for his people, and for the
cities of his God. But two things discouraged him :
(1.) He wanted a commission to levy forces; that
therefore Deborah here gives him under the broad
seal of heaven; which, as a prophetess, she had a
warrant to affix to it. “ Hath not the Lord God of
Israel commanded it? Yes, cert only he has, take
mv word for it.” Some think she intends this as an
appeal to Barak’s own heart: “ Has not God, by a
secret whisper to thyself, given thee some intima¬
tion of his purpose, to make use of thee as an instru¬
ment in his hand to save Israel? Hast not thou felt
some impulse of this kind upon thine own spirit?”
If so, the spirit of prophecy in Deborah confirms
the spirit of a soldier in Barak; Go and draw to¬
ward mount labor. [l. J She directs him what
number of men to raise, ten thousand; and let him
not fear that those will be too few, when God hath
said, he will by them save Israel. [2.] Whence
he should raise them ; only out of his own tribe, and
that of Zebulun, next adjoining; those two counties
should furnish him with an army sufficient, he need
not stay to go further. And, lastly, She orders him
where to make his rendezvous; at mount Tabor, in
his own neighbourhood. (2.) When he had an ar¬
my raised, he knew not how he should have an op¬
portunity of engaging the enemy, who, perhaps, de¬
clined fighting, having heard that Israel, if they
had but courage enough to make head against the
enemy, seldom failed of success. “ Well,” says De¬
borah, “ in the name of God, I will draw unto thee
Sisera and his army.” She assures him that the
matter should be determined by one pitched battle,
and should not be long in the doing. [1.] In men¬
tioning the power of the enemy, Sisera, a cele¬
brated General, bold and experienced, his chariots,
his irwi chariots, and his multitude of soldiers,
she obliges Barak to fortify himself with the utmost
degree of resolution; for the enemy he was to en¬
gage was a very formidable one. It is good to
know the worst, that we may provide accordingly.
But, [2.] In fixing the. very place to which Sisera
would draw his army, she gave him a sign, which
might help to confirm his faith when he came to en¬
gage. It was a contingent thing, and depended
upon Sisera’s own will: but when afterward he
should see that falling out just as Deborah had fore¬
told, he might from thence infer, that certainly in
the rest she said she spake under a divine direction,
which would be a great encouragement to him ;
especially because with this, She gave him an
express promise of success ; I will (that is, God
will, in whose name I speak) deliver them into thy
hand. So when he saw them draw up against him,
according to Deborah’s word, he might be confi- j
dent, that, according to her word, he should soon
see them fallen before him. Observe, God draws
them to him onlv that he might deliver them into his \
hand. When Sisera drew his forces together, he
designed the destruction of Israel; but God gathered
them as sheaves into the floor, for their own de¬
struction, Mic. 4. 11, 12. Assemble yourselves, and yt
shall be broken to pieces, Isa. 8. 9. See Rev. 19. 17, 18,
2. At Barak’s request, she promises to go along
with him to the field of battle. (1.) Barak insists
much upon the necessity of her presence, which
would be better to him than a concert of war; ( v .
8.) “If thou wilt go with me to direct and advise
me, and in every difficult case to let me know God’s
mind, then I will go with all my heart, and not fear
the chariots of iron;” otherwise not. Some make
this to be the language of a weak faith; he could
not take her word, unless he had her with him in
pawn, as it were, for performance. It seems rather
to arise from a conviction of the necessity of God’s
. presence and continual conduct, a pledge and ear-
| nest of which he would reckon Deborah’s presence
I to be; and therefore begged thus earnestly for it.
I “ If thou go not ufi with me, in token of God’s go¬
ing with me, carry me not up. hence.” Nothing
would be a greater satisfaction to him, than to
have the prophetess with him to animate the sol¬
diers, and to be consulted as an oracle upon all oc-
1 casions. (2.) Deborah promised to go with him,
v. 9. No toil nor peril shall discourage her from
doing the utmost that becomes her to do for the
service of her country. She would not send him
where she would not go herself. Those that in
God’s name call others to their duty, should be
very ready to assist them in it. Deborah was the
weaker vessel, yet had the stronger faith. But
though she agrees to go with Barak, if he insist
upon it, she gives him a hint proper enough to mo\ e
a soldier not to insist upon it. The journey thou
undertakest (so confident was she of the success,
| that she calls his engaging in war but the under¬
taking of a journey) shall not be for thine honour;
not so much for thine honour as if thou hadst gone
thyself; for the Lord shall sell Sisera (now his turn
comes to be sold as Israel was, v. 2. by way of re¬
prisal) into the hands of a woman; that is, [1.] The
world would ascribe the victory to the hand of De¬
borah; this he might himself foresee. [2.] God
(to correct his weakness) would complete the vic¬
tory by the hand of Jael; which would be some
eclipse to his glory. But Barak values the satisfac¬
tion of his mind, and the good success of his enter¬
prise, more than his honour; and therefore will by
no means drop his request. He dares not fight un¬
less he have Deborah with him to direct him, and
pray for him. She therefore stood to her word with
a masculine courage; this noble heroine arose and
went with Barak.
10. And Barak called Zebulun and
Naphtali to Kedesh ; and he went up with
ten thousand men at his feet : and Deborah
went up with him. 11. Now Heber the
Kenite, tvhich was of the children of Hobab,
the father-in-law of Moses, had severed
himself from the Kenites, and pitched his
tent unto the plain of Zanaim, which is by
Kedesh. 1 2. And they showed Sisera that
Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up
to mount Tabor. 13. And Sisera gathered
together all his chariots, even nine hun¬
dred chariots of iron, and all the people
that were, with him, from Harosheth of
the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. 14.
And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for
this is the day in which the Lord hath de¬
livered Sisera into thine hand : is not the
Lord gone out before thee? So Barak
JUDGES, JV.
went clown fiom mount Tabor, and ten
thousand men after him. 15. And the
Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his cha¬
riots, and all his host, with the edge of the
sword, before Barak; so that Sisera lighted
down off his chariot, and fled away on his
feet. 1G. But Barak pursued after the cha¬
riots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of
the Gentiles : and all the host of Sisera fell
upon the edge of the sword ; and there was
not a man left.
Here,
I. Barak beats up for volunteers, and soon has
his quota of men ready, v. 10. Deborah had ap¬
pointed him to raise an army of ten thousand men,
(x\ 6.) and so many he has presently at his feet, fol¬
lowing him, and subject to his command. God is j
said to call us to his feet, (Isa. 41. 2.) that is into ;
obedience to him. Some think it intimates that they
were all footmen, and so the armies of the Jews ge¬
nerally were; which made the disproportion of
strength between them and the enemy (who had
horses and chariots) very great, and the victory the
more illustrious; but the presence of God and his
prophetess was abundantly sufficient to balance that
disproportion. Barak had his men at his feet, which
intimates their cheerfulness, and readiness to attend
him, whithersoever he went, Rev. 14. 4. Though
the tri jes of Zebulun and N aphtali were chiefly de¬
pended on, yet it appears, by Deborah’s song, that
there were some come in to him from other tribes,
Manasseh and Issachar; and more expected that
came not, from Reuben, Dan, and Asher, ck. 5. 14.
17. But these are overlooked here: and we are
only told, that to make his ten thousand effective
men indeed, Deborah went up with him. The 11th
verse, concerning the remove of Heber, one of the
families of the Ivenites, out of the wilderness of Ju¬
dah, in the south, where those families had fixed
themselves, {eh. 1. 16.) into the northern country,
comes in for the sake of what was to follow con¬
cerning the exploit of Jael, a wife of that family.
II. Sisera, upon the notice of Barak’s motions,
takes the field with a very numerous and powerful
army, v. 12, 13. They showed Sisera, that is, it
was showed him. Yet some think it refers to the
Kenites, mentioned immediately before, v. 11.
They gave Sisera notice of Barak’s rendezvous,
there being peace at this time between Jabin and
that family, v. 17. Whether they intended it as a
kindness to him or no, it served to accomplish what
God had said by Deborah, (v. 7.) I will draw unto
thee Sisera. Sisera’s confidence was chiefly in his
chariots; therefore particular notice is taken of them,
nine hundred chariots of iron, which, with the
scythes fastened to their axle-trees, when they were
driven into an army of footmen, did terrible execu¬
tion. So ingenious have men been in inventing me¬
thods of destroying one another, to gratify those
lusts from which come wars and fightings.
III. Deborah gives orders to engage the enemy,
■y. 14. Josephus says, that when Barak saw Sise¬
ra’s army drawn up, and attempting to surround the
mountain, on the top of which he and his forces lay
encamped, his heart quite failed him, and he deter¬
mined to retire to a place of greater safety; but De¬
borah animated him to make a descent upon Sisera,
assuring him that this was the day marked out in
the divine counsels for his defeat. Now they ap¬
pear most threatening, they are ripe for ruin. The
thing is as sure to be done, as if it were done alrea¬
dy: The Lord hath delivered Sisera into thy hand.
See how the wcrk and honour of this great action
are divided between Deborah and Barak; she, as
the head, gives the word, he, as the hand, doeth the
work. Thus doth God dispense his gifts variously,
1 Cor. 12. 4, &c. But though ordinarily the head
of the woman is the man, (1 Cor. 11. 2.) he that has
j the residue of the Spirit was pleased to cross hands,
and to put the head upon the woman’s shoulders,
choosing the weak things of the world to shame the
mighty, that no flesh might glory in his presence.
It was well for Barak that he had Deborah with
him; for she made up what was defective, 1. In his
conduct, by telling him, This is the day. 2. In h:s
courage, by assuring him of God’s presence; “Is
not the Lord gone out before thee ? Darest not thou
follow, when thou hast God himself for thv
Leader?” Note, (1.) In every undertaking it is
good to be satisfied that God goes before us, th..t
we are in the way of cur duty, and under his direc¬
tion. (2. ) If we have ground to hope that Gcd goes
before us, we ought to go on with courage and
cheerfulness. “ Be not dismayed at the difficulties
thou meetest with in resisting Satan, in serving God,
or suffering for him; for is not the Lord gone out
before thee? Follow him fully then.”
IV. God himself routs the enemy’s army, v. 15.
Barak, in obedience to Deborah’s orders, went
down into the valley, though there upon the plain
the iron chariots would have so much the more ad¬
vantage against him, quitting his fastness upon the
mountain m dependence upon the divine power: for
in vain is salvation hoped for from hills and moun¬
tains; in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people,
Jer. 3. 23. And he was not decehed in his confi¬
dence; The Lord discomfited Sisera. It was not so
much the bold and surprising alarm which Barak
gave their camp, that dispirited and dispersed
them, but God’s terror seized their spirits, and put
them into an unaccountable confusion. The stars,
it seems, fought against them, ch. 5. 20. Josephus
says, that a violent storm of hail, which beat in
their faces, gave them this rout, disabled them and
drove them back; so that they became a very easy
prey to the army of Israel: and Deborah’s words
were made good; “ The Lord. has delivered them
into thy hand; it is now in thy power to do what thou
wilt with them.”
V. Barak bravely improves his advantage, fol¬
lows the blow with an undaunted resolution and an
unwearied diligence, prosecutes the victory, and
pursues the scattered forces, even to their general’s
head quarters at Harosheth, (i;. 16.) and spares
none whom God had delivered into his hand to be
destroyed; There was not a man left. When God
goes before us in our spiritual conflicts we must be¬
stir ourselves; and when by his grace he gives us
some success against the enemies of our souls, we
must improve it by watchfulness and resolution, and
carry on the holy war with vigoui
17. Howbeit, Sisera fled away on his
feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber
the Kenite: for there was peace between
Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of
Heber the Kenite. 18. And Jael went out
to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in
my lord, turn in to me; fear not: and when
he had turned in unto her into the tent, she
covered him with a mantle. 19. And he
said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little
water to drink ; for I am thirsty : and she
opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink,
and covered him. 20. Again lie- said unto
her, Stand in the door of the tent ; and it
120
JUDGES, IV.
shall be, when any man iloth come and in- j
quire of thee, and say, Is there any man
here ? that thou shalt say, No. 21. Then
Jael, Heber’s wife, took a nail of the tent,
and took a hammer in her hand, and went
softly unto him, and smote the nail into his
temples, and fastened it into the ground : (for
he was fast asleep, and weary :) so he died.
22. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera,
Jael came out to meet him, and said unto
him, Come, and 1 will show thee the man
whom thou seekest. And when he came
into her tent , behold, Sisera lay dead, and the
nail was in his temples. 23. So God sub¬
dued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan
before the children of Israel. 24. And the
hand of the children of Israel prospered, and
prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan,
until they had destroyed Jabin king of Ca¬
naan.
We have seen the army of the Canaanites totally
routed. It is said, Ps. 83. 9, 10. (where the defeat of
this army is pleaded as a precedent for God’s doing
the like in aftertimes,) that they became as dung
for the earth. Now here we have,
I. The fall of their general, S;sera, captain of the
host, in whom it is likely, Jabin their king put an
entire confidence, and therefore was not himself
present in the action. Let us trace the steps of this
mighty man’s fall.
1. He quitted his chariot, and took to his feet, v.
1 », 17. His chariots had been his pride and his
confidence; and we may suppose he had therefore
despised and defied the armies of the living God,
because they were all on foot, and had neither cha¬
riot nor horse, as he had; justly therefore is he thus
made ashamed of his confidence, and forced to quit
it, and thinks himself then most safe and easy, when
he is got clear of his chariot, though we may well
suppose it the best made, and best drawn, of any of
them. Thus are they disappointed who rest on the I
creature; like a broken reed, it not only breaks un- j
der them, but runs into their hand, and pierces
them with many sorrows. The idol may quickly
become a burthen; (Isa. 46. 1.) and what we were
sick for, God can make us sick of. How sneakingly
doth Sisera look, now he is dismounted. It is hard to
say whether he blushes or trembles more. Put not
your trust in princes, if they may so soon be brought
to this; if he who but lately trusted to his arms with
so much assurance, must now trust to his heels onty
with so litt'e.
2. He fled for shelter in the tents of the Kenites,
having no strong hold, nor any place of his own in
reach to retire to. The mean and solitary way of
the Kenites’ living perhaps, he had formerly de-
snised and rid’culed, and the more, because religion
was kept up among them; yet now he is glad to put
h msclf under the protection of one of these tents:
and he chooses the wife’s tent or apartment, either
because less suspected, or because it happened to be
next to him, and the first he came to, v. 17. And
th it which encouraged him to go thither, was, that
at this time there was peace between his master and
the house of Heber: not that there was any league
offensive and defensive between them, only at pre¬
sent there was no indications of hostility. Jabin did
them no harm, did not oppress them as he did the
Israelites; their plain, quiet harmless way of living,
making them not suspected or feared: and perhaps
God so ordering it, as a recompense for their con- |
i! stant adherence t the true religion. Sisera thought
he might therefore be safe among them ; not consi¬
dering, that though they themselves suffered not by
Jabin’s power, they heartily sympathized with the
Israel of God that did.
3. Jael invited him in, and bid him very welcome.
Probably she stood at the tent door, to inquire what
news from the army, and what the success of the
battle was, which was fought not far off. (1.) She
invited him in. Perhaps she stood waiting for an
opportunity to show kindness to any distressed Is¬
raelites, if there should have been occasion for it;
but seeing Sisera come in great haste, panting and
out of breath, she invited him to come and repose
himself in her tent; in which, while she seemed to
design the relieving of his fatigue, perhaps she
lvally intended the retarding of his flight that he
might fall into the hands of Barak, who was now in
a hot chase of him ; (y. 18. ) and it may well be ques¬
tioned, whether she had at first any thought of
taking away his life, but rather God afterwards put
it into her heart. (2.) She made very much of him,
and seemed mighty careful to have him easy, as her
invited guest Was he weary? she finds him a very
convenient place to repose himself in, and recruit
his strength. Was he thirsty? well he might. Did
he want a little water to cool his tongue? the best li¬
quor the tent afforded was at his service, and th. t
was milk, ( v . 19.) which we may suppose, he drank
heartily of; and being refreshed with it, was the
better disposed to sleep. Was lie cold or afraid ot
catching cold: or did he desire to be hid from the
pursuers, if they should search that tent? she co\ er
ed him with a mantle, v. 18. > All expressions ot
care for his safety. Only, when he desired her to
tell a lie for him, and to say he was not there, she
declined making any such promise, v. 20. We
must not sin against God, no not to oblige those we
would show ourselves most observant of. Lastly,
We must suppose she kept her tent as quiet as she
could, and free from noise, that he might sleep the
sooner and the faster. And how was Sisera least
safe, when he was most secure. How uncertain and
precarious is human life! and what assurance can
we have of it, when it may so easily be betrayed by
those with whom it is trusted; and they may prove
its destroyers, who we hoped would have been its
protectors! It is best making God our Friend, for he
will not deceive us.
4. When he lay fast asleep, she drove a long nail
through his temple; so fastened his head to the
ground, and killed him, v. 21. And though this
was enough to do his business, yet to make sure
work, (if we translate it right, ch. 5. 26.) she cut
off his head, and left it nailed there. Whether she
designed this or no when she invited him into her
tent, does not appear; probably the thought was
darted into her mind when she saw him lie so fair to
receive such afatal blow ; and, doubtless, the thought
brought with it evidence sufficient that it came not
from Satan, as a murderer and destroyer, but from
God, as righteous Judge and Avenger; so much of
brightness and heavenly light did she perceive in
the inducements to it that offered themselves, the
honour of God, and the deliverance of Israel, and
nothing of the blackness of malice, hatred, or per¬
sonal revenge. (1. ) It was a divine power that ena¬
bled her to do it, and inspired her with a more than
manly courage. What jf her hand should shake,
and she should miss her blow? What if he should
awake when she was attempting it? Or suppose some
of his own attendants should follow him, and sur¬
prise her in the fact, how dearly would she and all
her’s be made to pay for it? Yet, obtaining help of
God, she does it effectually. [2.] It was a divine
warrant that justified her in the doing of it; and
therefore, since no such extraordinary commission?
JUDGES, V.
can now be pretended, it ought not in any case to be
imitated. The laws of friendship and hospitality
must be religiously observed, arid we must abhor
the thought of betraying any whom we have invited
and encouraged to put a confidence in us. And as
to this act of Jael’s, (like that of Ehud’s in the
chapter before,) we have reason to think she was
conscious of such a divine impulse upon her spirit
to do it, as did abundantly satisfy herself (and it
ought therefore to satisfy us) that it was well done.
God’s judgments are a great deep. The instrument
of this execution was a nail of the tent, that is, one
of the great pins with which the tent, or the stakes
of it, were fastened. They often removed their
tents; she had been used to drive these nails, and
therefore knew how to do it the more dexterously
on this great occasion. He that had thought to have
destroyed Israel with his many iron chariots, is
himself destroyed with one iron nail. Thus do the
weak things of the world confound the mighty. See
here Jael’s glory, and Sisera’s shame. The great
commander dies, (1.) In his sleep, fast asleep, and
weary. It comes in as a reason why he stirred not
to make any resistance. So fettered was he in the
chains of sleep, that he could not find his hands.
Thus the stout-hearted are spoiled at thy rebuke, O
God of Jacob; they are cast into a deep sleep, and so
are made to sleep their last, Ps. 76. 5, 6. Let not
the strong man then glory in his strength; for when
he sleeps, where is it? ft is weak, and he can do
nothing; a child may insult him then, and steal his
life from him; and yet if he sleep not, he is soon
spent and weary, and can do nothing neither.
These words which we here put in a parenthesis,
( for he was vjeary ,) all the ancient versions read
otherwise: he struggled, (or started as we say,)
and died; so the Syriac and Arabic Rxagitans sese
mor'uus est. He fainted and died; so the Chaldee.
He was darkened and died; so the LXX. C'onso-
cians morte soporem, so the vulgar Latin, joining
sleep and death together, seeing they are so near
akin. He fainted and died. He dies, [2.] With
his head nailed to the ground, an emblem of his
earthly-mindedness. 0 curve in terrain animae\
His ear (says Bishop Hall) was fastened so close to
the earth, as if his body had been listening what was
become of his soul. He dies, [3.] By the hand of
a woman. This added to the shame of his death
before men; and had he but known it as Abimelech
did, ( cli . 9. 54.) we may well imagine how much it
would have added to the vexation of his own heart.
II. Here is the glory and joy of Israel hereupon.
1. Barak their leader finds his enemy dead ; ( v .
22.) and very well pleased, no doubt, he was to
find his work done so well to his hand, and so much
to the glory of God, and the confusion of his ene¬
mies. Had he stood too nice upon a point of ho¬
nour, he would have resented it as an affront to
have the general slain by any hand but his; but now
he remembered, that this diminution of his honour
he was sentenced to undergo, for insisting on Debo¬
rah’s going with them ; The Lord shall sell Sisera
into the hand ofa woman; though then it was little
thought the prediction would have been fulfilled in
such a way as this.
2. Israel is completely delivered out of the hands
of Jabin king of Canaan, v. 23, 24. They not only
shook off his yoke by this day’s victory, but they
afterward prosecuted the war against him, till thev
had destroyed him, he and his nation being by-
divine appointment devoted to ruin, and not to be
snared. The Israelites having soundly smarted for
• heir foolish pity in not doing it before, resolve, now
it is in their power, to indulge them no longer, but
to make a thorough riddance of them, as a people
to whom to show mercy was as contrary to their
own interest as it was to God’s command; and pro-
Vol. II.— Q
bably it was with an eye to the sentence they were
under, that this enemy ..s named three times here
in the two last verses, and called king of Canaan;
for as such he was to be destroyed; and so thorough¬
ly was he destroyed, that I do not remember to
read of the kings of Canaan any more after this.
The children of Israel had prevented a great deal
of mischief, if they had sooner destroyed these Ca-
naanites, as God had both commanded and enabled
them; but better be wise late, and by experience,
than never wise.
CHAP. V.
This chapter is the triumphant song- which was composed
and sung upon occasion of that glorious victory which
Israel obtained over the forces of Jabin king of Canaan,
and the happy consequences of that victory. Probably it
was usual then to publish poems upon such occasions, as
now; but this only is preserved of all the poems of that
age of the Judges because dictated by Deborah a pro¬
phetess designed for a psalm of praise then, and a pat¬
tern of praise to after ages; and it gives a great deal of
light to the history of these times. I. It begins with
praise to God, v. 2, 3. II. The substance of this song
transmits the memory of this great achievement. 1. Com¬
paring God’s appearances for them on this occasion,
with his appearances to them on mount Sinai, v. 4, 5.
2. Magnifying their deliverance, from the consideration
ofthe calamitous condition they had been in, v. 6. .8. 3.
Calling those to join in praise, who shared in the benefits
ofthe success, v. 9.. 13. 4. Reflecting honour upon
those tribes that were forward and active in that war,
and disgrace on those that declined the service, v.
14.. 19, 23. 5. Taking notice how God himself fought
for them, v. 20. .22. 6. Celebrating particularly the ho¬
nour of Jael, that slew Sisera; on which head the song is
very large, v. 24 . .30. It concludes with a prayer^ to
God, v. 31.
1 . npHEN sang Deborah, and Barak the
A. son of Abinoam, on that day, say¬
ing, 2. Praise ye the Lord for the aveng¬
ing of Israel, when the people willingly of¬
fered themselves. 3. Hear, O ye kings;
give ear, O ye princes: I, even I, will sing
unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the
Lord God of Israel. 4. Lord, when thou
went est out of Seir, when thou marchedst
out of the field of Edom, the earth trem¬
bled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds
also dropped water. 5. The mountains
melted from before the Lord, even that Si¬
nai from before the Lord God of Israel.
The former chapter let us know what great
things God had done for Israel: in this we have
the thankful returns they made to God, that all ages
of the church might leam (that work of heaven) to
praise God.
I. God is praised by a song. Which is, 1. A very
natural expression of rejoicing: Is any merry? Let
him sing; and holy joy is the very soul and root of
praise and thanksgiving. God is pleased to reckon
himself glorified by our joy in him, and in his won¬
drous works. His servants’ joy is his delight, and
their songs melody to him. 2. A very proper ex¬
pedient for spreading the knowledge and perpetu¬
ating the remembrance, of great events. Neigh¬
bours would learn this song one of another, and
children of their parents; and by that means thev
who had not books, or could not read, yet would be
made acquainted with these works of God; and one
generation would thus praise God’s works to an¬
other, and declare his mighty acts, Ps. 145. 4, &c.
II. Deborah herself penned this song, as appears
by v. 7, Till I Deborah arose And the first
words should be rendered, Then she sang, even
Deborah. She used her gifts as a prophetess ii
1-22
JUDGES, V.
composing the song; and the strain throughout is j
very fine and lofty, the images lively, the expres¬
sions elegant, and an admirable mixture there is in
it of sweetness and majesty. No poetry is compa¬
rable to the sacred poetry. And we may suppose
she used her power as a princess, in obliging the
conquering army of Israel to learn and sing this
song. She expects not that they should, by their
poems, celebrate her praises, and magnify her; but
requires, that in this poem they should join with
her in celebrating God’s praises, and magnifying
him. She had been the first wheel in the action,
and now is so in the thanksgiving.
111. It was sung on that day, not the very day
that the fight was, but on that occasion, and soon
after, as soon as a thanksgiving day could conve¬
niently be appointed. When we have recei\ ed
mercy from God, we ought to be speedy in our re¬
turns of praise, while the impressions of the mercy
are fresh. It is rent to be paid at the day.
1. She begins with a general Hallelujah: Praise
(or bless, for that is the word) ye the Lord, v. 2.
The design of the song is to give glory to God; that
therefore is put first, to explain and direct all that
follows, like the first petition of the Lord’s prayer,
Hallowed be thy name. Two things God is here
praised for; (1.) The vengeance he took on Israel’s
enemies, for the avenging of Israel upon their
proud and cruel oppressors, recompensing into
their bosoms all the injuries they had done to his
people. The Lord is known as a righteous God,
and the God to whom vengeance belongs, by the
judgments which he executeth. (2.) The grace
he gave to Israel’s friends; when the people wil¬
lingly offered themselves to serve in this war. God
is to have the glory of all the good offices that are
at any time done us; and the more willingly they
are done, the more is to be observed of that grace,
which gives both to will and to do. For these two
things she resolves to leave this song upon record,
to the honour of the everlasting God; (x>. 3.) I,
even I will sing unto the Lord, Jehovah, that God
of incontestable sovereignty and irresistible power,
even to the Lord God of Israel, who governs all for
the good of the church.
2. She calls to the great ones of the world, that sit
at the upper end of its table, to attend to her song,
and take notice of the subject of it: Hear, O ye
kings, give ear, O ye princes. (1.) She would have
them know, that as great and as high as they were,
there is One above them with whom it is folly to
contend, and to whom it is their interest to submit;
that horses and chariots are vain things for safety.
(2.) She would have them to join with her in prais¬
ing the God of Israel, and no longer to praise their
counterfeit deities, as Belshazzar did; (Dan. 5. 4.)
He praised the gods of gold and silver. She be¬
speaks them as the psalmist, (Ps. 2. 10, 11.) Be
wise now therefore, 0 ye kings, serve the Lord with
fear. (3.) She would have them take warning by
Sisera’s fate, and not dare to offer any injury to
the people of God, whose cause, sooner or later,
God will plead with jealousy.
3. She looks back upon God’s former appear¬
ances, and compares this with them, the more to
magnify the glorious Author of this great salvation.
What God is doing, should bring to our mind what
he has done; for he is the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever; (y. 4.) Lord when thou wentest out
of Seir. This may be understood, either, (1.) Of
the appearances of God’s power and justice against
the enemies of Israel to subdue and conquer them;
and so Hab. 3. 3, 4, &c. is parallel to it, where the
destruction of the church’s enemies is thus de¬
scribed. When God had led his people Israel from
the country of Edom, he brought down under their
feet Sihon and Og, striking them and their armies
with such terror and amazement, that they seemed
apprehensive that heaven and earth were commg
together. Their hearts melted, as if all the wor d
had been melting round about them. Or it denotes
the glorious displays of the Divine Majesty, and the
surprising efforts of the divine power, enough to
make the earth tremble, the heavens drop like
snow before the sun, and the mountains to melt.
Compare Ps. 18. 7. God’s counsels are so far from
being hmdered by any creature, that when the
time of ..heir accomplishment comes, that which
seemed to stand in their way will not only yield be¬
fore them, but be made to serve them. See Is .
64. 1, 2. Or, (2.) It is meant of the appearances
of God’s glory and majesty in Israel, when he gave
them his law at mount Sinai. It was then literally
true, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped ,
&c. Compare Deut. 33. 2. Ps. 68. 7, 8. Let all
the kings and princes know that this is the God
whom Deborah praises, and net such mean and im¬
potent deities as they paid their homage to. The
Chaldee paraphrase applies it to the giving of the
law, but has a strange descant on those words, The
mountains melted. Tabor, Herman, and Carmel,
contended among themselves: one said, Let the di¬
vine majesty dwell upon me; the other said, Let it
dwell upon me; but God made it to dwell upon
mount Sinai, the meanest a?id least of all the moun¬
tains. I suppose it means the least valuable, be¬
cause barren and rocky.
6. In the days of Shamgar the son of
Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways
were unoccupied, and the travellers walk¬
ed through by-ways. 7. The inhabitants of
the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel,
until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a
mother in Israel. 8. They chose new
gods ; then was war in the gates : was there
a shield or spear seen among forty thousand
in Israel ? 9. My heart is toward the gov¬
ernors of Israel, that offered themselves wil¬
lingly among the people. Bless ye the
Lord. 10. Speak, ye that ride on white
asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by
the way. 1 1. They that are delivered from
the noise of archers in the places of draw¬
ing water, there shall they rehearse the
righteous acts of the Lord, even the righ¬
teous acts toward the inhabitants of his vil¬
lages in Israel : then shall the people of the
Lord go down to the gates.
Here,
I. Deborah describes the distressed state of Israel
under the tyranny of Jabin, that the greatness of
their trouble might make their salvation appear
the more illustrious, and the more gracious, v. 6.
“ From the dans of Shamgar, who did something
toward the deliverance of Israel from the Philis¬
tines, to the days of Jael, the present day, in which
Jael has so signalized herself, the country has been
in a manner desolate.” 1. No trade. For want of
soldiers to protect mei>of business in their business
from the incursions of the enemy, and for want of
magistrates to restrain and punish thieves and rob¬
bers among them, (men of broken fortunes and des¬
perate spirits, that, having no employment, took to
rob on the high-road,) all commerce ceased, and
the highways were unoccupied; no caravans of
merchants, as formerly. 2. No travelling. Where
as in times when there was some order and govern
123
JUDGES, V.
inent, the travellers might be safe in the open
roads, and the robbers were forced to lurk in the
by-ways; now, on the contrary, the robbers insult¬
ed on the open road without check, and the honest
travellers were obliged to sculk, and walk through
by-ways, in continual frights. 3. No tillage. The
fields must needs be laid waste and unoccupied,
when the inhabitants of the villages, the country-
farmers, ceased from their employment, quitted
their houses which were continually alarmed and
plundered, and were obliged to take shelter for
themselves and their families in walled and tenced
cities. 4. No administration of justice. There
was war in the gates where their courts were
kept, v. 8. So that it was not till this salvation
was wrought, that the fieo/ile of the Lord durst
go down to the gates, v. 11. The continual incur¬
sions of the enemy depriv ed the magistrates of the
dignity, and the’ people of the benefit, of their
government. 5. No peace to him that went out, or
to him that came in. The gates through which
they passed and repassed, were infested by the
enemy; nay, the places of drawing water were
alarmed by the archers — a mighty achievement for
terrifying the drawers of water. 6. Neither arms
nor spirit to help themselves with, not a shield nor
s/iear among forty thousand, v. 8. Either they
were disarmed by their oppressors, or they them¬
selves neglected the art of war; so that though they
had spears and shields, they were not to be seen, but
were thrown by and suffered to rust, they having
neither skill nor will to use them.
II. She shows in one word what it was that
brought all this misery upon them; They chose new
gods, v. 8. It was their idolatry that provoked
God to give them up thus into the hands of then
enemies. The Lord their God was one Lord, but
that would not content them, they must ha\ e
more, many more, still more. Their God was the
Ancient of days, still the same, and therefore they
giew weary of him, and must needs have new gods,
which they were fond of as children of new clothes;
names newly invented, heroes newly canonized. ;
Their fathers, when put to their choice, chose the
Lord for their God, (Josh. 24. 21.) but they would
not abide by that choice, they must have gods of
their own choosing.
III. She takes notice of God’s great goodness to
Israel, in raising up such as should redress their
grievances. Herself first; (n. 7.) Till that I Debo¬
rah arose, to restrain and punish those who dis¬
turbed the public peace, and protect men in their
business; and then the face ol things was changed
for the better quickly; those beasts of prey retired
upon the breaking forth of this joyful light, and
man went forth again to his work and labour, Ps.
104. 22, 23. Thus she became a mother in Israel,
a nursing mother, such was the affection she bore
to her people, and such the care and pains she took
for the public welfare. Under her there were
other govei-nors of Israel, (i>. 9.) who, like her,
had done their part as governors to reform the
people, and then, like her, offered themselves
willingly to serve in the war, not insisting upon the
exemption which their dignity and office entitled
them to, when they had so fair an opportunity of
appearing in their country’s cause; and, no doubt,
the example of the governors influenced the people
in like manner, willing to offer themselves, v. 2.
Of these governors she says, My heart is toward
them; that is, “ I truly love and honour them, they
have won my heart for ever, I shall never forget
them.” Note, Those are worthy of double honour,
that recede voluntarily from the demands of their
honour to serve God and his church.
IV. She calls upon those who had a particular
iihare in the advantages of this great salvation, to
offer up particular thanks to God for it, v. 10, 11.
Let every man speak as he found of the goodness
of God in this happy change of the posture of pub¬
lic affairs. 1. Ye that ride on white asses, that is,
the nobility and gentry. Horses were little used
in that country, they had, it is probable, a much
better breed of asses than we have; but persons of
quality, it seems, were distinguished by the colour
of the asses they rode on, the wlrte being more
1 rare, were therefore more valued. Notice is taken
of Abdon’s sons and grandsons tiding on ass-colts,
as indicating them to be men of distinction, ch. 12.
14. Let such as are by this salvation restored, not
only to their liberty as other lsrae.ites, but. to their
dignity, speak God’s praises. 2. Let them that sit
in judgment be sensible of it, and thankful for it as
a very great mercy, that they may sit safely there;
that the sword of justice is not struck out of their
hand by the sword of war. 3. Let them that walk
by the way, and meet with none there to make
them afraid, speak to themselves in pious medita¬
tions, and to their fellow-travellers in religious dis¬
courses of the goodness of God in ridding the roads
of those banditti that had so long infested them.
4. Let them that draw water in peace and have not
their well taken from them, or stopped up, nor are
in danger of being caught by the enemy when they
go forth to draw there where they find themselves
so much more safe and easy than they have been,
there let them rehearse the acts of the Lord; not
Deborah’s acts, or Barak’s, but the Lord’s, taking
notice of his hand making peace in our borders,
and creating a defence upon all the glory. This is
the Lord’s doing. Observe in these acts of his,
(1. ) Justice executed on his daring enemies. They
are the righteous acts of the Lord. See him plead¬
ing a righteous cause, and sitting in the thione
judging aright, and give him glory as the Judge of
all the earth. (2. ) Kindness showed to his trem¬
bling people; the inhabitants of the villages, who lay
most open to the enemy, had suffered most, and
were in most danger, Ezek. 38. 11. It is the glory
of God to protect those that are most exp; sed, and
to help the weakest. Let us all take. notice of the
share we in particular have in the public peace arid
tranquillity, the inhabitants of the villages espe¬
cially, and give God the praise of it.
12. Awake, awake, Deborah; awake,
awake ; utter a song : arise, Barak, and lead
thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
13. Then he made him that remaineth have
dominion over the nobles among the peo¬
ple : the Lord made me have dominion
over the mighty. 14. Out of Ephraim was
there a root of them against Amalek ; after
thee, Benjamin, among thy people : out of
Machir came down governors, and out of
Zebulun they that handled the pen of the
writer. 15. And the princes of Issachar
were with Deborah ; even Issachar, and also
Barak : he was sent on foot into the valley.
For the divisions of Reuben there were great
thoughts of heart. 16. Why abodest thou
among the sheep-folds, to hear the bleatings
of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart. 17.
Gilead abode beyond Jordan : and why did
Dan remain in ships ? Asher continued on
the sea-shore, and abode in his breathes.
18. Zebulun and Naphtali were a people
124
JUDGES, V.
that jeoparded their lives unto the death in
the high places of the field. 19. The kings
came and fought ; then fought the kings of
Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Me-
giddo : they took no gain of money. 20.
They fought from heaven ; the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera. 21. The river
of Kishon swept them away, that ancient
river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou
hast trodden down strength. 22. Then were
the horse-hoofs broken by the means of the
prancings, the prancings of their mighty
ones. 23. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel
of the Lord ; curse ye bitterly the inhabit¬
ants thereof ; because they came not to the
help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord
against the mighty.
Here,
I. Deborah stirs up herself and Barak to cele¬
brate this victory in the most solemn manner, to the
glory of God and the honour of Israel, for the en¬
couragement of their friends and the greater con¬
fusion of their enemies, v. 12. 1. Deborah, as a
prophetess, must do it by a song, to compose and
sing which, she excites herself, Awake, awake ;
and again, Awake, awake. Which intimates the
sense she had of the excellency and difficulty of the
work: it needed and well deserved the utmost
liveliness and vigour of soul in the performance of
it; all the powers and faculties of the soul in their
closest attention and application ought to be em¬
ployed in it. Thus too she expresses the sense she
had of her own infirmity, and aptness to flag, and
remit in her zeal in this work. Note, Praising
God is work that we should awake to, and awake
ourselves to, Ps. 108. 2. 2. Barak, as a general,
must do it by a triumph; Lead thy cafitivity cafi-
tive. Though the army of Sisera was cut off in the
field, and no quarter given, yet we may suppose in
the prosecution of the victory, when the war was
carried into the enemy’s country, many not found
in arms were seized and made prisoners of war;
these she would have led in chains after Barak,
when he made his public entry into his own city to
grace his triumphs; not as if it should be any plea¬
sure to him to trample upon his fellow-creatures,
but thus he must give glory to God, and serve that
good purpose of his government, which is to look
ufion those that are firoud, and to abase them.
II. She gives good reason for this praise and
triumph, v. 13. This glorious victory had made
the remnant of Israel, and Deborah in particular,
look very great; a circumstance which they owed
entirely to God. 1. The Israelites were become
few and inconsiderable, and yet to them God gave
dominion over nobles. Many of them were cut off
by the enemy, many died of grief, and perhaps
some had removed their families and effects into
foreign parts; yet those few that remained, by
divine assistance, with one brave and generous
effort, not only shook off the yoke of oppression
from their own neck, but got power over their op¬
pressors. As long as any of God’s Israel remain,
(and a remnant God will have in the worst of
times,) there is hope, be it ever so small a remnant,
for God can make him that remains, though it
should be but one single person, triumph over the
most proud and potent. 2. Deborah was herself
of the weaker sex, and the sex that from the fall
had been sentenced to subjection, and yet the Lord
that is himself higher than the highest, authorized
her to rule over the mighty men of Israel, who wil¬
lingly submitted to her conduct: and enabled her to
triumph over the mighty men of Canaan, who fell
before the army she commanded; so wonderfully
did he advance the low estate of his handmaid,
“The Lord made me, a woman, have dominion
over mighty men.” A despised stone is made head
of the corner. This is indeed the Lord’s doing,
and marvellous in our eyes.
III. She makes particular remarks on the several
parties concerned in this great action, taking notice
who fought against them, who fought for them, and
who stood neuter.
1. Who fought against them. The power of the
enemy must be taken notice of, that the victory
may appear the more glorious. Jabin and Sisera
had been mentioned in the history, but here it ap¬
pears further, (1.) That Amalek was in league
with Jabin, and sent him in assistance, or en¬
deavoured to do it. Ephraim is here said to act
against Amalek, (r. 14. ) probably intercepting and
cutting off some forces of the Amalekites that were
upon their march to join Sisera. Amalek had
helped Moab to oppress Israel, (cA. 3. 13. ) and now
had helped Jabin; they were inveterate enemies to
God’s people, whose hand had always been against
the throne of the Lord, (Exod. 17. 16.) and there¬
fore the more dangerous. (2. ) That others of the
kings of Canaan, who had somewhat recovered
themselves since their defeat by Joshua, joined with
Jabin and strengthened his army with their forces,
having the same implacable enmity to Israel that
he had, and those kingdoms, when they were in
their strength, having been subject to that of Ha-
zor, Josh. 11. 10. These kings came and fought,
v. 19. Israel had no king, their enemies had many,
whose power and influence, especially acting in con¬
federacy, made them very formidable; and yet
Israel, having the Lord for their Kings, was too
hard for them all. It is said of these Kings, They
took no gain of money; they were not necessary
troops hired into the service of Jabin, (such often
fail in an extremity,) but they were all volunteers,
and hearty in the cause against Israel: they desired
not the riches of silver, so the Chaldee, but only the
satisfaction of helping to ruin Israel. Acting upon
this principle, they were the more formidable, and
would be the more cruel.
2. Who fought for them. The several tribes
that assisted in this great exploit, here are spoken
of with honour; for though God is chiefly to be glo¬
rified, instruments must have their due praise, for
the encouragement of others: but, after all, it was
heaven that turned the scale.
(1.) Ephraim and Benjamin, those tribes among
whom Deborah herself lived, bestirred themselves,
and did bravely, by her influence upon them ; for
her palm-tree was in the tribe of Ephraim, and
very near to that of Benjamin, v. 14, Out of
Efihraim, was there a root, and life in the root,
against Amalek. There was in Ephraim a moun¬
tain called the mount of Amalek, (mentioned, ch.
12. 13.) which some think is here meant, and some
read it, There was a root in Amalek; that is, in that
mountain; a strong resolution in the minds of that
people to make head against the oppressors, which
was the root of the matter. Herein Benjamin had
set them a good example among his people;
Ephraim moved after thee, Benjamin. Though
Benjamin was the juniof tribe, and much inferior,
especially at this time, to Ephraim, both in number
and wealth, yet when they led, Ephraim followed
in appearing for the common cause. If we be not
so bold as to lead, yet we must not be so proud and
sullen as not to follow even our inferiors in a good
work. Ephraim was at a distance from the place
of action, and therefore could not send forth many
of its boughs to the service; but Deborah, who was
125
JUDGES, V.
one of them, knew there was a root of them, that
thev were hearty well-wishers to the cause. Dr.
Lightfoot gives quite another sense of this; Joshua
of Ephraim, had been a root of such victories against
Amalek, (Exod. 17.) and Ehud of Benjamin lately
against Amalek and Moab.
(2.) The ice being broken by Ephraim and Ben¬
jamin, Machir (the half tribe of Manasseh beyond
Jordan) and Zebulun sent in men that were very
serviceable to this great design. When an army is
to be raised, especially under such disadvantages as
were occasioned by the long disuse of arms, and the
dispiritedness of the people, it is of great conse¬
quence to be furnished, [1.] With men of courage
for officers, and such the family of Machir furnish¬
ed them with; for thence came down governors.
The children of Machir were particularly famous
for their valour in Moses’s time, (Numb. 32. 89.)
and, it seems, it continued in their family, the more
because they were seated in the frontiers. [2.]
With men of learning and ingenuity, for secretaries
of war, and with such they were supplied out of
Zebulun; thence came men that handle the pen of
the writer, clerks that issued out orders, wrote cir¬
cular letters, drew commissions, mustered their
nen, and kept their accounts. Thus must every
man, according as he has received the gift, minister
the same, for the public good, 1 Pet. 4. 10. The
eyes see, and the ears hear, for the whole body'.
I know it is generally understood of the forwardness
even of the scholars of this tribe, who studied the
law and expounded it, to take up arms in this cause,
though they were better skilled in books than in the
art of war. So Sir Richard Blackmore para¬
phrases it,
The scribes of Zebulun and learned men,
To wield the sword, laid down the pen.
(3.) Issachar did good service too; though he saw
that rest was good, and therefore bowed his shoul¬
der to bear, which is the character of that tribe,
(Gen. 49. 15.) yet they disdained to bear the yoke
of Jabin’s tribute, and now preferred the generous
toils of war to a servile rest. Though it should
seem there were not many common soldiers listed
out of that tribe, yet the princes of Issachar were
with Deborah and Barak, (v. 15.) probably, as a
great council of war to advise upon emergencies.
Xnd it should seem, these princes of Issachar did
in person accompany Barak into the field of battle.
Did he go on foot? They footed it with him, not
consulting their honour or ease. Did he go into the
valley, the place of most danger? They exposed
themselves with him, and were still at his right
hand to advise him; for the men of Issachar were
men that had understanding of the times, 1 Chron.
12. 32.
(4.) Zebulun and Naphtali were the most bold and
active of all the tribes, not only out of a particular
affection to Barak, their countryman, but because
they lying nearest to Jabin, the yoke of oppression
lay heavier on their necks than on any other tribe.
Better die in honour than live in bondage; and
therefore in a pious zeal for God and their country,
they jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high
places of the field, v. 18. With what heroic
bravery did they charge and push on, even upon
the chariots of iron, despising danger, and setting
death itself at defiance in so good a cause.
(5.) The stars from heaven appeared, or acted
at least, on Israel’s side; ( v . 20.) The stars in
their courses, according to the order and direction
of him who is the great Lord of their hosts, fought
against Sisera, by their malignant influences; or by
causing the storms of hail and thunder, which con¬
tributed so pouch to the rout of Sisera’s army. The
Chaldee reads it, From heaven, from the { dace
where the stars go forth, war was waged against
Sisera; that is, the power of the God of heaven was
engaged against him, making use of the ministration
of the angels of heaven. Some way or other, the
heavenly bodies (not arrested, as when the sun
stood still at Joshua’s word, but going on in their
courses) fought against Sisera. Those whom God
is an enemy to, the whole creation is at war with.
Perhaps the flashes of lightning by which the stars
fought, was that which frightened the horses, so as
that they pranced till their \ ery hoofs were bn ken;
(t>. 22.) and, probably, overturned the chariots of
iron which they drew, or turned them back upon
their owners.
(6.) The river of Kishon f ught against their
enemies. It swept them away, and abundant e of
them that hoped to make their escape through it,
v. 21. Ordinarily, it was but a shallow river, and,
being in their own country, we may suppose they
well knew its fords and safest passages, and yet,
now, probably by the great rain that fell, it was so
swelled, and the stream so deep and strong, that
those who attempted to pass it, were drowned,
being feeble and faint, and unable to make their
way through it. And then were the horse hoofs
broken by means of the plungmgs. So it is in the
margin, v. 22. The river of Kishon is called that
ancient river, because described or celebrated by
ancient historians or poets; or rather, because it
was designed of old, in the council of God, to serve
his purposes against Sisera at this time, and did so,
as if it had been made on purpose; thus the water
of the old pool, God is said to have fashioned long
ago, for that use to which it. was put, Isa. 22. 11.
(7.) Deborah’s own soul fought against them; she
speaks of it with a holy exultation; ( v . 21.) 0 my
soul, thou hast trodden down strength. She did it
by exciting others to do it, and assisting them,
which she did with all her heart; also bv her pray¬
ers. As Moses conquered Amalek by lifting up his
hand, so Deborah vanquished Sisera by lifting up
her heart. And when the soul is employed in holy
exercises, and heart-work is made of them, through
the grace of God, the strength of our spiritual ene¬
mies will be trodden down, and will fall before us.
3. In this great engagement, she observes who
stood neuter, and did not side with Israel, as might
have been expected. It is strange to find how
many, even of those who were called Israelites,
basely deserted this glorious cause, and declined to
appear. No mention is made of Judah or Simeon
among the tribes concerned, because they lying so
very remote from the scene of action, had not an
opportunity to appear, and therefore it was not ex¬
pected from them ; but for those that lay near, and
yet would not venture, indelible marks of disgrace
are here put upon them, and they deserved it.
(1.) Reuben basely declined the service,!'. 15,
16. Justly had he long ago been deprived of the
privileges of the birth-right, and still does his dying
father’s doom stick by him, unstable as water, he
shall not excel. Two things hindered them from en¬
gaging; [1.] Their divisions. This jarring-string
she twice strikes upon to their shame. For the di¬
visions of Reuben (or in these divisions) there were
great thoughts, impressions, and searchings of
heart. Not only for their division from Canaan by
the river Jordan, that needed not have hindered
them, had they been hearty in the cause; for Gilead
abode beyond Jordan, and yet from Machir of Gil¬
ead came down governors : but it means either
that they were divided among themselves, could
not agree who should go, or who should lead; each
striving to gain the post of honour, and shun that of
danger; some unhappy contests in their tribe kept
them from uniting together, and with their breth
126
JUDGES, V.
ren, for the common good; or, that they were di¬
vided in their opinion of this war from the rest of
the tribes; thought the attempt either not justifia¬
ble, or not practicable, and therefore blamed those
that engaged in it, and did themselves decline
it; this occasioned great searchings of heart among
the rest; especially when they had reason to sus¬
pect that whatever Reuben pretended, his sitting
still now, proceeded from a cooling of his affections
to his brethren, and an alienation of mind from
them, which occasioned them many sad thoughts.
It grieves us to see our mother’s children angry
with us for doing our duty, and looking strange
upon us when we most need their friendship and
assistance. [2. ] Their business in the world. Reu¬
ben abode among the shee/ifo/ds, a warmer and
sifer place thin the camp, pretending they could
not conveniently leave the sheep they tended; he
loved to hear the bleatinys of the [flocks, or, as some
read it, the whistlings ot the flocks, the music
which the shepherds made with their oaten reeds
or pipes, and the pastorals which they sung, these
Reuben preferred before the martial drum and
trumpet. Thus many are kept from doing their
duty by the fear of trouble, the love of ease, and an in¬
ordinate affection to their worldly business and advan¬
tage. Narrow selfish spirits care not what becomes
of the interests of God’s church, so they can but get,
keep, and save money ; dll seek their own, Philip 2. 2 1.
(2.) Dan and Asher did the same, v. 17. These
two lay on the sea-coast, and, [1.] Dan pretended
he could not leave his ships, but they would be ex¬
posed, and therefore I pray thee have me excused.
Those of that tribe perhaps pleaded that their sea-
trade disfitted them for land service, and diverted
them from it; but Zebulun also was a haven for
ships, a sea-f iring tribe, and yet was forward and
active in this expedition. There is no excuse we
make to shift off duty, but what some or other
have broken through and set aside, whose courage
and resolution will rise up against us and shame us.
[2.] Asher pretended he must stay at home and
repair the breaches which the sea had in some
places made upon his land, and to fortify his works
against the encroachments of it; or he abode in his
creeks, or small havens, where his trading vessels
lay to attend them. A little thing will serve those
for a pretence to stav at home, who have no mind
to engage in the most necessary services, because
there are difficulty and danger in them.
(3.) But above all, Meroz is condemned, and a
curse pronounced upon the inhabitants of it, because
they came not to the help o f the Lord, v. 23. Prob¬
ably this was some city that lay near the scene
of action, and therefore the inhabitants had a
fair opportunity of showing their obedience to
God, and their concern for Israel, and of doing
good service to the common cause; but they
basely declined it, for fear of Jabin’s iron cha¬
riots, being willing to sleep in a whole skin. The
Lord needed not their help; he mhde it appear he
could do his work without them : but no thanks to
them; for aught they knew, the attempt might
have miscarried for want of their hand; and there¬
fore they are cursed for not coming to the help of
the Lord, when it was in effect proclaimed, Who is
on the Lord's side ? The cause between God and
the mighty, (the principalities and powers of the
kingdom of darkness, will not admit of neutrality,
God looks upon those as against him, that are not
with him. This curse is pronounced by the Angel
of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, the captain of the
Lord’s host, (and those whom he curses are cursed
indeed ;) and further than we have warrant and au¬
thority from him, we may not curse. He that will
richly reward all his good soldiers, will certainly
and severely punish all cowards and deserters.
This city of Meroz seems to have been at this time
a considerable place, since something great was ex¬
pected from it; but, probably, after the Angel of
the Lord had pronounced this curse upon it, it
dwindled, and like the fig-tree which Christ curs
ed, withered away, so that we never read of it af
ter this in the scripture.
24. Blessed above women shall Jael the
wife of Heber the Kenite be ; blessed shall
she be above women in the tent. 25. He
asked water, and she gave him milk ; she
brought forth butter in a lordly dish. 26.
She put her hand to the nail, and her right
hand to the workman’s hammer ; and with
the hammer she smote Sisera ; she smote
off his head, when she had pierced and
stricken through his temples. 27. At her
feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down : at
her feet he bowed, he fell ; where he bow¬
ed, there he fell down dead. 28. The mo¬
ther of Sisera looked out at a window, and
cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot
so long in coming ? why tarry the wheels of
his chariots ? 29. Her wise ladies answer¬
ed her, yea, she returned answer to herself,
30. Have they not sped ? have they not di
vided the prey ; to every man a damsel ot
: two? to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a
prey of divers colours of needle-work, of
divers colours of needle-work on both sides,
meet for the necks of them that talc the spoil?
31. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord :
but let them that love him be as the sun
when he goeth forth in his might. And the
land had rest forty years.
Deborah here concludes this triumphant song,
I. With the praise of Jael, her sister-heroine,
whose valiant act had completed and crowned the
victory. She had mentioned her before, (x\ 6.) as
one that would have served her country if it had
been in her power; now she applauds her as one
that did serve it admirably well when it was in her
power. Her poetry is finest and most florid here in
the latter end of the song. How hon urably does
she speak of Jael, (x». 24.) who prefened her peace
with the God of Israel, before her peace with the
king of Canaan; and though not a native of Israel,
(for aught that appears,) yet heartily espoused the
cause of Israel in this critical juncture, jeoparded
her life as truly as if she had been in the high pli.
ces of the field, and bravely fought for those whom
she saw God fought for! Blessed shall she be above
women in the tent. Note, Those whose lot is cast
in the tent, in a very low and narrow sphere of
activity, if they serve God in that according to
I their capacity, shall in no wise lose their reward.
Jael in the tent wins as rich a blessing as Barak in
the field.
Nothing is more confounding, grievous, and
shameful, than disappointment; and Deborah here
does most elegantly describe two great disappoint¬
ments, the shame of which was typical of sinners’
everlasting shame.
1. Sisera found a fatal enemy, where he expected
a fast and faithful friend. (1. j Jael showed him the
kindness of a friend, and perhaps at that time intend¬
ed no other than kindness, until God, by an imme¬
diate impulse upon her mind, (which impulses then
127
JUDGES, V.
were to be regarded, and carried so much of their
own evidence with them, that they might have
been relied upon, but cannot now be pretended to,)
directed her to do otherwise, v. 25. He asked only
for fair water to quench his thirst, but she, not only
to snow her housewifery and good housekeeping, but
to express her respect to him, gave him milk, and
brought forth butter, that is, (say some interpre¬
ters,) milk which had the butter taken from it; we
call it butter-milk. No, (say others,) it was milk
that had the butter still in it; we call it cream:
whichsoever it was, it was, probably, the best her
house afforded; and, to set it off, she brought it in
a lordly dish, such as she called so, the finest she
had, and better than she ordinarily used at her
own table. This confirmed Sisera’s opinion of her
friendship, and made him sleep the faster and the
more secure, But (2. ) She proved his mortal ene¬
my; gave him his death’s stroke; it is curiously de¬
scribed, v. 26, 27. [1.] How great does Jael look
hammering Sisera, as it is in the margin, mauling
that proud man, that had been so long the terror of
the mighty, and sending him down slain to the pit
with his iniquities u/ion his bones! Ezek. 32. 27.
She seems to have gone about it with no more terror
or concern, than if she had been going to nail one
of the boards or bars of her tent, so confident was
she of divine aid and protection. We read it, she
s? note off his head, probably with his own sword,
which, now that his head was nailed through, she
durst take from his side, but not before, for fear of
waking him. But because there was no occasion
for cutting off his head, nor was it mentioned in the
history, many think it should be read, She struck
through his head. That head which had been
proudly lifted up against God and Israel, and in
which had been forged bloody designs for the de¬
struction of God’s people, Jael finds a soft place in,
and into that with a good will strikes her nail. [2. ]
How mean does Sisera look, fallen at Jael’s feet!
v. 27. At the feet of this female executioner, he
bowed, he fell; all his struggles for life availed not;
she followed her blow until he fell down dead.
There lies extended the deserted carcass of that
proud man , not in the bed of honour, not in the high
places of the field, not having any glorious wound
to show from a glittering sword, or a bow of steel,
but in a corner of a tent, at the feet of a woman
with a disgraceful wound by a sorry nail stuck
through his head. Thus is shame the fate of proud
men. And it is a very lively representation of the
ruin of those sinners whose prosperity slays them ;
it flatters and caresses them with milk and butter in
a lordly dish, as if it would make them easy and
happy, but it nails their heads and hearts to the
ground in earthly-mindedness, and pierces them
through with many sorrows ; its flatteries are fatal,
and sinks them at last into destruction and perdi¬
tion, 1 Tim. 6. 9, 10.
2. Sisera’s mother had the tidings brought her of
her son’s fall and ruin, then when she was big with
expectation of his glorious and triumphant return,
n. 28 . . 30. where we have, (1.) Her fond desire to
see her son come back in triumph. Why is his cha¬
riot so long in corning? She speaks this, not so
much out of a concern for his safety, or any jealousy
of his having miscarried, (she had no fear of that,
so confident was she of his success,) but out of a
longingfor his glory, which with a feminine weakness
she was passionately impatient to see, chiding the
lingering chariot, and expostulating concerning the
delays of it, little thinking that her unhappy son
had been, before this, forced to quit that chariot
which they were so proud of, and which she thought
came so slowly. The chariots of his glorv were
now become the shame of his house, Isa. 22. 18. Let
us take heed of indulging such desires as these to¬
ward any temporal good thing, particularly toward
that which cherishes vain glory, for that was it she
here doted on. Eagerness and impatience in our
desires do us a great deal of prejudice, and make it
intolerable to us to be crossed. But toward the se¬
cond coming of Jesus Christ, and the glories of that
day, we should thus stand affected: Come, Lord
Jesus, come quickly; for here we cannot be disap¬
pointed. (2.) Her foolish hope and confidence that
he would come at last in so much the greater pomp.
Her wise ladies answered her, and thought they
fave a very good account of the delay; yea, she {in
er wisdom, says the Chaldee) tauntingly made an¬
swer to herself, “ Have they not sped? No doubt
they have, and that which delays them is, that
they are dividing the prey; which is so much, that
it is a work of time to make a distribution of it.”
In the spoil they please themselves with the thought
of, observe, [1.] How impudently, and to the re¬
proach and scandal of their sex, these ladies boast
of the multitude of damsels which the soldiers
would have the abusing of. [2.] How childishly
they please themselves with the hope of seeing Si¬
sera himself in a gaudy mantle of divers colours;
how charmingly would it look! of divers colours of
needle-work, plundered out of the wardrobe of some
Israelitish lady: it is repeated again, as that which
pleased their fancy above any thing, of divers co¬
lours of needle-work on both sides, and therefore
very rich; such pieces of embroidery they hoped
Sisera would have to present his mother and the la¬
dies with. Thus apt are we to deceive ourselves with
great expectations, and confident hopes of honour
and pleasure, and wealth in this world, by which
we prepare for ourselves the shame and grief of a
disappointment. And thus does God often bring
ruin on his enemies when they are most elevated.
II. She concludes all with a prayer to God, 1. For
the destruction of all hisfoes: “ So, so shamefully, so
miserably, let all thine enemies perish, 0 Lord; let
all that hope to triumph in Israel’s ruin, be thus dis¬
appointed and triumphed over; Do to them all as
unto Sisera,” Ps. 83. 9. Though our enemies are to
be prayed for, God’s enemies, as such, are to be pray¬
ed against: and when we see some of God’s ene¬
mies remarkably humbled and brought down, that
is an encouragement to us to pray for the downfall
of all the rest. Deborah was a prophetess, and this
prayer was a prediction that in due time all God’s
enemies shall perish, Ps. 92. 9. None ever hard¬
ened his heart and prospered. 2. For the exalta¬
tion and comfort of all his friends. “ But let them
that love him, and, heartily wish wTell to his king¬
dom among men, be as the sun when he goeth forth
in his strength; let them shine so bright, appear so
glorious in the eye of the world, cast such benign
influences, be as much out of the reach of their en¬
emies, who curse the rising sun because it scorches
them; let them rejoice as a strong man to run a
race, Ps. 19. 5. Let them, as burning and shining
lights in their places, dispel the mists of darkness,
and shine with more and more lustre and power
unto the perfect day,” Prov. 4. 18. Such shall be
the honour, and such the joy, of all that love God in
sincerity, and for ever they shall shine as the sun in
the firmament of our Father.
The victory here celebrated with this song, was
of such happy consequence to Israel, that for the
best part of one age they enjoyed the peace which
it opened the way to; The land had rest forty years;
that is, so long it was from this victory to the rais¬
ing up of Gideon. And well had it been, if, when
the churches and the tribes had rest, they had been
edified, and had walked in the fear of the Lord.
128
JUDGES, VI.
CHAP. VI.
Nothin? that occurred in the quiet and peaceable times of
Israel is recorded: the. forty years’ rest after the conquest
of Jabin is passed over in silence, and here begins the
st*ry of another distress, and another deliverance by
Gideon, the fourth of the judges. Here is, I. The ca¬
lamitous condition of Israel, by the inroads of the Mid-
ianites, v. 1 . . 6. II. The message God sent them by a
prophet, by convincing them of sin, to prepare them for
deliverance, v. 7 . . 10. III. The raising up of Gideon
to be their deliverer. 1. A commission which God sent
him by the hand of an angel, and confirmed by a sign,
v. 11 . . 24. 2. The first-fruits of his government in the
reform of his father’s house, v. 25. .32. 3. The prepa¬
rations he made for a war with the Midianites and the
encouragement given him by a sign, v. 33 . . 40.
1. A ND the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the Lord; and the
Lord delivered them into the hand of Mid-
ian seven years. 2. And the hand of lVlid-
ian prevailed against Israel : and because
of the Midianites the children of Israel
made them the dens which are in the moun¬
tains, and caves, and strong holds. 3. And
so it was, when Israel had sown, that the
Midianites came up, and the Amalekites,
and the children of the east, even they came
up against them ; 4. And they encamped
against them, and destroyed the increase of
the earth, till thou come unto Gaza ; and
left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep,
nor ox, nor ass. 5. F or they came up with
their cattle, and their tents, and they came
as grasshoppers for multitude : for both they
and their camels were without number :
and they entered into the land to destroy it.
6. And Israel was greatly impoverished be¬
cause of the Midianites ; and the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord.
We have here,
I. Israel’s sin renewed; They did exnl in the sight
of the Lord, v. 1. The burnt child dreads the fire;
yet this perverse unthinking people, that had so
often smarted solely for their idolatry, upon a little
respite of God’s judgments, return to it again. This
people hath a revolting, rebellious heart, not kept
in awe by the terror of God’s judgments, nor en¬
gaged in honour and gratitude by the great things
he had done for them, to keep themselves in his
love. The providence of God will not change the
hearts and lives of sinners.
II. Israel’s troubles repeated. This would follow
of course; let all that sin expect to suffer; with the
froward God will show himself froward, (Ps. 18.
26. ) and will walk contrary to those that walk con¬
trary to him, Lev. 26. 21, 24. Now as to this
trouble,
1. It arose from a very despicable enemy. God
delivered them into the nand of Midian; ( v . 1.) not
Midian in the south where Jethro lived, but Midi¬
an in the east that joined to Moab, Numb. 22. 4. A
people that all men despised as uncultivated, and
unheaded; hence we read not here of any king,
lord, general, that they had but the force with
which they destroyed -Israel, was an undisciplined
mob; and, which made it the more grievous, they
were a people that Israel had formerly subdued,
and in a manner destroyed; (see Numb. 31. 7.) and
yet by this time, (near two hundred years after,)!
the poor remains of them were so multiplied, and so
magnified, that they were capable of being made a
very severe scourge to Israel. Thus God moved
them to jealousy with those which were not a peo¬
ple, even a foolish nation, Deut. 32. 21. The mean¬
est creature will serve to chastise those that have
made the great Creator their enemy. And when
those we are authorised to rule prove rebellious
smd disobedient to us, it concerns us to inquire whe¬
ther we have not been so to our sovereign Ruler.
2. It arose to a vefy formidable height, (i>. 2.)
The hand of Midian prevailed, purely by their
multitude. God had promised to increase Israel
as the sand on the sea-shore; but their sin stopped
their growth and diminished them, and then theii
enemies, though otherwise every way inferior to
them, overpowered them with numbers. They
came upon them as grasshoppers for multitude:
(x\ 5. ) not in a regular army to engage them in the
field, but in a confused swarm, to plunder the coun¬
try, quarter themselves upon it, and enrich them¬
selves with its spoils. Bands of robbers, and no bet¬
ter. And sinful Israel, being separated by sin from
God, had not spirit to make head against them.
Observe the wretched havoc that these Midianites
made with their bands of plunderers in Israel.
Here is,
(1.) The Israelites imprisoned, or rather im¬
prisoning themselves, in dens and caves, v. 2. This
was owing purely to their own timorousness and
faint-heartedness, that they would rather fly than
fight; it was the effect of a guilty conscience which
made them tremble at the shaking of a leaf, and
the just punishment of their apostasy from the God
who thus fought against them with those very ter¬
rors with which he would otherwise have fought
for them ; had it not been for this, we cannot but
think Israel a match for the Midianites, and able
enough to make head against them : but the heart
that departs from God is lost, not only to that which
is good but to that which is great. Sin dispirits
men, and makes them sneak into dens and caves.
The day will come when chief captains and mighty
men will call in vain to rocks and mountains to Jiide
them.
(2. ) The Israelites impoverished, greatly impover¬
ished, (y. 6.) The Midianites and the other chil¬
dren of the east, that joined with them to live by
spoil and rapine, as long before the Sabeans and
Chaldeans did that plundered Job, free-booters,
these made frequent incursions into the land of Ca¬
naan; that fruitful land was a great temptation to
them; and that sloth and luxury into which the Is¬
raelites were sunk by forty years’ rest, made them
and their substance an easy prey to them. They
came up against them, (v. 3.) pitched their camps
among them, ( v . 4.) and brought their cattle with
them, particularly camels innumerable; ( v . 5.) not
a flying party, to make a sally upon them, and be
gone presently, but they resolved to force their way,
and penetrated through the heart of the country as
far as Gaza, on the western side: (y. 4.) they let
the Israelites alone to sow their ground, but toward
harvest they came and seized all, and ate up and
destroyed it, both grass and corn ; and when they
went away, took with them the sheep and oxen; so
that, in short, they left no sustenance for Israel,
except what was privately taken by the rightful
owners into the dens and caves. Now here we may
see, [1.] The justice of God in the punishment of
their sin. They had neglected to honour God with
their substance in tithes, and offerings, and had pre
ared that for Baal with which God should ha\ e
een served, and now God justly sends an enemy
to take it away in the season thereof, Hos. 2. 8, 9.
[2.] The consequence of God’s departure from the
people; when he goes, all good goes, and all mis-
129
JUDGES, VL
chiefs break in. When Israel kept in with God,
they reaped what others sowed; (Josh. 24. 13. Ps.
105. 44.; but now that God had forsaken them,
others l eaped what they sowed. Let us take occa¬
sion from this, to bless God for our national peace
and tranquillity, that we eat the labour of our hands.
III. Israel’s sense of God’s hand rev ived at last.
Seven years, year after year, did the Midianites
make these inroads upon them, each, we may sup¬
pose, worse than the other, (n. 1.) until, at last, all
other succours failing, Israel cried unto the Lord;
(v. 6.) for crying to Baal ruined them, and would
not help them. When God judges he will over¬
come; and sinners shall be made either to bend or
break before him.
7. And it came to pass, when the chil¬
dren of Israel cried unto the Lord because
of the Midianites, 8. That the Lord sent
a prophet unto the children of Israel, which
said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and
brought you forth out of the house of bon¬
dage ; 9. And I delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand
of all that oppressed you, and drave them
out from before you, and gave you their land :
10. And I said unto you, I am the Lord
your God; fear not the gods of the Amo-
rites, in whose land ye dwell : but ye have
not obeyed my voice.
Observe here,
I. The cognizance God took of the cries of Is¬
rael, when at length they were directed toward
him. Though in their prosperity they had neg¬
lected him, and made court to his rivals, and though
they never looked toward him till they were driven
to it by extremity, yet, upon their complaint and
prayer, he intended relief for them. Thus would
ne show how ready he is to forgive, how swift he is
to show mercy, and how inclinable to hear prayer,
that sinners may be encouraged to return and re¬
pent, Ps. 130. 4.
II. The method God took of working deliverance
for them. Before he sent an angel to raise them
up a saviour, he sent a prophet to reprove them for
sin, and to bring them to repentance, v. 8. This
prophet is not named, but he was a man, a prophet,
not an angel, as ch. 2 1. Whether this prophet
took an opportunity of delivering his message to the
children of Israel, when they were met together in
a general assembly, at some solemn feast, or other
great occasion, or whether he went from city to
city, and from tribe to tribe, preaching to this pur¬
port, is not certain; but his errand was to convince
them of sin, that in their crying to the Lord they
might confess that with sorrow and shame, and not
spend their breath only in complaining of their
trouble. They cried to God for a deliverer, and
God sent them a prophet to instruct them, and to
make them ready for deliverance. Not^ 1. We
have reason to hope God is designing mercy for us,
if we find he is by his grace preparing us for it. If
to those that are sick he sends a messenger, an in¬
terpreter, by whom he shows unto man his up¬
rightness, then is he gracious, and grants a recovery,
Job 33. 23, 24. 2. The sending of prophets to a
people, and the furnishing a land with faithful mi¬
nisters, is a token for good, and an evidence that
God has mercy in store for them. He thus turns
to us him, and then causes his face to shine, Ps.
80. 19.
Vol. ii. — R
We have here the heads of the message which
this prophet delivered in to Israel, in the name ot
the Lord.
(1. ) He set before them the great things God had
done for them; (n. 8, 9.) Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel. They had worshipped the gods of the
natio7is, as if they had no God of their own to wor¬
ship, and therefore might choose whom they
pleased; but they are here reminded of one whom
they had forgotten, who was known by the title of
the God of Israel, and to him they must return.
They had turned to other gods, as if their own had
been either incapable or unwilling to protect them,
and therefore they are told what he did for then-
fathers, in whose loins they were, the benefit of
which descended and still remained to this their un¬
grateful seed. [1.] He brought them out of Egypt,
where otherwise they had continued in perpetual
poverty and slavery. [2.] He delivered them out
of the hands of all that oppressed them; this is men¬
tioned to intimate that the reason why they were not
now deliv ered out of the hands of the oppressing
Midianites, was, not for want of any power or good
will in God, but because by their iniquity they had
sold themselves, and Gcd would not redeem them
until they by repentance revoked the bargain. [3.]
He put them in quiet possession of this good land;
this not only aggravated their sin, and affixed the
brand of base ingratitude to it, but it justified God,
and cleared him from the blame upon the account
of the trouble they were now in: they could not say
he was unkind, for he had given all possible proofs
of his designing well for them ; if ill befell them not¬
withstanding, they must thank themselves.
(2.) He shows the easiness and equity of God’s
demands and expectations from them; (v. 10.) “I
am the Lord your God, to whom you lie under the
highest obligations; fear not the gods of the A mo-
rites;” that is, “ do not worship them,' nor show
any respect to them; do not worship them for fear
ot their doing you any hurt, for what hurt can they
do you while I am your God? Fear God, and you
need not fear them.”
(3. ) He charges them with rebellion against God,
who had laid this injunction upon them; But ye
have not obeyed my voice. The charge is short,
but very comprehensive; this was the malignity of
all their sin, it was disob^iience to God; and there¬
fore it was it that brought these calamities upon
them, under which they were now groaning, pursu¬
ant to the threatenings annexed to those commands.
He intends hereby to bring them to repentance;
and our repentance is then right and genuine, when
the sinfulness of sin, as disobedience to God, is that
in it, which we chiefly lament.
11. And there came an angel of the
Lord, and sat under an oak which teas in
Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-
ezrite : and his son Gideon threshed wheat
by the wine-press, to hide it from the Midi¬
anites. 12. And the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him, and said unto him, The
Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of
valour. 13. And Gideon said unto him, Oh,
my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then
is all this befallen us ? and where be all his
miracles which our fathers told us of, say¬
ing, Did not the Lord bring us up from
Egypt ? but now the Lord hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hands of the
Midianites. 14. And the Lord looked
upon him, and said, Go in this thy might.
J -JO JUDGES, VI.
and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of
the Midianites: have not I sent thee ? 15.
And he said unto him, Oh, my Lord, where¬
with shall I save Israel ? behold, my family
is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in
my father’s house. 1 6. And the Lord said
unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and
thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
1 7. And he said unto him, If now I have
found grace in thy sight, then show me a
sign that thou talkest with me. 1 8. Depart
not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto
thee, and bring forth my present, and set it
before thee. And he said, I will tarry until
thou come again. 19. And Gideon went
in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened
cakes of an ephali of flour: the flesh he
put in a basket, and he put the broth in a
pot, and brought it out unto him under the
oak, and presented it. 20. And the angel
of God said unto him, Take the flesh and
the unleavened cakes, and lay them, upon
this rock, and pour out the broth. And he
did so. 21. Then the angel of the Lord
put forth the end of the staff that was in his
hand, and touched the flesh and the unlea¬
vened cakes ; and there rose up fire out of
the rock, and consumed the flesh and the
unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the
Lord departed out of his sight. 22. And
when Gideon perceived that he teas an an¬
gel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O
Lord God! for because I have seen an
angel of the Lord face to face. 23. And
the Lord said unto him, Peace he unto
thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24.
Then Gideon built an altar there unto the
Lord, and called it Jlhovah-shalom : unto
this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-
ezrites.
It is not said what effect the prophet’s sermon
had upon the people; but we may hope it had a
good effect, and that some of them at least repent¬
ed and reformed upon it; tor here, immediately
after, we have the dawning of the day of their de¬
liverance, by the effectual calling of Gideon to take
upon him the command of their forces against the
Midianites.
I. The person to be commissioned for this ser¬
vice, was Gideon, the son of Joash, v. 11. The
father was now living, but he was passed by, and
this honour put upon the son; for the father kept
up in his own family the worship of Baal, ( v . 25.)
which we may suppose this son, as far as was in his
power, witnessed against. He was of the half
tribe of Manasseh that lay in Canaan, of the family
of Abiezer; the eldest house of that tribe, Josh.
17. 2. Hitherto the judges were raised up out of
that tribe which suffered most by the oppression,
and, probably, it was so here.
II. The person that gave him the commission,
was an angel of the Lord: it should seem not a cre¬
ated angel, but the Son of God himself, the eternal
Word, the Lord of the angels, who then appeared
upon some great occasion in human shape, as a
|! prelude (says the learned Bishop Patrick) to what
i he intended in the fulness of time, when he would
jj take our nature upon him, as we say, f >r good and
all. This angel is here called Jehovah, the incom¬
municable name of God, (m 14, 16.) and he said 7
j will be with thee. This divine person appeared
here to Gideon, and it is observable how he found
him, 1. Retired; all alone. God often manifests
himself to his people, when they are out of the
noise and hurry of this world. Silence and solitude
befriend our communion with God. 2. Employed
in threshing wheat, with a staff or rod, (so the
word signifies,) such as they used in beating cut
fitches and cummin, (Isa. 28. 27.) but now used fi r
wheat; probably, because he had but a little to
thresh, he needed not the oxen to tread it out. It
was not then looked upon as any diminution to him,
though he was a person of s' me account, and a
mighty man of valour, to lay his hand to the busi¬
ness of the husbandman. He had many servants,
(v. 27.) and yet would not himself liv e in idleness.
We put ourselves in the way o'f divine visits, when
we employ ourselves in honest business. Tidings
of Christ’s birth were brought to the shepherds,
when they were keeping their flocks. The work
he was about, was an emblem of that greater work
to which he was now to be called, as the disciples’
fishing was. From threshing corn he is fetched to
thresh the Midianites, Isa. 41. 15. 3. Distressed;
he was threshing his wheat, not in the threshing-
floor, the proper place, but by the wine-press,
in some private unsuspected corner, for fear of the
Midianites. He himself shared in the common ca¬
lamity, and now the angel came to animate him
against Midian, when he himself could speak so
feelingly of the heaviness of their yoke. 1 he day
of the greatest distress is God’s time to appear for
his people’s relief.
Let us now see what passed between the angel
and Gideon, who knew not for certain, till after he
was gone, that he was an angel, but supposed he
was a prophet.
(1.) The angel accosted him with respect, and
assured him of the presence of God with him, v.
12. He calls him a mighty man of valour, per¬
haps because he observed how he threshed his corn
with all his might: and seest thou a man diligent in
his business? — whatever his business is, he shall
stand before kings. He that is faithful in a few
things, shall be ruler over many. Gideon was a
man of brave active spirit, and yet buried alive in
obscurity, through the iniquity of the times; but he
is here animated to undertake something great, like
himself, with that word, The Lord is with thee; or,
as the Chaldee reads it, The Word of the Lord is
thy help. It was very sure the Lord was with him,
when this angel was with him. By this word, [1.]
He gives him his commission. If we have God’s
presence with us, that will justify us, and bear us
out, in our undertakings. [2.] He inspires him
with all necessary qualifications for the execution
of his commission. “The Lord is with thee to
guide and strengthen thee, to animate and support
thee.” [3.) He assures him of success; for if God
be for us, who can prevail against us? If he be
with us, nothing can be wanting to us. The pre¬
sence of God with us is all in all to our prosperity,
whatever we do. Gideon was a mighty man of
valour, and yet he could bring nothing to pass
without the presence of *God, and that presence is
enough to make any man mighty in valour, and to
give a man courage at any time.
(2.) Gideon gave a very melancholy answer to
this joyful salutation; (y. 13.) “ O my Lord, if the
Lord be with us,” (which the Chaldee reads, Is the
Shechinah of the Lord our help? making that the
same with the Word of the Lord,) “ why then is all
JUDGES. VI.
this befallen us? All this trouble and distress
from tne Midianites’ incursions, which forces me to
thresh wheat here by the wine-press; all this loss,
and grief, and fright; and where are all the miracles
whic/i our fathers told us of?” Observe, In his re¬
ply he regards not the praise of his own valour, nor
does that in the least elevate him, or give him any
encouragement; though it is probable the angel
adapted what he said to that which Gideon was at.
the same time thinking of; while his laborious
hands were employed about his wheat, his working
head and daring heart were meditating Israel’s res¬
cue and Midian’s ruin, with which thought, he that
kn >ws the heart, seasonably sets in, calis him a
man of valour for his brave projects, and opens
him a way to put them in execution; yet Gideon, as
if not conscious to himself of any thing great or en¬
couraging in his own spiit, fastens only on the
assurance the angel had given him of God’s pre¬
sence, as that by which they held all their comfort.
Observe, The angel spake in particular to him,
The Lord is with thee, but he expostulates for all,
If the Lord be with us; herding himself with the
thousands of Israel, and admitting no comfort but
what they might be sharers in; so far is he from the
thoughts of monopolizing it, though he had so fair
an occasion given him. Note, Public spirits reckon
that only honour and joy to themselves, which puts
them in a capacity of serving the common interests
of God’s church.
Gideon was a mighty man of valour, but as yet
weak in faith, which makes it hard to him to recon¬
cile to the assurances now given him of the presence
of God, [1.] The distress to which Israel was re¬
duced; Why is all this, (and all this wTas no little)
befallen us? Note, It is sometimes hard, but never
impossible, to reconcile cross providences with the
presence of God and his favour. [2.] The delay
of their deliverance; “ Where are all the miracles
which our fathers told us of? Why does not the
s .me power which delivered our fathers from the
yoke of the Egyptians, deliver us out of the hands
of the Midianites?” As if because God did not im¬
mediately work miracles for their deliverance,
though they had by their sins forfeited his favour
and help, it must be questioned whether ever he
had wrought the miracles which their fathers told
them of, or if he had, whether he had now the
same wisdom and power, and good-will to his
people, that he had had formerly. This was his
weakness. We must not expect that the miracles
which were wrought when a church was in the
forming, and som; great truth in the settling,
should be continued and repeated when the forma¬
tion and settlement are completed: no, nor that the
mercies of God showed to our fathers that served
him, and kept close to him, should be renewed to
us, if we degenerate and revolt from him. Gideon
ought not to have said, either, First, That God had
delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, for
by their iniquities they had sold themselves: or,
Secondly, That they were now in their hands, that
he had forsaken them, for he had lately sent them a
prophet, ( v . 8.) which was a certain indication that
he had not forsaken them.
(3.) The angel gave him a very effectual answ'er
to his objections, by giving him a commission to de¬
liver Israel out of the hands of the Midianites, and
assuring him of success therein, v. 14. Now the
angel is called Jehovah, for he speaks as one hav¬
ing authority, and not as a messenger. [1.] There
was something extraordinary in the look he now
gave to Gideon; it was a gracious favourable look,
which revived his spirits that drooped, and silenced
his fears, such a look as that with which God’s
countenance beholds the ufiright, Ps. 11. 7. He
looked upon him and smiled at the objections he
made, which he gave him no direct answei to, but
girded and clothed him with such power as would
shortly enable him to answer them himself, and
make him ashamed that ever he had made them.
It was a speaking look, like Christ’s upon Peter;
(Luke 22. 61.) a powerful look, that strangely dart¬
ed new light and life into Gideon’s breast, and in¬
spired him with a generous heat, far above what he
felt before. [2.] But there was much more in
what he said to him, lirst, He commissioned him
to appear and act as Israel’s deliv erer. Such a one
the few thinking people in the nation, and Gideon
among the rest, were now expecting to be raised
up, according to God’s former method, in answer
to the cries of oppressed Israel; and now Gideon is
told, “Thou art the man: Go in this thy might,
this might, wherewith thou art now threshing
wheat; go and employ it to a nobler purpose, I will
make thee a thresher of men.” Or rather, “this
might wherewith thou art now endued by this
look.” God gave him his commission, by giving
him all the qualifications that were necessary for
the execution of it, which is more than the
mightiest prince and potentate on earth can do for
those to whom he gives commissions. God’s fitting
men for work, is a sure and constant evidence of
his calling them to it. “ Go, not in thy might, that
which is natural, and of thyself; depend not on
thine own valour: but go in this thy might, this
which thou hast now received; go in the strength of
the Lord God, that is the strength with which
thou must strengthen thyself.” Secondly, He as¬
sured him of success; this was enough to put
courage into him, he might be confident he should
not miscarry in the attempt; it should not turn
either to his own disgrace, or the damage of his
people, (as baffled enterprises do,) but to his
honour and their happiness; “ Thou shall save Is¬
rael from the hand of the Midianites, and so shalt
not only be an eye-witness, but a glorious instru¬
ment, of such wonders as thy fathers told thee of.”
Gideon, we may suppose, looked as one astonished
at this strange and surprising power conferred upon
him, and questions whether he may depend upon
wh it he hears: the angel ratifies his commission
with a teste meifiso — an appeal to his own authority,
there needed no more. “ Have not I commanded
thee l I that have all power in heaven and earth,
and particular authority here as Israel’s King,
giving commissions immediately. I who am that
lam, the same that sent Moses,” Exod. 3. 14.
(4.) Gideon made a very modest objection against
this commission; ( v . 15.) 0 my Lord, wherewith
shall I save Israel? This question bespeaks him
either, [1.1 Distrustful of God and his power. As
if though God should be with him, yet it were im¬
possible for him to save Israel. Time faith is cften
weak, yet it shall not be rejected, but encouraged
and strengthened. Or, [2.] Inquisitive concerning
the methods he must take; “Lord, I labour under
all imaginable disadvantages for it; if I must do it,
thou must put me in the -way.” Note, Those who
receive commissions from God, must expect and
seek for instructions from him. Or rather, [3.]
Humble, self-diffident, and self-denying. The an¬
gel had honoured him, but see How meanly he
speaks of himself; “My family is comparatively
poor inManasseh,” (impoverished, it may be, mere
than other families, by the Midianites,) “and I am
the least, that have tHe least honour and interest, in
my father’s house: what can I pretend to do? I am
utterly unfit for the service, and unworthy of the
honour.” Note, God often chooses to do great
things by those that are little, especially that are
so in their own eyes. God delights to advance the
humble.
(5.) This objection was soon answered by repe-
I 32
JUDGES, VI.
tition of the promise that God would be with him,
v. 16. “Object not thy poverty and meanness,
such things have indeed often hindered men in
great enterprises; but what are they to a man that
has the presence of God with him, which will
make up all the deficiencies of honour and estate.
Surely I will be with thee , to direct and strengthen
thee; and put such a reputation upon thee, that,
how weak soever thy personal interest is, thou
shalt have soldiers enough to follow thee, and be
assured thou shalt smke the Midianites as one man,
as easily as if they were but one man, and as effec¬
tually. All the thousands of Midian shall be as if
they had but one neck, and thou shalt have the cut¬
ting of it off. ”
(6.) Gideon desires to have his faith confirmed,
touching this commission; for he would not be over
credulous of that which tended so much to his own
praise, would not venture upon an undertaking
so far above him, and in which he must engage
many more: but he would be well satisfied himself
of his authority, and would be able to give satisfac¬
tion to others, as to him who gave him that au¬
thority. He therefore humbly begs of this divine
person, whoever he was,
[1.] That he would give him a sign, v. 17. And
the commission being given him out of the common
road of providence, he might reasonably expect it
should be confirmed by some act of God out of the
common course of nature. “ Show me a sign to as¬
sure me of the truth of this concerning which thou
taikest with me, that it is something more than
talk, and that thou art in earnest.” Now, under
the dispensation of the Spirit, we are not to expect
signs before our eyes, such as Gideon here desired,
but must earnestly pray to God, that if we have
found grace in his sight, he would show us a sign
in our heart, by the powerful operations of his
Spirit there, fulfilling the work of faith, and per¬
fecting what is lacking in it.
[2.] In order hereunto, that he would accept of
a treat, and so give him a further and longer oppor¬
tunity of conversation with him, v. 18. Those
who know what it is to have communion with God,
desire the continuance of it, and are loath to part
praying with Gideon, Depart not hence I pray
thee. That which Gideon designed in courting his
stay, was, that he might bring out some provision
of meat for this stranger; he did not take him into
the house to entertain him there, either because his
father’s house were not well affected to him and
his friends, or because he desired still to be in pri¬
vate with this stranger, and to converse with him
alone, therefore calls not for a servant to bring the
provision, but fetches it himself; or because thus his
father Abraham entertained angels unawares, not
in his tent, but under a tree, Gen. 18. 8. Upon
the angel’s promise to stay with him, he hastened
to bring out a kid, which, it is likely, was ready
boiled for his own dinner; so that in making it
ready, he had nothing to do but to put it in the
basket, (for here was no sauce to serve it up in, nor
the dish garnished,) and the broth in a vessel, and
so he presented it, v. 19. Hereby he intended,
First, To testify his grateful and generous respects
to this stranger, and, in him, to God who sent him,
as one that studied what he should render. He
had pleaded the poverty of his family, ( v . 16.) to
excuse himself from being a general, but not here,
to excuse himself from being hospitable. Out of
the little which the Midianites had left him, he
would gladly spare enough to entertain a friend,
especially a messenger from heaven. Secondly,
To try who, and what, this extraordinary person
was. What he brought out, is called his present,
18. It is the same word that is used for a meat¬
offering; and perhaps that word is used, which sig- I
| nifies both, because Gideon intended to leave it to
this divine person to determine which it should be,
when he had it before him, whether a feast, or a
meat-offering, and accordingly he would be able to
judge concerning him: if he ate of it as common
meat, he would suppose him to be a man, a pro
phet; if otherwise, as it proved, he should Know
him to be an angel.
(7.) The angel gives him a sign, jn and by that
which he had kindly prepared for his entertain¬
ment. For what we offer to God for his glory, and
in token of our gratitude to him, will be made by
the grace of God to turn to our own comfort and
satisfaction. The angel ordered him to take the
flesh and bread out of the basket, and lay it upon a
hard and cold rock, and to pi ur out the broth upon
it, which, if he brought it hot, would scon be cold
there; and Gideon did so, (m 20.) believing that the
angel appointed it, not in contempt of his courtesy,
but with an intention to give him a sign, which Ire
did, abundantly to his satisfaction. For, [1.] He
turned the meat into an offering made by fire, o f a
sweet savour unto himself; showing hereby that he
was not a man who needed meat, but the son of
God who was to be served and honoured by sacri¬
fice, and who in the fulness of time was to make
himself a sacrifice. [2.] He brought fire out of
the rock to consume this sacrifice; summoning it,
not by striking the rock, as we strike fire out of a
flint, but by a gentle touch given to the offering
with the end of fiis staff, v. 21. Hereby he gave
him a sign that he had found grace in his sight ; for
God testified his acceptance of sacrifices by kin¬
dling them, if public, with fire from heaven, as
those of Moses and Elias; if private, as this, with
fire out of the earth, which was equivalent — both
were the effect of divine power; and this accept¬
ance of his sacrifice evidenced the acceptance of
his person, confirmed his commission, and perhaps
was intended to signify his success in the execution
of it, that he and his army should be a surprising
terror and consumption to the Midianites, like this
fire out of the rock. [3.] He departed out of his
sight immediately; did not walk off as a man, but
vanished and disappeared as a spirit. Here was as
much of a sign as he could wish.
(8. ) Gideon, though no doubt he was confirmed
in his faith by the indications given of the divinity
of the person who had spoken to him, yet for the
present was put into a great fright by it, till God
graciously pacified him and removed his fears.
[1.] Gideon speaks peril to himself; (y. 22.) J'Vhen
he perceived that he was an angel, (which was not
till he departed, as the two disciples knew not it
was Jesus they had been talking with, till he was
going, Luke 24. 31.) then he cried out, “Alas! O
Lord God, be merciful to me, I am undone, for I
have seen an angel; as Jacob, who wondered that
his life was preserved when he had seen God,
Gen. 32. 30. Ever since man has by sin exposed
himself to God’s wrath and curse, an express from
heaven has been a terror to him, as he scarcely
dares to expect good tidings thence; at least, in this
world of sense, it is a very awful thing to have any
sensible conversation with that world of spirits to
which we are so much strangers. Gideon’s courage
failed him now. [2.] God speaks peace to him, v.
23. It might have been fatal to him, but he assures
him it should not. The Lord was departed out of
his sight, v. 21. But though he must no longer
walk by sight, he might still live by faith, that faith
which comes by hearing; for the Lord said to him,
with an audible voice, (as Bishop Patrick thinks,)
these encouraging words; “ Peace be unto thee; all
is well, and be thou satisfied that it is so; fear not,
he that came to employ thee, did not intend to slay
thee, thou shalt not die .” See how ready God is to
135
JUDGES, VI.
receive the hearts of those that tremble at his word
and presence, and to give them that stand in awe
of his majesty, assurances of his mercy.
Lastly, The memorial of this vision which
Gideon set up, was, a monument in form of an
altar, the rather, because it was by a kind of sacri¬
fice upon a rock, without the solemnity of an altar,
that the angel manifested his acceptance of him:
then it needed not, the angel’s staff was sufficient to
sanctify the gift without an altar; but it was of use
to preserve the remembrance of it, which was done
by the name he gave to it, Jehovah-shalom, ( ch .
24.) The Lord peace. This is, [1.] The title of
the Lord that spake to him; compare Gen 16. 13.
The same that is the Lord our Righteousness is our
Peace; (Eph. 2. 14A our Reconciler, and so our
Saviour. Or, [2.] The substance of what he said
to him; “ The Lord spake peace , and created that
fruit of the lips; bade me be easy when I was in that
agitation.” Or, [3.] A prayer grounded upon
what he had said; so the margin understands it: The
Lord send peace , that is, rest from the present trou¬
ble; for still the public welfare lay nearest his heart.
25. And it came to pass the same night,
that the Lord said unto him, Take thy
father’s young bullock, even the second bul¬
lock of seven years old, and throw down the
altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut
down the grove that is by it; 26. And
build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon
the top of this rock, in the ordered place,
and take the second bullock, and offer a
burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove
which thou shalt cut down. 27. Then
Gideon took ten men of his servants, and
did as the Lord had said unto him : and so
it was, because he feared his father’s house¬
hold, and the men of the city, that he could
not do it by day, that he did it by night. 28.
And when the men of the city arose early
in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal
was cast down, and the grove was cut down
that was by it, and the second bullock was
offered upon the altar that was built. 29.
And they said one to another, Who hath
done this thing ? And when they inquired
and asked, they said, Gideon the son of
Joash hath done this thing. 30. Then the
men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out
thy son, that he may diq : because he hath
cast down the altar of Baal, and because
he hath cut down the grove that ivas by it.
31. And Joash said unto all that stood
against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye
save him ? he that will plead for him, let
him be put to death whilst it is yet morning :
if he he a god, let him plead for himself, be¬
cause one hath cast down his altar. 32.
Therefore on that day he called him Jerub-
baal, saying, Let Baal plead against him,
because he hath thrown down his altar.
Here,
I. Orders are given to Gideon to begin his gov¬
ernment with the reformation of his father’s house,
v. 25, 26. A correspondence being settled between
God and Gideon, by the appearance of the angel to
him, it was kept up in another way; the same night
after he had seen God, when he was full of thoughts
concerning what had passed, which, probably, he
had not yet communicated to any* the Lord said
unto him in a dream, Do so and so , Note, God’s
visits, if gratefully received, shall be graciously re¬
peated. Bid God welcome, and he will come
again. Gitleon is appointed, 1. To throw dcwr
Baal’s altar, which, it seems, his father had, either
for his own house, or perhaps for the whole town.
See the power of God's grace, that he could raise
up a reformer, and the condescensions of his grace,
that he would raise up a deliverer, out of the family
of one that was a ringleader in idolatry. But
Gideor. must now not think it enough not to worship
at that altar, which we charitably hope he had not
done, but he must throw it down; not consecrate
the same altar to God, (it is Bishop Hall’s observa¬
tion,) but utterly demolish it; God first commands
down the monuments of superstition, and then en
joys his own service. He must likewise cut down
the grove that was by it, the plantation of young
trees, designed to beautify the place. The learned
Bishop Patrick, by the grove, understands the
image in the grove, probably the image of Ashta-
roth (for the word for a grove is Asher eh) which
stood upon, or close by, the altar. 2. To erect an
altar to God, to Jehovah his God; which, probably,
was to be notified by an inscription upon the altar to
that purport; to Jehovah, Gideon’s God, or Israel’s.
It had been an improper thing for him to have built
an altar, even to the God of Israel, especially for
burnt-offering and sacrifice; and would have been
construed into a contempt of the altar at Shiloh, if
God, who has not tied up himself to his own laws,
had not bidden him do it. But now it was his duty,
and an honour to be thus employed. God directs
him to the place where he should build it, on the
top of the rock, perhaps in the same place in which
the angel had appeared to him, near to the altar he
had already built; and he must not do it in a hurry,
but with the decency that became a religious action,
in an orderly manner, as it is in the margin, accord¬
ing to the ancient law for altars raised on the occa¬
sion, that they must be of earth, not of hewn stone.
The word here used for the rock on which the altar
was to be built, signifies a fortress, or strong-hold,
erected, some think, to secure them from the
Midianites; if so, it was no security while the altar
of Baal was so near it, but it was effectually fortified
when an altar to the Lord was built on the top of it,
for that is the best defence upon our glory. On
this altar, (1.) He was to offer sacrifice. Two
bullocks he must offer; his father’s young bullock ,
and the second bullock of seven years old; so it
should rather be read, not even the second, as we
read it. The former, we may suppose, he was to
offer for himself, the latter, for the sins of the peo¬
ple, whom he was to deliver. It was requisite he
should thus make peace with God, before he made
war on Midian. Till sin be pardoned through the
great Sacrifice, no good is to be expected. These
bullocks, it is supposed, were intended for sacrifices
on the altar of Baal, but were now converted to a
better use. Thus, when the strong man armed is
overcome and dispossessed, the stronger than he
divides the spoil; seizes that for himself, which they
prepared for Baal; let him come whose right it is,
and give it him. (2. ) Baal’s grove, or image, or
whatever it was, that was the sanctity or beauty of
his altar, must not be burnt, but must be used as
fuel for God’s altar, to signify not only that what¬
ever sets up itself in opposition to God, shall be
destroyed, but that the justice of God will be glo¬
rified in its destruction. God ordered Gideon to do
this, [1.] to try his zeal for religion, which t was
1 31
JUDGES, VI.
necessary he should give proofs of before he took !
the field", to give proofs of his valour there. [2.]
T hat some steps might hereby be taken towards
Israel’s reformation, which must prepare the way
for their deliverance. Sin, the cause, must be
taken away, else how should the trouble come to an
end, which was but the effect? And it might be
hoped that this example of Gideon’s, who was now
shortly to appear so great a man, would be followed
by the rest of the cities and tribes, and the destruc¬
tion of this one altar of Baal, would be the destruc¬
tion of many.
II. Gideon was obedient to the heavenly vision, v.
2 7. He that was to command the Israel of God,
must be subject to the God of Israel, without dis¬
puting; and, as a type of Christ, must first save his
people from their sins, and then save them from
their enemies. 1. He had servants of his own,
whom he could confide in, who, we may suppose,
like him, had kept their integrity, and had not
bowed the knee to Baal, and therefore were forward
to assist him in destroying the altar of Baal. 2. He
did not scruple taking his father’s bullock, and
offering it to God without his father’s consent, be¬
cause God, who expressly commanded him to do
so, had a better title to it than his father had, and
it was the greatest real kindness he could do his
father, to prevent his sin. 3. He expected to incur
the displeasure of his father’s household by it, and
the ill-will of his neighbours; yet he did it, re¬
membering how much it was Levi’s praise, that, in
the cause of God, he said unto his father and mo¬
ther, I have not seen him, Deut. 33. 9. And while
he was sure of the favour of God, he feared not the
anger of men; he that bade him do it would bear
him cut. Yet, 4. Though he feared not their re¬
sentments when it was done, to prevent their re¬
sist ince in the doing of it, he prudently chose to do
it by night, that he might not be disturbed in these
sacred actions. And some think it was the same
night in which God spake to him to do it; and that
as soon as ever he had received the orders, he im¬
mediately applied himself to the execution of them,
and finished before morning.
III. He was brought into peril of his life for
doing of it, v. 28, 31. 1. It was soon discovered
what was done. Gideon, when he had gone
through with the business, did not desire the con¬
cealment of it, nor could it be hid, for the men of
the city rose early in the morning, as it should
seem, to say their matins at Baal’s altar, and so to
begin the day with their God, such a one as he was;
a shame to those, who say the true God is their
God, and yet, in the morning, direct no prayer to
him, nor look up. 2. It was soon discovered who
had done it. Strict inquiry was made; Gideon was
known to be disaffected to the worship of Baal,
which brought him into suspicion, and positive
proof immediately came against him; “Gideon, no
doubt, has done this thing.” 3. Being found guilty
of the fact, to such a pitch of impiety were these
degenerate Israelites arrived, that they take it for
law he must die for the same; and require his own
father (who, by patronizing their idolatry, had
given them too much cause to expect he would
comply with them herein) to deliver him up.
Bring out thy son, that he may die. Be astonished,
O heavens, at this, and tremble, O earth ! By the
law of God, the worshippers of Baal were to die,
but these wicked men impiously turn the penalty
upon the worshippers of the God of Israel. How
prodigiously mad were they upon their idols! Was
it not enough to offer the choicest of their bullocks
to Baal, but must the bravest youth of their city
fall as a sacrifice to that dunghill deity, when they
pretended he was provoked? How soon will idola¬
ters become persecutors!
IV. He was rescued out of the hands of his perse
I cutors by his own father, v. 31. 1. There were
those that stood against Gideon, that not only
appeared at the first to make a demand, but insist¬
ed on it, .and would have put him to death. Not¬
withstanding the heavy judgments they were at
this time under for their idolatry, yet they hated to
be reformed, and walked contrary to God then
when he was walking contrary to them. 2. Yet
then Joash stood for him ; he was one of the chief
men of the city. Those that have power, may do
a great deal for the protection of an honest man and
an honest cause, and when they so use their power,
they are ministers of God for good. This Joash
had patronised Baal’s altar, yet now protects him
that had destroyed it; either, (1.) Out of natural af¬
fection to his son, and perhaps a particular esteem
for him, as a virtuous, valiant, valuable young man,
and never the worse for not joining with him in the
worship of Baal. Many that have not courage
enough to keep their integrity themselves, yet have
so much conscience left, as makes them love and
esteem those that do. If Joash had a kindness for
Baal, yet he had a greater kindness for his son. Or,
(2.) Out of a care for the public peace. The
mob grew riotous, and, he feared, would grow
more so, and therefore, as some think, he bestirred
himself to repress the tumult; “ Let it be left to the
judges, it is not for you to pass sentence upon any
man; he that offers it, let him be put to death;” he
means, not as an idolater, but as a disturber of the
peace, and a mover of sedition. Under this same
colour, Paul was rescued at Ephesus, from those
that were as zealous for Diana as these here for
Baal, Acts 19. 40. Or, (3.) Out of a conviction
that Gideon had done well. His son, perhaps, had
reasoned with him, or God, who has all hearts in
his hands, had secretly and effectually influenced
him to appear thus against the advocates of Baal,
though he had complied with them formerly in the
worship of Baal. Note, It is good to appear for
God when we are called to it, though there be few
or none to second us, because God can incline the
hearts of those to stand by us, from whom we little
expect it. Let us do our duty, and then trust God
with our safety.
Two things Joash urges; [1.] That it was aosurd
for them to plead for Baal. “ Will you that are
Israelites, the worshippers of the one only living and
true God, plead for Baal, a false god? Will you be
so sottish, so senseless? They whose father’s god
Baal was, and that never knew any other, are more
excusable in pleading for him than you are, that are
in covenant with Jehovah, and have been trained up
in the knowledge of him. You that have smarted
so much for worshipping Baal, and have brought all
this mischief and calamity upon yourselves by it,
will you yet plead for Baal?” Note, It is bad to
commit sin, but it is a ’great wickedness indeed to
plead for it, especially to plead for Baal, that idol,
whatever it is, which possesses that room in the
heart which God should have. [2.] That it was
needless for them to plead for Baal ; if he were not
a god, as was pretended, they could have nothing to
say for him; if he were, he was able to plead for
himself, as the God of Israel had often done, by fire
from heaven, or some other judgment against those
who put contempt upon him. Here is a fair chal¬
lenge to Baal, to do either good or evil, and the
result convinced his worshippers of their folly, in
praying to one to help them, that could not avenge
himself; after this, Gideon remarkably prospered,
and thereby it appeared how unable Baal was to
maintain his own cause. Lastly, Gideon’s father
hereupon gave him a new name, (v. 32.) he called
him Jerubbaal; “Let Baal plead, let him plead
against him if he can; if he have any thing to say for
136
JUDGES, VI.
himself against his destroyer, let him say it. ” This
name was a standing defiance to Baal; now that Gi¬
deon was taking up arms against the Midianites
that worshipped Baal, let him defend his worship¬
pers if he can; it likewise gave honour to Gideon, (a
sworn enemy to that great usurper, and that had
carried the day against him,) and encouragement
to his soldiers, that they fought under one that
fought for God, against that great competitor with
him for the throne. It is the probable conjecture
of the learned, that that Jerombalus, whom Sancho-
niathon (one of the most ancient of all the heathen
writers) speaks of as a priest of the god Jao, (a
corruption of the name Jehovah,) and one to whom
he was indebted for a great deal of knowledge, was
this Jerubbaal. He is called Jerubbesheth, 2 Sam.
11. 21. Baal, a lord, being fitly turned into Be-
sheth, shame.
33. Then all the Midianites, and the
Amalekites, and the children of the east,
were gathered together, and went over, and
pitched in the valley of Jezreel. 34. But the
Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and
he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was
gathered after him. 35. And he sent mes¬
sengers throughout all Manasseh ; who also
was gathered after him : and he sent mes¬
sengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and
unto Naphtali ; and they came up to meet
them. 36. And Gideon said unto God, If
thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou
hast said, 37. Behold, I will put a fleece of
wool in the floor ; and if the dew be on the
fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth
besides, then shall I know that thou wilt
;save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast
said. 38. And it was so: for he rose up
early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece
together, and wringed the dew out of the
fleece, a bowl-full of water. 39. And
Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger
be hot against me, and I will speak but this
once : Let me prove, I pray thee, but this
once with the fleece ; let it now be dry
only upon the fleece, and upon all the
ground let there be dew. 40. And God did
so that night : for it was dry upon the fleece
only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Here we have,
I. The descent which the enemies of Israel made
apon them, v. 33. A vast number of Midianites,
Amalekites, and Arabians, got together, and came
over Jordan, none either caring, or daring to guard
that important and advantageous pass, against
them; and they made their head-quarters in the
valley of Jezreel, in the heart of Manasseh’s tribe,
not far from Gideon’s city. Some think that the no¬
tice they had of Gideon’s destroying Baal’s altar,
brought them over, and that they came to plead for
Baal, and to make that a pretence for quarrelling
with Israel; but it is more likely that it was now
harvest-times when they had been wont each year
to make them such a visit as this, (v. 3.) and were
expected when Gideon was threshing, v. 11. God
raised up Gideon to be ready against this terrible
blow came. Their success so tnany years in these
incursions, the little opposition they had met with,
and the gre .t booty they had carried off, made
them now both very eager and very confident; bm
it proved the measure of their iniquity vj as full; the
year of recompense was come; they must now make
an end to spoil, and must be spoiled, and they are
gathered as sheaves to the floor, (Mic. 4. 12, 13.)
for Gideon to thresh.
II. The preparation which Gideon makes to at¬
tack them in their camp, v. 34, 43. 1. God by his
Spirit put life into Gideon; The Spirit of the Lord
clothed Gideon, so the word is; clothed him as a
robe to put honour upon him, clothed him as a coat
of mail, to put defence upon him. Those are well
clad, that are thus clothed, A spirit of fortitude
from before the Lord clothed Gideon; so the Chal¬
dee. He was of himself a mighty man of valour;
yet personal strength and courage, though vigor¬
ously exerted, would not suffice for this great
action; he must have the armour of God upon him,
and that is it that he must depend upon; the Spirit
of the Lord clothed him in an extraordinary manner;
whom God calls to his work, he will qualify and
animate for it. Gideon with his trumpet put life into
his neighbours, God working with him; he blew a
trumpet to call in volunteers, and more came in than
perhaps he expected. (1.) The men of Abiezer,
though lately enraged against him for throwing
down the altar of Baal, and though they had con¬
demned him to death as a criminal, were now con¬
vinced of their error, bravely came in to his assist¬
ance, and submitted to him as their general; Abiezer
was gathered after him, v. 34. So suddenly can
God turn the hearts, even of idolaters and persecu¬
tors. (2.) Distant tribes, even Asher and Naphtali,
which lay most remote, though strangers to him,
obeyed his summons, and sent him in the best of
their forces, v. 35. Though they lay the furthest
from the danger, yet, considering that if their
neighbours were overrun by the Midianites, their
own turn would be next, they were forward to join
against a common enemy.
III. The signs which God gratified him with, for
the confirming both of his own faith and that of his
followers; and perhaps it was more for their sakes
than for his own that he desired them. Or, perhaps
he desired by these to be satisfied, whether this was
the time of his conquering the Midianites, or
whether he was to wait for some other opportunity.
Observe, 1. His request for a sign; (v. 36, 37.)
“ Let me by this know that thou wilt save Israel by
my hand; let a fleece of wool, spread in the open
air, be wet with the dew, and let the ground about
it be dry. ” The purport of this is, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief He found his own faith
weak and wavering, and therefore begged of God
by this sign to perfect what was lacking in it. We
may suppose God, who intended to give these
signs, for the glorifying of his own power and good¬
ness, put it into his heart to ask them. Yet, when
he repeated his request for a second sign, the re¬
verse of the former, he did it with a very humjjle
apology, deprecating God’s displeasure, because it
looked so like a peevish humoursome distrust of
God, and dissatisfaction with the many assurances
he had already given him; (r. 39.) Let nut thine
anger be hot against me. Though he took the bold¬
ness to ask another sign, yet he did it with such
fear and trembling, as showed that the familiarity
God had graciously admitted him to, did not breed
any contempt of God’s glory, or presumption on
God’s goodness. Abraham had given him an exam¬
ple of this, when God gave him leave to be very
free with him; (Gen. 18. 30, 32.) 0 let not the Lora
be angry, and I will speak. God’s favour must be
sought with great reverence, due sense of cur dis¬
tance, and a religious fear of his wrath. 2. God’s
gracious grant of his request. See how tender God
is of true believers though they be weak, and how
136
JUDGES, VII.
ready to condescend to their infirmities, that the
bj uised reed may not be broken, nor the smoaking
ftax quenched. Gideon would have the Jieece wet,
and the ground dry ; but then, lest any should ob¬
ject, “ It is natural for wool, if ever so little mois¬
ture fall, to drink it in, and retain it, and therefore
there was nothing extraordinary in that,” though
the quantity wrung out was sufficient to obviate that
objection, yet he desires that next night the ground
might be wet and the fleece dry; and so willing is
God to give to the heirs of promise strong consola¬
tion, (Heb. 6. 17, 18.) even by two immutable
things. He suffers himself, not only to be prevailed
with by their importunities, but even to be prescrib¬
ed to by their doubts and dissatisfactions.
These signs were, (1.) Truly miraculous, and
therefore abundantly serving to confirm his com¬
mission. It is said of the dew, that it is from the
Lord, and tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the
sons of men, Mic. 5. 7. And yet God here in this
matter hearkened to the voice of a man; as to Josh¬
ua, in the directing the course of the sun, so to Gid¬
eon, in directing that of the dew, by which it
appears, that it falls not by chance, but by provi¬
dence. The latter sign inverted the former, and,
to please Gideon, it was wrought backward and
forward; whence Dr. Fuller observes, that heaven's
real miracles will endure turning, being inside and
outside both alike. (2.) Very significant. He and
his men were going to engage the Midianites; could
God distinguish between a small fleece of Israel,
and the vast floor of Midian? Yes, by this, he is
made to know that he can. Is Gideon desirous that
the dew of Divine grace might descend upon him¬
self in particular? He sees the fleece wet with dew
to assure him of it. Does he desire that God will
be as the dew of all Israel? Behold, all the ground
is wet. Some make this fleece an emblem of the
Jewish nation, which, when time was, was wet
with the dew of God’s word and ordinances, while
the rest of the world was dry. But since the re¬
jection of Christ and his gospel, they are dry as the
heath in the wilderness, while the nations about are
us a watered garden.
CHAP. VII.
This chapter presents us with Gideon in the field, command-
in? the army of Israel, and routing the army of the
Midianites, for which great exploit we found in the
former chapter how he was prepared with his converse
with God, and his conquest of Baal. We are here told, I.
What direction God gave to Gideon for the modelling of
his army, by which it was reduced to three hundred men,
v. 1..8. II. What encouragement God gave to Gideon
to attack the enemy, by sending him unknown into
their camp to hear a Midianite tell his dream, v. 9 . . 15.
III. How he formed his attack upon the enemy’s camp
with his three hundred men, not to fight them, but to
frighten them, v. 16. .20. IV. The success of this at¬
tack : it put them to flight, and gave them a total rout, the
disbanded forces, and their other neighbours, then com¬
ing in to his assistance, v. 21.. 25. It is a story that
shines very bright in the book of the wars of the Lord.
THEN Jerubbaal, (who is Gideon,)
and all the people that were with
him, rose up early, and pitched beside the
well of Harod : so that the host of the
Midianites were on the north side of them,
by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2. And
the Lord said unto Gideon, The people
that are with thee are too many for me to
give the Midianites into their hands, lest
Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying,
Mine own hand hath saved me. 3. Now,
therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the
people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and
afraid, let him return, and depart early from
mount Gilead : and there returned of the
people twenty and two thousand, and there
remained ten thousand. 4. And the Lord
said unto Gideon, The people are yet too
many ; bring them down unto the water,
and I will try them for thee there: and it
shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This
shall go with thee, the same shall go with
thee ; and of whomsoever I say unto thee.
This shall not go with thee, the same shall
not go. 5. So he brought down the people
unto the water : and the Lord said unto
Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the watei
with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt
thou set by himself; likewise every one that
boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6.
And the number of them that lapped, put¬
ting their, hand to their mouth, were three
hundred men: but all the rest of the people
bowred down upon their knees to drink wa¬
ter. 7. And the Lord said unto Gideon
by the three hundred men that lapped will 1
save you, and deliver the Midianites into
thine hand : and let all the other people go
every man unto his place. 8. So the people
took victuals in their hand, and their trum¬
pets: and he sent all the rest of Israel, every
man unto his tent, and retained those three
hundred men. And the host of Midian was
beneath him in the valley.
Here,
I. Gideon applies himself with all possible care
and industry to do the part of a good general, in
leading on the hosts of Israel against the Midianites.
He rose up early, (v. 1.) as one whose heart was
upon his business, and who* was afraid of losing
time. Now that he is sure God is with him, he is
impatient of delay. He pitched near a famous well,
that his army might not be distressed for want of
water, and gained the higher ground, which, possi¬
bly, might be some advantage terhim, for the Midi¬
anites vjere beneath him in the valley. Note, Faith
in God’s promises must not slacken, but rather
quicken our endeavours. When we are sure God
goes before us, then we must bestir ourselves, 2
Sam. 5. 24.
II. God provides that the praise of the intended
victory may be reserved wholly to himself, by ap¬
pointing three hundred men only to be employed in
this service. The army consisted of thirty-two
thousand men; a small army, in comparison with
what Israel might have raised upon so great an oc
casion, and a very small one in comparison with
which the Midianites had now brought into the field;
Gideon was ready to think them too few, but God
comes to him, and tells him they were too many ,
v. 2. Not but that they did well, who offered them¬
selves willingly to this expedition, but God saw fit
not to make use of all that came. We often find
God bringing great things to pass by a few hands,
but this was the only time that he purposely made
them fewer. Had Deborah lately blamed those
who came not to lhe*help of the Lord, and yet in the
next great action must they be turned off that do
come? Yes; 1. God would hereby show, that when
JUDGES, Vll.
137
he employed likely instruments in his service, he
did not need them, but could do his work without
them; so that he was not indebted to them for their
service, but they to him for employing them. 2.
He would hereby put them to shame for their
cowardice, who had tamely submitted to. the Midi-
anites, and durst not make head against them,
because of the disproportion of their numbers.
They now saw, if they had but made sure of the
favour of God, one of them might have chased a
thousand. 3. He would hereby silence and ex¬
clude boasting: that is the reason here given by him
who knows the pride that is in men’s hearts, lest
Israel vaunt themselves against me. Justly were
they denied the honour of the service who would not
give God the honour of the success. Mine own hand
hath saved me, is a word that must never come out
of the mouth of such as shall be saved. He that
glories must glory in the Lord, and all flesh must
be silent before him.
Two ways God took to lessen their numbers.
(1.) He ordered all that would own them¬
selves timorous and faint-hearted to be dismissed,
v. 3. He was now encamped on a mountain close
to the enemy, called mount Gilead, from Gilead,
the common ancestors of these families of Manas-
seh, which were seated on this side Jordan, Numb.
26. 30. And from thence thej^ might see perhaps
the vast numbers of the enemy; those therefore
who were disheartened at the sight, were left
to their liberty to go back if they pleased. There
was a law for making such a proclamation as this,
Deut. 20. 8. But Gideon perhaps thought that
concerned only those wars which were undertaken
for the enlarging of their coast, not, as this, for their
necessary defence against an invader; therefore
Gideon had not proclaimed this, if God had not
commanded him, who knew how his forces would
hereby be diminished. Cowards would be as like¬
ly as any, after the victory, to take the honour of it
from God, and therefore God would not do them
the honour to employ them in it. One would have
thought there had been scarcely one Israelite to be
found, that against such an enemy as the Midian-
ites, and under such a leader as Gideon, would have
owned himself fearful; yet above two parts of
three took advantage of this proclamation, and
filed off when they saw the strength of the enemy
and their own weakness, not considering the assu¬
rances of the divine presence which their geaer d
had received of the Lord, and, it is likely, deliver¬
ed unto them. Some think the oppression they
had been under so long, had broken their spirits,
others, more probably, that consciousness of their
own guilt had deprived them of their courage.
Sin stared them in the face, and therefore they
durst not look death in the face. Note, Fearful, I
faint-hearted people, are not fit to be employed fori
God; and among those that are listed under the!
banner of Christ, there are more such than weJ
think there are.
(2.) He directed the cashiering of all that re¬
mained, but three hundred men; and he did it by a
sign. “ The fieofile are yet too many for me to
make use of,” v. 4. See how much God’s thoughts
and ways are above our’s: Gideon himself, it is
likely, thought they were too few, though they
were as many as Barak encountered Sisera with;
( ch . 4. 14. ) and had he not forced his way through
the discouragement by dint of faith, he himself
would have started back from so hazardous an en¬
terprise, and have made the best of his own way
back: but God saith, There are too many ; anil
when diminished to a third part, they are yet too
many; which may help us to understand those
providences which sometimes seem to weaken the
church and its interests; its friends are too many,
Vol. II. — S
too mighty, too wise, for God to work deliverance
by; God is taking a course to lessen them, that he
may be exalted in his own strength.
Gideon is ordered to bring his soldiers to the wa¬
tering, probably, to the well of Harod, (t;. 1. ) and
the stream that ran from it; he, or some appointed
by him, must observe how they drank. We must
suppose they were all thirsty, and were inclined to
drink; it is likely he told them they must prepare
to enter upon action immediately, and therefore
must refresh themselves accordingly, not expecting,
after this, to drink any thing else but the blood of
their enemies. Now, [1.] Some, and no doubt the
most, would kneel down on their knees to drink,
and put their mouths to the water as horses do,
and so they might get their full draught. [2.]
Others, it may be, would not make such a formal
business of it, but as a dog laps with his tongue, so
they would hastily take up a little water in their
hands, and cool their mouths with that, and be
gone. Three hundred and no more there were of
this latter sort, that drank in haste, and by those
God tells Gideon he would rout the Midianites, v.
7. By the former distinction, none were retained
but hearty men, that were resolved to do their ut¬
most for retrieving the liberties of Israel; but by this
further distinction it was provided that none should
be made use of, but, First, Men that were hardy;
that could endure long fatigue, without complaining/
of thirst or weariness; that had not in them any
dregs either of sloth or luxury. Secondly, Men
that were hasty; that thought it long until they
were engaged with the enemy, preferring the ser¬
vice of God and their country before their necessa¬
ry refreshments: such as these God chooses to em¬
ploy, that are not only well affected, but zealously
affected in a good thing: and also because these
were the smaller number, and therefore the least
likely to effect what they were designed for, God
would by them save Israel. It was a great trial to
the faith and courage of Gideon, when God bid
him let all the rest of the people but these three
hundred go every man to his place; that is, go
where they pleased out of his call, and from under
his command: yet we may suppose those that were
hearty in the cause, though now set aside, did not
go far out of hearing, but that they were ready to
follow the blow, when the three hundred men
had made the assault; though that does not appear.
Thus strangely was Gideon’s army purged and
modelled, and reduced, instead of be ng recruited,
as one would think in so great an action it both
needed and deserved to be. Now let us see how
this little despicable regiment, on which the stress
of the action must l:e, was accoutred and fitted out.
Had these three hundred been double-manned
with servants and attendants, and double-armed
with swords and spears, we should har e thought
them the more likely to bring something to pass.
But instead of making them more serviceable by
their equipment, they are made less so; for, 1.
Every soldier turns sutler; they took victuals in
their hands, [y. 8.) left their baggage behind, and
every man burthened himself with his own pro¬
vision; which was a trial of their faith, whether
they could trust God when they had no more pro¬
visions with them than they could carry, and a
trial of their diligence, whether they would carry
as much as they had occasion for. This was indeed
living from hand to mouth. 2. Every soldier turns
trumpeter. The regiments that were cashiered
left their trumpets behind them for the use of those
three hundred men, who were furnished with those
instead of weapons of war, as if they had been going
rather to a game than to a battle.
9. And it came to pass the same night,
138
JUDGES, VTI.
that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get
thee down unto the host ; for I have deliver¬
ed it into thine hand. 10. But if thou fear
to go down, go- thou with Phurah thy
servant down to the host: 11. And thou
shalt hear what they say; and afterward
shall thine hands be strengthened to go
down unto the host. Then went he down
with Phurah his servant unto the outside of
the armed men that were in the host. 12.
And the Midianites, and the Amalekites,
and all the children of the east, lay along in
the valley like grasshoppers for multitude ;
and their camels were without number, as
the sand by the sea-side for multitude. 13.
And when Gideon was come, behold, there
was a man that told a dream unto his fel¬
low, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream,
and, lo, a cake of barley-bread tumbled into
the host of Midian, and came unto a tent,
and smote it that it fell, and overturned it,
that the tent lay along. 14. And his fel¬
low answered and said, This is nothing
else save the sword of Gideon the son of
Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand
hath God delivered Midian, and all the
host. 15. And it was so, when Gideon
heard the telling of the dream, and the
interpretation thereof, that he worshipped,
and returned into the host of Israel, and
said, Arise ; for the Lord hath delivered
into your hand the host of Midian.
Gideon’s army being diminished, as we have
found it was, he must either fight by faitli or not at
all; God therefore here provides recruits for his
faith, instead of recruits for his forces.
I. He furnishes him with a good foundation to
build his faith upon; nothing but a word from God
will be footing for faith. He has that as full and
express as he can desire, v. 9. A word of com¬
mand to warrant the action, which otherwise seem¬
ed rash and indiscreet, and unbecoming a wise
general; “Arise, get thee down with this handful
of men unto the host;” and a word of promise to as¬
sure him of the success, which otherwise seemed
very improbable; “ I have delivered it into thine
hand, it is all thine own.” This word of the Lord
ctme to him the same night, when he was (we may
suppose) full of care how he should come off; in the
multitude of his thoughts within him these comforts
did delight his soul. Divine consolations are given
in to believers, not only strongly, but seasonably.
II. He furnishes him with a good prop to support
his faith with. 1. He orders him to be his own
spy, and now in the dead of the night to go down
privately into the host of Midian and see what
intelligence he could gain. “ If thou fear to go
down to fight, go first only with thine own servant,
( v . 10.) and hear what they say; (v. 11.) and it is
intimated to him he should hear that which would
greatly strengthen his faith. God knows the in¬
firmities of his people, and what great encourage¬
ment they may sometimes take from a small mat¬
ter: and therefore knowing beforehand what would
occur to Gideon, in that very part of the camp to
which he would go down, he orders him to go down
and hearken to wha* they said that he might the
i more firmly believe what God said. He must ta£e
with him Phurah his sei-vant, one that he could
confide in; probably, one of the ten that had helped
him to break down the altar of Baal ; he must take
him and no one else with him, must take him * h
him to be a witness of what he should hear the
Midianites say, that out of the mouth of these two
witnesses, when the matter came to be reported to
Israel, the word might be established. He must
take his servant with him, because two are better
than one, and a little help better than none. 2.
Being so, he orders him the sight of something
that was discouraging. (1.) It was enough to
frighten him, to discern, perhaps by moon-light,
the vast numbers of the enemy; (r. 12.) the men
like grasshoppers for multitude, and they proved
no better than grasshoppers for strength and
courage; the camels one could not count, any more
than the sand. But, (2.) He heard that which
was to him a very good omen; and which when he
had heard, he went back again immediately, sup¬
posing he now had what he was sent thither for.
He overheard two soldiers of the enemy, that were
comrades, talking; probably, they were in bed to¬
gether, waking in the night. [1.] One of them
tells his dream, and (as our dreams generally aie
bad, and therefore not worthy telling again) it is a
very foolish qne. ,Jie dreamed that he saw a bar-
ley-cake come rolling down the hill into the camp
of the Midianites, and “methought,” says he, (fi r
so we used to tell our dreams,) “ this cake struck
one of our tents,” (perhaps one of the chief of their
tents,) “and with such violence, that (would you
think it?) it overturned the tent, forced down the
stakes, and broke the cords at one blow, so that the
tent lay along, and buried its inhabitants,” v. 13.
In multitudes of dreams there are divers vaniti s,
says Solomon, Eccl. 5. 7. One would wonder
what odd incoherent things are often put together
by a ludicrous fancy in our dreams. [2.] The
other, it may be, between sleeping and walcing, un¬
dertakes to interpret this dream, and the interpre¬
tation is very far fetched: This is nothing else save
the sword of Gideon, v. 14. Our expositors now
can tell us how apt the resemblance was; that
Gideon, who had threshed corn for his family, and
made cakes for his friend, ( ch . 6. 11 — 19.) was fitly
represented by a cake; that he and his army were
inconsiderable as a cake made of a little flour, as
contemptible as a barley-cake, hastily got together,
as a cake suddenly baked upon the coals, and as
unlikely to conquer the great army, as a cake to
overthrow a tent. But, after all, do not interpreta¬
tions belong to God? He put it into the head of the
one to dream, and into the mouth of the other to
give the sense of it. If Gideon had heard the
dream only, and he and his servant had been to in¬
terpret it themselves, it had so little significancy in
it, that it would have done him little service; but
having the interpretation from the mouth of an
enemy, it not only appeared to come from God,
who has all men’s hearts and tongues in his hand,
but it was likewise an evidence that the enemy was
quite dispirited, and that the name of Gideon was
become so formidable to them, that it disturbed
their sleep. The victory would easily be won,
which was already so tamely yielded; into his hand
hath God delivered Midian. Those were net like¬
ly to fight, who saw God fighting against them.
Gideon, observing the finger of God pointing him
to that very place, at that very time, to hear this
dream and the interpretation of it, was exceedingly
encouraged by it against the melancholy apprehen¬
sions he had upon the reducing of his army. He
was very well pleased to hear himself compared to
a barley-cake, when it proved to effect such great
things. Being hereby animated, we are told. (v.
139
JUDGES, Vll.
15.) First, How he gave God the glory of it; he
worshipped immediately, bowed his head, or, it
may be, lifted up his eyes and hands, and in a short
ejaculation thanked God for the victory he was
now sure of, and for this encouragement to expect
it. Wherever we are, we may speak to God, and
worship him, and find a way open heavenward.
God must have the praise of that which is encou¬
raging in our faith. And his providence must be ac¬
knowledged in those events, which, though minute
and seemingly accidental, prove serviceable to us.
Secondly, How he gave his friends a share in the
encouragements he had received; “ Arise, prepare
to march presently; the Lord has delivered Midian
into your hand."
16. And he divided the three hundred
men into three companies, and he put a
trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty
pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
1 7. And he said unto them, Look on me,
and do likewise : and, behold, when I come
to the outside of the camp, it shall he, that as
I do, so shall ye do. 18. When I blow with
a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then
blow ye the trumpets also on every side of
all the camp, and say, The sword of the
Lord, and of Gideon. 19. So Gideon, and
the hundred men that ivere with him, came
unto the outside of the camp, in the begin¬
ning of the middle watch ; and they had but
newly set the watch : and they blew the
trumpets, and brake the pitchers, that were
in their hands. 20. And the three com¬
panies blew the trumpets, and brake the
pitchers, and held the lamps in their left
hands, and the trumpets in their right
hands to blow withal ; and they cried, The
sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 21.
And they stood every man in his place
round about the camp : and all the host
ran, and cried, and fled. 22. And the
three hundred blew the trumpets, and the
Lord set every man’s sword against his
fellow, even throughout all the host : and
the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath,
and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto
Tabbath.
Here is,
I. The alarm which Gideon gave to the hos*s of
Midian in the dead time of the night; for it was in¬
tended that they who had so long been a terror to
Israel, and had so often frightened them, should
themselves be routed and ruined purely by terror.
The attack here made was, in many circumstan¬
ces, like that which Abraham made upon the army
that had taken Lot captive; the number of men
much the same, Abraham had three hundred and
eighteen, Gideon three hundred; they both divided
their f wees, both made their attack by night, and
were both victorious under great disadvantages,
(Gen. 14. 14, 15.) and Gideon is not only a son of
Abraham, (so were the Midianites by Keturah,)
Put an heir of his faith. Gideon, 1. Divided his ar-
mv, small as it was, into three battalions ( v . 16.)
one of which he himself commanded, ( v . 19.) be¬
cause great armies (and such a one he would
make a show of) were usually divided into the right
wing, and left wing, and the body of the army. 2.
He ordered them all to do as he did, v. 17. tie told
them now, it is very likely, what they must do, else
the thing was so strange, they would scarcely have
done it of a sudden, but he would, by doing it first,
give notice to them when to do it, as officers exer¬
cise their soldiers with the word of command, or
beat of drum, Look on me, and do likewise; such is
the word of command our Lord Jesus, the Captain
of our salvatii n, gives his soldiers, for he has left us
an example, with a charge to follow it, As I do, sol
shall ye do. 3. He made his descent in the night, j
when they were secure, and least expected it, which
would put them into great consternation; and when
the smallness i f his army would not be discovered.
In the night, all frights are most frightful; espe
dally in the dead of the night, as this was, a little
after midnight, when the middle watch began, and
the alarm would wake them out of their sleep. We
read of terror by night, ^ as very terrible, (Ps. 91. 5.)
and fear in the night, Cant. 3. 8. 4. That which
Gideon aimed at, was, to frighten this huge host;
to give them not only a fatal rout, but a very
shameful one. He accoutred his army with every
man a trumpet in his right hand, and an earthen
pitcher, with a torch in it, in his left; and he him-
se f thought it no disparagement to him, to march
before them thus armed. He would make but jest
of conquering this army, and goes out against them
rather as against a company of children than of sol¬
diers, The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath des¬
pised thee, and laughed thee to scorn, Isa. 37. 22.
The fewness of his men favoured his design, for
be.ng so few, they marched to the camp with the
greater secrecy and expedition; so that they were
not discovered till they were close. by the camp;
and he contrived to give the alarm when they had
just mounted the guards, (v. 19.) that the sentinels,
being then wakeful, might the sooner disperse the
alarm through the camp, which was the best ser¬
vice they could do him.
Three ways Gideon contrived to strike a terror
upon this army, and put them into confusion. (1.)*—
With a great noise; every man must blow his
trumpet in the most terrible manner he could, and
clatter an earthen pitcher to pieces at the same
time, probably, each dashed his pitcher to his next
man’s, and so they were broken both together,
which would not only make a great crash, but was
a figure of what would be the effects of the fight,
even the Midianites’ killing one another. (2.)
With a great blaze; the lighted torches were hid in
the pitchers, like a candle under a bushel, until
they came to the camp, and then being taken out
all together of a sudden, would make a glaring
show, and run through the camp like a flash of
lightning. Perhaps with these they set some of the
tents on the outside of the camp on fire, which
would very much increase the confusion. (3.)
With a great shout; every man must cry, For the
Lord and for Gideon; so some think it should be
read, v. 18. for there the sword is not in the origin¬
al, but it is, v. 20, The sword of the Lord, and of
Gideon. It should seem, he borrowed the word
from the Midianite’s dream, (v. 14.) it is the sword
of Gideon: finding his name was a terror to them,
he thus improves it against them; but prefixes the
name of Jehovah, as the figure, without which his
own was but an insignificant cipher. This would
put life into his own men, who might well take cou¬
rage, when they had such a God as Jehovah, and
such a man as Gideon, both to fight, and to fight
for them: well might they follow, who had such
leaders. It would likewise put their enemies into
a fright, who had of old heard of Jehovah’s great
name, and of late of Gideon’s. The sword of the
140
JUDGES, Vll.
Lord is all in all to the success of the sword of
Gideon, yet the sword of Gideon must be employ¬
ed. Men the instruments, and God the principal
Agent, must both be considered in their places; but
men, the greatest and best, always in subserviency
and subordination to God. This army was to be de¬
feated purely by terrors, and those are especially the
sword of the Lord. These soldiers, if they had
swords by their sides, that was all, they had none in
their hands: but they gained the victory by shouting
“ The Sword. ” So the church’s enemies are rout-
' ed by a sword out o f the mouth, Rev. 19. 21.
I Now this method here taken of defeating the
Midianites, may be alluded to, [1.] As typifying
the destruction of the Devil’s kingdom in the world,
by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, the
sounding of that trumpet, and the holding forth of
that light out of earthen vessels, for such the minis¬
ters of the gospel are, in whom the treasure of that
light is deposited, 2 Cor. 4. 6, 7. Thus God chose
[ the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
a barley-cake to overthrow the tents of Midian, that
the excellency of the f tower might be of God only;
the gospel is a sword, not in the hand, but in the
mouth, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; of
God and Jesus Christ, him that sits on the throne,
and the Lamb. [2. ] As representing the terrors
of the great day. So the excellent Bishop Hall
applies it; if these pitchers, trumpets, and fire¬
brands, did so daunt and dismay the proud troops
of Midian and Amalek, who shall be able to stand
before the last terror, when the trumpet of the
archangel shall sound, the elements shall be on a
flame, the heavens pass away with a great noise,
and the Lord himself shall descend with a shout!
II. The wonderful success of this alarm. The
M dianites were shouted out of their lives, as the
walls of Jericho were shouted down, that Gideon
might see what he lateiv despaired of ever seeing,
the wonders that their fathers told them of. Gide¬
on’s soldiers observed their orders, and stood every
man in his place round about the camp, (v. 21.)
sounding his trumpet to excite them to fight one
'another, and holding out his torch to light them to
their ruin. They did not rush into the host of Mi¬
dian, as greedy either of blood or spoil, but patiently
stood still to see the salvation of the Lord, a salva¬
tion purely of his own working. Observe how the
design took effect.
1. Thev feared the Israelites; all the host imme¬
diately took the alarm ; it flew like lightning through
all the lines, and they ran, and cried, and fled, v.
21. There was something natural in this fright;
we may suppose thev had not had intelligence of the
great diminution of Gideon’s armv, but rather con¬
cluded that since their last advices, it had been
growing greater and greater; and therefore had
reason to suspect, knowing how odious and grievous
thev had made themselves, and what bold steps |
had been taken toward the throwing off of their j
voke, that it was a very great army which was to
be ushered in with all those trumpeters and torch- i
bearers: but there was more of a supernatural \
power impressing this terror upon them; God him¬
self gave it the setting on, to show how that promise j
should have been fulfilled if they had not forfeited 1
it, One of you shall chase a thorisand. See the
power of imagination, and howmuch it maybecome a i
terror at some times, as at other times it is a pleasure.
2. Thev fell foul upon one another; ( v . 22.) The
Lord set ex>ery man's hand against his fellow. In
this confusion, observing the trumpeters and torch-
bearers to stand still without their camp, they con¬
cluded the body of the army had already entered,
and therefore every one ran at the next he met,
though a friend, supposing him an enemy; and one
such mistake as that, would occasion many, f r
then he that slew him would certainly be taken for
an enemy, and would be despatched immediately.
It is our interest to preserve such a command of our
own spirits, as never to be afraid of any amaze¬
ment, for we cannot conceive what mischiefs we
thereby plunge ourselves in. See also how God
often makes the enemies of his church instruments
to destroy one another; it is pity the church’s friend
should ever be thus infatuated.
3. They fled for their lives. Perhaps when day¬
light came, they were sensible of their mistake ’in
fighting with one another, and concluded that by
this fatal error they had so weakened themselves,
that now it was impossible to make any head against
Israel, and therefore made the best of their^ way
toward their own country, though, for aught that
appears, the three hundred men kept their ground.
The wicked flees when none pursues. Prow 28. 1.
Terrors make him afraid on every side, and drive
him to his feet. Job. 18. 11.
23. And the men of Israel gathered
themselves together out of Naphtali, and
out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and
pursued after the Midianites. 24. And Gid¬
eon sent messengers throughout all mount
Ephraim, saying, Come down against the
Midianites, and take before them the wa¬
ters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all
the men of Ephraim gathered themselves to¬
gether, and took the waters unto Beth-barah
and Jordan. 25. And they took two princes
of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they
slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb t hey
slew at the wine-press of Zeeb, and pursued
Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and
Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
We have here the prosecution of this glorious
victory.
1. Gideon’s soldiers that had been dismissed, and
perhaps had begun to disperse themselves, upon
notice of the enemies’ flight, got together again,
and vigorously pursued them whom they had
not courage to face. The men of Israel out of
Naphtali and Asher who did this, ( v . 23.) were
not such as now came from those distant countries,
but the same that had enlisted themselves, ( ch . 6.
35. ) but had been cashiered. They who were fear¬
ful and afraid to fight, (v. 3.) now took heart,
when the worst was over, and were ready enough
to divide the spoil, though backward to make the
onset. They also that might not fight, though they
had a mind to it, and were disbanded by order
from God, did not (as those, 2 Chron. 25. 10. 13.)
return in great anger, but waited for an opportunity
of doing service in pursuing the victory, though they
were denied the honour of helping to force the lines".
2. The Ephraimites, upon a summons from Gid¬
eon, came in unanimously, and secured the passes
over Jordan, by the several fords, to cut off the ene¬
mies* retreat into their own country, that thev
might be entirely destroyed, to prevent the like
mischief to Israel another time. Now that they
had begun to fall, they resolved utterly to destroy
them, Esth. 6. 13. They took the waters; (v. 24.)
that is, posted themselves along the river side, so
that the Midianites, who fled from those who pur¬
sued them, fell into the hand of those that waited
to intercept them. Here was fear, and the pit, and
the snare, Isa. 24. 7.
3. Two of the chief commanders of the host of
Midian were taken and slain by the Ephraimites on
141
JUDGES, VIII.
this side Jordan, v. 25. Their names perhaps sig¬
nified their nature, Oreb signifies a raven , and Zeeb
a wolf ( Corvinus and Lufius.) These in their
flight had taken shelter, one in a rock, (Isa. 2. 21.
Rev. 6. 15. ) the other by a wine-press, as Gideon
for fear of them had lately hid his corn by a wine¬
press, ch. 6. 11. But the places of their shelter
were made the places of their slaughter, and the
memory of it preserved to posterity in the names
of the places, to their perpetual infamy; Here fell
the princes of Midian.
CHAP. VIII.
This chapter gives us a further account of Gideon’s victory
over the Midianites, with the residue of the story of his
life and government. I. Gideon prudently pacifies the
offended Ephraimites, v. 1..3. 11. He bravely pursues
the flying Midianites, v. 4, 10. .12. III. He justly chas¬
tises the insolence of the menofSuccoth and Penuel,
who basely abused him, (v. 5 . . 9.) and were reckoned
with for it, v. 13 . . 17. IV. He honourably slays the two
kings of Midian, v. 18. .21. V. After all this, he mo¬
destly declines the government of Israel, v. 22, 23. VI.
He foolishly gratified the superstitious humour of his
people, by setting up an ephod in his own city, which
proves a great snare, v. 24 . . 27. VII. He kept the
country quiet forty years, v. 28. VIII. He died in ho¬
nour, and left a numerous family behind him, v. 29. . 32.
IX. Both he and his God were soon forgotten by un¬
grateful Israel, v. 33. . 35.
1. A ND the men of Ephraim said unto
XJL him, Why hast thou served us thus,
that thou calledst us not when thou went-
est to fight with the Midianites? And
they did chide with him sharply. 2. And
he said unto them, What have I done now
in comparison of you ? Is not the gleaning
of the grapes of Ephraim better than the
vintage of Abiezer ? 3. God hath deliver¬
ed into your hands the princes of Midian,
Oreb and Zeeb : and what was I able to do
in comparison of you ? Then their anger was
abated toward him, when he had said that.
No sooner were the Midianites, the common ene¬
my, subdued, than through the violence of some hot
spirits, the children of Israel are ready to quarrel
among themselves; an unhappy spark was struck,
which if Gideon had not with a great deal of wis¬
dom and grace extinguished immediately, might
have broken out into a flame of fatal consequence.
The Ephraimites, when they brought the heads of
Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon as general, instead of
congratulating his successes, and addressing him
with thanks for his great services, as they ought to
have done, picked a quarrel with him, and grew
very hot upon it.
I. Their accusation was very peevish and unrea¬
sonable; Why didst thou not call us when thou went-
est to fight with the Midianites? v. 1. Ephraim was
brother to Manasseh, Gideon’s tribe, and had had
the pre-eminence in Jacob’s blessing, and in Mo¬
ses’s, and therefore was very jealous of Manasseh,
lest that tribe should at any time eclipse the honour
of their’s. Hence we find Manasseh against
Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, Isa. 9. 21.
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong
city, and their contentions are as the bars of a castle,
Prov. 18. 19. But how unjust was their quarrel
with Gideon ! They were angry he did not send
for them to begin the attack upon Midian, as well
as to follow the blow. Why were they not called to
lead the van? The post of honour, they thought,
belonged to them. But, 1. Gideon was called of
God. and must act as he directed; he neither took
the honour to himself, nor did he dispose of honours
himself, but left it to God to do all. So that the
Ephraimites in this quarrel reflected upon the di¬
vine conduct; and what wras Gideon that they mur
mured against him? 2. Why did not the Ephraim¬
ites offer themselves willingly to the service? They
knew the enemy was in their country, and had heard
of the forces that were raising to oppose them, to
which they ought to have joined themselves, in
zeal for the common cause, though they had not a
formal invitation. Those seek themselves more
than God, that stand upon a point of honour to ex¬
cuse themselves from doing real service to God and
their generation. In Deborah’s time there was a
root of Ephraim, ch. 5. 14. Why did not that ap¬
pear now? The case itself called them; they need¬
ed not wait for a call from Gideon. 3. Gideon had
saved their credit in not calling them; if he had
sent for them, no doubt, many of them would have
gone back with the faint-hearted, or been dismissed
with the lazy, slothful, and intemperate; so that by
not calling them, he prevented the putting of those
slurs upon them. Cowards will seem valiant when
the danger is over, but those consult their reputa¬
tion, who try their courage when danger is near.
II. Gideon’s answer was very calm and peacea¬
ble, and was intended not so much to justifv him¬
self, as to please and pacify them, v. 2, 3. He an¬
swers them, 1. With a great deal of meekness and
temper: he did not resent the affront, nor answer
anger with anger, but mildly reasons the case with
them; and he won as true honour by this command
which he had over his own passion, as by his victo¬
ry over the Midianites; He that is slow to anger, is
better than the mighty. 2. With a great deal of
modestv and humility, magnifying their perform¬
ances above his own. Is not the gleanings of the
grapes of Ephraim, who picked up the stragglers
of the enemy, and cut off those of them that es¬
caped, better than the vintage of Abiezer, — a great¬
er honour to them, and better service to the country,
than the first attack Gideon made upon them*
The destruction of the church’s enemies is com¬
pared to a vintage, Rev. 14. 18. In this he owns
their gleanings better than his gatherings. The im¬
proving of a victory is often more honourable, and
of greater consequence, than the winning of it; in
this they had signalized themselves, and their own
courage and conduct, or rather, God had dignified
them ; for though, to magnify their achievements,
he is willing to diminish his own performances, yet
he will not take any flowers from God’s crown to
adorn their’s with; God has delivered into your
hands the princes of Midian, and a great slaughter
has been made of the enemy by your numerous
hosts, and what was I able to do with three hun¬
dred men, in comparison of you and your brave ex¬
ploits?” Gideon stands here a very great example
of self-denial, and this instance shows us, (1.) That
envy is best removed by humility. It is true, even
right works are often envied, Eccl. 4. 4. Yet they
are not so apt to be so, when those who do them,
appear not to be proud of them. They are malig¬
nant indeed, who seek to cast those down from
their excellency, that humble and abase them¬
selves. (2.) It is likewise the surest method of
ending strife, for only by pride comes contention,
Prov. 13. 10. (3.) Humility is most amiable and
admirable in the midst of great attainments and ad¬
vancements. Gideon’s conquests did greatly set off
his condescensions. (4. ) It is the proper act of hu¬
mility to esteem others better than ourselves, and in
honour to prefer one another.
Now what was the issue of the controversy? The
Ephraimites had chidden with him sharply, (v. 1.)
forgetting the respect owing to their general, and
one whom God had honoured, and giving vert to
142
JUDGES, VIII.
their passion in a very indecent liberty of speech, a
certain sign of a weak and indefensible cause: rea¬
son runs low when the chiding dies high. But Gid¬
eon’s soft answer turned, away their wrath , Prov.
15. 1. Their anger was abated toward him , ( v . 3.)
It is intimated, that they retained him some resent¬
ment, but he prudently overlooked it, and let it
cool by degrees. Very great and good men must
expect to have their patience tried, by the unkind¬
nesses and follies even of those they serve, and must
not think it strange.
4. And Gideon came to Jordan, and pass¬
ed over, he and the three hundred men that
were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. 5.
And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give,
i pray you, loaves of bread unto the people
that follow me; for they be faint, and I am
pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings
of Midian. 6. And the princes of Succoth
said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmun¬
na now in thine hands, that we should give
bread unto thine army? 7. And Gideon
said, Therefore, when the Lord hath de- j
livered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine
hand, then I will tear your flesh with the
thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
8. And he went up thence to Penuel, and
spake unto them likewise : and the men of
Penuel answered him as the men of Suc¬
coth had answered him. 9. And lie spake
also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When
1 come again in peace, I will break down
this tower. 10. Now Zebah and Zalmun¬
na were in Karkor, and their hosts with
them, about fifteen thousand men, all that
were left of all the hosts of the children of
the east : for there fell a hundred and twenty
thousand men that drew sword. 11. And i
Gideon went up by the way of them that
dwelt in tents, on the east of Nobah and
Jogbehah, and smote the host : for the host j
was secure. 12. And when Zebah aud
Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and
took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and
Zalmunna, and discomfited all thd hbst.
13. And Gideon, the son of Joash,,, returned
from battle before the sun was np, r 1 4; And
caught a young man of the rfifin of Sltccoth,
and inquired of him: and he.despfihed urfio
him the princes of Succoth, and the ^elders
thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.
15. And he came unto the rridn’o^Siicboth,
and said, Behold Zebah. and ^aJmunna,
with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are
the hands of Zebah am) Zalmunna now in
thine hand, that we , should gfoq.bre^d unto
thy men that are weary ? < 16. And he took
the elders of the city , and thorns of the wil¬
derness and briers, andpyith theiu he taught
the men of Succotn.\ 1 1, Mid tie beat down
the tower of Penuel, and slew die men of
the city. ' ' )0 : ,UJ
In these verses, we have,
I. Gideon, as a valiant general, pursuing the re¬
maining Midianites, and bravely following his blow.
A very great slaughter was made of the enemy at
first, one hundred and twenty thousand men that
drew the sword, v. 10. Such' a terrible execution
did they make among themselves, and so easy a
prey were they to Israel: but, it seems, the two
kings of Midian, being better provided than the rest
for an escape, with fifteen thousand men, got over
Jordan before the passes could be secured by the
Ephraimites, and made toward their own country:
Gideon thinks he does not fully execute his com¬
mission to save Israel, if he let them escape. He
is not content to chase them out of the country, but
he will chase them out of the world, Job 18. 18.
This resolution is here pushed on with great firm¬
ness, and crowned with great success.
1. His firmness was very exemplary; he effect¬
ed his purpose under the greatest disadvantages and
discouragements that could be. (1.) He took none
with him, but his three hundred men, who now laid
aside their trumpets and torches, and betook them¬
selves to their swords and spears. God had said,
By these three hundred men will I save you ; (ch.
7. 7. ) and confiding in that promise, Gideon kept
to them only, v. 4. He expected more from three
hundred men, supported by a particular promise,
than from so many thousands, supported only by
their own valour. (2.) They were faint and yet
pursuing; much fatigued with what they had done,
and yet eager to do more against the enemies of
their country. Our spiritual warfare must thus be
prosecuted with what strength we have, though we
have but little; it is many a time the true Chris¬
tian’s case, fainting, and yet pursuing. (3.) Though
he met with discouragement from those of his own
people, was jeered for what he was doing, as going
about what he could never accomplish, yet he went
on with it. If those that should be our helpers in
the way of our duty, prove hinderances to us, let
not that drive us off from it. Those know not how
to value God’s acceptance, that know not how to
despise the reproaches, and contempts of men. (4.)
He made a very long march by the way of them
that dwelt in tents, v. 11. Either because he hoped
to find them kinder to him than the men of Suc-
c6th, and Penuel, that dwelt in walled towns;
(sometimes there is more generosity and charity
found in country tents than in city p. laces;) or, be¬
cause that was a road in which he would be least
expected, and therefore that way it would be the
greater surprise to them. It is evident, he spared
no pains to complete his victory. Now he found it
an advantage to have his three hundred men, such
as could bear hunger, and thirst, and toil. It should
seem, he set up'on them by night, as he had done
before, for the host was secure. The security of
sinners often proves their ruin, and dangers are
most fatal when least feared.
2. His success was very encouraging to resolution
and industry in a good cause. He routed the army,
(v. 11.) and took the two kings prisoners, v. 12.
Note, The fear of the wicked shall come upon him.
They that think to run from the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon, do but run upon it. If he flee from
the iron weapon, yet the bow of steel shall strike him
through; for evil pursueth sinners.
II. Here is Gideon, as a righteous judge, chas
tising the insolence of the disaffected Israelites, the
men of Succoth, and the men of Penuel, both in the
time of God, on the other side Jordan.
1. The crime was great. Gideon, with a handful
of feeble folk, was pursuing the common enemy, to
complete the deliverance of Israel; his way leads
him through the city of Succoth first, and after¬
ward of Penuel; he expects not that the magistrates
143
JUDGES, VIII.
should meet him in their formalities, congratulate
his victory, present him with the keys of their city,
give him a treat, much less that they should send
forces in to his assistance, though he was entitled
to it all ; but he only begs some necessary food for
his soldiers that were ready to faint for want, and
he does it very humbly and importunately, Give, I
pray you, loaves of bread unto the fie o file that fol¬
low me, v. 5. The request had been reasonable if
they had been but poor travellers in distress; but
considering that they were soldiers, called and
chosen, and faithful, (Rev. 17. 14. ) men whom God
had greatly honoured, and whom Israel was highly
obliged to, who had done great service to their
country, and were now doing more; that they were
conquerors, and had power to put them under con¬
tribution; that they were fighting God’s battles and
Israel’s; nothing could be more just than that they
should furnish them with the best provisions their
city afforded. But the princes of Succoth neither
feared God, nor regarded man! For, (1.) In con¬
tempt of God, they refused to answer the just de¬
mands of him whom God had raised up to save
them, affronted him, bantered him, despised the
success he had already been honoured with, des¬
paired of success of his present undertaking, did
what they could to discourage him in prosecuting
the war, and were very willing to believe that the
remaining forces of Midian, which they had now
seen march through their country, would be too
hard for him. Are the hands of Zebah and ,Zal-
munna now in thine hand? “ No, nor never will
be;” so they conclude, judging by the disproportion
of numbers. (2.) The bowels of their compassion
were shut up against their brethren; they were as
destitute of love as they were of faith; would not
give morsels of bread (as some read it) to them that
were ready to perish. Were these princes? Were
these Israelites? Unworthy either title; base and
degenerate men! Surely they were worshippers
of Baal, or in the interests of Midian. The men of
Penuel gave the same answer to the same request,
defying the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, v. 8.
2. The warning he gave them of the punishment
of their crime, was very fair. (1.) He did not pun¬
ish it immediately, because he would not lose so
much time from the pursuit of the enemy that
were flying from him, because he would not seem
to do it in a heat of passion, and because he should
do it more to their shame and confusion, when he
had completed his undertaking which they thought
impracticable. But, (2.) He told them how he
would punish it, ( v . 7, 9. ) to show the confidence
he had of" success in the strength of God, and that
if they had the least grain of grace and considera¬
tion left, they might, upon second thoughts, repent
of their folly, humble themselves, and contrive how
to atone for it, by sending after him succours and
supplies, which if they had done, no doubt, Gideon
would have pardoned them. God gives notice of
danger, and space to repent, that sinners may flee
from the wrath to come.
3. The warning being slighted, the punishment,
though very severe, was really very just. (1.) The
princes of Succoth were first made examples; Gid¬
eon got intelligence of their number, seventy-seven
men, their names and places of abode, which were
describedin writing to him, v. 14. And to their great
surprise, when they thought he had scarce over¬
taken the Midianites, he was returned a conqueror;
his three hundred men were now the ministers of
his* justice; they secured all these princes, and
brought them before Gideon, who showed them his
royal captives in chains, “ These are the men you
thought me an unequal match for, and would give
me no assistance in the pursuit of,” v. 15. And he
punished them with thorns and briers, but it should
seem, not unto death. With these, [1.] He tor¬
mented their bodies, either by scourging, or rolling
them in the thorns and briers; some way or other
he tore their flesh, v. 7. Those shall have judg¬
ment without mercy, that have showed no mercy.
Perhaps he observed them to be soft and delicate
men, who despised him and his company for their
roughness and hardiness, and therefore Gideon
thus mortified them for their effeminacy. [2. ] He
instructed their minds; with these he taught the
men of Succoth, v. 16. The correction he gave
them, was intended, not for destruction, but whole¬
some discipline, to make them wiser and better for
the future. He made them know, (so the word is,)
made them know themselves and their folly, God
and their duty; made them know who Gideon was,
since they would not know by the success where-
! with God had crowned him. Note, Many are
taught with the briers and thorns of affliction, that
would not learn otherwise. Gcd gives wisdom by
the rod and reproof, chastens and teaches, and bv
correction opens the ear of discipline. Our blessed
Saviour, though he were a Son, vet learned obe¬
dience by the things which he suffered, Heb. 5. 8.
Let every pricking brier, and grieving thorn, es¬
pecially when it become a Morn in the flesh, be thus
interpreted, thus improved, “ By this God designs
; to teach me; what good lessons shall I learn?” (2.)
Penuel’s doom comes next, and it should seem he
\ used them more severely than the other, for good
reason, no doubt, v. 17. [1.] He beat down their
tower, of which they gloried, in which they trusted,
perhaps scornfully advising Gideon and his men
rather to secure themselves in that, than to pursue
the Midianites. What men make their pride, the
ruin of it is justly made their shame. [2.] He slew
the men of the city, not at all, perhaps not the elders
or princes, but those that had affronted him, and
those only. He slew some of the men of the city
that were most insolent and abusive, for terror to
the rest, and so he taught the men of Penuel.
18. Then said he unto Zebah and Zal-
munna, What manner of men were, they
whom ye slew at Tabor? And they an¬
swered, As thou art , so were they; each
one resembled the children of a king. 19.
And he said, They were my brethren, even
the sons of my mother : as the Lord liveth,
if ye had saved them alive, I would not
slay you. 20. And he said unto Jether his
first-born, Up, and slay them: but the
youth drew not his sword ; for he feared,
because he was yet a youth. 21. Then Ze-
; bah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall
upon us : for as the man is, so is his strength.
And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and
i Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments
; that were on their camels’ necks.
Judgment began at the house of God, in the just
correction of the men of Succoth and Penuel, who
were Israelites, but it did not end there. The
kings of Midian, when they had served to demon¬
strate Gideon’s victories, and grace his triumphs,
must now be reckoned with.
1. They are indicted for the murder of Gideon’s
brethren some time ago at mount Tabor. When
the children of Israel, for fear of the Midianites,
made them dens in the mountains, ( ch . 6. 2. ) those
young men, it is likely, took shelter in that moun¬
tain, where they were found by these two kings,
and most baselv and barbarously slain in cold
144
JUDGES, VIII.
blood. When he asks them what manner of men I
they were, (v. 18.) it is not because he was uncer¬
tain of the thing, or wanted proof of it; he was not
30 little concerned for his brethren’s blood, as not
to inquire it out before now, nor were these proud
tyrants solicitous to conceal it; but he puts that
question to them, that by their acknowledgment
of the more than ordinary comeliness of the persons
they slew, their crimes might appear the more
heinous, and consequently their punishment the
more righteous. They could not but own, that
though they were found in a mean and abject con¬
dition . yet they had an unusual greatness and ma¬
jesty ni their countenances not unlike Gideon him¬
self at this time; they resembled the children of a
king, born for something great.
2. Being found guilty of this murder by their own
confession, Gideon, though he might have put
them to death as Israel’s judge, for the injuries
done to that people in general, as Oreb and Zeeb,
(cA. 7. 25.) yet he chooses rather to put on the
character of an avenger of blood, as next of kin to
the persons slain. They were my brethren, v. 19.
The other crimes might have been forgiven, at
least Gideon would not have slain them himself, let
them have answered it to the people; but the voice
of his brethren's blood cries, cries to him, now it is
in the power of his hand to avenge it, and therefore
there is no remedy, by him must their blood be
shed, though they were kings. Little did they
think to have heard of this so long after; but mur¬
der seldom goes unpunished in this life.
_ 3. The execution is done by Gideon himself with
his own hand, because he was the avenger of
blood; he bade his son slay them, for he was a near
relation to the persons murdered, and fittest to be
his father’s substitute and representative; and he
would thus train him up to the acts of justice and
boldness, v. 20. But, (1.) The young man himself
desired to be excused; he feared, though they were
bound and could make no resistance, because he
was yet a youth, and not used to such work:
courage does not always run in the blood. (2.)
The prisoners themselves desired that Gideon
would excuse it; (v. 21.) begged, if they must die
they might die by his own hand, which would be
somewhat more honourable to them, and more
easy, tor by his great strength they would sooner
be despatched and rid out of their pain. As the
man, so is his strength. Either they mean it of
themselves, they were men of such strength as
called for a better hand than that young man’s to
overpower quickly; or of Gideon. “Thou art at
thy full strength, he is not yet come to it, therefore
be thou the executioner.” From those that are
grown up to maturity, it is expected, that what
they do in any service, be done with so much the
more strength. Gideon despatched them quickly,
and seized the ornaments that were on their camel's
necks, ornaments like the moon, so it is in the mar¬
gin, either badges ot their royalty, or perhaps of
their idolatry, for Ashtaroth was represented by
the moon, as Baal by the sun. With these he took
all their other ornaments, as appears, v. 26. where
we find he did not put them to so good a use as one
would have wished. T. he destruction of these two
kings, and that of the two princes, ( ch . 7. 25.) is
long after pleaded as a precedent in prayer for the
ruin of others of the church’s enemies; (Ps. 83. 11.)
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their
hrince* as Zebah and Zalmunna; let them all be
cut off in like manner.
22. Then the men of Israel said unto
Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou and
thy son, and thy son’s son also; for thou
hast delivered us from the hand of Midian
23. And Gideon said unto them, I will not
rule over you, neither shall my son rule over
you : the Lord shall rule over you. 24.
And Gideon said unto them, 1 would de¬
sire a request of you, that ye would give
me every man the ear-rings of his prey : (for
they had golden ear-rings, because they were
Ishmaelites.) 25. And they answered, We
will willingly give them. And they spread
a garment, and did cast therein every man
the ear-iings of his prey. 26. And the
weight of the golden ear-rings that he re¬
quested was a thousand and seven hun¬
dred shekels of gold, besides ornaments, and
collars, and purple raiment tlvt teas on the
kings of Midian, and besides the chains
that were about their camels’ necks. 27.
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and
put it in his city, even in Ophrah : and all
Israel went thither a whoring after it ;
which thing became a snare unto Gideon,
and to his house. 28. Thus was Midian
subdued before the children of Israel, so
that’ they lifted up their heads no more : and
the country was in quietness forty years in
the days of Gideon.
Here is,
I. Gideon’s laudable modesty after his great vic¬
tory, in refusing the government which the people
offered him. 1. It was honest in them to offer it;
(v. 22.) Rule thou over us, for thou hast delivered
us. They thought it very reasonable that he who
had gone through the toils and perils of their de¬
liverance, should enjoy the honour and power of
commanding them ever after; and very desirable
that he who in this great and critical juncture had
had such manifest tokens of God’s presence with
him, should ever after preside in their affairs. Let
us apply it to the Lord Jesus, he hath delivered us
out of the hands of our enemies, our spiritual ene¬
mies, the worst and most dangerous, and therefore
it is fit he should rule over us; for how can we be
better ruled than by one that appears to have so
great an interest in heaven, and so great a kindness
for this earth? We are delivered, that' we may
serve him without fear, Luke 1. 74, 75. 2. It was
honourable in him to refuse it; (x\ 23.) I will not
rule over you. What he did, was his design to
serve them, not to rule them; to make them safe,
easy, and happy, not to make himself great or
honourable. And as he was not ambitious of gran¬
deur himself, so he did not covet to entail it upon
his family, “ My son shall not rule over you, either
while I live, or when I am gone, but the Lord shall
still rule over you, and constitute your judges by
the special designation of his own Spirit, as he has
done.” This intimates, (1.) His modesty, and the
mean opinion he had of himself and his own merits.
He thought the honour of doing good was recom¬
pense enough for all his services, which needed
not to be rewarded with honour of bearing sway;
He that is greatest, let him be your minister. (2.)
His piety, and the great opinion he had of God’s
government. Perhaps he discerned in the people a
dislike of the theocracy, or divine government, a
desire of a king like the nations; and his merits
might have supplied a colourable pretence to move
for this change of government. But Gideon would
145
JUDGES, VH1.
by no means admit it. No good man can be pleas¬
ed wita any nonour done to himself, which ought to
be peculiar to God. IV ere ye baptized in the name
of Paul? 1 Cor. 1. 13.
II. Gideon’s irregular zeal to perpetuate the re¬
membrance of this victory, by an ephod, made of
the choicest of the spoils. 1. He asked the men of
Israel to give him the ear-rings of their prey; for
such ornaments they stripped the slain of in abun¬
dance. These he demanded, either because they
were the finest gold, and therefore fittest for a
religious use, or because they had had as ear-rings
some superstitious signification, which he thought
too well of. Aaron called for the ear-rings to make
the golden calf of, Exod. 32. 2. These Gideon
begged, v. 24. And he had reason enough to think
that they who offered him a crown, when he de¬
clined it, would not deny him their ear-rings, when
he begged them, nor did they, v. 25. 2. He him¬
self added the spoil he took from the kings of
Midian, which, it should seem, had fallen to his
share, v. 26. The generals had that part of the
prey which was most splendid, the prey of divers
colours, ch. 5. 30. 3. Of this he made an ephod, v.
27. It was plausible enough, and might be well in¬
tended to preserv e a memorial of so divine a victory
in the judge’s own city. But it was a very unad¬
vised thing to make that memorial to be an ephod,
a sacred garment. I would gladly put the best
construction that can be upon the actions of good
men, and such a one we are sure Gideon was. But
we have reason to suspect that this ephod had, as
usual, a teraphim annexed to it, (Hos. 3. 4.) and
that, having an altar already built by divine ap¬
pointment, ( ch . 6. 26. ) which he erroneously ima¬
gined he might still use for sacrifice, he intended
this for an oracle, to be consulted in doubtful cases.
So the learned Dr. Spencer supposes. Each tribe
having now very much its government within itself,
they were too apt to covet their religion among
themselves. We read very little of Shiloh and the
ark there, in all the story of the Judges. Some¬
times by divine dispensation, and much oftener by
the transgression of men, that law which obliged
them to worship only at that one altar, seems not
to have been so religiously observed as one would
have expected, no more than afterward, when, in
the reigns even of very good kings, the high places
were not taken anvay; from which we may infer,
that that law had a further reach as a type of
Christ, by whose mediation alone all our services
are accepted. Gideon .therefore, through igno¬
rance or i neon side rat ion, sinned in making this
ephr d, though he had a good intention in it. Shi¬
loh, it is true, was not far off, but it was in Ephraim,
and that tribe had lately disobliged him, ( v . 1.)
which made him perhaps not care to go so often
among them, as his occasions would lead him, to
consult the oracle, and therefore he would have one
nearer home. However this might be honestly in¬
tended, and at first did little hurt, yet in process of
time, (1.) Israel went a whoring after it; that is,
they deserted God’s altar and priesthood, being
fond of change, and prone to idolatry, and having
some excuse for paying respect to this ephod, be¬
cause so good a man as Gideon had set it up, and
by degrees their respects to it grew more and more
superstitious. Note, Many are led into false ways, by
one false step of a good man. The beginning of sin,
particularly of idolatry and will-worship, is as the
,^tting forth of water, so it has been found in the fa¬
tal corruptions of the church of Rome, therefore
leave it off before it be meddled with. (2. ) It be-
'■ ire a snare to Gideon himself, abating his zeal
for the house of God in his old age, and much more
to his house, who were drawn by it into sin, and it
proved the ruin of the family. 1
VOL. IT. — T
III. Gideon’s happy agency for the repose of Is¬
rael, v. 28. The Midianites that had been s > vex¬
atious, gave them no more disturbance; Gidecn,
though he would not assume the honour and power
of a king, governed as a judge, and did all the good
offices he could for his people; so that the country
was in quietness forty years. Hitherto the times
of Israel had been reckoned by forties; Othniel
judged forty years, Ehud eighty — just two forties,
Barak forty, and now Gideon forty. Providence
so ordering it, to bring in mind the forty years
of their wandering in the wilderness; Forty years
long was I grieved with this generation. And see
Ezek. 4. 6. Alter these Eli ruled forty years, (1
Sam. 4. 18.) Samuel and Saul forty, (Acts' 13. 21.)
David forty, and Solomon forty. Forty years is
about an age.
29. And Jembbaal the son of Joash, went
and dwelt in his own house. 30. And
Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his
body begotten : for he had many wives.
31. And his concubine, that tvas in She-
chem, she also bare him a son, whose name
he called Abimelech. 32. And Gideon, the
son of Joash, died in a good old age, and
was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his
father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites. 33.
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon
was dead, that the children of Israel turned
again, and went a whoring after Baalim,
and made Baal-berith their god. 34. And
the children of Israel • remembered not the
Lord their God, who had delivered them,
out of the hands of all their enemies on:
every side : 35. Neither showed they kind'
ness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gid¬
eon, according to all the goodness whkhih&
had showed unto Israel.
We have here the conclusion of the- story cf
Gideon.
1. He lived privately; ( v . 29.) he was not puffed
up with his great honours, did not ceu et a palace
or castle to dwell in, but retired to the house he
had li\ ed in before his elevation. Thus that brave
Roman who was called from the plough upon a sud¬
den occasion to command the army, when the ac¬
tion was over, returned to his plough again.
2. His family was multiplied. He had many
wives; (therein he transgressed the law;) by them
he had seventy sons, ( v . 30.) but one by a concu¬
bine, whom he named Abimelech, which signifies
my father a king, that proved the ruin of his fami¬
ly, v.. 31.
3. He died in honour, in a good old age, when he
had lived as long as he was capable of serving God
and his country; and who would desire to live any
longer? And he was buried in the sepulchre of his
fathers.
4. After his death, the people corrupted them¬
selves, and went all to naught. As soon as ever
Gideon was dead, who had kept them close to the
worship of the God of Israel, they found them¬
selves under no restraint, and then they went a
whoring after Baalim, v. 33. They went a whor¬
ing, first after another ephod, ( v . 27.) for which
irregularity Gideon had himself given them too
much occasion, and now they went a whoring aftei
another god. False worships made way for false
deities. They now chose a new god, (ch. 5. 8.) a
146
JUDGES, IX.
god of a new name, Baal-berith ; a goddess, say
some. Berith, some think, was Berytus, the place
where the Phoenicians worshipped this idol. The
Lord of a covenant, so it signifies, perhaps because
his worshippers joined themselves by covenant to
him, in imitation of Israel’s covenanting with God,
for the Devil is God’s ape. In this revolt of Israel
to idolatry, they showed, (1.) Great ingratitude to
God; ( v . 34.) They remembered not the Lord, not
only who had delivered them into the hands of
their enemies, to punish them for their idolatry,
but who had also delivered them out of the hands of
their enemies, to invite them back again into his
service: both the judgments and the mercies were
forgotten, and the impression of them lost. (2.)
Great ingratitude to Gideon, v. 35. A great deal
of goodness he had showed unto Israel, as a father
to his country, for which they ought to have been
kind to his family when he was gone, for that is one
way by which we ought to show ourselves grateful
to our friends and benefactors, and may be return¬
ing their kindness when they are in their graves.
But Israel showed not this kindness to Gideon’s
family, as we shall find in the next chapter. No
wonder if those who forget their God, forget their
friends.
CHAP. IX.
The apostasy of Israel after the death of Gideonj is pun¬
ished, not as the former apostasies, by a foreign invasion,
or the oppressions of any neighbouring power, but by
intestine broils among themselves, which in this chapter
we have the story of; and it is hard to say whether their
sin or their misery appears most in it. It is an account of
the usurpation and tyranny of Abimelech, who was base
son to Gideon; so we must call him, and not more mo-
dishly, his natural son, he was so unlike him. We are
here told, I. How he thrust himself into the government
at Shechem, his own city, by subtlety, and particularly
by the murder of all his brethren, v. 1 .6. II. How his
doom was read in a parable of Jotham, Gideon’s young¬
est son, v. 7. .21. III. What strifes there were between
Abimelech and his friends the Shechemites. v 22. . 41.
IV. How this ended in the ruin of the Shecnemites, (v.
42. .49.) and of Abimelech himself, v. 50.. 57. Of this
meteor, this ignus fatuus of a prince, that was not pro¬
tector, but a plague to his country, we may say, as once
was said of a great tyrant, that he came in like a fox,
ruled like a lion, and died like a dog. For the trans¬
gression of a land such are the princes thereof.
1. 4 ND Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal,
went to Shechem unto his mother’s
brethren, and communed with them, and
with all the family of the house of his
mother’s father, saying, 2. Speak, I pray
you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem,
Whether is better for you either that all the
sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and
ten persons, reign over you, or that one
reign over you ? remember also that I am
your bone and your flesh. 3. And his
mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears
of all the men of Shechem all these words :
and their hearts inclined to follow Abime¬
lech ; for they said, He is our brother. 4.
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces
of silver out of the house of Baal-berith ;
wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light
persons, which followed him. 5. And he went
unto his father’s house at Op h rah, and slew
his brethren, the sons of Jerubbaal, beins;
threescore and ten persons, upon one stone :
notwithstanding, yet Jotham, the youngest
son of Jerubbaal, was left : for he hid himself.
6. And all the men of Shechem gathered
together, and all the house of Millo, and
went and made Abimelech king, by the
plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.
We are here told by what arts Abimelech got
into authority, and made himself gre.ct. His mother
perhaps had instilled into his mind some towering
ambitious thoughts, and the name his father gave
him, carrying royalty in it, might help to blow up
these sparks; and now that he lias buried his father,
nothing will serve his proud spirit but he will suc¬
ceed him in the gov ernment of Israel, directly con¬
trary to his father’s will, for he had declared no son
of his should rule over them. He had no call from
God to this honour as his father had, nor was there
any present occasion for a judge to deliver Israel, as
there was when his father was advanced, but his own
ambition must be gratified, and that is all he aims
at. Now observe here,
I. How craftily he got his mother’s relations into
his interests. Shechem was a city in the tribe of
Ephraim, of great note, Joshua had held his last as¬
sembly there; if that city would appear for him,
and set him up, ne thought it would go far in his
favour. There he had an interest in the family of
which his mother was, and by them he made an
interest in the leading men of the city. It does not
appear that any of them had an eye to him as a man
of merit, who had any thing to recommend him to
such a choice, but the motion came first from him¬
self. None would have dreamed of making such a
one king, if he had not dreamed of it himself. And
see here, 1. How he wheedled them into the choice,
v. 2, 3. He basely suggested that Gideon having
left seventy sons that made a good figure and had a
good interest, they were designing to keep the
power which their father had, in their hands, and
by a joint influence to reign over Israel; “Now,”
says he, “you had better have one king than more,
than many, than so many. Affairs of state are best
managed by a single person,” v. 2. We have no
reason to think that all or any of Gideon’s sons had
the least intention to reign over Israel, (they were
of their father’s mind, that the Lord should reign
over them, and they were not called of him,) yet
this he insinuates, to pave the way to his own pre¬
tensions. Note, Those who design ill themselves,
are commonly most apt to suspect that others de¬
sign ill. As for himself, l>e only puts them in mind
of his relation to them. Verbum sa/iienti — A word
to the wise is sufficient; remember that I am your
bone and your flesh. The plot took wonderfully.
The magistrates of Shechem were pleased to think
of their city being a royal city, and the metropolis
of Israel, and therefore they inclined to follow him,
for they said, “ He is our brother, and his advance¬
ment will be our advantage.” 2. How he got
money from them to bear the charges of his preten¬
sions, v. 4. They gave him seventy pieces of silver;
it is not said what the value of these pieces was; so
many shekels was less, and so many talents more,
than we can well imagine; therefore it is supposed
they were each a pound weight: but they gave it out
of the house of Baal-berith, that is, out of the pub¬
lic treasury, which, out of respect to their idol, they
deposited in his temple to be protected by him ; or,
out of the offerings that had been made to that idol,
which they hoped would prosper the better in his
hands for its having been consecrated to their god.
How unfit was he to reign over Israel, because un¬
likely to defend them, who, instead of restraining
and punishing idolatry, thus early made himself a
pensioner to an idol! 3. What soldiers he enlisted;
he hired into his service vain and light persons, the
147
JUDGES, IX.
scum and scoundrels of the country, men of broken
fortunes, giddy heads, and profligate lives; none but
s ich would own him, and they were fittest to serve
his purpose. Like leader, like followers.
II. How cruelly he got his father’s sons out of the
way. The first thing he did with the rabble he
headed, was, to kill all his brethren at once, pub¬
licly, and in cold blood, threescore and ten men,
one only escaping, all slain upon one stone. See in
this bloody tragedy, 1. The power of ambition,
what beasts it wdl turn men into, how it will break
through all the ties of natural affection and natural
conscience, and sacrifice that which is most sacred,
dear, and va Liable, to its designs. Strange that
ever it should enter into the heart of a man to be
so barbarous! 2. The peril of honour and high
birth. Their being the sons of so great a man as
Gideon, exposed them thus, and made Abimelech
jealous of them. We find just the same number of
Ahab’s s ms slain together at Samaria, 2 Kings 10.
1, 7. • The Grand Seigniors have seldom thought
themselves safe while any of their brethren have
been unstrangled. Let none envy those of high
extraction, or complain of their own meanness and
obscurity. The lower, the safer.
Way being thus made for Abimelech’s election,
the men of Shechem proceeded to choose him king,
v. 6. God was not consulted whether they should
have any king at all, much less who it should be;
here is no advising with the priest, or with their
brethren of any other city or tribe, though it was
designed he should reign over Israel, v. 22. But,
(1.) Tae Shechemites, as if they were the people,
and wisdom must die with them, do all; they aided
and abetted him in the murder of his brethren, (y.
24.) and then they made him king. . The men of
Shechem, that is, the great men, the chief magis¬
trates of the city, and the house of Millo, that is,
the common council, the full-house, or house of ful¬
ness, as the word signifies, those that met in the
Guild-hall ; (we read often of the house of Millo,
or state-house in Jerusalem, or the city of David, 2
Sam. 5. 9. 2 Kings 12. 20.) these gathered together,
not to prosecute and punish Abimelech for this bar¬
barous murder, as they ought to have done, he be¬
ing one of their citizens, but to make him king.
Pretium sceleris lulit hie diadema — His wickedness
was rewarded with a diadem. What could they
promise themselves from a king that laid the
foundation of his kingdom in blood? (2.) The rest
of the Israelites were so very sottish as to sit by un¬
concerned; they took no care to give check to this
usurpation, to protect the sons of Gideon, or to
avenge their death, but tamely submitted to the
bloody tyrant, as men, who with their rel'gion had
lost their reason, and all sense of honour and liberty,
justice and gratitude. How vigorously had their
fathers appeared to avenge the death of the Le-
vite’s concubine, and yet so wretchedly degenerate
are they now, as not to attempt the avenging of the
death of Gideon’s sons; it is for this that they are
charged with ingratitude; (ch. 8. 35. ) Neither show¬
ed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal.
7. And when they told it to Jotham, he
went, and stood in the top of mount Geri-
zim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and
said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men
of Shechem, that God may hearken unto
you. 8. The trees went forth an a time to
anoint a king over them : and they said
unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. 9.
But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I
leave my fatness, wherewith by me they
honour God and man, and go to be pro¬
moted over the trees? 10. And the trees
said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign
over us. 11. But the fig-tree said unto
them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and
my good fruit, and go to be promoted over
the trees ? 12. Then said the trees unto
the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.
1 3. And the vine said unto them, Should 1
leave my wine, which cheereth God and
man, and go to be promoted over the trees ?
14. Then said all the trees unto the bram¬
ble, Come thou, and reign over us. 15
And the bramble said unto the trees, If in
truth ye anoint me king over you, then
come and put your trust in my shadow ;
and if not, let fire come out of the bramble,
and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 16.
Now therefore, if ye have done truly and
sincerely in that ye have made Abimelech
king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerub¬
baal and his house, and have done unto
him according to the deserving of his hands ;
17. (For my father fought for you, and ad¬
ventured his life far, and delivered you out
of the hand of Midian ; 1 8. And ye are
risen up against my father’s house this day,
and have slain his sons, threescore and ten
persons, upon one stone, and have made
Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king
over the men of Shechem, because he is
your brother :) 19. If ye have then dealt
truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and
with his house this day, then rejoice ye in
Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you ;
20. But if not, let fire come out from Abim¬
elech, and devour the men of Shechem,
and the house of Millo ; and let fire come
out from the men of Shechem, and from the
house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 21.
And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went
to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abime¬
lech his brother.
We have here the only testimony that appears to
have been borne against the wicked confederacy of
Abimelech, and the men of Shechem. It was a
sign they had provoked God to depart from them,
that neither any prophet was sent, nor any re¬
markable judgment, to awaken this stupid people,
and to stop the progress of this threatening mis¬
chief. Only Jr tham, the youngest son of Gideon,
who by a special providence escaped the common
ruin of his family, ( v . 5.) dealt plainly with the
Shechemites, and his speech, which is here record¬
ed, shows him to be a man of such great ingenuity
and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gen¬
tleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall
of Gideon’s sons. Jotham did not go about to raise
an army out of the other cities of Israel, (in which,
one would think, he might have made a good inter¬
est, for his father’s sake,) to avenge his brethren’s
death, much less to set up himself in competition
with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper’s
suggestion, that the sons of Gideon aimed at domin
JUDGES, IX.
143
ion; (i>. 2.) but he contents himself with giving a
faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair wani¬
ng of the fatal consequences. He got an opportu¬
nity of speaking to them from the top ol mount
Gerizzim, the mount of blessings, at the foot of
which, probably, the Shechemites were, upon some
occasion or other, gathered together, Josephus says,
solemnizing a festival, and it seems they were will¬
ing to hear what he had to say.
I. His preface is very serious; ( v . 7.) “ Hearken
unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hear¬
ken unto you. As ever you hope to obtain God’s
fav ur, and to be accepted of him, give me a pa¬
tient and impartial hearing.” Note, Those who
expect God to hear their prayers, must be willing
to hear reason, to hear a faithful reproof, and to
hear the complaints and appeals of wronged inno-
cency. If we turn away our ear from hearing the
taw, our prayers will be an abomination, Prov. 28. 9.
II. His parable is very ingenious — that when the
t ees were disposed to choose a king, the govern¬
ment was offered to those valuable trees, the olive,
the fig-tree, and the vine; but they refused it,
choosing rather to serve than rule, to do good than
bear sway. But the same tender being made to
the bramble, he accepted it with vain-glorious ex¬
ultation. The way of instruction by parables, is an
ancient way, and very useful, especially to give
reproofs by.
i. He hereby applauds the generous modesty of
Gideon, an.! the other judges who were before him,
and perhaps of the sons of Gideon, who had declin¬
ed accepting the state and power of kings when they
might have had it. And likewise shows that it is
n general the temper of all wise and good men to
decline preferment, and to choose rather to be use¬
ful than to be great.
(1.) There was*no occasion at all for the trees to
choose a king; they are all the tree of the Lord which
he has planted, (Ps. 104. 16.) and which therefore
he will protect. Nor was there any occasion for
Israel to talk of setting a king over them, for the
Lord was their king.
(2. ) When t’aey had it in their thoughts to choose
a king, they did not offer the government to the
stately cedar, or the lofty pine, which are only for
show and shade, and not otherwise useful till they
are cut down, but to the fruit-trees, the vine, and
the o'ive. Those that bear fruit for the public good,
are justly respected and honoured by all that are
wise, more than they that affect to make a figure.
For a good useful man some would even dare to die.
(3.) The reason which all these fruit-trees gave
for their refusal was much the same. The olive
pleads, (tu 9.) Should I leave my fatness? And the
vine, ( v . 13.) Should I leave my wine, wherewith
both God and man are served and honoured? For
> il and wine were used both at God’s altars, and
men’s tables; and shall I leave my sweetness, sdith
the fig-tree, and my good fruit, ( v . 11.) and go to be
promoted over the trees? Or, as the margin reads
it, go up and down for the trees? It is intimated,
[1.] That government involves a man in a great
deal both of toil and care; he that is promoted over
the trees, must go up and down for them, and make
himself a perfect dnjdge to business. [2.] That
those who are preferred to places of public trust
and power, must resolve to forego all their private
interests and advantages, and sacrifice them to the
good of the community. The fig-tree must lose its
sweetness, its sweet retirement, swiqet repose, and
sweet conversation and contemplation, if it go to be
promoted over the trees, and must undergo a con¬
stant fatigue. [3.] That those who are advanced to
honour and dignity, are in great danger of losing
their fatness and fruitfulness. Preferment is apt to
make men proud and slothful; and that spoils their
usefulness, with which, in a lower sphere, they ho¬
nour God and man. For which reason, they that
desire to do good, are afraid < f being too gre .t.
2. He hereby exposes the ridi. ulous ambition of
Abimelech, whom he compares to the bramble or
thistle, v. 14. He supposes the trees to make their
court to him. Come thou, and reign over us; per¬
haps, because he knew not that the first motion of
Abimelech’s preferment came from himself, as we
found, (v. 2.) but thought the Shechemites had
proposed it to him: however, supposing it so, his
folly in accepting it deserved to be chastised. The
bramble, a woithless plant, not to be numbered
among the trees, useless and fruitless, nav, hurtful
and vexatious, scratching and tearing, and doing
mischief, it began with the curse, and its end :s to
be burned. Such a one was Abimelech, and yet
chosen to the government by the trees, by all the
trees: this election seems to ha' e been more unani¬
mous than any of the other. Let us not think ,t
strange, if we see folly set in great dignity, (Eccl.
10. 6.) and the vilest men exalted, (Ps. 12. 8.) : nd
men blind to their own interest in the choice of
their guides. The bramble being chosen to the
government, he takes no time to consider whether
he should accept it or no, but immediately, as if
he had been born and bred to dominion, hectors,
and assures them they should find him as he found
them. See what great swelling words of vanity he
speaks, (i>. 15.) what promises he mikes to his
faithful subjects — Let them come and trust in his
shadow: a goodly shadow to trust in ! How unlike
to the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,
which a good magistrate is compared to, Isa. 32. 2.
Trust in his shadow! More likely to be injured
by him than benefited. Thus men boast of a false
gift. Yet he threatens with as much confidence as
he promises; If ye be not faithful, let fire come
out of the bramble; a very unlikely thing to emit
fire, and devour the cedars of Lebanon! more like¬
ly to catch fire and be itself devoured.
III. His application is very close and plain. In
it, 1. He reminds them of the many good services
his father had done for them, v. 17. He fought
their battles, at the hazard of his own life, and to
their unspeakable advantage. It was a shame that
they needed to be put in mind of this. 2. He ag¬
gravates their unkindness to his father’s family;
they had not done to him according to the deserving
of his hands, v. 16. Great merits often meet with
very ill returns, especially to posterity, when the
benefactor is forgotten, as Joseph was among the
Egyptians. Gideon had left many sons that were
an honour to his name and family, and those they
had barbarously murdered; one son he had left,
that was the blemish of his name and family, for he
was the son of his maid-servanf, whom all that had
any respect to Gideon’s honour, would endeavour to
conceal, yet him they made their king. In both,
they put the utmost contempt imaginable upon Gi¬
deon. 3. He leaves it to the event to determine
whether thev had done well, whereby he lodges
the appeal with the divine providence; (1.) If they
prospered long in this villfmy, he would give them
leave to say they had done well, r\ 19. “ If your
conduct toward the house of Gideon be such as can
be justified at any bar of justice, honour or con¬
science, much good may it do you with your new
king.” But, (2.) If they had, as he was sure they
*had, dealt basely and wickedly in this matter, let
them never expect to prosper, v. 20. Abimelech
and the Shechemites, that they had strengthened
one another’s hands in this villany, would certainly
be a plague and ruin one to another. Let none ex¬
pect to do ill, and fare well.
Jotham, having given them*his admonition, made
a shift to escape with his life; (v. 21.) < itheT thet
JUDGES, IX.
149
could not reach him, or they were so far convinced,
that they would not add the guilt of his blood to all
the rest: but for fear of Abimelech, he lived in
exiie, in some remote obscure place. Those whose
extraction and education are ever so high, know
not to what difficulties and straits they may be re¬
duced.
22. When Abimelech had reigned three
years over Israel, 2d. Then God sent an
evil spirit between Abimelech and the men
of Shechem ; and the men of Shechem dealt
treacherously with Abimelech: 24. That
the cruelty done to the threescore and ten
sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their
blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother,
which slew them ; and upon the men of
Shechem, which aided him in the killing of
his brethren. 25. And the men of Shechem
set liers in wait for him in the top of thp
mountains, and they robbed all that came
along that way by them : and it was told
Abimelech. 26. And Gaal, the son of Ebed,
came with his brethren, and went over to
Shechem : and the men of Shechem put
their confidence in him. 27. And they
went out into the fields, and gathered their
vineyards, and trode the grapes , and made
merry, and went into the house of their god,
and did eat and drink, and cursed Abime¬
lech. 28. And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said,
Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem,
that we should serve him ? Is not he the son
of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? Serve
the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem ;
for why should we serve him ? 29. And
would to God this people were under my
hand ! then would 1 remove Abimelech.
And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine
army, and come out. 30. And when Ze¬
bul, the ruler of the city, heard the words
of Gaal, the son of Ebed, his anger was
kindled. 31. And he sent messengers unto
Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the
son of Ebed, and his brethren, be come to
Shechem ; and, behold, they fortify the city
against thee. 32. Now, therefore, up by
night, thou and the people that is with thee,
and lie in wait in the field : 33. And it
shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the
sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon
the city : and, behold, when he and the people
that is with him come out against thee, then
mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find
occasion. 34. And Abimelech rose up, and
all the people that were with him, by night,
and they laid wait against Shechem in four
companies. 35. And Gaal, the son of Ebed,
went out, and stood in the entering of the
gate of the city : and Abimelech rose up,
and the people that were with him, from ly¬
ing in wait. 36, And when Gaal saw the
people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there
come people down from the top of the
mountains. And Zebul said unto him,
Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as
if they were men. 37. And Gaal spake
again, and said, See, there come people
down by the middle of the land, and an¬
other company come along by the plain ol
Meonenim. 38. Then said Zebul unto him,
Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou
saidst, W ho is Abimelech, that we should
serve him ? Is not this the people that thou
hast despised ? go out, I pray now, and
fight with them. • 39. And Gaal went out
before the men of Shechem, and fought with
Abimelech. 40. And Abimelech chased
him, and he fled before him ; and many
were overthrown and wounded, even unto
the entering of the gate. 41. And Abime¬
lech dwelt at Arumah : and Zebul thrust
out Gaal and his brethren, that they should
not dwell in Shechem. 42. And it came to
pass on the morrow that the people went
out into the field ; and they told Abime¬
lech. 43. And he took the people, and di¬
vided them into three companies, and laid
wait in the field, and looked, and, behold,
the people were come forth out of the city ;
and he rose up against them, and smote
them. 44. And Abimelech, and the compa¬
ny that was with him, rushed forward, and
stood in the entering of the gate of the city :
and the two other companies ran upon all
the people that were in the fields, and slew
them. 45. And Abimelech fought against
the city all that day : and he took the
city, and slew the people that was there¬
in, and beat down the city, and sowed it
with salt. 46. And when all the men of
the tower of Shechem heard that , they en¬
tered into a hold of the house of the god Be-
rith. 47. And it was told Abimelech that
all the men of the tower of Shechem were
gathered together. 48. And Abimelech gat
him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the
people that were with him; and Abimelech
took an axe in his hand, and cut down a
bough from the trees, and took it, and laid
it on his shoulder, and said unto the people
that were with him, What ye hive seen me
do, make haste, and do as I have done. 49.
And all the people likewise cut down every
man his bough, and followed Atiimelech,
and put them to the hold, and set the hold
on fire upon them ; so that all the men ol
the tower of Shechem died also, about a
thousand men and women.
Three years Abimelech reigned, after a sort,
without any disturbance; it is not said. He judged
Israel, or did any service at all to his country, but.
! 50
JUDGES, IX.
So long, he enjoyed the title and dignity of a king;
and not only the Shechemites, but many other
places, paid him respect. They must have been
fond of a king, that could please themselves with
such a one as this.
But the triumphing of the wicked is short.
Within three years, as the years of a hireling, all
this glory shall be contemned, and laid in the dust,
Isa. 16. 14. The ruin of these confederates in wick¬
edness, was from the righteous hand of the God to
whom vengeance belongs. He sent an evil spirit
between Abimelech and the Shechemites; (y. 23.)
that is, they grew jealous one of another, and ill-
affected one to another. He slighted them that set
him up, and countenanced, perhaps more than
their’s, other cities which now began to come into
his interests; and then they grew uneasy at his go¬
vernment, blamed his conduct, and quarrelled at
his impositions. Th.s was from God. He permit¬
ted the Devil, that great mischief-maker, to sow dis¬
cord between them, and he is an evil spirit, whom
God not only keeps under his check, but sometimes
serves his own purposes by. Their own lusts were
evil sphits, they are devils in men’s own hearts,
from them come wars and fightings. These God
gave them up to, and so might be said to send the
evil spirits between them. When men’s sin is made
their punishment, though God is not the Author of
the sin, yet the punishment is from him. The
quarrel God had with Abimelech and the Shechem-
ites, was for the murder of the sons of Gideon; (v.
24.) That the cruelty done to them might come, and
their blood be laid as a burthen upon Abimelech that
slew them, and the men of Shechem that helped him.
Note, 1. Sooner or later, God will make inquisition
for blood, innocent blood, and will return it on the
heads of those that shed it, who shall have blood
given them to drink, for they are worthy. 2. Ac¬
cessaries shall be reckoned with, as well as princi¬
pals, in that and other sins. The Shechemites that
countenanced Abimclech’s pretensions, aided and
abetted him in his bloody projects, and avowed the
f ict by making him king after he had done it, must
fall with him, fall by him, and fall first. 3. Those
that combine together to do wickedly, are justly
dashed to pieces one against another. Blood cannot
be .a lasting cement to any interest.
I. The Shechemites began to affront Abimelech;
perhaps they scarcely knew why, or wherefore, but
they were given to change. 1. They dealt treach¬
erously with him, v. 23. It is not said, They re¬
pented of their sin in owning him, had they done so,
it had been laudable to disown him; but they did it
only upon some particular pique, conceived against
him by their pride or envy. They that set him up,
were the first that deserted him, and endeavoured
to dethrone him. It is not strange that those who
were ungrateful to Gideon, were unfaithful to
Abimelech; for what will hold those that will not
be held by the obligation of such merits as Gideon’s?
Note, It is just with God, that those who tempt
others to be once perfidious, shou d afterward be
themselves betrayed by those whom they have
taught to be perfidious. 2. They aimed to seize
him when he was at Ammah, (x». 41.) his country-
seat; expecting him to come to town, they set tiers
in wait for him, (x/. 25.) who should make him
their prisoner, whom they had lately made their
prince. Those who were thus posted, he not erm¬
ine, took the opportunity of robbing travellers,
which would help to make the people more and
more uneasy under Abimelech, when they saw he
could not, or would not, protect them from highway¬
men. 3. They entertained one Gaal, and set him
up as their head in opposition to Abimelech, v. 26.
This Gaal is said to be the son of Ebcd, which sig¬
nifies a servant, perhaps denoting the meanness of
his extraction; as Abimelech was by the mother’s
side, so he by the father’s, the son of a servant; here
was one bramble contesting with another. We
have reason to suspect that this Gaal was a native
Canaanite, because he courts the Shechemites into
subjection to the men of Humor, who was the an
cient lord of this city in Jacob’s time. He was a
bold ambitious man, served their purpose admira
bly well, when they were disposed to quarrel with
Abimelech, and they also served his purpose; so hi
went over to them to blow the coals, and they put
their confidence in him. 4. They did all the despite
they could to Abimelech’s name, v. 27. They
made themselves very merry in his absence, as
those who were glad he was out of the way, and
who, now that they had another to head them, were
in hopes to get clear of him : nay, they went into
the house of their god, to solemnise their feast of in-
j gathering, and there they did eat, and drink, and
cursed Abimelech; not only said all the ill they could
of him in their table-talk and the song of their drunk¬
ards, but wished all the ill they could to him over
their sacrifices, praying to their idol to destroy him.
They drank healths to his confusion, and with as
loud huzzas as ever they had drunk them to his
prosperity. That very temple whence thev had
fetched money to set him up with, did thev ivw
meet in to curse him, and contrive his ruin. H d
they deserted their idol-god with their image-k:: ■ ,
they might have hoped to prosper; but while they
still cleave to the former, the latter shall cleave to
them to their ruin. How should Satan cast out Sa¬
tan? 5. They pleased themselves with Gaal’s de¬
fying of Abimelech, v. 28, 29. They loved to hear
that impudent upstart speak scornfully, (1.) Of
Abimelech; though calling him in disdain Shechem,
or a Shechemite, he reflected upon their own citv.
(2.) Of his good father likewise, Gideon; Is not he
the son of Jerubbaal? So he calls him, perhaps in an
impious indignation at his name and memory, for
throwing down the altar of Baal; turning that to
his reproach which was his praise. (3.) Of his
prime minister of state, Zebulhis officer, and ruler
of the city. “We may well be ashamed to serve
them, and need not be afraid to oppose them.”
Men of turbulent ambitious spirits, thus despise do¬
minion, and speak evil of dignities. Gaal aimed
not to recover Shechem ’s liberty, only to change
their tyrant, “ O that this people were under my
hand, what I would do! I would challenge Abime
lech to try titles for the crown;” and it should seem
he desired his friends to send him word that he
was ready to dispute it with him, whenever he
pleased; “ Increase thine army and come out. Do
thy worst; let the point be determined by the
sword.” This pleased the Shechemites, who were
now as sick of Abimelech as ever they had been
fond of him. Men of no conscience will be men ot
no constancy.
II. Abimelech turned all his force upon them,
and, in a little time, quite ruined them. Observe
the steps of it.
1. The Shechemites’ counsels were betrayed to
Abimelech by Zebul his confidant, the ruler of the
city, who continued hearty for him. His anger was
kindled, ( v . 30.) and the more, because Gaal had
spoken slightly of him; (v. 28.) for perhaps if he had
complimented and caressed him now that things
were in this ferment, he might have gained him to
his interest; but he, being disobliged, sends notice
to Abimelech of all that was said and done in She¬
chem against him, v. 31. Betrayers are often be¬
trayed by some among themselves, and the cursing
of the king is sometimes strangely carried by a bird
of the air. He prudently advises him to come
against the city immediately, and lose no time, v.
32, 33. He thinks it best that he should march his
151
JUDGES, IX.
forces by night nto the neighbourhood, surprise the
city in the morning, and then make the best of his
advantages. How could the Shechemites hope
to speed in their attempt, when the ruler of their
city was in the interests of their enemy? They
knew it, and yet took no care to secure him.
2. Gaal, that headed their faction, having been
betrayed by Zebul, Abimelech’s confidant, wa'smost
wretchedly bantered by him. Abimelech, accord¬
ing to Zebul’s advice, drew all his forces down upon
Shechem by night, v. 34. Gaal, in the morning,
went out to the gate, (y. 35.) to see what posture
things were in, and to inquire, What new? Zebul,
as a ruler of the city, met him there as a friend.
Abimelech and his forces beginning to mo\ e toward
the city, Gaal discovers them; [y 36.) takes notice
of their approach to Zebul th .t was standing with
him, little thinking that he had sent for them, and
was now expecting them. “Look,” says he, “ do
not I see a body of men coming down from the
mountain towards us? Yonder they are,” pointing
to the place; “No, no,” says Zebul, “thine eye-sight
deceives thee, it is but the shadow of the mountains
which thou takest to be an army. ” By this he in¬
tended, (1.) To ridicule him as a man of no sense
or spirit, and therefore unfit for what he pretended
to; as a man might easily be imposed upon, and
made to believe any thing, and that was so silly and
so cowardly, that he apprehended danger where
there was none, and was ready to fight with a sha¬
dow. (2.) To detain him, and hold him in talk,
while the forces of Abimelech were coming up, that
thereby they might gain advantage. But when
Gaal, being content to believe those that he now
saw, to be but the shadow of the mountains, (per¬
haps the mountains of Ebal and Gerizzim, which
lay close by the city,) was undeceived by the disco¬
very of two other companies that marched apace
toward the city, then Zebul took another way to
banter him, upbraiding him with what he had said
but a day or two before, in contempt of Abimelech;
(v. 38.) “ Where is now thy mouth, that foul mouth
of thine, wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abimelech?”
Note, Proud and haughty people are often made, in
a little time to change their note, and to dread
those whom they had most despised. Gaal had, in a
bravado, challenged Abimelech to increase his ar¬
my and come out; but now Zebul, in Abimelech’s
name, challenges him: “ Go out, and fight with
them, if thou darest.” Justly are the insolent thus
insulted over.
3. Abimelech routed Gaal’s forces that sallied
out of the town, v. 39, 40. Gaal, disheartened, no
doubt, by Zebul’s hectoring him, and peiceiving his
interest weaker than he thought it was, though he
marched out against Abimelech with what little
force he had, was soon put to the worst, and obliged
to retire into the city with great precipitation. In
this action the Shechemites’ loss was considerable,
many were overthrown and wounded; the common
effect of popular tumults, in which the inconsiderate
multitude are often drawn into fatal snares by those
that promise them glorious success.
4. " 'Zebul, that night, expelled Gaal, and the
party he had brought with him into Shechem, out
cf the city, (ra 41.) sending him to the place
whence he came. For though the generality of the
< ity continued still averse to Abimelech, as appears
I y the sequel of the story, yet they were willing to
t art with Gaal, and did not oppose his expulsion,
because, though he had talked big, both his conduct
and courage had failed him when there was occa¬
sion for them. Most people judge of men’s fitness
for business by their success, and he that does not
speed well, is concluded not to do well. Well, ;
Gaal’s interest in Shechem is soon at an end, and :
he that had talked of removing Abimelech, is him¬
self removed, nor do we ever heat; of him any more.
Exit Gaal — Gaal retires.
5. Abimelech, the next day, set upon the city,
and quite destroyed it, for their treacherous deal
ings with him. Perhaps Abimelech had notice cf
their expelling Gaal, who had headed the faction,
with which they thought he would have been satis¬
fied, but the crime was too deep to be thus atoned for,
and his resentments too keen to be pacified by
so small an instance of submission, besides that it
was more Zebul’s act than their’s; by it their hands
were weakened, and therefore he resolved to follow
his blow, and effectually to chastise their treachery.
(1.) He had intelligence brought him that the peo¬
ple of Shechem were come out into the field; (v.
42.) some think, into the field of business, to plough
and sow, (having lately gathered in their harvest,)
or to perfect their harvest, for it was only their
vintage that they had made an end of, (y. 27.) and
then it intimates that they were secure. And be¬
cause Abimelech was retired, (v. 41. ) they thought
themselves in no danger from him, and then the is¬
sue of it is an instance of sudden destruction coming
upon those that cry, Peace and safety. Others think
they went out into the field of battle; though Gaal
was driven out, they would not lay down their
arms, but put themselves into a posture for another
engagement with Abimelech, in which they hoped
to retrieve what they had lost before. (2.) He him¬
self, with a strong detachment, cut off the commu¬
nication between them and the city; stood in the- en¬
tering of the gate, (v. 44.) that they might neither
make their retreat into the city, nor receive any
succours from the city, and then sent two compa¬
nies of his men, who were too strong for them, and
they put them all to the sword, ran upon them that
were in the fields and slew them. When we go out
about our business, we are not sure that we shall
come home again; there are deaths both in the city
and in the field. (3. ) He then fell upon the city
itself, and with a rage reaching up to heaven,
though it was the place of his nativity, laid it in
ruins, slew all the people, beat down all the build¬
ings, and, in token of his desire that it might be a
perpetual desolation, sowed it with salt, that it
might remain a lasting monument of the punish¬
ment of perfidiousness. Yet Abimelech prevailed
not to make its desolations perpetual, for it was af¬
terward rebuilt, and became so considerable a place,
that all Israel came thither to make Rehoboam
king, 1 Kings 12. 1. And the place proved an ill
omen. Abimelech intended hereby to punish the
Shechemites for cheir slighting him now, but God
intended to punish them for their serving of him
formerly in the murder of Gideon’s sons. Thus
when God makes use of men as instruments in his
hand to do his work, he means one thing, and they
another, Isa. 10. 6, 7. They design to maintain
their honour, but God to maintain his.
6. Those that retired into a strong-hold of their
idol-temple, were all destroyed there. These are
called the men of the tower of Shechem, ( v . 46, 47.)
some castle that belonged to that city, but lay at
some distance from it; they, hearing of the desruc-
tion of the city, withdrew into a hold of the temple,
trusting, it is likely, not so much to its strength, as
to its sanctity: they put themselves under the pro¬
tection of their idol; for thus all people will walk in
the name of their god, and shall not we then choose •
to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days cf cur
life; For in the time of trouble he shall hide us in his
pavilion, Ps. 27. 5. The name of the Lord is a
strong lower, Prov. 18. 10. But that which they
hoped would have been for their welfare, proved
to them a snare and a trap, as those will certainly
find, that run ta idols for shelter; it will prove a re¬
fuge of lies, Wien Abimelech had them altogether
152 JUDGES, IX.
penned up in that hold, he desired no more. That
barbarous project immediately came into his head,
of setting fire to the strong-hold, and, so to speak,
burning all the birds together in the nest. He kept
the design to himself, but set all his men on work to
expedite the execution of it, v. 48, 49. He ordered
them all to follow him, and do as he did: as his fa¬
ther had said to his men, (c/n 7. 17.) Look on me,
and do likewise; so said he to his, as becomes a ge¬
neral that will not be wanting to give both the plain¬
est direction, and the highest encc uragement that
can be, to his soldiers, What ye have seen me d o,
make haste to do as I have done. Not Ite illuc —
Go thither, but Venite hue — Come hither. The of¬
ficers in Christ’s armv should thus teach by their
example, Phil. 4. 9. He and they fetched each of
them a bough from a wood, not far off, laid all their
boughs together under the wall of this tower,
which, it is probable, was of wood, set fire to their
boughs, and so burnt down their hold, and all that
were in it, who were either burnt or stifled with the
smoke. What inventions men have to destroy one
another! Whence come these cruel wars and fight¬
ings, but from their lusts? Some think that the men
of the tower of Shechem were the same with the
house of Millo, and then Jotham’s just imprecation
was answered in the letter, Let fire come out from
Abimelech, and devour not only in general the men
of Shechem, but in particular the house of Millo, v.
20. About one thousand men and women perished
in these flames, many of whom, it is probable,
were no way concerned in the quarrel between
Abimelech and the Shechemites, nor meddled with
either side, yet, in this civil war, came to this mi¬
serable end; for men of factious turbulent spirits,
perish not alone in their iniquity, but involve many
more,, that follow them in their simplicity, in the
same calamity with them.
50. Then went Abimelech to Thebez,
and encamped against Thebez, and took it.
51. But there was a strong tower within the
city, and thither fled all the men and wo¬
men, and all they of the city, and shut it to
them, and gat them up to the top of the tow¬
er. 52. And Abimelech came unto the
tower, and fought against it, and went hard
unto the door of the tower to burn it with
fire. 53. And a certain woman cast a piece
of a mill-stone upon Abimelech’s head, and
all to break his scull. 54. Then he called
hastily unto the young man his armour-
bearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword,
and slay me, that men say not of me, A wo¬
man slew him. And his young man thrust
him through, and he died. 55. And when
the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was
dead, they departed every man unto his
place. 56. Thus God rendered the vvick-
ednessof Abimelech, which he did unto his
father, in slaying his seventy brethren. 57.
And all the evil of the men of Shechem did
God render upon their heads : and upon
them came the curse of Jotham the son of
Jerubbaal.
We have seen the ruin of the Shechemites com¬
pleted by the hand of Abimelech; and now it comes
to his turn to be reckoned with, who was their
leader in villany. Thebez was almall city, proba¬
bly not far from Shechem, dependent upon it, and
in confederacy with it. Now,
I. Abimelech attempted the destruction cf this
city, ( v . 50.) drove all the inhabitants of the town
into the castle, or citadel, v. 51. When he had
them there, he did not doubt but he should do the
same execution here that he had lately dene at the
strong-hold of the temple of Baal-berith, not consi¬
dering that the tower of an idol-temple lay more
exposed to divine vengeance than any other tower.
He attempted to set fire to this tower, at least, to
burn down the door, and so force an entrance, v. 52.
These who have escaped and succeeded well in one
desperate attempt, are apt to think the like attempt
another time not desperate. This instance was
long after quoted, to show how dangerous it is to
come near the wall of a besieged city, 2 Sam. 11.
20, &c. But God infatuates those whom he will
ruin.
II. In the attempt, he was himself destroyed,
having his brains knocked out with a piece of a
millstone, v. 58. JVo doubt this man was a mur¬
derer, whom, though he had escaped the dangers of
the war with Shechem, yet vengeance suff, red not
to live, Acts 28. 4. Evil pursues sinners, and s< me-
times overtakes them then when they are not only
secure, but triumphant. Thebez, we m y suppose,
was a weak inconsiderable place, conquered with
Shechem. Abimelech, having conquered the big¬
ger, makes no doubt of being master of the less
without any difficulty, especially when he had
taken the city, and had only the town to deal with;
yet he lays his bones with that, and there is all his
honour buried. Thus are the mighty things of the
world often confounded by the weakest, and those
things that are most made light of. See here what
rebukes those are justly put under many times by
the divine providence, that are unreasonable in
their demands of satisfaction for injuries received.
Abimelech had some reason to chastise the Sheche¬
mites, and he had done it with a witness; but when
he will carry his revenge further, and nothing will
serve but that Thebez also must be sacrificed to his
rage, he is not only disappointed there, but destroy¬
ed, for verily there is a God that judges in tfie
earth.
Three circumstances are observed in the dentil
of Abimelech.
1. That he was slain with a stone, as he had slain
his brethren all upon one stone. 2. That he had his
skull broken: vengeance aimed at that guilty head
which had worn the usurped crown. 3. That the
stone was cast upon him by a woman, v. 53. He saw
the stone come, it was therefore strange he did net
avoid it; but, no doubt, it made it so much the
greater mortification to him, to see from what hand
it came. Sisera died by a woman’s hand, and
knew it not; Abimelech knew it, and when he
found himself ready to breathe his last, nothing
troubled him so much as this, that it should be said,
A woman slew him. See, (1.) His f olish pride, in
laying so much to heart this little circumstance of
his disgrace. Here was no care taken about his
precious soul, no concern what would become cf
that, no prayer to God for his mercy; but veryscli-
citous he is to patch up his shattered credit, when
there is no patching of his shattered skull. O let it
never be said that such a mighty man as Abimelech
was killed by a woman! The man was dying,
but his pride was alive and strong, and the same
vain-glorious humour that had governed him all
along, appears now at last. Qualis vita, finis ita —
As was his life, such was his death. As God pun¬
ished his cruelty by the manner of his death, so he
punished his pride by the instrument of it. (2.)
His foolish project to avoid this disgrace; nothing
could be more ridiculous; his own servant must pin
1A3
JUDGES, X.
him through, not to rid him the sooner out of his
pain, but that men say not, A woman slew him.
Could he think that this would conceal what the
woman had done, and not rather proclaim it the
more? Nay, it added to the infamy of his death, for
hereby he becomes a self-murderer. Better have it
said, A woman slew him, than that it should be said,
His servant slew him by his own order; yet now
both will be said of him to his everlasting reproach.
And it is observable, that this very thing which
Abimelech was in such care to conceal, appears to
have been more particularly remembered by pos¬
terity, than most passages of this history; for Joab
speaks of it, as that which he expected David
would reproach him with, for coming so nigh the
wall, 2 Sam. 11. 21. The ignominy we seek to
avoid by sin, we do but perpetuate the remem¬
brance of.
Now the issue of all, is, that Abimelech being
slain, [1.] Israel’s peace was restored, and an end
was put to this civil war, for they that followed
him, departed every man unto his place, v. 55.
[2.] God’s justice was glorified, v. 56, 57. Thus
God punished the wickedness of Abimelech, and of
the men of Shcchem, and performed Jotham’s
curse, for it was not a curse causeless. Thus he
preserved the honour of his government, and gave
warning to all ages to expect blood for blood.
The Lord is known by these judgments which
he executes, when the wicked is snared in the
works of his own hands. Though wickedness may
prosper awhile, it will not prosper always.
CHAP. X.
In this chapter we have, I. The peaceable times Israel en¬
joyed under the government of two judges, Tola and
Jair, v. 1..5. II. The troublesome times that ensued.
1. Israel’s sin that brought them into trouble, v. 6. 2.
The trouble itself they were in, v. 7. . 9. III. Their re¬
pentance and humiliation for sin, their prayers and
reformation; and the mercy they found with God there¬
upon^. 10.. 16. IV. Preparations made for their de¬
liverance out of the hand of their oppressors, v. 17, IS.
1. A ND after Abimelech there arose, to
J\. defend Israel, Tola the son of Pu-
ah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar ;
and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim.
2. And he judged Israel twenty and three
years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.
3. And after him arose Jair a Gileadite,
and judged Israel twenty and two years.
4. And he had thirty sojis that rode on thirty
ass-colts, and they had thirty cities, which
are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which
are in the land of Gilead. 5. And Jair
died, and was buried in Camon.
Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best to
live in, are the worst to write of, as yielding least
variety of matter for the historian to entertain
his reader with; such were the reigns of these two
judges, Tola and Jair, who make but a small
figure, and take up but a very little room in this
history. But, no doubt, they were both raised up
of God to serve their country in the quality of
judges, not pretending, as Abimelech had done, to
the grandeur of kings, nor, like him, taking the
honour they had to themselves, they were called of
God to it.
1. Concerning Tola, it is said, that he arose after
Abimelech to defend Israel, v. 1. After Abime¬
lech had debauched Israel by his wickedness, dis-
ouieted and disturbed them by his restless ambi¬
tion, and, by the mischiefs he brought on them,
Vol. II— U
exposed them to enemies from abroad, God animated
this good man to appear for the reforming of abuses,
the putting down of idolatry, the appeasing of tu¬
mults, and the healing of the wounds given to the
state by Abimelech’s usurpation. Thus he saved
them from themselves, and guarded them against
their enemies. He was of the tribe of Issachar, a
tribe disposed to serve, for he bowed his shoulder :o
bear; (Gen. 49. 14, 15.) yet one of that tribe is
here raised up to rule : for those that humble them¬
selves, shall be exalted. He bore the name of
him that was ancestor to the first family of that
tribe; of the sons of Issachar, Tola was the first,
Gen. 46. 13. Numb. 26. 23. It signifies a worm,
yet being the name of his ancestor, he was not
ashamed of it. Though he was of Issachar, yet,
when he was raised up to the government, he came
and dwelt in mount Ephraim, which was moie in
the heart of the country, th it the people might the
more conveniently resort tc him for judgment. He
judged Israel twenty-three years; {y. 2.) kept
things in good order, but did net any thing very
memorable.
2. Jair was a Gileadite, so was his next successor
Jephthah, both of that half tribe of the tribe of
Manasseh, which lay cn the other side Jordan;
though they seemed separated from their brethren,
yet God took care, while the honour of the govern¬
ment was shifted from tribe to tribe, and before it
settled in Judah, that they who lay remote, should
sometimes share in it, flatting more abundant
honour on that fiart which lacked. Jair bore the
name of a very famous man of the same tribe, who
in Moses’ time was very active in reducing this
country. Numb. 32. 41. Josh. 13. 30. That which
is chiefly remarkable concerning this Jair, is, the
increase and honour of his family, he had thirty
sons, v. 4. And, (l.)They had good preferments,
for they rode on thirty ass colts ; that is, they weie
judges itinerant, who, as deputies to their father,
rode from place to place in their several circuits to
administer justice. We find afterward that Samuel
made his sons judges, though he could not make
them good ones, 1 Sam. 8. 1 — 3. (2.) They had
good possessions; every one a city, out of those
that were called, from their ancestor, of the fame
name with their father, Havoth-jair; the villages
of Jair ; yet they are called cities, either because
those young gentlemen to whom they were assign¬
ed, enlarged and fortified them, and so improved
them into cities; or because they were as well
pleased with their lot in those country towns, as if
they had been cities compact together, and fenced
with gates and bars. Villages are cities to a con¬
tented mind.
6. And the children of Israel did evil
again in the sight of the Lord, and served
Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of
Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods
of Moab, and the gods of the children of
Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines,
and forsook the Lord, and served not him.
7. And the anger of the Lord was hot
against Israel, and he sold them into the
hands of the Philistines, and into the hands
of the children of Ammon. 8. And that
year they vexed and oppressed the children
of Israel eighteen years, all the children of
Israel that were on the other side Jordan, in
the land of the Amorit.es, which is in Gilead :
9, (Moreover, the children of Ammon pass-
154
JUDGES, X.
ed over Jordan to fight also against Judah,
and against Benjamin, and against the
house of Ephraim ;) so that Israel was sore
distressed.
While those two judges, Tola and Jair, preside
in the affairs of Israel, things went well, but after¬
ward,
I. Israel returned to their idolatry, that sin which
did mo* easily beset them; (v. 6.) they did evil
tigain in J:e night of the Lord from whom they
were unaccountably bent to backslide, as a foolish
/ leople and unwise. 1. They worshipped many
gods; not only their old demons Baalim and Ashta-
roth, which the Canaanites had worshipped, but,
as if they would proclaim their folly to all their
neighbours, they served the gods of Syria, Zidon,
Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines. It looks as if
the chief trade of Israel were to import deities from
all countries. It is hard to say, whether it was
more impious or impolitic to. do this. By intro¬
ducing these foreign deities, they rendered them¬
selves mean and despicable, for no nation that had
any sense of honour, changed their gods. Much of
the wealth of Israel, we may suppose, was carried
out, in offerings to the temples of the deities in the
several countries, when they came, on which, as
their mother-churches, their temples in Israel
were expected to own their dependence; the priests
and devotees of those sorry deities would follow
their gods, no doubt, in crowds into the land of Is¬
rael, and if they could not live in their own country,
would take root there, and so “ strangers would de¬
vour their strength.” If they did it in compliment
to the neighbouring nations, and to ingratiate them¬
selves with them, justly were they disappointed;'
for those nations which by their wicked arts they
sought to make their friends, by the righteous
judgments of God became their enemies and op¬
pressors. In quo quis fieccat, in eo funiitur —
Wherein a fierson offends, therein he shall be punish¬
ed. 2. They did not so much as admit the God of
Israel to be one of these many deities they worship¬
ped, but quite cast him off; they forsook the Lord,
and served not him at all. Those that think to
serve both God and mammon, will soon come en¬
tirely to forsake G- d, and to serve mammon only.
If God have not all the heart, he will soon have none
of it.
II. God renewed his judgments upon them,
bringing them under the power of oppressing ene¬
mies. Had they fallen into the hands of the Lord
immediately, they might have found that his mer¬
cies were great; but God let them fall into the hand
of man, whose tender mercies are cruel; he sold
them into the hands o f the Philistines that lay south¬
west of Canaan, and of the Ammonites that lay
north-east, both at the same time; so that between
those two millstones they were miserably crushed,
as the original word is, (v. 8.) for oppressed. God
has appointed that if any of the cities of Israel
should revolt to idolat v, the rest should make war
upon them, and cut them off, Deut. 13. 12, 8cc.
They had been jealous enough in this matter, almost
to an extreme, in the case of the altar set up by the
two tribes and a half; (Josh. 22.) they were grown
so very bad, that when one city was infected with
idolatry, the next took the infection, and instead of
punishing it, imitated and out-did it; and therefore
since they that should have been revengers to exe¬
cute wrath on them that did this evil, were them¬
selves guilty, or bore the sword in- vain, God
brought the neighbouring nations upon them to
chastise them for their apostasy.
The oppression of Israel by the Ammonites, the
posterity of Lot, was, 1. Very long; it continued
eighteen years. Some make those years to be
part of the judgeship of Jair, who could not prevail
to reform and deliver Israel as he would. Otheis
make them to commence at the death of Jair,
which seems the more probable, because that part
of Israel which was most infested by the Ammon
ites, was Gilead, Jail ’s own country, which we can
not suppose to have suffered so much while he was
living, but that part at least would be reformed and
protected. 2. Very grievous; they vexed them
and oppressed them. It was a great vexation to be
oppressed by such a despicable people as the chil¬
dren of Ammon were. They began with those
tribes that lay next to them on the other side Jor¬
dan, here called the land of the Amorites, (i\ 8.)
because the Israelites were so wretchedly degene¬
rated, and had made themselves so like the hea¬
then, that they were become, in a manner, perfect
Amorites, Ezek. 16. 3. Or, because by their sin
they forfeited their title to this land, so that it
might justly be looked upon as the land of the
Amorites again, from whom they took it. But by-
degrees they pushed forward, came over Jordan,
and invaded Judah, and Benjamin, and Ephraim,
(z>. 9.) three of the most famous tribes of Israel; yet
thus insulted by them, when they had forsaken
God, and unable to make head against the invader.
Now the threatening was fulfilled, that they should
be slain before their enemies, and should have
no power to stand before them, Lev. 26. 17, 37.
Their ways and their doings procure this to them¬
selves; they are sadly degenerated, and so they
come to be sorely distressed.
10. And the children of Israel cried unto
the Lord, saying, We have sinned against
thee, both because we have forsaken our
God, and also served Baalim. 1 1. And the
Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did
not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and
from the Amorites, from the children of
Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12.
The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites,
and the Maonites, did oppress you ; and ye
cried to me, and I delivered you out of
their hand. 13. Yet ye have forsaken me,
and served other gods : wherefore I will de¬
liver you no more. 14. Go and cry unto
the gods which ye have chosen ; let them
deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
15. And the children of Israel said unto the
Lord, We have sinned, do thou unto ns
whatsoever seemeth good unto thee ; de¬
liver us only, we pray thee, this day. 1 6.
And they put away the strange gods from
among them, and served the Lord : and his
soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
17. Then the children of Ammon were
gathered together, and encamped in Gilead :
and the children of Israel assembled them¬
selves together, and encamped in IVlizpeh.
18. And the people and princes of Gilead
said one to another, What man is he that
will begin to fight against the children of
Ammon ? he shall be head over all the in¬
habitants of Gilead.
Here is,
I. An humble confession which Israel makes to
155
JUDGES, X.
God in their distress, v. 10. Now they own them¬
selves guilty, like a malefactor upon the rack, and
promise reformation, like a child under the rod.
They did not only complain of the distress, but ac¬
knowledged it was their own sin that had brought
them into the distress; therefore God was righ¬
teous, and they had no reason to repine. They con¬
fess their omissions, for in them their sin began,
“ We have forsaken our God;” and their commis¬
sions, “We have served B lalim, and herein have
done foolishly, treacherously, and very wickedly.”
II. An humbling message which God thereupon
sends to Israel; whether by an angel, (as ch. 2. 1.)
or by a prophet, (as ch. 6. 8.) not certain. It was
kind that God took notice of their cry, and did not
turn a deaf ear to it, and send them no answer at
all; it was kind likewise that when they began to
repent, he sent them such a message as was proper
to further and promote their repentance, that they
might be qualified and prepared for deliverance.
Now in this message, 1. He upbraids them with
their great ingratitude, reminds them of the great
things he had done for them, deliv ering them from
such and such enemies; the Egyptians first, out of
whose land they were rescued; the Amorites whom
they conquered, and into whose land they entered;
and since their settlement there, when the Ammon¬
ites had joined with the Moabites to oppress them,
( ch . 3. 13.) when the Philistines were vexatious in
the days of Shamgar, and afterward other enemies
had given them trouble; upon the petition, God
had wrought many a great salvation for them, v.
11, 12. Of their being oppressed by the Zidonians
and the Maonites we read not elsewhere; God had
in justice corrected them, and in mercy delivered
them, and therefore might have expected that
either through fear or through love they would
have adhered to him and his service; well therefore
might the word cut them to the heart, ( v . 13.) vet
ye have forsaken me that have brought you out of
your troubles, and served other gods that brought
you into your troubles. Thus did they forsake
their own mercies for their own delusions. 2. He
shows them iiow justly he might now abandon them
to ruin, by abandoning them to the gods that they
had served. To awaken them to a thorough re-
entance and reformation, he lets them see, (1.)
'heir folly in serving Baalim; they had been at a
vast expense to obtain the favour of such gods
as could not help them, then when they had most
need of their help. “ Go, and cry unto the gods
which ye have chosen , {y. 14.) try what they car
do for you now: you have worshipped them as gods,
try if they have now either a divine power, or a di¬
vine goodness, to be employed for you; you paid
your homage to them as your kings and Lords, try j
if they will now . protect you; you brought your
sacrifices of praise to their altars as your benefac¬
tors, imagining that they gave you vour corn, and
wine, and oil; but a friend indeed will be a friend in
need: what stead will their favour stand you in
now?” Note, It is necessary, in true repentance,
that there be a full conviction of the utter insuffi¬
ciency of all t ose things to help us and do us any
kindness, which we have idolized and set upon the
throne in our hearts in competition with God. We
must be convinced that the pleasures of sense on
which we have doted, cannot be our satisfaction,
n r the wealth of the world which we have covet¬
ed, be our portion; that we cannot be happy or easy
any where but in God. (2.) Their misery and
danger in forsaking God. “ See what a pass you
have brought yourselves to; now you can expect no
other than that I should say, I will deliver you no
more; and what will become of you then?” v. 13.
This he tells them, not only as what he might do,
but as what he would do, if they rested in a confes¬
sion of what they had done amiss, and did not put
away their idols, and amend for the future.
III. An humble submission which Israel hereupon
made to God’s justice, with an humble application
to his mercy; (i>. 15.) The children of Israel met
together, it is probable, in a solemn assembly at the
door of the tabernacle; received the impressions of
the message God had sent them ; were not driven by
it to despair, though it was very threatening; but re¬
solve to lie at God’s feet, and if they perish, they
will perish there. They not only repeat their con¬
fession, We have shined; but, 1. They surrender
themselves to God’s justice, Do thou unto us whatso¬
ever seemeth good unto thee. Herebv thev own that
they deserved the severest tokens of God’s displea¬
sure, and were sure he could do them no wrong,
whatever he laid upon them; they humbled them¬
selves under his mighty and heavy hand, and ac¬
cented of the punishment of their iniquity , which Mo¬
ses had made the condition of God’s return in mercy
to them, Lev. 26. 41. Note, True penitents dare
and will refer themselves to God to correct them
as he thinks fit, knowing that their sin is highly ma¬
lignant in its deserts, and that God is not rigorous
or extreme in his demands. 2. They supplicate
for God’s mercy, and implore that; “ Deliver us
only, we firay thee, this day, from this enemy.”
They acknowledge what they deserved, yet pray
to God not to deal with them according to their de¬
serts. Note, We must submit to God’s justice,
with a hope in his mercy.
IV. A blessed reformation set on foot hereupon.
They brought forth fruits meet for repentance; (v.
16.) then put away the gods of strangers, (as the
word is,) strange gods, and worshipped by those na¬
tions that were strangers to the commonwealth of
Israel, and to the covenant of promise; and they
seri<ed the Lord. Need drove them to him. They
knew it was to no purpose to go to the gods whom
they had served, and therefore return to the Gcd
whom they had slighted. This is true repentance,
not only for sin, but from sin.
V. God’s gracious return in mercy to them,
which is expressed here very tenderly; (v. 16.) His
soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Not that
there is any grief in God, he has infinite joy and
happiness in himself, which cannot be broken in
upon by either the sins or the miseries of his crea¬
tures; not that there is any change in God, he is in
one mind, and who can turn him? But his good¬
ness is his glory; by it he proclaims his name, and
magnifies it above all his name; and as he is pleased
to put himself into the relation of a father to his
people that are in covenant with him, so he is pleas¬
ed to represent his goodness to them, by the com¬
passions of a father toward his children; for as he is
the Father of lights, so he is the Father rf mercies;
as the disobedien e and misery of a child are a grief
to a tender father, and make him feel very sensibly
from his natural affection, so the provocations of
God’s people are a grief to him; (Ps. 95. 10.) he is
broken with their whorish heart: (Ezek. 6. 9. ) their
troubles also are a grief to him; so he is pleased to
speak when he is pleased to appear for the deliver¬
ance of his people; changing his way and method
of proceeding, as tender parents, when they begin
to relent toward their children with whom they
have been displeased. Such are the tender mercies
of our God, and so far is he from having any plea¬
sure in the death of sinners.
VI. Things are now working toward their deliv¬
erance from the Ammonites’ oppression, v. 17, 18.
God had said, “I will deliver you no more;” out
now they are not what they were, they are othei
men, thev are new men, and now he will deliver
them. That threatening was denounced, to c^n
vince and humble them; and now that it had taken
156
JUDGES, XI.
its desired effect, it is revoked, in order to their de¬
liverance. 1. The Ammonites are hardened to
their own ruin; they gathered together in one body,
that they might be destroyed at one blow, Rev.
16. 16. 2. The Israelites are animated to their
own rescue. They assembled likewise, v. 17. Du¬
ring their eighteen years’ oppression, as in their for¬
mer servitudes, they were run down by their ene¬
mies, because they would not incorporate ; each fa¬
mily, city, or tribe, would stand by itself, and act
independently, and so they all became an easy prey
to the oppressors, for want of a due sense of a com¬
mon interest to cement them; but whenever they
g t together, they did well; so they did here.
When God’s Israel become as one man to advance
a common good, and oppose a common enemy, what
difficulty can stand before them? The people and
princes of Gilead being met, consult first about a
general that should command in chief against the
Ammonites. Hitherto most of the deliverers of
Israel had an extraordinary call to the office, as
Ehud, Barak, Gideon; but the next is to be called
in a more common way, by a convention of the
states, who inquired out a fit man to command
their army, found out one admirably well qualified
for the purpose, and God owned their choice by
putting his Spirit upon him, ch. 11. 29. So that
this instance is of use for direction and encourage¬
ment in after ages, when extraordinary calls are
no longer to be expected. Let such be impartially
chosen to public trust and power, whom God has
qualified, and then God will graciously own those
who are thus chosen.
CHAP. XI.
This chapter gives us the history of Jephthah, another of Is¬
rael’s judges, and numbered among the worthies of the
Old Testament, that by faith did great things, ( Heb . 11.
32. ) though he bad not such an extraordinary call as the
rest there mentioned had. Here is, I. The disadvantages
of his rise and original, v. 1 . . 3. II. The Gileadites’
choice of him to be commander in chief against the Am¬
monites, and the terms he made with them, v. 4 . . 11.
III. His treaty with the king of Ammon about the rights
of the two nations, that the matter might be determined,
if possible, without bloodshed, v. 12 .. 28. IV. His war
with the Ammonites, which he enters upon with a solemn
vow, (v. 29 . . 31.) prosecutes with bravery, (v. 32.) and
ends with a glorious victory, v. 33. V. The straits he
was brought into at his return to his own house, by the
vow he had made, v. 34. • 40.
l.l^TOW Jephthah the Gileadite was a
i^l mighty man of valour, and he ivas
the son of a harlot : and Gilead begat
Jephthah. 2. And Gilead’s wife bare him
sons : and his wife’s sons grew up, and they
thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him,
Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house ;
for thou art the son of a strange woman.
3. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren,
and dwelt in the land of Tob : and there
were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and
went out with him.
The princes and people of Gilead we left, in the
close of the foregoing chapter, consulting about the
choice of a general, being come to this resolve, that
whoever would undertake to lead their forces
against the children of Ammon, should by common
consent be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
The enterprise was difficult, and it was fit that so
great an encouragement as this should be proposed
to him that would undertake it. Now all agreed
that Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of
valour, and very fit for that purpose; none so fit as
he; but he lay under three disadvantages:
1. He was the son of a harlot, ( v . 1.) of a
strange woman, (v. 2.) one that was neither a wife
nor a concubine; some think his mother was a Gen¬
tile; so Josephus, who calls him a stranger by the
mother’s side. An Ishmaelite, say the Jews. If
his mother was a harlot, that was not h.s fault,
however it was his disgrace. Men ought not to be
reproached with any of the infelicities of their pa¬
rentage or extraction, so long as they are endea¬
vouring by their personal merits to roll away the re¬
proach. The son of a harlot, if born again, bom
from above, shall be accepted of God, and be as
welcome as any other to the glorious liberties of his
children. Jephthah could not read in the law the
brand there put on the Ammonites, the enemies he
was td grapple with, that they should not enter into
the congregation of the Lord, but in the same para¬
graph he met with that which looked back upon
himself, that a bastard should be in like manner ex¬
cluded, Deut. 23. 2, 3. But if that law means, as
most probably it does, only those that are bom of
incest, not of fornication, he was not within the
reach of it.
2. He had been driv en from his country by his
brethren. His father’s legitimate children, insist¬
ing upon the rigour of the law, thrust him out of
ha\ ing any inheritance with them, without any con¬
sideration had of his extraordinary qualifications,
which merited a dispensation, and would have made
him a mighty strength and ornament of their fami¬
ly, if they had overlooked his being illegitimate,
and admitted him to a child’s part, v. 2. One
would not have thought this abandoned youth was
intended to be Israel’s deliverer and judge, but God
often humbles those whom he designs to exalt, and
makes that stone the head of the corner which the
builders refused; so Joseph, Moses, and David, the
three most eminent of the shepherds of Israel,
were all thrust out by* men, before they were called
of God to their great offices.
3. He had, in his exile, headed a rabble, v. 3.
Being driven out by his brethren, his great soul would
not suffer him either to dig, or beg, but by his sword
he must live; and being soon noted for his bravery,
those that were reduced to such straits and animat¬
ed by such a spirit, enlisted themselves under him.
Vain men they are here called, that is, men that
had run through their estates and were to seek foi
a livelihood, those that went out with him, not to
rob or plunder, but to hunt wild beasts, and per¬
haps to make incursions upon these countries which
Israel was entitled to, but were not as yet come to
the possession of, or were some way or ether injur¬
ed by.
This is the man that must save Israel. That
people had by their idolatry made themselves chil¬
dren of whoredoms, and aliens from God and his
covenant, and therefore, though God upon their
repentance will deliver them, yet, to mortify them
and remind them of their sin, he chooses to do it
by a bastard and an exile.
4. And it came to pass in process of
time, that the children of Ammon made
war against Israel. 5. And it was so, that
when the children of Ammon made war
against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to
fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob : 6.
And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and
be our captain, that we may fight with the
children of Ammon. 7. And Jephthah said
unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate
157
JUDGES, XI.
me. and expel me out of my father’s house?
And why are ye come unto me now when
ye are in distress ? 8. And the elders of
Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we
turn again to thee now, that thou mayest
go with us, and fight against the children
of Ammon, and be our head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead. 9. And Jephthah
said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me
home again to fight against the children of
Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before
me, shall I be your head? 10. And the
elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, T. he
Lord be witness between us, il we do not
so according to thy words. 1 1. Then Jeph¬
thah went with the elders of Gilead, and
the people made him head and captain over
them : and Jephthah uttered all his words
before the Lord in Mizpeh.
Here is,
I. The distress which the children of Israel were
in upon the Ammonites’ invasion of their country,!;.
4. Probably this was the same invasion with that
mentioned, ch. 10. 17, when the children of Ammon
were gathered together , andencamfied in or against
Gilead. And those words, in firocess of time, refer
io what goes immediately before the expulsion of
Jephthah: many days after he had been thus thrust
out in disgrace, was he fetched back again with
honour.
II. The court which the elders made to Jeph¬
thah hereupon to come and help them. They did
not write or send a me3senger to him, but went
themselves to fetch him, resolving to have no de¬
nial, and the exigence of the case was such as
would admit no delay. Their errand to him was,
(v. 6.) Come, and be our captain. They knew
none among themselves that was able to undertake
that great trust, but do in effect fcmfess themselves
unfit for it; they knew him to be a stout man, and
inured to the sword, and therefore he must be the
man. See how God prepares men for the service
he designs them for, and makes their troubles work
for their advancement. If Jephthah had not
been put to his shifts, by his brethren’s unkind¬
ness, he had not had such an occasion as that gave
him, to exercise and improve his martial genius,
and so to signalize himself and become famous; Out
of the eater comes forth meat. The children of Is
rael were assembled and encamped, ch. 10. 17.
But an army without a general, is like a body with¬
out a head, therefore, Come, say they, and be our
cafitain, that we may fight. See the necessity of
government; though they were hearty enough in
the cause, yet they owned they could not fight
without a captain to command them. So necessary
is it to all societies, that there be a pars imfierans,
and a pars subdita, some to rule, and others to obey,
and that a community should humbly beg the fa¬
vour of being commanded, rather than that every
man should be his own master. Blessed be God
for government, for a good government !
III. The objections Jephthah makes against ac¬
cepting their offer; (t*. 7.) Did ye not hate me, :nd
expel me? It should seem that his brethren were
some of these elders; or these elders, by suffering
his brethren to abuse him, and not righting him as
they ought to have done, (for their business is to
defend the poor and fatherless, Ps. 82. 3, 4.) had
made themselves guilty of this expulsion, and he
might justly charge them with it. Magistrates
that have power to protect those that are injured,
if they do not do them right, really do them wrong.
“ You hated me and expelled me, and therefore
how can I believe that you are sincere in your pro¬
posal? And how can you expect that I should do
you any service?” Not but that Jephthah was very
willing to serve his country, but he thought fit to
give them a hint of their former unkindness to him,
that they might repent of them sin in using him so
ill, and might for the future be the nmre sensible
of their obligations. Thus Joseph humbled his
brethren before he made himself known to them.
The particular case between the Gileadites and
Jephthah, was a resemblance of the general state ol
the case between Israel and God at this time: they
had thrust God out by their idolatries, yet in their
distress they begged Ivs help; he told them how
justly he might have rejected them, and yet gra¬
ciously delivered them. So did Jephthah. Many
slight God and good men, till they come to be in
distress, and then they are desirous of God’s mercy
and good men’s prayers.
IV. Their urgency with him to accept the go¬
vernment they offer him, v. 8. “ Therefore be¬
cause we formerly did thee that wrong, and to show
thee that we repent of it, and would gladly atone
for it, we turn again to thee now, to put such an
honour upon thee as shall balance that indignity.”
Let this instance be, 1. A caution to us not to de¬
spise or trample upon any because they are mean,
or to be injurious to any that we have advantage
against, because, whatever we think of them now,
the time may come when we may have need of them,
and would be glad to be beholden to them. It is our
wisdom to make no man our enemy, because we
know not how soon our distresses may be such, as
that we may be highly concerned to make him our
friend. 2. An encouragement to men of worth that
are slighted and ill treated ; let them bear it with
meekness and cheerfulness, and leave it to God to
make their light shine out of obscurity. Fuller’s
remark on this story in his Pisgah-Sight, is this ;
Virtue once in an age will work our own advance¬
ment, and when such as hate it chance to need it,
they will be forced to prefer it, and then the honour
will appear the brighter.
V. The bargain he makes with them. He had
mentioned the injuries they had formerly done him,
but perceiving their repentance, his spirit was too
great and generous to mention them any more.
God had forgiven Israel the affronts they had done
him, (ch. 10. 16.) and therefore Jephthah will for¬
give. Only he thinks it prudent to make his bar¬
gain wisely for the future, since he deals with men
that he had reason to distrust. 1. He puts to them
a fair question, !». 9. He speaks not with too much
confidence of his success, knowing how justly God
might suffer the Ammonites to prevail for the fur¬
ther punishment of Israel ; but puts an if upon it.
Nor does he speak with any confidence at all in
himself ; if he do succeed, it is the Lord that deli¬
vers them into his hand, intending thereby to re¬
mind his countrymen to look up to God, as Arbitra¬
tor of the controversy, and the Giver of victory, for
so he did. “ Now if, by the blessing of God, I come
home a conqueror, tell me plainly, shall I be your
head ? If I deliver you under God, shall I, under
him, reform you?” The same question is put to
those who desire salvation by Christ. “If he save
you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? For
on no other terms will he save you ; if he make you
happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your
helper, shall he be your head?” 2. They imme¬
diately give him a positive answer ; (v. 10.) “We
will do according to thy words ; command us in war,
and thou shalt command us in peace.” They do
not take time to consider of it ; the case was too
158
JUDGES, XI.
plain to need a debate, and the necessity too press¬
ing to admit a delay ; they knew they had power to
conclude a treaty for those whom they represented,
and therefore found it with an oath, The Lord be
witness between us. Tney appeal to God’s omni¬
science as the judge of their present sincerity, and
to his justice as an avenger, if afterward they should
prove false. The Lord be a hearer , so the word is.
YV'hatever we speak, it concerns us to remember that
God is a hearer, and to speak accordingly. Thus
was the original contract ratified between Jephthah
and the Gileadites, which all Israel, it should seem,
agreed to afterward, for it is said, ( ch . 12. 7.) he
judged Israel. He hereupon went with them (y.
11.) to the place where they were all assembled,
(' ch . 10. 17.) and there, by common consent, they
made him head and cafitain, and so ratified the bar¬
gain their representatives had made with him, that
he should be not only captain now, but head for life.
Jephthah, to obtain this little honour, was willing to
expose his life for them ; (c/i. 12. 3. ) and shall we be
discouraged in our Christian warfare by any of the dif¬
ficulties we may meet with in it, when Christ himself
has promised a crown of life to him that overcometh 'I
VI. Jephthah’s pious acknowledgment of God
in this great affair, (v. 11.) he uttered all his words
before the Lord in Miz/ieh. That is, upon his ele¬
vation, he immediately retired to his devotions, and
in prayer spread the whole matter before God,
both his choice to the office, and his execution of
the office, as one that had his eye ever toward the
Lord, and would do nothing without him, that lean¬
ed not to his own understanding or courage, but de¬
pended on God and his favour. He utters before
God all his thoughts and cares in this matter, for
lie gives us leave to be free with him. 1. “Lord,
the people have made me their head; wilt thou
confirm the choice, and own me as thy people’s
head under thee, and for thee?” God justly com¬
plains of Israel, (Hos. 8. 4.) they have set ufi kings,
but not by me; “ Lord,” said Jephthah, “ I will
be no head of their making without thee. I will
not accept the government unless thou give me
leave.” Had Abimelech done this, he might have
prospertd. 2. “Lord, they have made me their
captain, to go before them in this war with the Am¬
monites; shall I have thy presence? Wilt thou go
before me? If not carry me not up hence. Lord,
satisfy me in the justice of the cause. Assure me of
success in the enterprise. ” This is a rare example,
to be imitated by all, particularly by great ones; in
all our ways let us acknowledge God, seek his favour,
ask counsel at his mouth, and take him along with
us; so shall we make our way prosperous. Thus
Jephthah opened the campaign with prayer. That
was likely to end gloriously, which began piously.
12. And Jephthah sent messengers unto
the king of the children of Ammon, saying,
What hast thou to do with me, that thou
art come against me to fight in my land?
1 3. And the king of the children of Ammon
answered unto the messengers of Jephthah,
Because Israel took away my land when
they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon
even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan : now,
therefore, restore those lands again peace¬
ably. 14. And Jephthah sent messengers
again unto the king of the children of Am¬
mon, 15. And said unto him, Thus saith
Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of
Moab, nor the land of the children of Am¬
mon : 16. Rut when Israel came up from
|l Egypt, and walked through the wilderness
unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh ;
17. Then Israel sent messengers unto the
king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee,
pass through thy land: but the king of
Edom would not hearken thereto. And in
like manner they sent unto the king of
Moab ; but he would not consent : and Is¬
rael abode in Kadesh. 18. Then they
went along through the wilderness, and
compassed the land of Edom and the land
of Moab, and came by the east side of the
land of Moab, and pitched on the other side
of Arnon, but came not within the border
of Moab : for Arnon was the border of
Moab. 19. And Israel sent messengers
unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king
of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him,
Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land
unto my place. 20. But Sihon trusted not
Israel to pass through his coast : but Sihon
gathered all his people together, and pitched
in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21.
And the Lord God of Israel delivered Si¬
hon and all his people into the hand of Is¬
rael, and they smote them : so Israel pos¬
sessed all the land of the Amorites, the in¬
habitants of that country. 22. And they
possessed all the coasts of the Amorites,
from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from
the wilderness even unto Jordan. 23. So
now the Lord God of Israel hath dispos¬
sessed the Amorites from before his people
Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? 24.
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh
thy god giveth thee to possess? So whom¬
soever the Lord our God shall drive out
from before us, them will we possess. 25.
And now, art thou any thing better than
Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab?
did he ever strive against Israel, or did he
ever fight against them, 26. While Israel
dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in
Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities
that he along by the coasts of Arnon, three
hundred years? why therefore did ye not
recover them within that time? 27. Where¬
fore I have not sinned against thee, but thou
doest me wrong to war against me : the
Lord the Judge be judge this day between
the children of Israel and the children of
Ammon. 28. Howbeit the king of the chil¬
dren of Ammon hearkened not unto the
words of Jephthah which he sent him.
We have here the treaty between Jephthah, now
judge of Israel, and the king of the Ammonites,
who is not named; that the controversy between
the two nations might, if possible, be accommodat¬
ed without the effusion of blood.
I. Jephthah, as one having authority, sent to the
king of Ammon, who in this war was the aggressor,
159
JUDGES, XI.
to demand his reasons for invading the land of Is¬
rael; (i». 12.) iihy art thou come to fight against
me in my land? Had I come first into thy land to
disturb thee in thy possession, that had been reason
enough for fighting against me, for how must force
be repelled but by force? But what hast thou to do
to come thus in a hostile manner into my land .?”
So he calls it, in the name both of God and Israel.
New this fair demand shows, 1. That Jephthah did
not delight in war, though he was a mighty man of
valour, but was willing to prevent it by a peaceable
accommodation. If he could by reason persuade
the invaders to retire, he would not compel them to
do it by the sword. War should be the last reme¬
dy, not to be used till all other methods of ending
matters in variance have been tried in vain. Ratio
ultima regum — The last resource of kings. This
rule should be observed in going to law. The sword
of justice, as the sword of war, must not be ap¬
pealed to till the contending parties have first en¬
deavoured by gentler means to understand one an¬
other, and to accommodate matters in variance, 1
Cor. 6. 1, 2. That Jephthah did delight in equity,
and designed no other than to do justice. If the
children of Ammon could convince him that Israel
had done them wrong, he was ready to restore the
rights of the Ammonites. If not, it was plain by
their invasion that they did Israel wrong, and he
was ready to maintain "the rights of the Israelites.
A sense of justice should guide and govern us in all
our undertakings.
II. The king of the Ammonites now gives in his
demand, which he should have published before he
had invaded Israel, v. 13. His pretence is, “ Israel
took away my lands long since, now therefore re¬
store these lands.” We have reason to think the
Ammonites, when they made this descent upon Is¬
rael, meant no other than to spoil and plunder the
country, and enrich themselves with the prey, as
they had done formerly under Eglon, ( ch . 3. 13.)
when no such demand as this was made, though the
matter was then fresh; but when Jephthah de¬
manded the cause of their quarrel, and they could
not for shame own what was their true intent and
meaning, some old forgotten records were searched,
or some ancient traditions inquired into, and from
them this reason is drawn to serve the present turn,
for a colourable pretence of equity in the invasion.
Even those that do the greatest wrong, yet have
such a conviction in their consciences of justice, that
they would seem to do right. Restore those lands.
See upon what uncertain terms we hold our worldly
possessions; what we think we have the surest hold
of, may be challenged from us, and wrested out of
our hands. Those that are got to the heavenly
Canaan, need not fear having their titles questioned.
III. Jephthah gives in a very full and satisfactory
answer to this demand, showing it to be altogether
unjust and unreasonable, and that the Ammonites
had no title to this country that lay between the
rivers Arnon and Jabbok, now in the possession of
the tribes of Reuben and Gad. As one very well
versed in the history of his country, he shows,
1. That Israel never took any land away, either
from the Moabites or Ammonites; he puts them to¬
gether, because they were brethren, the children
of Lot, near neighbours, and of united interests,
having the same god, Chemosh, and perhaps some¬
times the same king. The lands in question Israel
took away, not from the Moabites or Ammonites,
they had particular orders from God not to meddle
with them, or any thing they had, (Deut. 2. 9, 19.)
and religiously observed their orders; but they
found them in the possession of Sihon, king of the
Amorites, and out of his hand they took them justly
and honourably, as he will show afterward. If the
Amorites, before Israel came into that country, had
taken these lands from the Moabites or Ammonites,
as it should seem they had, (Numb. 21. 26. Josh.
13. 25.) Israel was not concerned to inquire into
that, or answer for it. It the Ammonites had lost
these lands and their title to them, the children of
Israel were under no obligation to recover the pos¬
session for them. Their business was to conquer
for themselves, not for other people. This is the
first plea, “ Not guilty of the trespass.”
2. That they were so far from invading the pro¬
perty of any other nations than those of the devoted
posterity of accursed Canaan, (one of the branches
of which the Amorites were, Gen. 10. 16.) that they
would not so much as force a passage through the
country, either of the Edomites, the seed of Esau,
or of the Moabites, the seed of Lot, but even after
a very tedious march through the wilderness, with
which they were sadly tired, (t/. 16.) when the
king of Edom first, and afterward the king cf Moab,
denied them the courtesy of a way through their
country, (i\ 17.) rather than give them anv offence
or annoyance, weary as they were, they put them¬
selves to the further fatigue of compassing both the
land of Edom and that of Moab, and came not with¬
in the border of either, v. 18. Note, Those that
conduct themselves inoffensively, may take the
comfort of it, and plead it against those that charge
them with injustice and wrong doing. Our righ¬
teousness will answer for us in time to come, (Gen.
30. 33.) and will put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men, 1 Pet. 2. 15.
3. That in that war in which they took this land
out of the hands of Sihon king of the Amorites, he
was the aggressor, and not they, v. 12, 20. They
sent a humble petition to him, for leave to go
through his land, willing to give him any security
for their good behaviour in their march; “ Let us
pass (say they) unto my place, that is, to the land
of Canaan; that is the only place we call ours, and
to which we are pressing forward, not designing a
settlement here.” But Sihon not only denied them
this dburtesy, as Edom and Moab had done, (had
he only done so, who knows but Israel might have
gone about some other way?) but he mustered all
his forces, and fought against Israel; (y. 20.) not
only shut them out of his own land, but would have
cut them off from the face of the earth; (Numb.
21. 23, 24.) aimed at nothing less than their ruin,
v. 20. _ Israel therefore, in their war with him,
stood in their own just and necessary defence, and
therefore, having routed his army, might justly, in
further revenge of the injury, seize his country as-
forfeited; so Israel came to the possession of this
country, and doubted not to make good their title
to it; and it is very unreasonable for the Ammonites
to question their title, for the Amorites were the
inhabitants of that country, and it was purely their
land and their coasts that the Israelites then made
themselves masters of, v. 21.
4. He pleads a grant from the crown, and claims
under that, v. 23, 24. It was not Israel, they were
fatigued with their long march, and were not fit for
action so soon; but it was the Lord God of Israel,
who is King of nations, whose the earth is, and the
fulness thereof, he it was, that dispossessed the
Amorites, and planted Israel in their room. God
gave it them by an express and particular convey¬
ance, such as vested the title in them, which they
might make good against all the world; (Deut. 2.
24.) I have given into thy hand, Sihon and his land:
he gave it them, by giving them, a complete victo¬
ry over the present occupants, notwithstanding ‘he
great disadvantages they were under: “Canvou
think that God gave it us in such an extraordinary
manner, with design that we should return it to the
Moabites or Ammonites again? No, we put a high¬
er value upon God’s favours, than to part with
SO JUDGES, XI.
th?m so easi’v.” To corroborate this plea, he urges
l.im with an argument ad hominem — ■ directed to the
van, Wilt thou possess that which Chemosh thy
(rod giveth thee ? He not only appeals to the com¬
mon resolutions of men, to hold their own against
all the world, but to the common religion of the na¬
tions, which, they thought, obliged them to make
much of that which their gods gave them. Not
that Jephthah thought Chemosh a god, only he is
thy god; and the worshippers even of those dung¬
hill-deities that could do neither good nor evil, yet
thought themselves beholden to them for all they
had, (Hos. 2. 12, These are my rewards which my
lovers have given me: and see Judg. 16. 24.) and
make this a reason why they would hold it fast,
that their gods gave it them. “ This thou thinkest
a good title, and shall not we?” The Ammonites
had dispossessed those that dwelt in their land be¬
fore them; they thought they did it by the help of
Chemosh their god, but really it was Jehovah the
God of Israel, that did it for them, as is expressly
said, Deut. 2. 19, 21. “Now,” says Jephthah,
“ we have as good a title to our country as you have
to your’s.” Note, One instance of the honour and
respect we owe to God, as our God, is, rightly to pos¬
sess that which he gives us to possess, receive it from
him, use it for him, keep it for his sake, and part
with it when he calls for it. He has given us to pos¬
sess, not to enjoy. He himself only must be enjoyed.
5. He pleads prescription. (1.) Their title had
not been disputed when they first entered upon it,
v. 25. “ Barak, who was then king of Moab, from
whom the greatest part of these lands had been
taken by the Amorites, and who was most concern¬
ed and best able to oppose us, if he only had had
any thing to object against our settlement there, yet
sat still, and never offered to strive against Israel.”
He knew that for his own part he had fairly lost it
to the Amorites, and was not able to recover it, and
could not but acknowledge that Israel had fairly
won it of the Amorites, and therefore all his care
was to secure what was left, he never pretended
a title to what was lost. See Numb. 21. 2, 3.
“ He then acquiesced in God’s way of disposing
kingdoms, and wilt not thou now?” (2.) Their
possession had never been disturbed, v. 26. He
pleads that they had kept this country as their own,
now about three hundred years, and the x\mmonites
in all that time had never attempted to take it from
them, no, not when they had it in their power to op¬
press them, ch. 3. 12, 13. So that, supposing their
title had not been clear at the first, (which yet he had
proved it was,) yet no continual claim being made by
so many descents, the entry of the children of Am¬
mon, without doubt, was barred for ever. A title so
long unquestioned, shall bepresumed unquestionable.
6. By these arguments Jephthah justifies himself
and his own cause; (v. 27.) “I have not sinned
against thee in taking or keeping what I have no
right to, if I had, I would instantly make restitu¬
tion;” and condemns the Ammonites, “ Thou doest
me wrong to war against me, and must expect to
speed accordingly. ” It seems to me an evidence
that the children of Israel, in the days of their pros¬
perity and power, (for some such days they had in
the times of the Judges,) had conducted themselves
very inoffensively to all their neighbours, and had
not been vexatious, or oppressing to them, (either
by way of reprisal, or under colour of propagating
their religion, that the king of the Ammonites,
when he would seek an occasion of quarrelling with
them, was forced to look three hundred years back
for a pretence. It becomes the people of God thus
to be blameless and harmless, and without rebuke.
7. For .the deciding of the controversy, he puts
himself upon God and his sword, and the king of
Ammcn joined issue with him; (v. 27,28.) The
Lord the Judge be Judge this day. With this so
lemn reference of the matter to the Judge of heaven
and earth, he designs either to deter the Ammon
ites from proceeding, and oblige them to retire,'
when they saw the right of the cause was against
them, or to justify himself in subduing them, if they
should go on. Note, War is an appeal to heaven,
to God the Judge of all, to whom the issues of it
belong. If doubtful rights be disputed, he is there¬
by requested to determine them: if manifest rights
be invaded or denied, he is thereby applied to for
the vindicating of what is just, and the punishing
of wrong. As the sword of justice was made for
lawless and disobedient persons, (1 Tim. 1. 9.) so
was the sword of war made for lawless and disobe¬
dient princes and nations. In war therefore the
eye must be ever up to God, and it must always be
thought a dangerous thing to desire or expect that
God should patronise unrighteousness.
Neither Jephthah’s apology, nor his appeal,
wrought upon the king of the children of Ammon;
they had found the sweets of the spoil of Israel, in
the eighteen years wherein they had oppressed
them, ( ch . 10. 8.) and hoped now to make them¬
selves masters of the tree which they had so often
enriched themselves with the fruit of. He hear¬
kened not to the words of Jephthah, his heart being
hardened to his destruction.
29. Then the Spirit of the Lord came
upon Jephthah and he passed over Gilead
and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of
Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he pass¬
ed over unto the children of Ammon. 30.
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord,
and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver
the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31. Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh
forth of the doors of my house to meet me,
when I return in peace from the children
of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and
I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. 32.
So Jephthah passed over unto the children
of Ammon, to fight against them ; and the
Lord delivered them into his hands. 33.
And he smote them from Aroer, even till
thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities,
and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a
very great slaughter. Thus the children of
Ammon were subdued before the children
oflsrael. 34. And Jephthah came to Mizpeh
unto his house, and, behold, his daughter
came out to meet him with timbrels and
with dances ; and she was his only child :
besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
35. And it came to pass, when he saw her,
that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my
daughter ! thou hast brought me very low,
and thou art one of them that trouble me :
for I have opened my mouth unto the
Lord, and I cannot go back. 36. And she
said unto him, My father, z/ thou hast open¬
ed thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me ac¬
cording to that which hath proceeded out of
thy mouth ; forasmuch as the Lord hath
taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies,
even of the children of Ammon. 37. And
161
JUDGES, XI.
she said unto her father, Let this .thing be
done for me : Let me alone two months, that
I may go up and down upon the mountains,
and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38. And he said, Go. And he sent her
away for two months ; and she went with
her companions, and bewailed her virginity
upon the mountains. 39. And it came to
pass, at the end of two months, that she re¬
turned unto her father, who did with her
according to his vow which he had vowed :
and she knew no man. And it was a cus¬
tom in Israel, 40. That the daughters of
Israel went yearly to lament the daughter
of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a
year.
We have here Jephthah triumphing in a glorious
victory, but, as an allay to his joy, troubled and dis¬
tressed by an unadvised vow.
I. Jephthah’s victory was clear, and shines very
bright, both to his honour, and to the honour of
God, his in pleading, and God’s in owning, a righ¬
teous cause.
1. God gave him an excellent spirit, and he used
it bravely, v. 39. Then when it appeared by the
people’s unanimous choice of him for their leader,
that he had so clear a call to engage, and by the
obstinate deafness of the king of Ammon to the pro¬
posal of accommodation, that he had so just a cause
to engage in, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, and very much advanced his natural faculties,
enduing him with power from on high, and making
him more bold and more wise than ever he had
been, and more fired with a holy zeal against the
enemies of his people. Hereby God confirmed
him in his office, and assured him of success in his
undertaking. Thus animated, he loses no time, but
with an undaunted resolution takes the field. Par¬
ticular notice is taken of the way by which he ad¬
vanced towards the enemies’ camp, probably, be¬
cause the choice of it was an instance of that extra¬
ordinary direction with which the Spirit of the
Lord had furnished him; for those who sincerely
walk after the spirit, shall be led forth the right
way.
2. God gave him eminent success, and he bravely
improved that too; (v. 32.) The Lord delivered the
Ammonites into his hand, and so gave judgment
upon the appeal in favour of the righteous cause,
and made those feel the force of war, that would
not yield to the force of reason, for he sits in the
throne, judging right. Jephthah lost not the ad¬
vantages given him, but pursued and completed his
victory; having routed their forces in the field, he
pursued them to their cities, where he put to the
sword all he found in arms, so as utterly to disable
them to give Israel any molestation, v. 33. But it
does not appear that he utterly destroyed the peo¬
ple, as Joshua had done those of the devoted na¬
tions, or that he offered to make himself master of
the country, though their pretensions to the land of
Israel might have given him colour to do so, only
he took care that they should be effectually sub¬
dued. Though others’ attempting wrong to us, will
justify us in the defence of our own right, yet it will
not authorize us to do them wrong.
II. Jephthah’s vow is dark, and much in the
clouds. When he was going out from his own
house, upon this hazardous undertaking, in prayer
to God for his presence with him, he makes a se¬
cret but solemn vow, or religious promise to God,
that if God would graciously bring him back a cc n-
VoL. IT. — X
queror, whosoever, o whatsoever, should first come
out of his house to meet him, it should be devoted
to God, and offered up for a burnt-offering; at his
return, tidings of his victory coming home before
him, his own and only daughter meets him with
the seasonable expressions of joy; this puts him into
a great confusion, but there was no remedy; after
she had taken some time to lament her own infeli¬
city, she cheerfully submitted to the performance
of his vow.
Now, 1. There are several good lessons to be
learned out of this story. (1.) That there may be
remainders of distrust and doubting even in the
hearts of true and great believers. Jephthah had
reason enough to be confident of success, especially
when he found the Sfiirit of the Lord come upon
him; and yet now that it came to the settling, he
seems to hesitate; (n. 30.) “ If thou shalt without
fail deliver them into my hand , then I will do so
and so.” And perhaps the snare into which his
vow brought him, was designed to correct the
weakness of his faith; and a fond conceit he had,
that he could not promise himself a victory, unless
he pr< ffered something considerable to be given to
God in lieu of it. (2.) That yet it is very good,
when we are in the pursuit or expectation of any
mercy, to make vows to God of some instance of
acceptable service to him, not as a purchase of the
favour we desire, but as an expression of our grati¬
tude to him, and the deep sense we have of our ob¬
ligations to render according to the benefit dene to
us. The matter of such a singular vow (Lev. 27.
2.) must be something that has a plain and direct
tendency, either to the. advancement of God’s glo-
rv, and the interests of his kingdom among men, or
to the furtherance of ourselves in his service, and ir
that which is antecedently our duty. (3.) That we
have great need to be very cautious, and well ad¬
vised, in the making of such vows, lest, by indulging
a present emotion even of pious zeal, we entangle our
own consciences, involve ourselves in perplexities,
and are forced at last to say before the angel that it
was an error, Eccl. 5. 2* *6. It is a stiare to a man,
hastily to devour that which is holy, without due
consideration, ( quid valeant humeri, quid ferre re-
cusent — what we are able to effect,) and without
inserting the needful provisos and limitations which
might prevent the entanglement, and then after
vows to make the inquiry which should have been
made before, Prov. 20. 25. Let Jephthah’s hdrrfi
be our warning in this matter. See Deut. 29. 22.
(4.) That what we have solemnly vowed to God,
we must conscientiously perform, if it be possible
and lawful, though it be ever so difficult and griev¬
ous to us. Jephthah’s sense of the powerful obliga¬
tion of his vow must always be our’s (x». 35.) I have
opened my mouth unto the Lord in a solemn vow,
and I cannot go back; that is, “ I cannot recall the
vow myself, it is too late, nor can any power on
earth dispense with it, or give me up my bond.
The thing was mine own, and in mine own power,
(Acts 5. 4.) but now it is not.” Vow and pay, Ps.
76. 11. We deceivd ourselves, if we think to mock
God. If we apply this to the consent we have so-,
lemnly given in our sacramental vows to the cove¬
nant of grace, made with poor sinners in Christ,
what a powerful argument will it be against the
sins we have by those vows bound ourselves out
from, and what a strong inducement to the duties
we have thereby bound ourselves up to, and what
a ready answer to every temptation! “ I have open¬
ed my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot go back; I
must therefore go forward: I have sworn, and I
must, I will, perform it. Let me not dare to play
fast and loose with God.” (5.) That it well •be¬
comes children, obediently and cheerfully to sub¬
mit to their parents in the Lord, and particularly
16-2
JUDGES, XL
to comply with their pious resolutions for the honour
of Gud, and the keeping up of religion in their fami¬
nes, though they be harsh and severe, as Rech.ib-
ites, who for many generations religiously observed
the commands of Jonadab their father in forbearing
wine, and Jephthah’s daughter here, who, for the
satisfying of her father’s conscience, and for the
honour of God and her country, yielded herself as
one devoted; (re 36.) “ Do to me according to that
\vhich hath proceeded out of tiny mouth; 1 know I
am dear to thee, but am well content that God
should be dearer.” The father might disallow any
vow made by the daughter, (Numb. 30, 5.) but
the daughter could not disallow or disannul, no,
not such a vow as this, made by the father. This
magnifies the law of the fifth commandment. (6.)
That our friends’ grievances should be our griefs.
Where she went to bewail her hard fate, the vir¬
gins, her companions, joined with her in her lamen¬
tations, v. 38. With those of her own sex and age
she used to associate, who, no doubt, now that her
father was of a sudden grown so great, expected,
shortly after his return, to dance at her wedding,
but were heavily disappointed, when they were
called to retire to the mountains with her and
share in her griefs. Those are unworthy of the
name of friends, that will only rejoice with us, and
not weep with us. (7. ) That heroic zeal for the ho¬
nour of God and Israel, though allayed with infirmi¬
ty and indiscretion, is worthy to be had in perpetu¬
al remembrance. It well became the daughters
of Israel, by an annual solemnity to preserve the
honourable memory of Jephthah’s daughter, who
made light even of her own life, like a noble hero¬
ine, when God had taken vengeance of Israel’s ene¬
mies, v. 36. Such a rare instance of one that pre¬
ferred the public interest before life itself, was
never to be forgotten. Her sex forbad her to fol¬
low to the war, and so to expose her life in battle,
in lieu of which she hazards it much more, (and per¬
haps apprehends that she did so, having some inti¬
mation of his vow, and did it designedly, for he
te's her, ( v . 30.) Thou hast brought me very low,)
to grace his triumphs. So transported was she
with the victory as a common benefit, that she was
willing to be herself offered up as a thank-offering
for it, and would think her life well bestowed when
laid down on so great an occasion. She thinks it an
# honour to die, not as a sacrifice of atonement for the
people’s sins, (that honour was reserved for Christ
only,) but as a sacrifice of acknowledgment for the
people’s mercies. (8.) From Jephthah’s concern
on this occasion, we must learn not to think it
strange if the day of ou- triumphs in this world
proves upon some account or other the day of our
griefs, and therefore must rejoice with trembling!
we hope for a day of triumph hereafter which will
have no allay.
2. Yet there are some difficult questions that do
arise upon this story, which have very much em¬
ployed the pens of learned men; I will say but little
to them, because Mr. Poole has discussed them very
fu ly in his English annotations.
(1.) It is hard to say, what Jephthah did to his
daughter in performance of his vow. [1.] Some
think he only shut her up for a nun, and that it be¬
ing unlawful, according to one part of his vow, (for
they make it disjunctive,) to offer her up for a
burnt-offering, he thus, according to the other part,
engaged her to be the Lord's, that is, totally to
sequester herself from all the affairs of this life, and
consequently from marriage, and to employ herself
wholly in the acts of devotion all her days. That
which countenances this opinion, is, that she is said
to bewail her virginity, (y. 37, 38.) and that she
knew no man, v. 39. But if he sacrificed her, it
was proper enough for her to bewail, not he- death,
because that was intended to be for the honour oi
God, and she would undergo it cheerfully, but that
! unhappy circumstance of it, which made it more
- grievous to her than any other, because she was her
father’s only child, in whom he hoped his name and
!' family would have been built up; that she was un-
! married, and so left no issue to inherit her father’s
i: honour and estate; therefore that is it that is par-
! ticularly taken notice of, (n. 34) that beside her he
| had neither son nor daughter. But that which
| makes me think Jephthah did not go about thus to
satisfy his vow, or evade it rather, is, that we do
not find any law, usage, or custom, in all the Old
Testament, which does in the least intimate that a
single life was any branch or article of religion, oi
that any person, man or woman, was looked upon
as the more holy, more the Lord’s, or devoted to
him, for living unmarried; it was no part of the law,
either of the priests, or of the Nuzarites; Deborah
j and Huldah, both prophetesses, are both of them
garticularly taken notice of to be married women.
•esides, had she only been confined to a single life,
she needed not to have desired these two months to
bewail it in; she had her whole life before her to do
that, if she saw cause. Nor needed she to take such
a bad leave of her companions; for they that are of
that opinion, understand what is said, (i>. 40.) of
their coming to talk with her, as our margin reads
it, four days in the year. Therefore, [2.] It seems
more probable that he offered her up for a sacrifice,
according to the letter of his vow, misunderstanding
that law which spoke of persons devoted to the
cause of God, as if it were to be applied to such as
were devoted by men’s vows; (Lev. 27. 29.) None
devoted shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put
' to death; and wanting to be better informed of the
1 power the law gave him in this case to redeem
j her. Abraham’s attempt to offer up Isaac, per¬
haps encouraged him, and made him think, if God
would not accept this sacrifice which he had vowed,
he would send an angel to stay his hand, as he did
Abraham’s; if she came out designedly to be made
a sacrifice, as who knows but she might, perhaps
he thought that would make the case the plainer;
Volenti non sit injuria — dn injury cannot be done to
a person when he him self consents to it. He imagined,
it may be, that where there was neither anger noi
malice, there was no murder, and that his good in¬
tention would sanctify this bad action; and since he
had made such a v ow, he thought it better to kill his
daughter than to break his vow, and let Providence
bear the blame, that brought her forth to meet him.
(2.) But supposing that Jephthah did sacrifice his
daughter, the question is, whether he did well?
[1.] Some justify him in it, and think he did well,
and as became one that preferred the honour of
God before that which was dearest to him in this
world. He is mentioned among the eminent be¬
lievers, who by faith did great things, Heb. 11, 12.
And this was one of the great things he did: it was
done deliberately, and upon two months’ consioera-
tion and consultation. He is never blamed for it by
any inspired writer. Though it highly exalts the
paternal authority, yet it cannot justify any in doing
the like; he was an extraordinary person, the Spirit
of the Lord came upon him; many circumstances,
now unknown to us, might make this altogether ex¬
traordinary, and justify it, yet not so that it might
justify the like. Some learned men have made this
sacrifice a figure of Christ the great Sacrifice; he
was of unspotted purity and innocency, as she a
chaste virgin; he was devoted to death by his Fa¬
ther, and so made a curse, or an anathema, for us:
he submitted himself, as she did, to his Father’s
will — Not as I will, but as thou wilt. But, [2.]
Most condemn Jephthah; he did ill to make so rash
a vow, and worse to perform it. He could not be
163
JUDGES, XU.
bound by his vow, to that which God had forbidden
by the letter of the sixth commandment, Thou shalt
not kill. God had forbidden human sacrifices, so
that it was (says Dr. Lightfoot) in effect a sacrifice
to Moloch. And, probably, the reason why it is
left dubious by the inspired penman, whether he
sacrificed her or no, was that they who did after¬
wards offer their children, might not take any en¬
couragement from tiiis instance. Concerning this,
and some other such passages in the sacred story,
which learned men are in the dark, divided, and in
doubt about, we need not much amuse ourselves;
w’hat is necessary to our salvation, thanks be to God,
is plain enough.
CHAP. XJ 1.
In this Chapter, we have, I. Jephthah’s rencounter with the
Ephraimites, and the bloodshed on that unhappy occa¬
sion, (v. 1 . . 6.) and the conclusion of Jephthah’s life and
government, v. 7. II. A short account of three other of
the judges of Israel; Ibzon, (v. 8. . 10.) Elon, (v. 11, 12.)
and Abdon, v. 13. . 15.
I. 4 ND the men of Ephraim gathered
f\. themselves together, and went north¬
ward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore
passedst thou over to light against the chil¬
dren of Ammon, and didst not call us to go
with thee ? we will burn thine house upon
thee with fire. 2. And Jephthah said unto
them, I and my people were at great strife
with the children of Ammon ; and when I
called you, ye delivered me not out of their
hands. 3. And when I saw that ye delivered
me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed
over against the children of Ammon, and
the Lord delivered them into my hand :
wherefore then are ye come up unto me this
day to fight against me? 4. Then Jephthah
gathered together all the men of Gilead, and
fought with Ephraim : and the men of Gilead
smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gil¬
eadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the
Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.
5. And the Gileadites took the passages of
Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was
so, that when* those Ephraimites which were
escaped, said, Let me go over, that the men
of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an
Ephraimite ? If. he said, Nay; 6. Then
said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth ;
and he said SibboleJth : for he could not
frame to pronounce it right. Then they
took him, and slew him at the passages of
Jordan; and there fell at that time of the
Ephraimites forty and two thousand. 7.
And Jephthah judged Israel six years : then
died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried
in one of the cities of Gilead.
Here is,
I. The unreasonable displeasure of the men of
Ephraim against Jephthah, because he had hot call¬
ed them in to his assistance against the Ammonites,
that they might have shared in the triumphs and
spoils, v. 1. Pride was at the bottom of the quar-
Tel, only by that comes contention. Proud men [
think all the honou; s lost, that go beside themseh cs,
and then who can stand before envy? The Ephraim¬
ites had the same quarrel with Gideon, ( eh . S. 1.)
who was of Manasseh on the other side Jordan, as
Jephthah was of Manasseh on their side Jordan.
Ephraim and Manasseh were nearer akin than any
other of the tribes, being both the sons of Joseph,
and yet they were mere jealous one of another than
any other of the tribes. Jacob having crossed hands,
and given Ephraim the preference, looking as far
forward as the kingdom of the ten tribes, which
Ephraim was the head of, after the revolt from the
house of David, that tribe, not content with that
honour in the promise, was displeased if Manasseh
had any honour done it in the mean time. ’It is pity
that kindred and relations, which should be an in¬
ducement to love and peace, should ever be an oc¬
casion (as it often proves) of strife and discord. .7
brother offended is harder to be won than a strong
dry, and their contentions are as the bars of a castle.
The anger of the Ephraimites at Jephthah was, 1.
Causeless and unjust. Why didst thou not call us
to go with thee? For a good reason, because they
were the men of Gilead that had made him their
captain, not the men of Ephraim, so that he had no
authority to call them. Had his attempt miscarried
for want of their help, they might justly have blamed
him for not desiring it. But when the work was
done, and done effectually, the Ammonites subdued,
and Israel delivered, there was no harm done,
though their hands were not employed in it. 2. It
was cruel and outrageous. They got together in a
tumultuous manner, went over Jordan as far as
Mizpeh in Gilead, where Jephthah lived, and no less
will satisfy their fury, but they will burn his hcuse,
and him in it. Cursed be their anger, for it was
fierce. Those resentments that have the least rea¬
son for them, have commonly the most rage in
them. Jephthah was now a conqueror over the
common enemies of Israel, and they should have
come to congratulate him, and return him the thanks
of their tribe for the good services he had done; but
we must not think it strange if we receive ill from
those from whom we deserve well. Jephthah was
now a mourner for the calamity of his family, upon
his daughter’s account, and they should have come
to condole and comfort him; but barbarous men take
a pleasure in adding affliction to the afflicted. In
this World, the end of one trouble often proves the
beginning of another; nor must we ever boast cs
though we had fiut off the harness.
II. Jephthah’s warm vindication of himself. He
did not endeavour to pacify them, as Gideon had
done in the like case; the Ephraimites were now
more outrageous than they were then, and Jephthah
had not so much of a meek and quiet spirit as Gid¬
eon had. Whether they would be pacified or.no,
Jephthah t kes care,
1. To justify himself, v. 2, 3. He makes it out
that they had no cause to quarrel with him, for,
(1.) It was not in pursuit of glory that he had enga¬
ged in this war, but for the necessary defence of his
country, with which the children of Ammon greatly
strove. (2.) He had invited the Ephraimites to
come and join with him, though he neither needed
them, nor was under any obligation to pay that re¬
spect to them; but yet they had declined the service;
I called you, and ye delivered me not out of their
hands. Had that been tme which they charged
him with, yet it had not been a just ground of quar¬
rel, but it seems it was false; and, as the matter of
fact now appears, he had more cause to quarrel
with them, for deserting the common interests of
Israel in a time of need. It is no new thing for those
who are themselves most culpable, to be most cla¬
morous in accusing the innocent. (3.) The enter¬
prise was very hazardous, and they had 'more rea-
JUDGES, XII.
son to pity him, than to be angry with him; I put
my life in my hands; that is, “ exposed myself to the
utmost peril in what I did, having so small an army. ”
The honour they envied, was bought dear enough,
tncy needed not to grudge it him; few of them
would have ventured so farfor it. (4.) He does not
taxe the glory of the success to himself, (that had
been invidious,) but gives it all to God, “ The Lord
d livered them into mine hand. If God was pleased
so far to make use of me for his glory, why should
voij be offended at that? Have you any reason to
fight against me? Is not that in effect to fight
against God, in whose hand I have been only an
unworthy instrument?”
2. When this just answer (though not so soft an
answer as Gideon’s) did not prevail to turn away
their wrath, he took care both to defend himself
fr m their fury, and to chastise their insolence with
the sword, by virtue of his authority as Israel’s
judge.
(1.) The Ephraimites had not only quarrelled
with Jephthah, but when his neighbours and friends
appeared to take his part, they had abused them,
arid given them fine language ; for I adhere to our
translation, and so take it, v. 4. They said in scorn,
“ Ye Gileadites that dwell here on the other side
J u-dan, are but fugitives of Ephraim, the scum and
dregs of the tribes of Joseph, of which Ephraim is
the chief, the refuse of the family, and are so ac¬
counted among the Ephraimites, and among the
Manassites. Who cares for you? All your neigh¬
bours know what you are, no better than fugitives
and vagabonds, separated from your brethren, and
driven hither into a corner.” The Gileadites were
as true Israelites as any other, and at this time had
signalized themselves, both in the choice of Jeph¬
thah, and in the war with Ammon, above all the
f imilies of Israel, and yet are most basely and un¬
justly called fugitives. It is an ill thing to fasten
names or characters of reproach upon persons or
countries, as is common, especially upon those who
lie under outward disadvantages: it often occasions
quarrels that prove of ill consequence, as it did
here. See likewise what a mischievous thing an
abusive tongue is, that calls ill names, and gives
scurrilous language; it sets on fire the course of na¬
ture , a?id is set on fire of hell, (Jam. 3. 6.) and
many a time cuts the throat of him that uses it, as
:t. did here, Ps. 64. 8. If these Ephraimites could
have denied themselves the poor satisfaction of call¬
ing the Gileadites fugitives, they might have pre¬
vented a great deal of bloodshed, for grievous words
stir ufi anger, and who knows how great a matter a
little of that fire may kindle?
(2.) This affront raises the Gileadites’ blood, and
the indignity done to themselves, as well as to their
captain, must be revenged. [1.] They routed them
in the field, v. 4. They fought with Ephraim, and,
Ephraim being but a rude unheaded rabble, smote
Ephraim, and put them to flight. (2.] They cut
off their retreat, and so completed their revenge, v.
.i, 6. The Gileadites, who perhaps were better
acquainted with the passages of Jordan than the
Ephraimites were, secured them with strong guards,
who were ordered to slay every Ephraimite that
offered to pass the river. Here was. First, Cruelty
enough in the destruction of them. Sufficient surely
w is the punishment which was inflicted by many:
when they were routed in the field, there needed
w»t this severity to cut off all that escaped. Shall
the sword devour for ever? Whether Jephthah is
be praised for this, I know not, perhaps he saw
it to be a piece of necessary justice. Secondly, Cun-
n ng enough in the discovery of them. It seems
the Ephraimites, though they spoke the same lan¬
guage with other Israelites, yet had got a custom in
the dialect of their country to pronounce the He¬
brew letter Shin like Samech, and they had so
strangely used themselves to it, that they could not
do otherwise, no, not to save their lives. We learn
to speak by imitation; they that first used s for sh,
did it either because it was shorter, or because it
was finer, and their children liked to speak Ike
them, so that you might know an Ephraimite by it;
as in England we know a west-country man, or a
north-country man, nay, perhaps a Shropshire man,
and a Cheshire man, by his pronunciation, i/ hou
art a Galilean, and thy speech betrays thee. By
this the Ephraimites were discovered. If they
took a man that they suspected to be an Ephraim¬
ite, but he denied it, they bade him say Shibboleth;
but either he could not, as our translation reads it,
or he did net heed, or frame, or direct himself, as
some read, to pronounce it right, but said Sibbolcth,
and so was known to be an Ephraimite, and was
slain immediately. Shibboleth signifies a river or
stream; “ Ask leave to go over Shibboleth, the
river.” Those that were thus cut off, made up the
whole number of slaughtered Ephraimites forty -tw o
thousand, v. 6. Thus another mutiny of that angry
tribe was prevented.
Now let us observe the righteousness of God in
the punishment of these proud and passionate
Ephraimites, which in several instances answered
to their sin. 1. They were proud of the honour < f
their tribe, gloried in this, that they were Ephraim¬
ites; but how soon are they brought to be ashamed
or afraid to own their country! Art thou an
Ephraimite? No, now rather of any tribe than that.
2. They had gone in a rage over Jordan to bum
Jephthah’s house with fire, but now they come
back to Jordan as sneakingly as they had passed it
furiously, and were cut off from ever returning to
their own houses. 3. They had upbraided the Gil¬
eadites with the infelicity of their country, lying at
such a distance; and now they suffer by an infirmity
peculiar to their own country, in not being able to
pronounce Shibboleth. 4. They had called the Gil¬
eadites, unjustly, fugitives, and now they are really
and in good earnest become fugitives themselves-
and in the Hebrew, the same word ( v . 5.) is used
of the Ephraimites that escaped, or that fled,
which they had used in scorn of the Gileadites,
calling them fugitives; he that rolls the stone of re¬
proach unjustly upon another, let him expect that it
will justly return upon himself.
Lastly, Here is the end of Jephthah’s govern¬
ment. He judged Israel but six years, and then
died, v. 7. Perhaps the death of his daughter sunk
him so, that he never looked up after,* but it short¬
ened his days, and he went to his grave mourning.
8. And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem
judged Israel. 9. And he had thirty sons,
and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad,
and took in thirty daughters from abroad for
his sons: and he judged Israel seven years.
10. Then died Ibzan, and was buried at
Beth-lehem. 11. And after him Elon a
Zebulonite judged Israel ; and he judged
Israel ten years. 12. And Elon the Zebu¬
lonite died, and was buried in Ajalon, in the
country of Zebulun. 13. And after him
Abdon, the son of Hillel a Pirathonite,
judged Israel. 14. And he had forty sons,
and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore
and ten ass-colts : and he judged Israel eight
years. 15. And Abdon, the son of Hillel
the Pirathonite, died, and was buried in Pi-
165
JUDGES, XIII.
rathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the mount
of the Amalekites.
We have here a short account of the short reigns
of three more of the judges of Israel; the first of
which governed but seven years, the second ten,
and the third eight. For the transgression of a land ,
many are the firinces thereof, many in a short time,
successively, Prov. 28. 2. Good men being removed
in the beginning of their usefulness, and by the
time they had applied themselves to their business.
I. Ibzan of Beth-lehem; most probably, Beth-le-
hem of Judah, David’s city, not that in Zebulun,
w'nich.is only mentioned once, Josh. 19. 15. He ruled
but seven years, but by the number of his children,
and his disposing of them all in marriage himself, it
appears that he lived long; and, probably, the great
increase of his family, and the numerous alliances
he made, added to his personal merits, made him
the more fit to be either chosen by the people, as
Jephthah was, or called of God immediately, as
Gideon was, to be Israel’s judge, to keep up and
carry on the work of God among them.’ That which
is remarkable concerning him, is, his children. 1.
That he had many children, sixty in all, a quiver
full of these arrows. Thus was Beth-lehem of old
famous for increase, the very city where he was to
be born, whose spiritual seed should be as the stars
of heaven. 2. That he had an equal number of
each sex, thirty sons and thirty daughters, a thing
which does not often happen in the same family, yet
in the great family of mankind, he that first made
two, male and female, by his wise providence, pre¬
serves a succession of both in some sort of equality,
as far as is requisite to the keeping up of the gene¬
rations of men upon earth. 3. That he took care
to marry them all; his daughters he sent abroad, et
maritis dedit, so the vulgar Latin adds — he pro¬
vided husbands for them; and, as it were in ex¬
change, and both ways strengthening his interest,
he took in thirty daughters from abroad for his
sons. The Jews say, .Every father owes three things
to his son, to teach him to read the law, give him a
trade, and get him a wife. What a difference was
there between Ibzan’s family, and that of his im¬
mediate predecessor, Jephthah! Ibzan has sixty
children and all married, Jephthah but one, a
daughter, that dies or lives unmarried. Some are
increased, others are diminished; both are the
Lord’s doing.
II. Elon of Zebulun, in the north of Canaan, was
next raised nip to preside in public affairs, to ad¬
minister justice, and to reform abuses; ten years he
continued a blessing to Israel; and then died, v. 11,
12. Dr. Lightfoot computes, that in the beginning
of his time, the forty years’ oppression by the Phi¬
listines began, (spoken of, ch. 13. 1.) and about that
time Samson was born. Probably, his residence
being in the north, the Philistines who bordered
upon the southern parts of Canaan, took the oppor¬
tunity of making incursions upon them.
III. Abdon, of the tribe of Ephraim, succeeded,
and in him that illustrious tribe begins to recover in
reputation, having not afforded any person of note
since Joshua; for Abimelech the Shechemite was
rather a scandal to it. This Abdon was famous for
the multitude of his offspring; ( v . 14.) he had forty
sons and thirty grandsons, all which he lived to see
crown up; and they rode on seventy ass-colts, either
as judges and officers, or as gentlemen and persons
of distinction. It was a satisfaction to him thus to
see his children’s children, but it is feared he did
not see peace upon Israel, for by this time the Phi¬
listines had begun to break in upon them.
Concerning this, and the rest of these judges that
e ever so short an account given of them, yet no¬
tice is taken where they were buried; (x>. 7, 10,
12, 15.) perhaps, because the inscriptions upon
their monuments (for such were anciently used, 2
Kings 23. 17.) would serve for the confirmation and
enlargement of their story, and might be consulted
by such as desired further information concerning
them. St. Peter having occasion to speak of David,
says, His sepulchre is with us unto this day, Acts 2.
29. Or it is intended for the honour of the places
where they laid their bones; but may be improved
for the lessening of our esteem of all worldly glory,
which death and the grave will stain the pride of.
These judges that were as gods to Israel, died like
men, and all their honour was laid in the dust.
It is \ ery strange, that in the history of all these
judges, some of whose actions are very particularly
related, there is not so much as once mention made
of the High Priest, or any other priest, or Levite
appearing either for counsel or action in any public
affair, from Phinehas ( ch . 20. 28.) to Eli, which
may well be computed two hundred and fifty years;
only the name of the High Priests at that time are
preserved, lChron. 6. 4 — 7. and Ezra 7. 3 — 5. How
can this strange obscurity of that priesthood for so
long a time, ngw in the beginning of its days, agree
with that mighty splendour with which it was in¬
troduced, and the figure which the institution of it
makes in the law of Moses? Surely it intimates, that
the institution was chiefly intended to be typical,
and that the great benefits that seemed to be pro¬
mised by it, were to be chiefly looked for in its anti¬
type, the everlasting priesthood of our Lord Jesus,
in comparison of the excelling glory of which that
priesthood had no glory, 2 Cor. 3. 10.
CHAP. XIII.
At this chapter begins the story of Samson, the last of the
Judges of Israel, whose story is recorded in this book,
and next before Eli. The passages related concerning
him, are, from first to last, very surprising and uncom¬
mon. The figure he makes in this history is really great,
and yet vastly different from that of his predecessors.
We never find him at the head, either of a court or of an
army, never upon the throne of judgment, or in the field
of battle, yet in his own proper person a great patriot of
his country and a terrible scourge and a check to its
enemies and oppressors: he was an eminent believer,
(Heb. 11. 32.) and a glorious type of Him who with bis
own arm wrought salvation. The history of the rest of
the Judges commences from their advancement to that
station, but Samson’s begins with his birth, nay with his
conception, and no less than an angel from heaven
ushers him into the world, as a pattern of what should
be afterward done to John Baptist, and Christ. This is
related in this chapter. I. The occasion of raising up
this deliverer was the oppression of Israel by the Philis¬
tines, v. 1. II. His birth is foretold by an angel to his
mother, v. 2 .. 5. III. She relates it to his father, v. 6, 7.
IV. They both together have jt again from the angel,
(v. 8 . . 14.) whom they treat with respect, ^ v . 15 . . 18. )
and who, to their great amazement, discovers what he
was, at parting, v. 19.. 23. V. Samson is born, 34, 35.
1. A ND the children of Israel did evil
J\ again in the sight of the Lord ; and
the Lord delivered them into the hand of
the Philistines forty years. 2. And there
was a certain man of Zorah, of the family
of the Danites, whose name was Manoah ;
and his wife was barren, and hare not. 3.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto
the woman, and said unto her, Behold now,
thou art barren, and bearest not : but thou
shalt conceive, and bear a son. 4. Now there¬
fore beware, I pray thee, and drink not
wine nor strong drink, and eat not anv un
JUDGES, XIII.
IGS
c lean thing : 5. For, lo, thou shalt conceive,
a;nl bear a son ; and no razor shall come on
his head : for the child shall be a N azarite
unto God from the womb ; and he shall be¬
gin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines. 6. Then the woman came, and
told her husband, saying, A man of God
came unto me, and his countenance was like
the countenance of an angel of God, very
terrible; but I asked him not whence he
was , neither told me his name. 7. But he
said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive',
and bear a son ; and now drink no wine
nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean
thing: for the child shall be a N azarite to
God from the womb to the day of his death.
The first verse gives us a short account, such as
we have too often met with already, of the great
distress that Israel was in, which gave occasion for
the raising up of a deliverer. They did evil, as they
had done, in the sight of the Lord, and then God
delivered them, as he had done, into the hands of
their enemies. If there had been no sin, there had
needed no Saviour; but sin was suffered to abound,
that grace might much more hbound. The enemies
God now sold them to, were the Philistines, their
next neighbours, that lay within them, the first and
chief of the nations which were devoted to destruc¬
tion; but which God left to prove them, ( ch . 3. 1, 3. )
the Jive lords of the Philistines, an inconsiderable
people in comparison with'Israel, (they had but five
cities of any note,) and yet when God made use of
them as the staff in his hand, they were very oppres¬
sive and vexatious. And this trouble lasted longer
than any yet, it continued forty years, though, pro-
b .blv, not always alike violent.
When Israel was in this distress, Samson was
born; and here we have his birth foretold by an an¬
gel. Observe,
I. His extraction. He was of the tribe of Uan,
v. 2. Dan signifies a judge or judgment, Gen. 30.
6. And, probably, it was with an eye to Samson,
that dying Jacob foretold, Dan shall judge his peo-
fde, that is, “ he shall produce a judge for his peo¬
ple, though one of the sons of the handmaids, as
one, as well as anv one of the tribes of Israel,” Gen.
49, 15. The lot of the tribe of Dan lay next to the
c untry of the Philistines, and therefore one of that
tribe was most fit to be made a bridle upon them. His
parents had been long childless. Many eminent
persons were born of mothers that had been kept a
great while in the want of the blessing of children;
as Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, and John Baptist, that the
mercy might be the more acceptable when it did
come. Sing, 0 barren, that thou didst not bear, Isa.
54. 1. Note, Mercies long waited for, often prove sig¬
nal mercies, and it >s made to appear that they were
worth waiting for, and by them others may be en¬
couraged to continue their hope in God’s mercy.
II. The glad tidings brought to his mother, that
site should have a son. The messenger was an an¬
gel of the Lord, (y. 3. ) yet appearing as a man,
with the aspect and garb of a prophet, or man of
God. And this angel (as the learned Bishop Patrick
supposes, v. 18.) was the Lord himself, that is, the
JVord of the Lord, who was to be the Messiah, for
his name is called Wonderful, (y. 18.) and Jehovah,
v. 19. The great Redeemer did in a particular
manner concern himself about this typical redeem¬
er. It was not so much for the sake of Manoah
and his wife, obscure Danites, that this extraordi¬
nary message was sent, but for Israel’s sake, whose
deliverer he was to be; and not only so, his services
to Israel not seeming to answer to the grandeur of
his entry, but for the Messiah’s sake, whose type he
was to be, and whose birth must be foretold by an
angel, as his was.
The angel, in the message he delivers, 1. Takes
notice of her affliction, Behold now, thou art barren,
and bearest not. From hence she might gather he
was a prophet, that, though a stranger to her,
and one she had never seen before, yet he knew this
to be her grievance. He tells her of it, not to up
braid her with it, but because perhaps at this time
she was actually thinking of this affliction, and be¬
moaning herselt as one written childless. God often
sends in comfort to his people very seasonably,
when they feel most from their troubles. “ Arow
thou art barren, but thou shalt not be always so,”
as she feared, “nor long so.” 2. He assures her
that she should conceive and bear a son, (y. 3.) and
repeats it, v. 5. To show the power of a divine
word, the strongest man that ever was, a child of
promise, as Isaac, born by force and virtue of a
promise and faith in that promise, Heb. 11. 11. Gal.
4. 23. Many a woman, after having been long bar¬
ren, has borne a son by providence, but Samson was
by promise, because a figure of the PromisedSeed, so
long expected by the faith of the Old Testament
saints. 3. He appoints that the child should be a
Nazarite from his birth, and therefore that the mo¬
ther should be subject to the law of the Nazarites,
(though not under the vow of a Nazarite,) and
should drink no wine or strong drink, so long as this
child was to have his nourishment from her, either
in the womb or at the breast, v. 4, 5. Observe,
This deliverer of Israel must be in the strictest
manner devoted to God, an example of holiness. It
is spoken of as a kindness to the people, that God
raised up their young men for Nazarites, Amos 2.
11. Other judges had corrected their apostasies
from God, but Samson must appear as one, more
than any of them, consecrated to.God; and notwith¬
standing what we read of his faults, we have reason
to think, that being a Nazarite of God’s making, he
did, in the course of his conv ersation, exemplify,
not only the ceremony, but the substance, of that
separation to the Lord, in which the Nazariteship
did consist. Numb. 6, 2. Those that would save
others, must by singular piety distinguish them¬
selves. Samuel, who carried on Israel’s deliver¬
ance from the Philistines, was a Nazarite by his
mother’s vow, (1 Sam. 1. 11.) as Samson by the di¬
vine appointment. The mother of this deliverer
must therefore deny herself, and not eat any un¬
clean thing; what was lawful at another time, was
now to be forborne. As the promise tried her
faith, so this precept tried her obedience; for God
requires both from those on whom he will bestow
his favours. Women with child ought conscienti¬
ously to avoid whatever they have reason to think
will be any way prejudicial to the health or good
constitution of the fruit of their body. And perhaps
Samson’s mother was to refrain from wine and
strong drink, not only because he was designed for
a Nazarite, but because he was designed for a man
of strength, which his mother’s temperance would
contribute to. 4. He foretells the service which
this child should do to his country, He shall begin to
deliver Israel. Note, It is very desirable that our
children may be not only devoted entirely to God
themselyes, but instrumental for the good of others,
and the service of their generation; not recluses,
candles under a bushel, but on a candlestick. Ob¬
serve,* He shall begin to deliver Israel. This inti¬
mated that the oppression of the Philistines should
last long, for Israel’s deliverance from it should not
so mucli as begin, not one step be taken towards it,
till this child, which was now unborn, should be
JUDGES XIII.
167
grown up to a capacity ot beginning it. And yet he
must not complete the deliverance neither, he shall
only begin to deliver Israel, which intimates that
the trouble should still be prolonged; God chooses
to carry on his work gradually, and by several
bauds. One lays the foundation of a good work,
another builds, and perhaps a third brings forth the
top-stone.
Now herein Samson was a type of Christ. (1.)
As a Nazarite to God, a Nazarite from the womb.
For though our Lord Jesus was not a Nazarite him¬
self, yet he was typified by the Nazarites, as being
perfectly pure from all sin, not so much as conceiv¬
ed in it, and entirely devoted to his Father’s honour.
Of the Jewish church, as concerning the Jiesh, Christ
came , because to them pertained the promise of
him, Rom; 9. 4, 5. By virtue of that promise, he
long lay as it were in the womb of that church,
which for many ages was pregnant of him, and
therefore, like Samson’s mother, during that preg¬
nancy, was made a holy nation and a peculiar peo¬
ple, and strictly forbidden to touch any unclean
thing for his sake, who in the fulness of time was to
come from them. (2.) As a deliverer of Israel; for
he is Jesus a Saviour, who saves his people fr m
their sins. But with this difference: Samson did
only begin to deliver Israel, David was afterwards
raised up to complete the destruction of the Philis¬
tines, but our Lord Jesus is both Samson and David
too; both the Author and Finisher of our faith.
III. The report which Manoah’s wife, in a trans¬
port of joy, brings in all haste to her husband, of
this surprising message, v. 6, 7. The glad tidings
were brought her when she was alone, perhaps re¬
ligiously employed in meditation or prayer; but
she could not, she would not, conceal it from her
husband, but gives him an account,
1. Of the messenger. It was a man of God, v. 6.
His countenance she could describe; it was very
awful: he had such a majesty in his look, such aJ
sparkling eye, such a shining face, so powerfully
commanding reverence and respect, that, according
to the idea she had of an angel, he had the very
countenance of one. But his name she can give no
account of, nor to what tribe or city of Israel he be¬
longed, for he did not think fit to tell her, and, for
her part, the very sight of him struck such an awe
upon her, that she durst not ask him. She was
abundantly satisfied that he was a servant of God,
his person and message she thought carried their
own evidence along with them, and she inquired no
further.
2. Of the message. She gives him a particular
account both of the promise and of the precept, {v.
7.) that he also might believe the promise, and
might on all occasions be a monitor to her to observe
the precept. Thus should yoke-fellows communi¬
cate to each other their experiences of communion
with God, and their improvements in acquaintance
with him, that they may be helpful to each other in
the way that is called holy.
8. Then Manoah entreated the Lord,
and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us,
and teach us what we shall do unto the child
that shall be born. 9. And God hearkened
to the voice of Manoah ; and the angel of
God came again unto the woman as she
sat in the field : but Manoah her husband
was not with her. 10. And the woman
made haste, and ran, and showed her hus¬
band, and said unto him, Behold, the man |
hath appeared unto me, that came unto me 1
the other day. 11. And Manoah aiose,
and went after his wife, and came to the
man, and said unto him, Art thou the man
that speakest unto the woman l And he said,
I am. 12. And Manoah said. Now let thy
wTords come to pass : how shall we order
the child ? and how shall we do unto him
13. And the angel of the Lord said unto
Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman
let her beware. 1 4. She may not eat of
any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let
her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any
unclean thing: all that I commanded her
let her observe.
W e have here an account of a second visit, which
the angel of God made to Manoah and his wife.
I. Manoah earnestly prayed for it, v. 1. He
was not incredulous, and therefore the heart of her
husband doth safely trust in her; he knew she would
not go about to impose upon him, much less was he,
as Josephus unworthily represents him, jealous of
his wife’s conversation with this stranger; but, 1.
He takes it for granted, that this child of promise
would in due time be given them, and speaks with¬
out hesitation of the child that shall be born. There
was not found so great faith, no not in Zechariah, a
priest, then in waiting at the altar of the Lord, and
to whom the angel himself appeared, as was in this
honest Danite. Things hidden from the wise and
prudent, who value themselves upon the niceness of
their inquiries, are often revealed unto babes, who
know how to prize God’s gifts, and to take God’s
word. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet,
as Manoah here, have believed. 2. All his care is,
What they should do to the child that should be
born. Note, Good men are more solicitous and
desirous to know the duty that is to be done by
them, than to know the events that shall be con¬
cerning them; for duty is ours, events are God’s.
Solomon inquires concerning what the good men
should do, not the good they should have, Eccl. 2. 3.
3. He therefore prays to God to send the same bless¬
ed messenger again, to give them further instruc¬
tions concerning the management of this Nazarite,
fearing lest his wife’s joy for the promise, might
have made her forget some part of the precept, in
which she was desirous to be fully informed, and lie
under no mistake. “Lord, let the man of God
come again unto us, for we desire to be better ac¬
quainted with him.” Note, Those that have heard
from heaven cannot but wish to hear more from
thence, again and again to meet with the name of
God. Observe, He does not go, or send his ser¬
vants abroad, to find out this man of God, but
seeks him upon his knees, prays to God to send
him, and, thus seeking, finds him. Would we have
God’s messengers, the ministers of his gospel, to
bring a word proper for us, and for our instruction?
Entreat the Lora to send them to us to teach us,
Rom. 15. 30, 32.
II. God graciouslv granted it: (v. 9.) God heark¬
ened to the voice of Manoah. Note, God will not
fail some way or other to guide those by his counse1,
that are sincerely desirous to know their duty, and
apply themselves to him to teach them, Ps. 25. 8,9.
1. The angel appears the second time also to the
wife, when she was sitting alone, probably tending
the flocks, or otherwise well employed in the field
where she was retired; solitude is often a good op¬
portunity of communion with God; good people
have thought themselves never less alone than
when alone, if God be with them.
168
JUDGES, Xlll.
2. She goes in all haste to call her husband,
doubtless humbly beseeching the stay of this bless¬
ed messenger, till she return, and her husband with
her, v. 10, 11. She did not desire him to go with
her to her husband, but will fetch her husband to
him. Those that would meet with God, must at¬
tend there where he is pleased to manifest himself.
*' Oh,” says she, overjoyed, “ mv dear love, thy
prayers are answered, yonder is the man of God
come to make us another visit; he that came the
other day;” or, as some read it, this day, for other
is not in the original, and it is probable enough that
both these visits were the same day, and at the
same place, and that the second time she sat ex¬
pecting him. The man of God is very willing she
should call her husband, John 4. 16. Those that
have got acquaintance with the things of God them¬
selves, should invite others to the same acquaint¬
ance, John 1. 45, 46. Manoah is not disgusted that
the angel did not this second time appear to him,
but very willingly goes after his wife to the man of
God. To atone (as it were) for the first fatal mis¬
carriage, when Eve earnestly pressed Adam to that
which was evil, and he too easily yielded to her, let
yokefellows excite one another to love and follow
good works; and if the wife will lead, let not the
husband think it any disparagement to him, to
follow her in that which is virtuous and praise¬
worthy.
3. Manoah being come to the angel, and satisfied
by him that he was the same that had appeared to
his wile, does, with all humility, (1.) Welcome the
promise; (i>. 12.) Now let thy words come to pass;
this was the language, not only of his desire, but of
his faith, like that of the blessed Virgin, (Luke 1.
38.) “ Be it according to thy word. Lord, I lay
hold on what thou hast said, and depend upon it;
let it come to pass." (2.) Beg that the prescrip¬
tions given, might be repeated; How shall we order
the child? The directions were given to his wife,
but he looks upon himself as concerned to assist her
in the careful management of this promised seed,
according to order; for the utmost care of both the
parents, and their constant joint endeavour, are little
enough to be engaged for the good ordering of chil¬
dren that are devoted to God, and to be brought up
for him. Let not one devolve it on the other, but
both do their best. Observe, from Manoah’s inquiry,
[1.] In general, that when God is pleased to bestow
any mercy upon us, our great care must be how to
use it well, and as we ought, because it is then only 1
a mercy indeed, when it is rightly managed. God
has given us bodies, souls, estates; how shall we
i.rder them, that we may answer the intent of the
donor, and give a good account of them? [2.] In
particular, those to whom God has given children,
must be very careful how they order them, and
what they do unto them, that they may drive out
the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts, from
their minds and manners well betimes, and train
them in the way wherein they should go. Herein
pious parents will beg divine assistance. “ Lord,
teach us how we may order our children, that they
may be Nazarites, and living sacrifices to thee.” ‘
4. The angel repeats the direction he had before
given; ( v . 13, 14.) Of all that I forbade let her be¬
ware. And a// that I commanded her let her observe.
Note, There is need of a great deal both of caution
and observation, for the right ordering both of our¬
selves and of our children. Beware, and observe;
take heed not only of drinking wine or strong drink,
but of eating any thing that cometh of the vine. Those
that would preserve themselves pure, must keep at
a aistance from that which borders upon sin, or
leads to it. When she was with child of a Nazarite,
she must not eat any unclean thing; so those in
whom Christ is formed, must carefully cleanse them¬
selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and do
nothing to the prejudice of that new man.
15. And Manoah said unto the angel of
the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee
until we shall have made ready a kid for
thee. 16. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I
will not eat. of thy bread ; and if thou wilt
offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto
the Lord : for Manoah knew not that he
was an angel of the Lord. 17. And Ma¬
noah said unto the angel of the Lord, What
is thy name, that, when thy sayings come
to pass, we may do thee honour ? 18. And
the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why
askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is
secret ? 19. So Manoah took a kid, with a
meat-offering, and offered it upon a rock
unto the Lord : and the angel did won-
drously ; and Manoah and his wife looked
on. 20. For it came to pass, when the
flame went up toward heaven from off the
altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended
in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and
his wife looked on it , and fell on their faces
to the ground. 21. (But the angel of the
Lord did no more appear to Manoah and
to his wife.) Then Manoah knew that he
urns an angel of the Lord. 22. And Ma¬
noah said unto his wife, We shall surely die,
Decause we have seen God. 23. But his
wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleas¬
ed to kill us, he would not have received a
burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our
hands ; neither would he have showed us
all these things , nor would, as at this time,
have told us such things as these.
We have here an account,
I. Of what further passed between Manoah and
the angel at this interview. It was in kindness to
him, that while the angel was with him, it was con¬
cealed from him that it was an angel; for had he
known it, it would have been such a terror to him,
that he durst not have conversed with him as he did;
(y. 16.) He knew not that he was an angel. So
Christ was in the world, and the world knew him
not. Verily, thou art a God that hidest thyself. We
could not bear the sight of the divine glory unvailed.
God having determined to speak to us by men like
ourselves, prophets and ministers, even when he
spake by his angels, or by his Son, they appeared in
the likeness of men, and were taken but for men of
God.
Now, 1. The angel declined to accept his treat,
and appointed him to turn it into a sacrifice. Ma¬
noah, being desirous to show some token of respect
and gratitude to this venerable stranger who had
brought them these glad tidings, begged he would
take some refreshment with him; (v. 15.) “We
will soon make ready a kid for thee." They that
welcome the message, will be kind to the messen¬
gers for his sake that sends them, 1 Thess. 5. 13.
But the angel told him (z>. 16.) he would not eat of
his bread, any more than he would of Gideon’s, but, as
there, directed him to offer it to God, ch. 6. 20, 21.
169
JUDGES, XIII.
Angels’ need not meat or drink; but the glorifying
•>i God is their meat and drink, and it was Christ’s,
John 4. 34. And we in some measure do the will
of God as they do it, if, though we cannot live with-
< ut meat and drink, yet we eat and drink to the
glory ol God, and so turn even our common meals
into sacrifices.
2. The angel declined telling him his name, and
would not so far gratify his curiosity. Manoah de¬
sired to know his name, ( v . 17.) and of what tribe
he was, not as if he doubted the truth of his mes¬
sage, but that they might return his visit, and
be better acquainted with him. It is good to in¬
crease and improve our acquaintance with good
men and good ministers: and he has a further de¬
sign, “ That \ when thy sayings come to pass, we may
do thee honour, celebrate thee as a true prophet,
and recommend others to thee for divine instruc¬
tion; that we may call the child that shall be born,
after thy name, and so do thee honour; or that we
may send thee a present, honouring one whom God
has honoured. But the angel denies his request
with something of a check to his curiosity, ( v . 18.)
Why askest thou thus after my name? Jacob him¬
self could not prevail for this favour, Gen. 32. 29.
Note, We have not what we ask, when we ask we
know not what. Manoah’s request was honestly
meant, and yet was denied. God told Moses his
name, (Exod. 3. 13, 14.) because there was a par¬
ticular occasion for his knowing it; but here there
was no occasion. What Manoah asked for instruc¬
tion in his duty, he was readily told; (xn 12, 13.)
but what he asked to gratify his curiosity, was de¬
nied; God has in his word given us full directions
concerning our duty, but never designed to answer
all the inquiries of a speculative head. He gives
him a reason for his refusal, “ It is secret.” The
names of angels were not as yet revealed, to pre¬
vent the idolizing of them: after the captivity, when
the church was cured of idolatry, angels made
themselves known to Daniel by their names, Mi¬
chael and Gabriel; and to Zacharias, the angel told
his name unasked, (Luke 1. 19.) I am Gabriel.
But here it is secret, or it is wonderful, too wonder¬
ful for us. One of Christ’s names is Wonderful,
Isa. 9. 6. His name was long a secret, but by the
gospel it is brought to light, Jesus, a Saviour. Ma¬
noah must not ask, because he must not know.
Note, (1.) There are secret things which belong
not to us, and which we must content ourselves to
be in the dark about, while we are here in this
world. (2.) We must therefore never indulge a
vain curiosity in our inquiries concerning these
things, Col. 2. 18. Nescire velle quse Magister
maximus docere non vult erudita inscitia est — To
be willingly ignorant of those things which our great
Master refuses to teach us, is to be at once ignorant
and wise.
3. The angel assisted and owned their sacrifice,
and, at parting, gave them to understand who he
was. He had directed them to offer their burnt-of¬
fering to the Lord, v. 16. Praises offered up to
God, are the most acceptable entertainment of the
angels; see Rev. 22. 9. worship God. And Ma¬
noah having so good a warrant, though he was no
priest, and had no altar, turned his meat into a meat¬
offering, and offered it upon a rock to the Lord;
(xi. 19.) that is, he brought and laid it to be offered;
“Lord, here it is, do what thou pleasest with it.”
Thus we must bring our hearts to God as living
sacrifices, and submit them to the operation of his
Spirit. All things being now ready, (1.) The angel
did wondrously, for his name was Wonderful.
Probably the wonder he did was the same with
what he had done for Gideon, he made fire to come
either down from heaven, or up out of the rock, to
consume the sacrifice. (2.) He ascended up toward
Vol 11— V
heaven in the flame of the sacrifice, v. 20. By this
it appeared, that he was not, as they thought, a
mere man, but a messenger immediately from hea¬
ven; thence certainly he descended, for thither he
ascended, John 3. 13*. — 6. 62. This signified God’s
acceptance of the offering, and intimates to what
we owe the acceptance of all our offerings, e »en to
the mediation of the angel of the covenant, that
other angel, who puts much incense to the firayers
of saints, and so offers them before the throne, Rev.
8. 3. Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God. But
it is Christ in the heart by faith that makes it an of¬
fering of a sweet smelling savour: without him our
services are offensive’smoke, but in him acceptable
flame. We may apply it to Christ’s sacrifice of
himself for us; he ascended in the flame of his own
offering, for by his own blood he entered in once into
the holy place, Heb. 9. 12. While the angel did
this, it is twice said (v. 19, 20.) that Manoah and
his wife looked on. This is a proof of the miracle,
the matter of fact was true, for out of the mouth oi
these two eye-witnesses the report of it is esta¬
blished. The angel did all that was done in the
sacrifice, they did but look on; yet d ubtless when
the angel ascended toward heaven, their hearts
ascended with him in thanksgiving for the promise
which came from thence, and in expectation of the
performance to come from thence too. Yet when
the angel is ascended, they dare not, as those that
were the witnesses of Christ’s ascension, stand gaz¬
ing up into heaven, but in holy fear and reverence
they fell on their faces to the ground. And now,
(1.) They knew that he was an angel, v. 21. It
was plain it was not the body of a man they saw,
since it was not chained to the earth, nor prejudiced
by fire; but ascended, and ascended in flame; and
therefore with good reason they conclude it was an
angel, for he makcth his angels spirits, and his min¬
isters a flame of fire. (2.) But he did nrt any more
appear to them; it was for a particular < ( -urn, now
over, that lie was sent, not to settle a constant cor¬
respondence, as with prophets. They must re¬
member and observe what the angel had said, and
not expect to hear more.
II. We have an account of the impressions which
this visi< n made upon Manoah and his wife. Whilethe
angel did wondrously, they looked on, and said no¬
thing; (so it becomes us carefully to observe the
wondrous works of God, and to be silent before
him;) but when he was gone, having finished his
work, they had time to make their reflections.
1. In Manoah’s reflections upon it there is great
fear, v. 22. He had spoken with great assurance
of the son they should shortly be the joyful parents
of, (v. 8. 12.) and yet is now put into such a confu¬
sion by that very thing which should have strength¬
ened and encouraged his faith, that he counts upon
nothing but their being both cut off immediately,
We shall surely die. It was a vulgar opinion gene¬
rally received among the ancient Jews, that it was
present death to see God, or an angel; and this no¬
tion quite overcame his faith, for the present, : s it
did Gideon’s, ch. 6. 22.'
2. In his wife’s reflection upon it there is great
faith, v. 23. Here the weaker vessel was the
stronger believer, which perhaps was the reason
why the angel chose once and again to : ppear to her.
Manoah 's heart began to fail him, but his wife, as
a help-meet for him, encouraged him. T wo are
better than one, for if one fall into dejections and
despondencies, the other will help to raise him up.
Yoke-fellows should piously assist each other’s
faith and joy as there is occasion. None could ar¬
gue better than Manoah’s wife does here. Tie shall
surely die, said her husband; “Nay,” said she,
“ we need not fear that; let us never turn th- 1
against us which is really for us. We shall not die
170
JUDGES, XIV.
unless God be pleased to kill us, our death must
come from his hand and his pleasure; now the to¬
kens of his pleasure which we have received, forbid
us to think that he designs our destruction. Had
he thought fit to kill us,” (1.) “ He would not have
accepted our sacrifice, and signified to us his ac¬
ceptance of it by turning it to ashes, Ps. 20. 3. mar¬
gin. The sacrifice was the ransom of our lives,
and the fire fastening upon that, was a plain indica¬
tion of the turning away of his wrath from us. The
sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, but you
see ours is not so.” (2.) “He would not have
showed us all these things, these strange sights, \
now at a time when there is little or no open vision, ‘
/1 Sam. 3. 1.) nor would he have given these ex- ,
reeding great and precious promises of a son, that ;
shail be a Nazarite, and a deliverer of Israel; he
woidd not have told us such things as these if he
had been pleased to kill us. We need not fear the
withering of those roots out of which such a branch
is yet to spring.” Note, Hereby it appears God de¬
signs not the death of sinners, that he has accepted
the great sacrifice which Christ offered up for their
salvation, and has put them in a way of obtaining his
favour, and assured them of it upon their repent¬
ance. Had he been pleased to kill them, he would
not ha-re (lone so. And let those good Christians,
who have had communion with God in the word and
prayer, to whom he has graciously manifested him¬
self, and who have had reason to think God has ac¬
cepted their works, take encouragement from
thence in a cloudy and dark day; “ God would not
have done what he has done for my soul, if he had
designed to forsake me, and leave me to perish at
last; for his work is perfect, nor will he mock his
people with his favours. Learn to reason as Ma-
noah’s wife did, “If God had designed me to per¬
ish under his wrath, he would not have given me
such distinguishing tokens of his favours.” O wo¬
man, great is thy faith.
24. And thewoman bare a son, and call¬
ed his name Samson ; and the child grew,
and the Lord blessed him. 25. And the
Spirit of the Lord began to move him at
times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah
and Eshtaol.
Here is,
1. Samson’s birth. The woman that had been
long barren, bare a son, according to the premise;
for no word of God shall fall to the ground. Hath
he spoken, and shall he not make it good? His
name Samson, has been derived, by some, from
Shemesh the sun, turned into a diminutive, sol exi-
gmts — the sun in miniature; perhaps because, be¬
ing born like Moses to be a deliverer, he was, like
him, exceeding fair, his face shone like a little sun:
or, in remembrance of the shining countenance of
that man of God, who brought them the notice of
him; though they knew not his name, yet thus, now
that his sayings were come to pass, they did him ho¬
nour. A little sun, because a Nazarite born, for
the Nazarites were as rubies and sapphires, Lam.
4. 7. And because of his great strength, the sun
is compared to a strong man; (Ps. 19. 5.) why
should not a strong man then be compared to the
sun when he goes forth in his strength? A little
sun, because the glory of, and a light to his people
Israel. A type of Christ, the Sun of righteousness.
2. His childhood. He grew more than ordinary
in strength and stature, far outgrew other children
of his age, and not in that omy, but in other in¬
stances, it appeared that the Lord blessed him,
qualified him, both in body and mind, for something
great and extraordinary. Children of promise shall
have the blessing.
3. His youth. When he grew up a little, the
Spirit of the Lord began to move him, v. 25. This
was an evidence that the Lord blessed h:m. Where
God gives his blessing, lie gives his Spirit to qualify
for the blessing. Those are blessed indeed, in
whom the Spirit of grace begins to work betimes,
in the days of their ch.ldhood. If the Spirit be
poured out upon our offspring, they will spring up
as willows by the water courses, Isa. 44. 3. 4. The
Spirit of God moved Samson in the camp of Dan,
that is, in the general muster of the trained bands
of that tribe, who, probably, had fot med a camp
between Zorah and Eshtaol, near the place where
he lived, to oppose the incursions of the Philistines;
there Samson, when a child, appeared among them,
and signalized himself by some very brave actions,
excelling them all in manly exercises and trials of
strength, and, probably, he showed himself more
than ordinarily zealous against the enemies of his
country, and discovered more of a public spirit than
could be expected in a child. The Spirit moved
him at times, not at all times, but as the wind blows,
when he listed, to show that what he did, was n< t
from him himself, then he could have done it at any
time. Strong men think themselves greatly ani¬
mated by wine; (Ps. 78. 65.) but Samson drank no
wine, and yet excelled in strength and courage, and
ev ery thing that was bold and brave, for he had the
spirit of God moving him: therefore be not drunk
with wine but be filled with the Spirit, who will
come to those that are sober and temperate.
CHAP. XIV.
The idea which this chapter gives us of Samson, is not
what one might have expected concerning one, who, by
the special designation of heaven, was a Nazarite to
God, and a deliverer of Israel; and yet really he was
both. Here is, I. Samson’s courtship of a daughter of
the Philistines, and his marriage to her, v. 1 . . 5, 7, 8.
II. His conquest of a lion, and the prize he found in
the carcase of it, v. 5, 6, 8, 9. III. Samson’s riddle
proposed to his companions (v. 10. . 14.) and unriddled
by the treachery of his wife, v. 15. . 18. IV. The occa¬
sion this gave him to kill thirty of the Philistines, (v.
19.) and to break off his new alliance, v. 20.
1. A ND Samson went down to Timnath,
f\_ and saw a woman in Timnath of
the daughters of the Philistines. 2. And he
came up and told his father and his mother,
and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath
of the daughters of the Philistines ; now,
therefore, get her for me to wife. 3. Then
his father and his mother said unto him, Is
there never a woman among the daughters
of thy brethren, or among all my people,
that thou goest to take a wife of the uncir¬
cumcised Philistines? # And Samson said
unto his father, Get her for me; for she
pleaseth me well. 4. But his father and his
mother knew not that it was of the Lord
that he sought an occasion against the Phi¬
listines: for at that time the Philistines had
dominion over Israel. 5. Then went Sam¬
son down, and his father and his mother, to
Timnath,. and came to the vineyards of
Timnath : and, behold, a young lion roared
against him. 6. And the Spirit of the Lord
came mightily upon him, and he rent him
as he would have rent a kid, and he had
nothing in his hand : hut he told not his fa*
171
JUDGES, XIV.
Uirr or his mother what he had done. 7.
And he went down, and talked with the
woman ; and she pleased Samson well.
8. And after a time he returned to take her,
and he turned aside to see the carcase of the
lion ; and, behold, there teas a swarm of
bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9. And he took thereof in his hands, and
went on eating, and came to his father and
mother, and he gave them, and they did eat:
but he told not them that he had taken the
honey out of the carcase of the lion.
Here,
I. Samson, under the extraordinary guidance of
Providence, seeks an occasion of quarrelling with
the Philistines, by joining in affinity with them. A
strange method, but the truth is, Samson was him¬
self a riddle, a paradox of a man, did that which
was really great and good, by that which was seem¬
ingly weak and evil, because he was designed not
to be a pattern to us, (who must walk by rule, and
not by example,) but a type of him, who, though
he knew no sin, was made sin for us, and appeared
in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might condemn
and destroy sin in the flesh, Rom. 8. 3.
1. As the negotiation of Samson’s marriage was
a common case, we may observe, (1.) That it was
weakly and foolishly done of him to set his affec¬
tions upon a daughter of the Philistines; the thing
appeared \ erv improper. Shall one, that is not only
an Israelite, but a Nazarite, devoted to the Lord,
covet to become one with a worshipper of Dagon?
Shall one, marked for a patriot of his country,
match among those that were its sworn enemies?
He saw this woman, (v. 1. ) and she pleased him well,
v. 3. It does not appear that he had any reason to
think her either wise or virtuous, or any way likely
to be a help-meet for him: but he saw something in
her face that was very agreeable to his fancy, and
therefore nothing will serve, but she must be his
wife. He that, in the choice of a wife, is guided
only by his eye, and governed by his fancy, must
afterward thank himself, if he find a Philistine in
his arms. (1.) Yet it was wisely and well done, not
to proceed so much as to make his addresses .to her,
till he had first made his parents acquainted with
the matter. He told them, and desired them to get
her for him to wife, v. 2. Herein he is an example
to all children, conformable to the law of the fifth
commandment. Children ought not to marry, nor
to move towards it, without the advice and consent
of their parents; they that do, (as Bishop Hall here
expresses it,) wilfully unchild themselves, and ex¬
change natural affections for violent. Parents have
a property in their children as parts of themselves,
i'll marriage, this property is transferred, for such
is the law of the relation, that a man shall leave his
father and his mother, and cleave to his wife: it is
therefore not only unkind and ungrateful, but very
unjust, to alienate this property without their con¬
currence; whoso thus rohbeth his father or mother,
stealing himself from them, who is nearer and dear¬
er to them than their good, and yet saith. It is no
transgression, the same is a companion of a de¬
stroyer, Prov. 28. 24. (2.) His parents did well to
dissuade him from yoking himself thus unequally
with an unbeliever. Let those who profess religion,
but .are courting an affinity with the profane and
irreligious, matching into families where they have
reason to think the fear of Cod is not, nor the wor¬
ship of God, let them hear their reasoning, and ap¬
ply it to themselves. “ Is there never a woman
among the daughttr-s of the brethren, or if none of
our own tribe, never a one among my people, never
an Israelite, that pleases thee, cr that thou canst
think worthy of thine affection, that thou shouldest
marry, a Philistine?” In the old world, the sons of
God corrupted and ruined themselves, their fami¬
lies, and that truly primitive church, by marrying
with the daughters of men, Gen. 6. 2. God had
forbidden the people of Israel to marry with the de¬
voted nations, one of which the Philistines were,
Deut. 7. 3. (3.) If there had not been a special
reason for it, it had certainly been improper in him
to insist upon his choice, and in them to agree to it
at last. Yet their tender compliance with his affec¬
tions, may be observed as an example to parents,
not to be unreasonable in crossing their children’s
choices, not to deny their consent, especially to
those that have seasonably and dutifully asked it,
without some very good cause. As children must
obey their parents in the Lord, so parents must not
provoke their children to wrath, lest they be dis¬
couraged. This Nazarite, in his subjection to his
parents, asking their consent, and not proceeding
till he had it, was not only an example to all chil¬
dren, but a type of the holy child Jesus, who went
down with his parents to JSfazareth, (thence called
a JVazarene,) and was subject to them Luke 2. 51.,
2. But this treaty of marriage is expressly said to
be of the Lord, v. 4. Not only that God afterwards
overruled it to serve his designs against the Philis¬
tines, but that he put it into Sampson’s heart to
make his choice, that he might have occasion
against the Philistines. It was not a thing ev il in
itself for him to marry a Philistine. It was forbid¬
den, because of the danger of receiving hurt by
idolaters; where there was not only no danger of
I that kind, but an opportunity hoped for of doing
i that hurt to them, which would be good service to
Israel, the law might well be dispensed with. It
was said, (ch. 13. 25.) that the Spirit of the Lord
began to move him at times, and we have reason to
think, he himself perceived that Spirit to move
him at this time, when he made this choice; and
that otherwise, he would have yielded to his pa¬
rents’ dissuasives, nor would they have consented
at last, if he had not satisfied them it was of the
Lord. This would bring him into acquaintance
and converse with the Philistines, bv which he
might have such opportunities of galling them, as
otherwise he could not have. It should seem, the
way in which the Philistines oppressed Israel, was,
not by great armies, but by the clandest’ne incur¬
sions of their giants, and small parties of their plun¬
derers; in the same way therefore Samson must
deal with them; let him but by this marriage get
among them, and he would be a thorn in thtir
sides. Jesus Christ, being to deliver us from the
present evil world, and to cast out the prince of it,
did himself visit it, though full of pollution and en¬
mity, and, by assuming a body, did in some sense
join in affinity with it, that he might destroy our
spiritual enemies, and his own arm might work the
salvation.
II. Samson, by a special providence, is animated
and encouraged to attack the Philistines. That
being the service to which he was designed, God,
when he called him to it, prepared him for it by
two occurrences.
1. By enabling him, in one journey toTimnath, to
kill a lion, v. 5, 6. Many decline doing the ser¬
vice they might do, because they know not their
own strength. God let Samson know what he
could do in the strength rf the Spirit of the Lord,
that he might never be afraid to look the greatest
difficulties in the face. David, that was to com¬
plete the destruction of the Philistines, must try his
hand first upon a lion and a bear, that from thence
he might infer, as we might suppose Samson c id,
172
JUDGES, XIV.
that the uncircumcised Philistines should be as one
of them, 1 Sam. 17. 36. (1.) Samson’s encounter
with the lion was hazardous. It was a young lion,
one of the fiercest sort, that set upon him, roaring
for his prey, and setting his eye particularly upon
him; he roared in meeting him, so the word is. He
was all alone, in the vineyards, whither he had
ambled from his father and mother, (who kept
.he high road,) probably to eat grapes. Children
consider not how they expose themselves to the
roaring lion that seeks to devour, when, out of a
foolish fondness for liberty, they wander from un¬
der the eye and wing of their prudent pious parents.
Nor do young people consider what lions lurk in the
vineyards, the vineyards of red wines, as dangerous
as snakes under the green grass. Had Samson met
with this lion in the way, he might have had more
reason to expect help both from God and man,
than here in the solitary vineyards, out of his road.
But there was a special providence in it, and the
more hazardous the encounter was, (2. ) the victo¬
ry was so much more illustrious. It was obtained
without any difficulty; he strangled the lion, and
tore his throat as easily as he would have strangled
a kid, yet without any instrument, not only no
sword or bow, but not so much as a staff or knife;
he had nothing in his hand. Christ engaged the
roaring lion, and conquered him in the beginning
of his public work, (Matth. 4. 1, &c.) and after¬
ward spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing
over them in himself, as some read it, not by any
instrument. He was exalted in his own strength.
That which added much to the glory of Samson’s
triumph over the lion, was, that when he had done
this great exploit, he did not boast of it, did not so
much as tell his father or mother that which many
a one would soon have published through the whole
country. Modesty and humility make up the
brightest crown of great performances.
2. By providing him, the next journey, with ho¬
ney in the carcase of this lion, v. 8, 9. ' When he
came down the next time to solemnize his nuptials,
and his parents with him, he had the curiosity to
turn aside into the vineyard where he had killed
the lion, perhaps, that with the sight of the place
he might affect himself with the 'mercy of that
great deliverance, and might there solemnly give
thanks to God for it. It is good thus to remind our¬
selves of God’s former favours to us. There he
found the carcase of the lion; the birds or beasts of
prey, it is likely, had eaten the flesh, and in the
skeleton a swarm of bees h ad knit, and made a hive
of it, and had not been idle, but had there laid up a
good stock of honey, which was one of the staple
commodities of Canaan; such plenty was there of it,
that it is said to flow with milk arid honey. Sam¬
son, having a better title than anv man to the hive,
seizes the honey with his hand. Th's supposes an
encounter with the bees; but he that dreaded not
the lion’s paws, had no reason to fear their stings.
As by his victory over the lion, he was imboldened
to encounter the Philistine-giants, if there should be
occasion, notwithstanding their strength and fierce¬
ness, so by dislodging the bees, he was taught not
to fear the multitude of the Philistines; though they
comfiassed about him like bees, yet in the name of
the Lord he should destroy them, Ps. 118. 12. Of
the honey he here found, (1.) He ate himself, ask¬
ing no questions for conscience’ sake; for the dead
bones of an unclean beast had not that ceremonial
pollution in them, that the bones of a man had.
John Baptist, that Nazarite of the New Testament,
lived upon wild honey. (2.) He gave to his pa¬
rents, and they did eat; he did not eat all himself;
Hast thou found honey, eat so much as is sufficient
for thee, and no more, Prov. 25. 16. He let his
parents share with him. Children should be grate¬
ful to their parents with the fruits of their own in
dustry, and so show piety at home, 1 Tim. 5. 4.
Let those that by the grace of God have Lund
sweetness in religion themselves, communicate
their experience to their friends and relations, and
invite them to come and share with them. He
told not his parents whence he had it, lest they
should have scrupled eating it. Bishop Hall ob¬
serves here, that those are less wise and more scru¬
pulous than Samson, that decline the use of God’s
gifts, because they find them in ill vessels. Honey
is honey still, though in a dead lion. Our Lord Je¬
sus having conquered Satan, that roaring lion, be¬
lievers find honey in the carcase, abundant strength
and satisfaction, enough for themselves, and for all
their friends, from that victory.
10. So his father went down* unto the wo¬
man : and Samson made there a feast ; for
so used the young men to do. 11. And it
came to pass, when they saw him, that they
brought thirty companions to be with him.
12. And Samson said unto them, I will now
put forth a riddle unto you : if you can cer¬
tainly declare it me within the seven days
of the feast, and find it out, then I will give
you thirty sheets, and thirty change of gar¬
ments : 1 3. But if ye cannot declare it me,
then shall ve give me thirty sheets, and
thirty change of garments. And they said
unto hi n, Put forth thy riddle, that we may
hear it. 14. And he said unto them, Out
of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness. And they
could not in three days expound the riddle.
15. And it came to pass on the seventh day,
that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice
thy husband, that he may declare unto us
the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s
house with fire : have ye called us to take
that we have? is it not so? 16. And Sam¬
son’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou
dost but hate me, and lovest me not : thou
hast put forth a riddle unto the children of
my people, and hast not told it me. And
he said unto her, Behold, 1 have not told it
my father nor my mother, and shall 1 tell it
thee? 17. And she wept before him the
seven days, while* their feast lasted: and it
came to pass on the seventh day that he
told her, because she lav sore upon him ;
and she told the riddle to the children of
her people. 18. And the men of the city
said unto him on the seventh day, before the
sun went down, What is sweeter than
honey? and what is stronger than a lion ?
And he said unto them, If ye had not plough¬
ed with my heifer, ye had not found out my
riddle. 19. And the Spirit of the Lon n came
upon' him, and he went down to Ashkelon,
and slew thirty men of them, and took their
spoil, and gave change of garments unto
them which expounded the riddle : and his
anger was kindled, and he went up to his
173
JUDGES, XIV.
father’s house. 20. But Samson’s wife was
given to his companion, whom he had used
as his friend.
VVe have here an account of Samson’s wedding
feast, and the occasion it gave him to fall foul of the
Philistines.
I. Samson conformed to the custom of the coun¬
try, in making a festival on his nuptial solemnities,
which continued seven days, v. 10. Though he
was a Nazarite, he did not affect, in a thing of this
nature, to be singular, but did as the young men
used to do upon such occasions. It is no part of re¬
ligion (.o go contrary to the innocent usages of the
places where we live; nay, it is a reproach to reli¬
gion, when those who profess it, give just occasion
to others to call them covetous, sneaking, and mo¬
rose. A good man should strive to make himself,
in the best sense, a good companion.
II. His wife’s relations paid him the accustomed
respect of the place upon that occasion, and brought
him thirty young men to keep him company during
the solemnity, and to attend him as his grooms¬
men. When they saw him, {v. 11.) what a comely
man he was, and what an ingenuous graceful look
he had, they brought him these to do him honour,
and to improve by his conversation, while he stay¬
ed among them. Or rather, when they saw him,
what a strong stout man he was, they brought
these seemingly to be his companions, but really to
be a guard upon him, or spies to observe him.
Jealous enough they were of him, but would have
been more so, had they known of his victory over
the lion, which therefore he had industriously con¬
cealed. The favours of Philistines have often some
mischief or other designed in them.
III. Samson, to entertain the company, propounds
a riddle to them, and lays a wager with them that
they cannot find it out in seven days, v. 12* *14.
The usage, it seems, was very ancient upon such
occasions, when friends were together, to be inno¬
cently merry, not to spend all the time in dull eat¬
ing and drinking, as Bishop Patrick expresses it, or
in the other gratifications of sense, as music, dancing,
or shows, but to propose questions, by which their
learning and ingenuity might be tried and improv¬
ed. This becomes men, wise men, that value
themselves by their reason; but very unlike to it
are the infamous and worse than brutish entertain¬
ments of this degenerate age, which send nothing
round but the glass and the health, till reason
is drowned, and wisdom sunk. Now, 1. Samson’s
riddle was his own invention, for it was his own
achievement that gave occasion for it; Out of the
eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came
forth sweetness. Read my riddle, what is this?
Bevsts of prey do not yield meat for man, yet food
fame from the devourer; and those creatures that
are strong when they are alive, commonly smell
strong, and are every way offensive when they are
dead, as horses, and yet out of the strong, or out of
the bitter, so the Syriac and Arabic read it, came
sweetness. If they had but so much sense as to con¬
sider what eater is most strong, and what meat is
most sweet, they would have found out the riddle;
and neither lions nor honey were such strangers to
their country, that the thoughts of them needed to
be out of the way: the solving of the riddle would
have given him occasion to tell them the entertain¬
ing story on which it was founded. This riddle is
applicable to many of the methods of divine provi¬
dence and grace. When God, by an overruling
providence, brings good out of evil to his church
and people; when that which threatened their ruin,
turns to their advantage; when their enemies are
made serviceable to them, and the wrath of men
turns to God’s praise, then comes meat out of the
eater, and sweetness out of the strong. See Phil. 1.
12. 2. His wager was more considerable to him than
to them, because he was one against thirty part¬
ners. It was not a wager laid upon God’s provi¬
dence, or upon the chance of a die or a card, but
upon their ingenuity, and amounted to no more than
an honorary recompense of wit, and a disgrace upon
stupidity.
IV. His companions, when they could not ex¬
pound the riddle themselves, obliged his wife to get
from him the exposition of it, v. 15. Whether
they were really of a dull capacity, or whether un¬
der a particular infatuation at this time, it was
strange that none < f the thi- ty could in all this time
stumble upon so plain a thing as that, Vl'hat is
sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a
lion? It should seem, that in wit as well as man¬
ners, they were barban us; barbarous indeed, to
threaten the bride, that if she would not use means
with the bridegroom to let them into the meaning
of it, they would burn her and her father's house
with fire. Could any thing be more brutish? It
was base enough to turn a jest into earnest, and
they were unworthy of conversation, that would
grow so outrageous rather than confess their igno¬
rance and lose so small a wager; nor would it save
their credit at all, to tell the riddle when they were
told it. It was yet more villanous, to engage Sam¬
son’s wife to be a traitor to her own husband, and
to pretend a greater interest in her than he had.
Now that she was married she must forget her own
people. Yet most inhuman of all was it, to threat¬
en, if she could not prevail, to burn her and all her
relations with fire, and all for fear of losing each of
them the value of a shirt and a coat: Have ye call¬
ed us to take what we have? Those must never
lay wagers, that cannot lose more tamely and easily
than thus.
V. His wife, by unreasonable importunity, ob¬
tains from him a key to his riddle. It was on the
seventh day, that is, the seventh day of the week,
(as Dr. Lightfi'ot conjectures,) but the fourth day
of the feast, that they solicited her to entice her
husband; (t\ 15.) and she did it, 1. With great art
and management, ( v . 16.) resolving not to believe
he loved her, unless he would gratify her in this
thing. She knew he could not bear to have his love
questioned, and therefore if any thing would work
upon him, that would; “ Thou dost but hate me,
and lovest me not, if thou deniest me;” whereas he
had much more reason to say, “ Thoji dost but hate
me, and lovest me not, if thou insistest on it.” And
that she might not make this the test of his affec¬
tion, he assures her he had not told his own parents,
notwithstanding the confidence he reposed in them.
If this prevail not, she will try the powerful elo¬
quence of tears, she wept before him the rest of the
days of the feast, choosing rather to mar the mirth,
as the bride’s tears must needs do, than not gain
the point, and oblige her countrymen, v. 17. 2.
With great success. At last, being quite wearied
with her importunity, he told her what was the
meaning of his riddle, and though we may suppose
she promised secrecy, and that if he would but let
her know, she would tell nobody, she immediately
told it to the children of her people ; nor could he
expect better from a Philistine, especially when
the interests of her country were ever so little con¬
cerned. See Mic. 7. 5, 6. The riddle is at length
unriddled; (v. 18.) What is sweeter than honey , or
a better meat? Prov. 24. 13. What is stronger
than a lion, or a greater devourer? Samson ge¬
nerously owns they had won the wager, thougn he
had good reason to dispute it, because they had not
declared the riddle, as the bargain was, (y. 12.) but
it had been declared to them. But he only thought
174
JUDGES, XV.
fit to tell them of it, If ye had not ploughed with
my heifei , made use ot your interest with my wife,
you had not found out my riddle. Satan, in his
temptations, could not do us the mischief he does,
if he did not plough with the heifer of our own cor¬
rupt nature.
VI. Samson pays his wager to these Philistines
with the spoils of others of their countrymen, v. 19.
He took this occasion to quarrel with the Philis¬
tines, went down to Ashkelon, one of their cities,
where, probably, he knew there was some great
festival observed at this time, to which many flock¬
ed, out of whom he picked out thirty, slew them,
and took their clothes, and gave them to those that
expounded the riddle: so that, in balancing the ac¬
count, it appeared that the Philistines were the
losers, for one of the lives they lost, was worth all
the suits of clothes they won; since the body is more
than raiment. The Spirit of the Lord, came upon
him, both to authorise and to enable him to do this.
Lastly , This proves a good occasion of weaning
Samson from his new relations. He found how his
companions had abused him, and how his wife had
betrayed him, and therefore his anger was kindled,
v. 19. Better be angry with Philistines, than in
love with them, because, when we join ourselves
to them, we are most in danger of being ensnared
by them. And meeting with this ill usage among
them, he went up to his father’s house. It were
well for us, if the unkindnesses we meet with from
the world, and our disappointments in it, had but
this good effect upon us, to oblige us by faith and
prayer to return to our heavenly Father’s house,
and rest there. The inconveniences that occur in
our way, should make us love home, and long to
be there. No sooner was he gone, than his wife was
disposed of to another, v. 20. Instead of begging
his pardon for the wrong she had done him, when
he justly s'gnified his resentment of it, only by
withdrawing in displeasure for a time, she imme¬
diately marries him that was the chief of the guests,
the friend of the bridegroom, whom perhaps she
loved too well, and was too willing AS oblige, when
she got her husband to tell her the riddle. See how
little confidence is to be put in man, when those
may prove our enemies whom we have used as our
friends.
CHAP. XV.
Samson, when he had courted an alliance with the Philis¬
tines, did but seek an occasion against them, ch. 14. 4.
Now here we have a further account of the occasions he
took to weaken them, and to avenge, not his own, but
Israel’s quarrels, upon them. Every thing here is sur¬
prising; if any thing be thought incredible, because im¬
possible, it must be remembered that with God nothing
is impossible, and it was by the Spirit of the Lord com¬
ing upon him, that he was both directed to, and strength¬
ened for, those unusual ways of making war. I. From
the perfidiousness of his wife and her father, he took oc¬
casion to burn their corn, v. 1 . . 5. II. From the Phi¬
listines’ barbarous cruelty to his wife and her father, he
took occasion to smite them with a great slaughter, v.
6 . . 8. III. From the treachery of his countrymen, who
delivered him bound to the Philistines, he took occasion
to kill one thousand of them with the jaw-bone of an
ass, v. 9 . . 17. IV. From the distress he was then in
for want of water, God took occasion to show him fa¬
vour in a seasonable supply, v. 18 . . 20.
1 TJ UT it came to pass within a while
1l9 after, in the time of wheat-harvest,
that Samson visited his wife with a kid ;
and he said, T will e;o in to my wife into the
chamber : but her father would not suffer
him to go in. 2. And her father said, I
verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated
her ; therefore I gave her to thy companion :
is not her yotmger sister fairer than she ?
take her, 1 pray thee, instead of her. 3.
And Samson said concerning them, Now
shall I be more blameless than the Philis¬
tines, though I do them a displeasure. 4.
And Samson went and caught three hun¬
dred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned
tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst
between two tails. 5. And when he had
set the brands on fire, he let them go into
the standing corn of the Philistines, and
burnt up both the shocks and also the stand¬
ing corn, with the vineyards cnul olives. 6.
Then the Philistines said, Who hath done
this? And they answered, Samson, the
son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had
taken his wife, and given her to his compa¬
nion. And the Philistines came up, and
burnt her and her father with fire. 7. And
Samson said unto them, Though ye have
done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and
after that I will cease. 8. And he smote
them hip and thigh with a great slaughter ;
and he went down and dwelt in the top of
the rock Etam.
Here is,
I. Samson’s return to his wife, whom he had left
in displeasure; not hearing, perhaps, that she was
given to another, when time had a little cooled
his resentment, he came back to her, visited her
with a kid, v. 1. The value of the present was in¬
considerable, but it was intended as a token of a re¬
conciliation, and perhaps was then so used, when
those that had been at variance were brought to¬
gether again; he sent this that he might sup with
her in her apartments, and she with him on his
provision, and so they might be friends again. It
was generously done of Samson, though he was the
party offended, and the superior relation, to whom
therefore she was bound in duty to sue for peace,
and to make the first motion of reconciliation.
When differences happen between near relations,
let those be ever reckoned the wisest and the best,
that are most forward to forgive and forget injuries,
and most willing to stoop and yield f r peace sake.
II. The repulse he met with; her father forbade
him to come near her, for truly he had married her
to another, v. 2. He endeavours, 1. To justify
himself in this wrong. I verily thought that thou
hadst utterly hated her. A very ill opinion he had
of Samson, measuring that Nazarite by the com¬
mon temper of the Philistines; could he think worse
of him, than to suspect, that because he was justly
angry with his wife, he utterly hated her; and be<-
cause he had seen cause to return to his father’s
house for a while, therefore he had abandoned her
for ever? Yet this is all he had to say, in excuse
of this injury. Thus he made the worst of jea¬
lousies to patronise the worst of robberies. But it
will never bear us out in doing ill, to say, “ We
thought others designed ill.” 2. He endeavours to
pacify Samson, by offering him his younger daugh¬
ter, whom, because the handsomer, he thought
Samson might accept, in full recompense for the
wrong. See what confusions those did admit, and
bring their families to, that were not governed by
the fear and law of God; marrying a daughter this
week to one, and next week to another; giving a
JUDGES, XV.
1 lb
man one daughter first, and then another. Samson
scorned his proposal; he knew better things than to
take a wife to her sister, Lev. 18. 18.
lli. The revenge Samson took upon the Philis¬
tines for this abuse. Had he designed herein only
to plead his own cause, he would have challenged
his rival, and would have chastised him and his
father-in-law only. But he looks upon himself as
a public person, and the affront as done to the
whole nation of Israel; for probably, they put this
slight upon him, because he was of that nation, and
pleased themselves with it, that they had put such
an abuse upon an Israelite; and therefore he re¬
solves to do the Philistines a displeasure, and does
not doubt but this treatment which he had met with
among them, would justify him in it; ( v . 3.) Now
shall I be more blameless than the Philistines. He
had done what became him, in offering to be recon¬
ciled to his wife; but she having rendered it im¬
practicable, now they could not blame him if he
showed his just resentments. Note, When differ¬
ences arise, we ought to do our duty in order to the
ending of them, and then whatever the ill conse¬
quences of them may be, we shall be blameless.
Now the way Samson took to be revenged on them,
was, by setting theij corn-fields on fire, which would
be a great weakening and impoverishing to the
country, v. 4, 5. 1. The method he took to do it,
was very strange; he sent one hundred and fifty
couple of foxes, tied tail to tail, into the corn-fields;
each couple had a stick of fire between their tails,
with which being terrified, they ran into the corn
for shelter, and so set fire to it; thus the fire would
break out in many places at the same time, and
therefore could net be conquered, especially if it
was done, as it is probable it was, in the night. He
might have employed men to do it, but perhaps he
could not find Israelites enough that had courage to
do it, and himself could do it but in one place at a
time, which would not effect his purpose. We ne¬
ver find Samson, in any of his exploits, make use
of any person whatsoever, either servant or soldier,
therefore, in this project, he chose to make use of
foxes as his incendiaries. They had injured* Sam¬
son by their subtlety and malice, and now Samson
returns the injury by subtle foxes and mischievous
fire-brands. By the meanness and weakness of the
animals he employed, he designed to put contempt
upon the enemies he fought against. This strata¬
gem is often alluded to, to show how the church’s
adversaries, that are of different interests and de¬
signs among themselves, that look and draw con¬
trary ways in other things, yet have often united in
a fire-brand, some cursed project or other, to waste
the church of God, and particularly to kindle the
fire of division in it. 2. The mischief he hereby
did to the Philistines, was very great. It was in
the time of wheat harvest, (v. i.) so that the straw
being dry, it soon burnt both the shocks of corn that
were cut, and the standing corn, and the vineyards
and olives. This was a waste of the good crea¬
tures, but where other acts of hostility are lawful,
destroying the forage is justly reckoned to be so.
If he might take away their lives, he might take
away their livelihood: and God was righteous in it;
the corn, and the wine, and the oil, which they
had prepared for Dagon, to be a meat-offering to
him, were thus, in the season thereof, made a burnt-
offering to God’s justice.
IV. The Philistines’ outrage against Samson’s
treacherous wife and her father; understanding
that they hafl provoked Samson to do this mischief
to the country, the rabble set upon them and burnt
them with fire, perhaps in their own house, v. 6.
Samson himself they durst not attack, and there¬
fore with more justice than perhaps they them¬
selves designed in it, they wreak their vengeance
upon those who, they could not but own, had given
him cause to be angry. Instead of taking \ engeance
upon Samson, they took vengeance for him, when
he, out of respect to the relation he had stood in to
them, was not willing to do it for himself. See his
hand in it, to whom vengeance belongs! those that
deal treacherously, shall be spoiled and dealt trea¬
cherously with, and the Lord is known by these
udgments which he executes ; especially when, as
ere, he makes use of his people’s enemies as in¬
struments for revenging his people’s quarrels one
upon another. When a barbarous Philistine sets
fire to a treacherous one, the righteous may rejoice
to see the divine x 'engeance, Ps. 58. 10, 11. Thus
shall the wrath of man praise thee, Ps. 76. 10. The
Philistines had threatened Samson’s wife, that if
she would not get the riddle out of him, they would
burn her and her father's house with fire, ch. 14, 15.
She, to save herself, and oblige her countrymen,
betrayed her husband; and what come of it? The
very thing that she feared, and sought by sin to
avoid, came upon her; she and her father’s house
were burnt with fire, and her countrymen, whom
she sought to oblige by the wrong she did to her
husband, brought it upon her. The mischief we
seek to escape by any unlawful practices, we often
pull them upon our own heads. He that will thus
save his life shall lose it.
V. The occasion that Samson took from hence to
do them yet a greater mischief, which . touched
their bone and their flesh; (v. 7, 8.) “ Though ye
have done this to them, and thereby showed what
ye would do to me if ye could, yet that shall not de¬
ter me from being further vexatious to you. ” Or,
Though ye think, by doing this, ye have made me
satisfaction for the affront I received among you,
yet I have Israel’s cause to plead as a public per¬
son, and for the wrongs done to them, I will be
avenged on you ; and if ye will then forbear your
insults, I will cease, aiming at no more than the de¬
liverance of Israel.” So he smote them hip and
thigh, with a great stroke ; so the word is. We
suppose the wounds he gave them to have been
mortal, as wounds in the hip or thigh often prove,
and therefore translate it, with a great slaughter.
Some think he only lamed them, disabled them for
service, as horses were houghed or ham-strung. It
seems to be a phrase used to express a desperate
attack; he killed them pell-mell, or routed them
horse and foot. He smote them with his hip upon
thigh, that is, with the strength he had, not in his
arms and hands, but in his hips and thighs, for he
kicked and spurned at them, and so mortified them,
trod them in his anger, and trampled them in his
fury, Isa. 63. 3. And, when he had (June, he re¬
tired to a natural fortress in the top of the rock
Etam, where he waited to see whether the Philis¬
tines would be tamed by the correction he had
given them.
9. Then the Philistines went up, and
pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in
Lehi. 10. And the men of Judah said,
Why are ye come up against us ? And they
answered, To bind Samson are we come
up, to do to him as he has done to us. 1 1 .
Then three thousand men of Judah went to
the top of the rock Etam, and said to Sam¬
son, Knowest thou not that the Philistines
are rulers over us? What is this that thou
hast done unto us? And he said unto
them, As they did unto me, so have I done
unto them. 12. And they said unto him.
We are come down to bind thee, that we
176
JUDGES, XV.
may deliver thee into the hand of the Philis¬
tines. And Samson said unto them, Swear
unto me, that ye will not fall upon me your¬
selves. 13. And they spake unto him, say¬
ing, No ; but we will bind thee fast, and
deliver thee into their hand : but surely we
will not kill thee. And they bound him
with two new cords, and brought him up
from the rock. 14. And when he came
unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against
him : and the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon him ; and the cords that were
upon his arms became as flax that was
burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from
off his hands. 1 5. And he found a new jaw¬
bone of an ass, and put forth his hand and
took it, and stew a thousand mep therewith.
16. And Samson said, With the jaw-bone
of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw
of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
1 7. And it came to pass, when he had made
an end of speaking, that he cast away the
jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that
place Ramath-lehi.
Here is,
I. Samson violently pursued by the Philistines.
They went up in a body, a more formidable force
than they had together when Samson smote them
hip and thigh, and they pitched in Judah, and
spread themselves up and down the country to find
out Samson, who, they heard, was come this way,
v. 9. When the men of Judah, who had tamely
submitted to their yoke, pleaded that they had paid
their tribute, and that none of their tribe had given
them any offence, they freely own they designed
nothing in this invasion but to seize Samson; they
would fight neither against small nor great, but only
that Judge of Israel, (v. 10.) to do to him, as he has
done to us; that is, to smite hip and thigh, as he
did our’s; an eye for an eye. Here was an army
come against one man, for indeed he was himself an
army. Thus a whole band of men was sent to seize
our Lord Jesus, that blessed Samson, though a tenth
part would have served now that his hour was come,
and ten times as many would have done nothing, if
he had not yielded.
II. Samson basely betrayed and delivered up by
the men of Judah, v. 11. Of Judah were they?
Degenerate branches of that valiant tribe! Utterly
unworthy to carry in their standard the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. Perhaps they were disaffected to
Samson because he was not of their tribe; out of a
foolish fondness for their forfeited precedency, they
would rather be oppressed by Philistines, than res¬
cued by a Danite. Often has the church’s deliver¬
ance been obstructed by such jealousies, and pre¬
tended points of honour. Rather it was, because
they stood in awe of the Philistines, and were willing,
at any rate, to get them out of their country. If
their spirits had not been pei-fectly cowed and broken
by their sins and troubles, and they had not been
given up to a spirit of slumber, they would have
taken this fair opportunity to shake off the Philis¬
tines’ yoke. If they had had the least spark of
ingenuousness and courage remaining in them, hav¬
ing so brave a man as Samson was, to head them,
they would now have made one bold struggle for
the recovery of their liberty; but no marvel if they
that had debased themselves to hell in the worship
of their dunghill- gods, (Isa. 57. 9.) thus debased
themselves to the dust, in submission to their in¬
sulting oppressors. Sin dispirits men, nay, it infa¬
tuates them, and hides from their eyes the things
that belong to their peace. Probably, Samson went
into the border of that country to offer his service,
supposing his brethren would have understood how
that God by his hand would deliver them, as M ses
did, Acts 7. 25. But they thrust him from them,
and very disingenuously, i. Blamed him for what
he had done against the Philistines, as if he had
done them a great injury. Such ungrateful returns
have those often received, that have done the best
service imaginable to their country. Thus our
Lord Jesus did many good works, and for those they
were ready to stone him. 2. They begged of him
that he would suffer them to bind him, and deliver
him up to the Philistines. Cowardly, unthankful
wretches! Fond of their fetters, and in love with
servitude ! Thus the Jews delivered up our Saviour,
under pretence of a fear lest the Romans should
come, and take away their place and nation. With
what a sordid servile spirit do they argue; Knowest
thou not that the Philistines rule over us? And
whose fault was that? They knew they had no
right to rule over them, nor had they been sold
into their hands, if they had noj first sold themselves
to work wickedness.
III. Samson tamely yielding to be bound by his
countrymen, and delivered into the hands of his en¬
raged enemies, v. 12, 13. How easily could he
have beaten them off, and kept the top of his rock
against these three thousand men, and none of them
all could, or durst, have lain hands on him; but he
patiently submitted, 1. That he might give an ex¬
ample of great meekness, mixed with great strength
and courage; as one that had rule over his own
spirit, he knew how to yield, as well as how to con¬
quer. 2. That by being delivered up to the Philis¬
tines, he might have an opportunity of making a
slaughter of them. 3. That he might be a type of
Christ, who when he had showed what he could do
in striking those down that came to seize him, yield¬
ed to be bound and led as a lamb to the slaughter.
SamSon justified himself in what he had done
againt the Philistines; “ Js they did to me, so I did
to them; it was a piece of necessary justice, and they
ought not to retaliate it upon me, for they began.”
He covenants with the men of Judah, that if he put
himself into their hands, they should not fall upon
him themselves, because then he should be tempted
to fall upon them, which he was very loath to do.
This they promised him, (u. 13.) and then he sur¬
rendered. The men of Judah, being his betrayers,
were, in effect, his murderers: they would not kill
him themselves, but they did that which was worse,
they delivered him into the hands of the uncircum¬
cised Philistines, who, they knew, would do worse
than kill him, would abuse and torment him to
death. Perhaps they thought, as some think Judas
did, when he betrayed Christ, that he would by his
strength, deliver himself out of their hands; but if
he did, that was no thanks to them, and if they
thought he would, they might of themselves have
thought this again, that he could and would have
delivered them too, if they would have adhered to
him, and made him their head. Justly is their
misery prolonged, who to oblige their worst ene¬
mies, thus abuse their best friend. Never were
men so infatuated, except those who thus treated
our blessed Saviour.
IV. Samson making his part good against, the
Philistines, even then when he was delivered into
their hands, fast pinioned with two new cords. The
Philistines, when they had him among them, shout¬
ed against hun, v. 14. So, triumphing in their suc¬
cess, and insulting over him; if God had not tied
their hands faster than the men of Judah had tied
17?
JUDGES, XV.
his, they would have shot at him, (as their archers
did at Saul,) to despatch him immediately, rather
than hav e shouted at him, and given him time to
help himself. But their security and joy were a
presage of their ruin. When they shouted against
him as a man run down, confident that all was their
own, then the Spirit of the Lord, came upon him;
came mightily upon him, inspired him with more
than ordinary strength and resolution. Thus fired,
1. He presently got clear of his bonds; the two new
cords, upon the first struggle he gave, broke, and
were melted (as the original word is) from off his
hands, no doubt, to the great amazement and terror
of those that shouted against him, whose shouts
were hereby turned into shrieks. When the Sfiirit
of the Lord came ufion him, his cords were loosed;
•where the Sfiirit of the Lord is there is liberty, and
those are free indeed, who are thus freed. This
typified the resurrection of Christ by the power of
the Spirit of holiness; in it he loosed the bands of
death; and its cords, the grave clothes, fell from his
hands, without being loosed as Lazarus’s were,
because it was impossible that the mighty Saviour
should be holden of them, and thus he triumphed
over the powers of darkness that shouted against
him, as if they had him sure. 2. He made a great
destruction among the Philistines, who all gathered
about him to make sport with him, v. 15. See how
poorly he was armed: he had no better weapon than
the jaw-bone of an ass, and yet what execution he
did with it; he never laid it out of his hand, till he
had with it laid a thousand Philistines dead upon
the spot: and thus that promise was more than ac¬
complished, One of you shall chase a thousand,
Josh. 23. 10. A jaw-bone was an inconvenient thing
to grasp, and, one would think, might easily be
wrested out of his hand, and a few such blows as he
gave with it, might have crushed and broken it,
and yet it held good to the last. Had it been the
jaw-bone of a lion, especially that which he him¬
self had slain, it might have helped to heighten his
fancy, and to make him think himself the more
formidable; but to take the bone of that despicable
animal, was to do wonders by the foolish things of
the world, that the excellency of the flower might be
of God, and not of man. One of David’s worthies
slew three hundred Philistines at once, but it was
with a spear, 1 Chron. 11. 11. Another slew of
them till his hand was weary, and stuck to his
sword, 2 Sam. 23. 10. But they all came short of
Samson. What could be thought too hard, too much,
for him to do, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily! Through God we shall do -valiantly. It
was strange the men of Judah did not now come in to
his aid; cowards can strike a falling enemy; but he
was to be a type of him that trod the wine press
alone.
V. Samson celebrated his own victory, since the
men of Judah would not do even that for him; he
composed a short song, which he sang to himself,
for the daughters of Israel did not meet him, as af¬
terwards they did Saul, to sing, with more reason,
Samson hath slain his thousands. The burthen of
this song was, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps
upon heaps, have I slain a thousand men, v. 16.
The same word in Hebrew (Chamor) signifies both
an Ctss and a heap, which makes this an elegant pa¬
ronomasia, and represents the Philistines falling as
tamely as asses. He also gave a name to the place,
to perpetuate the Philistines’ disgrace, ( v . 17.)
Ramath-lehi, the lifting up of the jaw-bone. Yet
he did not vain-gloriously carry the bone about
with him as a show, but threw it away when he had
done with it. So little were relics valued then.
1 8. And he was sore athirst, and called
on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given
Vol. II. — Z
this great deliverance into the hand of thy
servant : and now shall I die for thirst, and
fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19. But God clave a hollow place that was
in the jaw, and there came water thereout;
and when he had drunk, his spirit came
again, and he revived: wherefore he called
the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in
Lehi unto this day. 20. And he judged
Israel, in the days of the Philistines, twenty
years.
Here is,
I. The distress Samson was in, after this great
performance, v. 18, He was sore athirst. It was
a natural effect of the great heat he had been in,
and the great pains he had taken; his zeal consumed
him, ate him up, and made him forget himself, till,
when he had time to pause a little, he found him¬
self reduced to the last extremity for want of water,
and ready to faint. Perhaps there was a special
hand of God in it, as there was in the whole trans¬
action ; and God would hereby keep him from being
proud of his great strength and great achievements,
and let him know that he was but a man, and liable
to the calamities that are common to men. And
Josephus says, It was designed to chastise him for
not making mention of God and his hand, in his
memorial of the victory he had obtained, but taking
all the praise to himself; I have slain a thousana
men; now that he is ready to die for thirst, he is
under a sensible conviction that his own arm could
not have saved him, without God’s right hand and
arm. Samson had drunk largely of the blood of the
Philistines, but blood will never quench any man’s
thirst. Providence so ordered it, that there was no
water near him, and he was so fatigued that he
could not go far to seek it: the men of Judah, one
would think, should have met him, now that he was
come off a conqueror, with bread and wine, as
Melchizedek did Abram, to atone for the injury he
had done him ; but so little notice did they take of
their deliverer, that he was ready to perish for
want of a draught of water. Thus are the greatest
slights often put upon those that do the greatest
services. Christ, on the cross, said, I thirst.
II. His prayer to God in this distress. Those
that forget to attend God with their praises, may
perhaps be compelled to attend him with their
prayers. Afflictions are often sent to bring un¬
thankful people to God. Two things he pleads
with God in this prayer; 1. His having experienced
the power and goodness of God in his late success;
Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand
of thy seniant. He owns himself God’s servant in
what he had been doing, “ Lord, wilt thou not own
a poor servant of thine that has spent himself in thy
service? I am thine, save me.” He calls this vic¬
tory a deliverance, a great deliverance; for if God
had not helped him, he had not only not conquered
the Philistines, but had been swallowed up by them.
He owns it to come from God, and now corrects his
former error, in assuming it too much to himself;
and this he pleads in his present strait. Note,
Past experiences of God’s power and goodness, are
excellent pleas in prayer for further mercy. “Lord,
thou hast delivered often, wilt thou not deliver still?
2 Cor. 1. 10. Thou hast begun, wilt thou not finish?
Thou hast done the greater, wilt thou not do the
lesser?” Ps. 56. 13. 2. His being now exposed to
his enemies: “ Lest I fall into the hands of the un¬
circumcised, and then they will triumph, will tell it
in Gath, and in the streets of Ashkelon; and will, it
not redound to God’s dishonour, if his champion he-
JUDGES, xvi
1 78
come so easy a prey to the uncircumcised?” The
best pleas are those taken from (rod’s glory.
III. The seasonable relief God sent him. God
heard his prayer, and sent him water, either cut of
the bone, or out of the earth through the bone, v, 19.
That bone which he had made an instrument of
God’s service, God, to recompense him, made an
instrument of his supply. But I rather inc.ine to
our marginal reading, God clave a hollow place that
wax in Lehi: the place of this action was, from the
jaw-bone, called Lehi: even before the action we
find it so called, v. 9, 14. And there, in that field,
or hill, or plain, or whatever it was, that was so
called, God caused a fountain suddenly and season¬
ably to open just by him, and water to spring up out
of it in abundance, which continued a well ever
after. Of this fair water he drank, and his spirits
revived. We should be more thankful for the
mercy of water, did we consider how ill we can
spare it. And this instance of Samson’s relief,
should encourage us to trust in God, and seek to
him, for, when he pleases, he can often rivers in
high places. See Isa. 41. 17, 18.
IV. The memorial of this, in the name which Samson
gave this upstart fountain, Rn-hakkore , the well of
him that cried, thereby keeping in remembrance,
both his own distress, which occasioned him to cry,
and God’s favour to him, in answer to his cry.
M my a spring of comfort God opens to his people,
which may fitly be called by his name, it is the well
of him that cried. Samson had given a name to that
place, which denoted him great and triumphant,
Ramath-lehi, the lifting up of the jaw-bone; but
here he gives it another name, which denotes him
wanting and dependant.
Lastly, The continuance rf Samson’s govern¬
ment after these .ach'evements, v. 20. At length
Israel submitted to him whom they had betrayed.
Now it was past dispute that God was with him, so
that henceforward they all owned him, and were
directed by him as their judge; the stone which the
builders refused, became the head-stone. It inti¬
mates the low condition of Israel, that the govern¬
ment was dated by the days of the Philistines; yet
it was a mercy to Israel, that though they were op¬
pressed by a foreign enemy, yet they had a Judge
that preserved order, and kept them from ruining
one another. Twenty years his government con¬
tinued according to the usage of the Judges’ admin¬
istration ; but of the particulars we have no account,
save of the beginning of his government in this
chapter, and the end of it in the next.
CHAP. XVI.
Samson’s name (we have observed before) signifies alittle
sun; {sal parvus ;) we have seen this sun rising very
bright, ana his morning-ray strong and clear ; and no¬
thing appearing to the contrary, we take it for granted,
that the middle of the day was proportionably illustrious,
while he judged Israel twenty years ; but the melancholy
story of this chapter gives us such an account of his
evening, as did not commence his day. This little sun
set under a cloud, and yet, just in the setting, darted
forth one such strong and glorious beam, as made him
then a type of Christ, conquering by death. Here is,
l. Samson greatly endangered by his familiarity with one
harlot, and hardly escaping, v. 1..3. II. Samson quite
ruined by his familiarity with another harlot, Delilah.
Observe, 1. How he was betrayed hy her to his sworn
enemies, the Philistines, who (1.) By her means got it
out of him atlast where his great strength lay, v. 5. .17.
(2.) Then robbed him of his strength, by taking from his
head the crown of his separation, v. 18.. 20. (3.) Then
seized him, blinded him, imprisoned him, and at a
solemn festival made a show of him, v. 21.. 25. 2. How
he avenged himself of them , by pulling down the t heatre
•upon their heads, and so dying with them, v. 2t>. .31.
1. ^bHHEN went Samson to Gaza, and
JL saw there a harlot, and went in unto
her. 2. And it was told the Gazites, saying:.
Samson is come hither. And they com
passed him in, and laid wait for him all
night in the gate of the city, and were quiel
all the night, saying, In the morning, when
it is day, we shall kill him. 3. And Sam¬
son lay till midnight, and arose at midnight,
and took the doors of the gate of the city,
and the two posts, and went away with
them, bar and all, and put them upon his
shoulders, and carried them up to the top
of a hill that is before Hebron.
Here is,
1. Samson’s sin, v. 1. His taking a Philistine to
wife, in the beginning of his time, was, in some de¬
gree, excusable; but to join himself to a harlot that
he accidentally saw among them, was such a profana¬
tion of his honour as an Israelite, as a Nazarite, that
we cannot but blush to read it, Tell it not in Gath.
This vile impurity makes the graceful visage of this
Nazarite blacker than a coal, Lam. 4. 7, 8. We
find not that Samson had any business at Gaza; if
he went thither in quest of a harlot, it would make
one willing to hope, that, as bad as things were
otherwise, there were no prostitutes among the
daughters of Israel. Some think he went thither
to observe what posture the Philistines were in, that
he might get some advantages against them; if so,
he forgot his business, neglected that, and so fell
into this snare. His sin began in his eye, with
which he should have made a covenant; he saw
there one in the attire of a harlot, and the lust which
conceived, brought forth sin, he went in unto her.
2. Samson’s danger. Notice was sent to the ma¬
gistrates of Gaza, perhaps by the treacherous har¬
lot herself, that Samson was in the town, v. 2.
Probably, he came in a disguise, or in the dusk ef
the evening, went into an inn, or public-house,
which happened to be kept by, this harlot. The
gates of the city were hereupon shut, guards set,
all kept quiet, that Samson might suspect no dan¬
ger; now they thought they had him in a priscn,
and doubted not but to be the death of him the next
morning. O that all those who indulge the'r
sensual appetites in drunkenness, uncleanness, or
any fleshly lusts, would see themselves thus sir-
rounded, waylaid, and marked for ruin, by their
spiritual enemies! The faster they sleep, and the
more secure they are, the greater is their danger.
3. Samson’s escape, v. 3. He rose at midnight,
perhaps roused by a dream, in slumberings uprn
the bed, (Job 33.’ 15.) by his guardi: n angel, or
rather by the checks of his own conscience; he rose
with a penitent abhorrence (we hope of the sin he
was now committing, and of himself because of it,
and with a pious resolution not to return to it; rose
under an apprehension of the danger he was in, that
he was as one that slept upon the top of a mast, rose
with such thoughts as these; “ Is this a bed fit for
a Nazarite to sleep in ? Shall a temple of the living
God be thus polluted ? Can I be safe under this
guilt ?” It was bad that he lay down without such
checks; but it would have been worse if he had lain
still under them. He makes immediately toward
the gate of the city, probably finds the guards
asleep, else he had made them sleep their last,
stays not to break open the gates, but plucks up the
posts, takes them, gates and bar and all, all very
large and strong, and a vast weight, yet lie carries
them on his back several miles up to the top of a
179
JUDGES, XVI.
hill, in disdain of their attempt to secure him with
gates and bars, designing thus to render himself
more formidable to the Philistines, and more ac¬
ceptable to his people; thus to give a proof of the
great strength God had given him, and a type of
* Christ’s \ .ctory over death and the grave. He not
only rolled away the stone from the door of the se¬
pulchre, and so came forth himself, but carried
away the gates of the grave, bar and all, and so
left it, ev or after, an open prison to all that are his;
it shall not, it cannot, always detain them. O death,
\ where is t.iy sting? Where are thy gates? Thanks
be to him that not only gained a victory for himself,
out giveth us the victory !
4. And it came to pass afterward, that
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah. 5. And the
lords of the Philistines came up unto her,
and said unto her, Entice him, and see
wherein his great strength heth, and by
what means we may prevail against him,
that we may bind him to afflict him; and
we will give thee, every one of us, eleven
hundred pieces of silver. G. And Delilah
said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee,
wherein thy g-eat strength lieth, and where¬
with thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
7. And Samson said unto her, If they bind
me with seven green withs that were never
dried, then shall 1 be weak, and be as an¬
other man. 8. Then the lords of the Phi¬
listines brought up to her seven green withs
which had not been dried, and she bound
him with them. 9. INow there locre men
lying in wait, abiding with her in the cham¬
ber. And she said unto him, The Philis¬
tines he upon thee, Samson. And he brake
the withs as a thread of tow is broken when
it toucheth the fire: so his strength was not
known. 10. And Delilah said unto Sam¬
son, Behold , thou hast mocked me, and told
me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, where¬
with thou mightest be bound. 1 1. And he
said unto her, If they bind me fast with new
ropes that never were occupied, then shall
I be weak, and be as another man. 12.
Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound
him therewith, and said unto him, The Phi¬
listines he upon thee, Samson. And there
were liers in wait abiding in the chamber.
And he brake them from off his arms like a
thVead. 1 3. And Delilah said unto Samson,
Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me
lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be
bound. And he- said unto her. If thou
weavest the seven locks of mv head with
the web. 14. And she fastened it with the
pin, and said unto him, The Philistines he
upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out
of his sleep, and went away with the pin of
the beam, and with the web. 15. And she
said unto him, How canst thou say, 1 love
thee, when thine heart is not with mi* 1
thou hast mocked me these three times, and
hast not told me wherein thy great strength
heth. 16. And it came to pass, when she
pressed him daily with her words, and urged
him, so that his soul was vexed unto death,
1 7. That he told her all his heart, and said
unto her, There hath not come a razor up¬
on mine head; for I have been a Nazarite
unto God from my mother’s womb : if i be
shaven, then my strength will go from me,
and I shall become weak, and be like any
other man.
The burnt child dreads the fire; yet Samson, that
has more than the strength of a man, in this comes
short of the wisdom of a child; for though he had
been more than once brought into the highest de¬
gree of mischief and danger by the love of women,
and lusting after them, yet he would not take warn¬
ing, but is here again taken in the same snare, and
this third time pays for all. Solomon seems to re¬
fer especially to this story of Samson, when in his
caution against uncleanness, he gives this account
of a whorish woman, Prov. 7. 26, That she hath
cast down many wounded, yea many strong men
have been slain by her. And eh. 6. 26, That the
adultress will hunt for the precious life. This bad
woman that brought Samson to ruin, is here named
Delilah, an infamous name, and fitly used to express
the person, or thing, that by flattery or falsehood,
brings mischief and destruction on those to whom
kindness is pretended. See here,
I. The affection Samson had for Delilah ; he
loved her, v. 4. Some think she was his wife, but
then he would hav e had her home to his own house;
others, that he courted her to make her his wife;
but there is too much reason to suspect that it was a
sinful affection he had for her, and that he lived in
uncleanness with her: whether she was an Israelite
or a Philistine, is not certain. If an Israelite, which
is scarcely probable, yet she had the heart of a Phi¬
listine.
II. The interest which the lords of the Philistines
made with her to betray Sams n, v. 5. 1. That
which they told her they designed, was, to humble
him, or afflict him; they would promise not to do
him any hurt, only they would disable him to do
them any. And so" much conscience it should seem
they made of this promise, that even then, when he
lay ever so much at their mercy, they Would not
kill him, no, not when the razor that cut his hair,
might sooner, and more easily have cut his thi-oat.
2. That which they desired, in order hereunto,
was, to know where h's great strength lay, and bv
what means he might be bound. Pei haps they
imagined he had s- me spell or charm which he car¬
ried about with him, by the force of which he did
these great things, and doubted not, but if they
could get that from him, he would be manageable;
and therefore, having had reason enough former]}'
to know which was his blind side, hoped to find out
his riddle a second time; by ploughing with his hei¬
fer, they engaged Delilah to get it out of him, tell¬
ing her what a kindness it would be to them, and,
perhaps, assuring her it should not be improved to
any real mischief, either to him or her. 3. For
this they bid high, promised to give her each of
them eleven hundred pieces of silver, fifty-five
hundred in all. So many shekels reckoned to above
one thousand pounds sterling; with this she was
hired to betray one she pretended to love; see what
horrid wickedness the love of money is the root of.
180
JUDGES, XVI.
Our blessed Saviour was thus oetrayed by one
whom he called friend, and with a kiss too, for fil¬
thy lucre. No marvel if those who are unchaste,
as Delilah, be unjust; such as lose their honesty in
one instance, will in another.
III. The arts by which he put her off from time
to time, and kept his own counsel a great while.
She asked him where his great strength lay, and
whether it was possible for him to be bound and
afflicted, (x>. 6.) pretending that she desired only
he would satisfy her curiosity in that one thing,
and that she thought it was impossible he should be
bound, otherwise than by her charms. When she
urged him very much, he told her, 1. That he might
be bound with seven green withs, v. 7. The ex¬
periment was tried, (x>. 8.) but it would not do; he
broke the withs as easily as a thread of tow is broken
when it toucheth the fire, v. 9. 2. When she still
continued her importunity, (v. 10.) he told her that
with two new ropes he might be so cramped and
hampered, that he might be as easily dealt with as
any other man, v. 11. This experiment was tried
too, but it failed; the new ro/ies broke from off his
arm like a thread, v. 12. 3. When she still pressed
him to communicate the secret, and upbraided him
with it as an unkindness, that he had bantered her
so long, he then told her that the weaving of the
seven locks of his head woidd make a great altera¬
tion in him, v. 13. This came nearer the matter
than any thing he had yet said, but it would not do;
his strength appeared to be very much in his hair,
when, upon the trial of this, purely by the strength
of his hair, he carried away the fiin of the beam, and
the web.
Now, in the making of all these experiments, it is
hard to say, whether there appears more of Sam¬
son’s weakness, or Delilah’s wickedness. (1.) Could
any thing be more wicked than her restless and un¬
reasonable importunity with him, to discover a se¬
cret, which she knew would endanger his life, if
ever it were lodged any where but in his own
breast? What could be more base and disingenu¬
ous, more f tlse and treacherous, than to- lay his
head in her lap, as one whom she loved, and at the
same time to design the betraying of him to those
by whom he was mortally hated? (2.) Could any
thing be more weak than for him to continue a par¬
ley with one who, he so plainly saw, was aiming to
do him a mischief, that he should lend an ear so
long to such an impudent request, that she might
know how to do him a mischief; that when he per¬
ceived liers in wait for him in the chamber, and that
they were ready to apprehend him if they had been
able, he did not immediately quit the chamber, with
a resolution never to come into it any more; nay,
that he should again lay his head in that lap, out of
which he had been so often roused with that alarm,
The Philistines are upon thee, Samson ? One can
hardly imagine a man so perfectly besotted, and void
of all consideration, as Samson now was; but whore¬
dom is one of those things that take away the heart.
It is hard to say what Samson meant, in suffering
her to try so often whether she could weaken and
afflict him : some think he did not certainly know
where his strength lay; but that, it should seem,
he did; for when he told her that which would dis¬
able him indeed, it is said, He told her all his heart.
It seems, he designed to banter her, and to try if he
Could turn it off with a jest, and to baffle the liers in
wait, and make fools of them; but it was very un¬
wise in him, that he did not quit the field, as soon
as ever he perceived that he was not able to keep
the ground.
IV. The discovery he at last made of this great
secret; and if the discovery prove fatal to him, he
must thank himself, who had not power to keep
1) is own counsel from one that manifestly sought his
ruin. Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight
of any bird, but in Samson’s sight is the net
spread, and yet he is taken in it. If he had not
been blind before the Philistines put out his eyes, he
might have seen himself betrayed. Delilah signi¬
fies a consumer, she was so to him. Observe, 1.
How she teased him, telling him she will not be¬
lieve he loved her, unless he will gratify her in this
matter; ( v . 15.1 How const thou say I lor e thee ,
when thine heart is not with me'/ That is, “ when
thou canst not trust me with the counsels of thy
heart?” Passionate lovers cannot bear to have their
love called in question, they would do any thing ra¬
ther than their sincerity should be suspected; here
therefore Delilah had this fond fool (excuse me
that I call him so) at an advantage. This expostu¬
lation is indeed grounded upon a great truth, That
those only have our love, not that have our good
words, or our good wishes, but that have our
hearts. That is love without dissimulation; but it
is falsehood and flattery in the highest degree, to
say, We love those with whom our hearts are
not. How can we say, We love either our brother
whom we have seen, or God, whom we have not
seen, if our hearts be not with them? She contin¬
ued many days vexatious to him with her importu¬
nity, so that he had no pleasure of his life with her;
(v. 16.) why then did he not leave her? It was
because he was captivated to her by the power of
love, falsely so called, but truly lust. This be¬
witched and perfectly intoxicated him, and by the
force of it, see, 2. How she conquered him; (z\ 17.)
he told her all his heart. God left him to himself
to do this foolish thing, to punish him for indulging
himself in the lusts of uncleanness. The angel that
foretold his birth said nothing of his great strength,
but only that he should be a Nazarite, and particu¬
larly that no razor should come upon his head, ch.
13. 5. His consecration to God was to be his
strength, for he was to be strengthened according
to the glorious power of that Spirit which wrought in
him mightily, that his strength, by promise, not lay
nature, might be a type and figure of the spiritual
strength of believers, Col. I. 11, 29. Therefore
the badge of his consecration was the pledge of his
strength; if he lose the former, he knows he for¬
feits the latter. “ If I be shaven, I am no longer a
Nazarite, and then my strength is gone.” The ma¬
king of his bodily strength to depend so much on
his hair, which could have no natural influence up
on it, either one way or other, teaches us to mag¬
nify divine institutions, and to expect God’s grace,
and the continuance of it, only in the use of those
means of grace, wherein he has appointed us to at
tend upon him, the word, sacraments, and prayer
In these earthen vessels is his treasure.
18. Anri when Delilah saw that he had
told her all his heart, she sent and called for
the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come
up this once; for he hath showed me all his
heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her, and brought money in
their hand. 19. And she made him sleep
upon her knees ; and she called for a man,
and she caused him to shave off the seven
locks of his head; and she began to afflict
him, and his strength went from him. 20.
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee,
Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep,
and said, T will go out, as at other times be¬
fore, and shake myself. And he wist not
that the Lord was departed from him. 21
181
JUDGES, XVI.
But the Philistines took him, and put out
his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza,
and bound him in fetters of brass; and he
did grind in the prison-house.
We have here the fatal consequences of Samson’s
folly in betraying his own strength; he soon paid
dear for it. A whore is a deep, ditch; he that is ab¬
horred of the Lord shall fall therein. In that pit
Samson sinks. Observe,
1. What care Delilah took to make sure of the
money for herself. She now perceived, by the
manner of his speaking, that he had told her all his
heart, and the lords of the Philistines that hired her
to do this base thing, are sent for; but they must be
sure to bring the money in their hands, v. 18. The
wages of unrighteousness are accordingly produced,
unknown to Samson; it would grieve one’s heart, to
see one of the bravest men then in the world, sold
and bought, as a sheep for the slaughter ; how does
this instance sully all the glory of man, and forbid
the strong man ever to boast of his strength !
2. What course she took to deliver him up to
them according to the bargain. Many in the world
would, for the hundredth part of what was here
given Delilah, sell those that they pretend the
greatest respect for. Trust not in a friend then,
put no confidence in a guide. See what a treach¬
erous method she took, ( v . 19.) she made him sleep
upon her knees. Josephus says, She gave him
some intoxicating liquor, which laid him to sleep;
what opiates she might steal into his cup, we know
not, but we cannot suppose that he knowingly drank
wine or strong drink, for that would have been a
forfeiture of his Nazariteship, as much as the cut¬
ting off his hair. She pretended the greatest kind¬
ness then when she designed the greatest mischief;
which yet she could not have compassed, if she had
not made him sleep. See the fatal consequences of
security. Satan ruins men by rocking them asleep,
flattering them into a good opinion of their own safe¬
ty, and so bringing them to mind nothing, and fear
nothing, and then he robs them of their strength
and honour, and leads them captive at his will.
When we sleep our spiritual enemies do not. When
he was asleep, she had a person ready to cut off his
hair, which he did so silently and so quickly, that
it did not awake him, but plainly afflicted him; even
in his sleep, his spirit manifestly sunk upon it.
I think we may suppose, that if this ill turn had
been done him in his sleep by some spiteful body,
without his being himself accessary to it, as he was
here, it would not have had this strange effect upon
him; but it was his own wickedness that corrected
him. It was his iniquity, else it had not been so
much his infelicity.
3. What little concern he himself was in at it,
v. 20. He could not but miss his hair as soon as he
awoke, and yet said, “ I will shake myself, as at
other times, after sleep;” or “as at other times,
when the Philistines are upon me, to make my part
good against them.” Perhaps he thought to shake
himself the more easily, and that his head would
feel the lighter, now that his hair was cut; little
thinking how much heavier the burden of guilt was,
than that of hair. He soon found in himself some
change, we have reason to think so, and yet wist
not that the Lord was departed from him. He did
not consider that that was the reason of the change.
Note, Many have lost the favourable presence of
God, and are not aware of it; they have provoked
God to withdraw from them, but are not sensible
of their loss, nor ever complain of it. Their souls
languish and are grown weak, their gifts wither,
every thing goes cross with them; and yet they im¬
pute not this to the right cause, they are not aware
that God is departed from them , nor are they in
any care to reconcile themselves to him, or to re¬
cover his favour. When God is departed, we can¬
not do as at other times.
4. What improvement the Philistines soon made
of their advantages against him, v. 21. The Phi¬
listines took him when God was departed from him;
those that ha\ e thrown themselves out of God’s pro¬
tection, become an easy prey to their enemies. If
we sleep in the lap of our lust, we shall certainl)
wake in the hands c.f the Philistines. It is proba¬
ble they had promised Delilah not to kill him, but
they took an effectual course to disable him; the
first thing they did when they had him in their
hands, and found they could manage him, was, to
put out his eyes by applying fre to them, says the
Arabic version. They considered that his eyes
would never come again, as perhaps his hair
might, and that the strongest arms could do little
without eyes to guide him, and therefore if now they
blind him, they for ever blind him. His eyes were
the inlets of his sin, he saw the harlot at Gaza, and
went in unto her, (x>. 1. ) and now his punishment be¬
gan there. Now that the Philistines had blinded
him, he had time to remember how his own lust had
blinded him. The best preservative of the eyes,
is, to turn them away from beholding \ anity. They
brought him down to Gaza, that there he might
appear in weakness, where he had lately given
such proofs of his strength, ( v . 3.) and be a jest to
those to whom he had been a terror. They bound
him with fetters o f brass, who had before been held
in the cords of his own iniquitv, and he did grind
in the prison, work ir. their Bridewell, either for
their profit, or his punishment, or both. The De¬
vil does thus by sinners, blinds the minds of them
which believe not, and so enslaves them and secures
them m his interests. Poor Simson, how art thou
fallen! How is thine honour laid in the dust! How
are the glory and defence of Israel become the
drudge and triumph of the Philistines! The crown
is fallen from his head ; woe unto him, for he hath
sinned. Let all take warning by his fall, carefully to
preserve their purity, and to watch against all fleshly
lusts; for all our glory is gone, and our defence de¬
parted from us, when the covenant of our separa¬
tion to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned.
22. Howbeit the hair of his head began
to grow again after he was shaven. 23.
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered
the'" together for to offer a great sacrifice
unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for
they said, Our god hath delivered Samson
our enemy into our hand. 24. And when
the people saw him, they praised their god ;
for they said, Our god hath delivered into
our hands our enemy, and the destroyer
of our country, which slew many of us.
25. And it came to pass, when their hearts
were merry, that they said, Call for Sam¬
son, that he may make us sport. And
they called for Samson out of the prison-
house ; and he made them sport : and they
set him between the pillars. 26. And
Samson said unto the lad that held him by
the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the
pillars whereupon the house standeth, that
I may lean upon them. 27. Now the
house was full of men and women ; and all
the lords of the Philistines were, there : and
1 82
JUDGES, XVI.
there were upon the roof about three thou¬
sand men and women, that beheld while
Samson made sport. 28. And Samson
called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord
God, remember me, I pray thee, and
strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O
God, that I may be at once avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes. 29. And Sam¬
son took hold of the two middle pillars upon
which the house stood, and on which it was
borne up, of the one with his right hand,
and of the other with his left. 30. And
Samson said, Let me die with the Philis¬
tines. And he bowed himself with all his
might ; and the house fell upon the lords,
and upon all the people that were therein :
so the dead which he slew at his death,
were more than they which he slew in his
life. 31. Then his brethren, and all the
house of his father, came down, and took
him, and brought him up, and buried him be¬
tween Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying
place of Manoah his father. And he judg¬
ed Israel twenty years.
Though the Inst stage of Samson’s life was inglo¬
rious, and one could wish there were a veil drawn
over it, yet this account here given of his death
may be allowed to lessen, though it do not quite
roll away, the reproach of it, for there was honour
in his death. No doubt, he greatly repented of
his sin, the dishonour he had by it done to God, and
his forfeiture of the honour God had put upon him,
for that God was reconciled to him, appears, 1. By
the return of the sign of his Nazariteship; ( v . 22.)
Hu hair began to grow again when he was shaven,
that is, to be as thick and as long as when it was
cut off. It is probable their general thanksgiving
to Dagon was not long deferred, before which Sam¬
son’s hair was thus grown; by which, and the par¬
ticular notice taken of it, it seems to have been extra¬
ordinary, and designed for a special indication of the
return of God’s favour to him upon his repentance.
For the growth of his hair was neither cause nor
sign of the return of his strength, further than as it
was the b tdge of his consecration, and a token that
God accepted him as a Nazarite again, after the in¬
terruption, without those ceremonies which were
appointed for the restoration cf a lapsed Nazarite,
which he had not now the opportunity of perform¬
ing, Numb. 6. 9. It is strange that the Philistines,
in whose hands he was, were not jealous of the
growth of his hair again, and did not cut it; but per¬
haps they were willing his great strength should re¬
turn to him, that they might have so much the more
work out of him, and now he was blind they were
.n no fear of any hurt from him. 2. By the use God
made of him for the destruction of the enemies of
nis people, and that at a time when it would be most
for the honour of God, and the vindication of that,
and not immediately for the defence and deliver¬
ance of Israel. Observe,
I. How insolently the Philistines affronted the
God of Israel. (1.) Bv the sacrifices they offered
.o Dagon, his rival. This Dagon they call their
god, a god of their own making, represented by an
image, the upper part of which was in the shape
of a man, the lower part of a fish, purely the crea¬
ture of fancy; yet it served them to set up in oppo¬
sition to the true and living God. To this pretend¬
ed deity they ascribe their success; (v. 23, 24. ) Out
god has delivered Samson our enemy, and the de¬
stroyer of our country, into our hands. So they
dreamed, though he could do neither good nor evil.
3 hey knew Delilah had betrayed him, and they
had paid her for doing it; yet they attribute it to
their god, and are confirmed by it 'in their bel'ef of
his power to protect them. All people will thus
walk in the name of their gods, they will give them
the praise of their achievements; and shall not we
pay this tribute to our God, whose kingdom ruleth
over all? Yet considering what wicked arts they
used to get Samson into their hands, it must be con¬
fessed it was only such a dunghill-deity as Dagon,
that was fit to be made a patron of their villanies.
Sacrifices were offered, and songs of praise sung on
the general thanksgiving-day, for this victory ob¬
tained over one man, and great expressions of joy,
and all to the honour of Dagon. Much more rea¬
son have we, to give the praise of all our successes to
our God: Thanks be to him who causeth us to triumph
in Christ Jesus! (2.) By the sport they made with
Samson, God’s champion, they reflected on God
himself. When they were merry with wine, to
make them more merry, Samson must be fetched
to make them sport; (y. 25, 27.) that is, for them to
make sport with. Having sacrificed to their god,
and eat and drunk upon the sacrifice, thev rose up
to play, according to the usage of idolaters, (1 Cor.
10. 7.) and Samson must be the fool in the play.
They made themselves, and one another, laugh, to
see how, being blind, he stumbled and blundered.
It is likely, they smote this Judge of Israel upon
the cheek, (Mic. 5. 1.) and said, Prophesy who
smote thee. It was an instance of their barbarity,
to trample thus upon a man in misery, at the sight
of whom a while ago they would have trembled. It
put Samson in the depth of misery, and as a sword
in his bones were their reproaches, v hen they
said, Where is now thy Cod ? Nothing cculd be
more grievous to so great a spirit; yet being a peni¬
tent, that makes him patient, and he accepts it ; s a
punishment of his iniquity. How unrighteous so¬
ever the Philistines were, he could not .but own that
God was righteous. He had sported himself in his
own deceivings, and with his own deceivers, and
justly are the Philistines let loose upon him to make
sport with him. Uncleanness is a sin that makes
men vile, and exposes them to contempt; a wound
and dishonour shall he get, whose heart is deceived
by a woman, and his reproach shall not be wiped
away. Everlasting shame and contempt will be
the portion of those that are blinded and bound by
their own lusts. The Devil that deceived them,
will insult over them.
II. How justly the God of Israel brought sudden
destruction upon them, by the hands of Samson.
Thousands of the Philistines were got together, to
attend their lords in the sacrifices and joys of this
day, and to be the spectators of this comedy; but it
proved to them a fatal tragedy, for they were all
slain, and buried in the ruins of the house; whether
it was a temple, or a theatre, or some slight build¬
ing run up for the purpose, is uncertain. Observe,
1. Who were destroyed; all the lords of the Phi¬
listines, ( v . 27.) who had by bribes corrupted Deli¬
lah to betray Samson to them. Evil pursued those
sinners. Many of the people likewise, to the num¬
ber of three thousand, and, among them,' a great
many women, one of whom, it is likely, was that
harlot of Gaza, mentioned v. 1. Samson had been
drawn into sin by the Philistine women, and a great
slaughter is made among them, as was by Moses’s
order among the women of Midian, because it was
they that caused the children of Israel to trespass
against the Lord in the matter cf Peer, Numb.
31, 16.
JUDGES, XVII.
2. When they were destroyed; (1.) When they
were merry, secure, and jovial, and far from appre¬
hending themselves in any danger. When they saw
Samson lay hold on the pillars, we may suppose it
served them for a jest, and they made sport with
that too; What will this feeble Jew do? How are
sinners brought to desolation in a moment! They
are lifted up in the pride and mirth, that their fall
may be the more dreadful. Let us never enjoy the
mirth of wicked people, but infer, from this in¬
stance, that their triumphing is short, and their joy
but for a moment. (2.) It was when they were
!)raising Dagon their god, and giving that honour to
lim, which is due to God only; which is no less than
treason against the King of kings, his crown and
dignity; justly therefore is the blood of these trait¬
ors mingled with their sacrifices. Belshazzar was
cut off when he was praising his made gods, Dan.
5. 4. (3.) It was when they were making sport
with an Israelite, a Nazarite, and insulting o' er
him, persecuting him whom God had smitten. No¬
thing fills the measure of the iniquity of any person
or people faster than mocking and misusing the
servants of God, yea, though it is by their own folly
that they are brought low. Those know not what
thev do, nor w'hom they affront, that make sport
with a good man.
3. How they were destroyed; Samson pulled the
house down upon them ; God, no doubt, putting it
into his heart, as a public person, thus to avenge
God’s quarrel with them, Israel’s, and his own.
(1.) He gained strength to do it by prayer, v. 28.
That strength which he had lost by sin, he re¬
covers, like a true penitent, by prayer; as David,
who, when he had provoked the Spirit of grace to
withdraw, prayed, (Ps. 51. 12.) Restore unto me
the joy of thy salvation, and ufihold me with thy
free Sfiirit. We may suppose that this was only a
mental prayer, and that his voice was not heard;
(for it was made in a noisy clamorous crowd of Phi¬
listines;) but though his voice was not heard of men,
yet his prayer was heard of God, and graciously
answered; and though he lived not to give an ac¬
count himself of this his prayer, as Nehemiah
did of his, yet God not only accepted it in heaven,
but, by revealing it to the inspired penman, pro¬
vided for the registering of it in his church. He
rayed to God to remember him, and strengthen
im this once, thereby owning that his strength for
what he had already done, he had from God, and
begged it might be afforded to him once more to
give them a parting blow. That it was not from a
principle of passion or personal revenge, but from a
holy zeal for the glory of God and Israel, that he
desired to do this, appears from God’s accepting and
answering the prayer. Samson died praying, so did
our blessed Saviour; but Samson praved for ven¬
geance, Christ for forgiveness. (2.) He gained op¬
portunity to do it, by leaning on the two pillars
which were the chief supports of the building, and
were, it seems, so near together, that he could take
hold of them both at one time, v. 26, 29. Having
hold of them, he bore them down with all his
might, crving aloud, Let me die with the Philistines,
v. 30. Animamque in vulnere fionil — While in¬
flicting the wound, he dies. The vast concourse
of people that was upon the roof, looking down
through it to see the sport, we may suppose con¬
tributed to the fdl of it. A weight so much greater
than ever it was designed to carry, might perhaps
have sunk of itself, at least it made the fall more
fatal to those within: and indeed few of either could
escape being either stifled or crushed to death. This
was done, not bv any natural strength of Samson,
out by the almighty power of God, and is not only
marvellous, but miraculous, in our eyes.
Now in this, [1.] The Philistines were greatly
mortified. All their lords and great men were
killed, and abundance of their people, and this, in
the midst of their tr.umph; the temple of Dagon (as
many think the house was) was pulled down, and
Dagon buried in it. This would give a great check
to the insolence of the survivors; and if Israel had
had but so much sense and spirit left them as to im¬
prove the advantages of this juncture, they might
now have thrown off the Philistines’ yoke. [2.1
Samson may very well be justified, and brought in
not guilty of any sinful murder, either of himself or
ot the Philistines. He was a public person, a de¬
clared enemy to the Philistines, against whom he
might therefore take all advantage; they were now
in the most barbarous manner making war upon
him, all present were aiding and abetting, and just¬
ly die with him. Nor was he a felo de se, or a self
murderer, in it, for it was not his own life that lie
aimed, though he had too much reason to be weary
of it, but the lives of Israel’s enemies, for the reach¬
ing of which he bravely resigned his own, not
counting it dear to him, so he might finish his course
with honour. [3.] God was very much glorified,
j in pardoning Samson’s great transgressions,- of which
this was an evidence. It has been said that the
prince’s giving of a commission to one convicted,
amounts to a pardon. Yet though he was a God
that forgave him, he took vengeance of his inven¬
tions; (Ps. 99. 8.) and by his suffering his champion
tro die in fetters, warned all to take heed of those
lusts which war against the soul. However, we
have good reason to h<pe that though Samson ’died
with the Philistines, he had not his everlasting
portion with them. The Lord knows them that are
his. [4.] Christ was plainly typified. He pulled
down the Devil’s kingdom, as Samson did Dagon’s
temple; and when he died, obtained the most glo
rious victory over the powers of darkness. Then
when his arms were stretched out upon the cross
as Samson’s to the two pillars, he gave a fatal shake
to the gates of hell, and, through death destroyed
him, that had the flower pf death, that is the Devil ;
(Heb. 2. 14, 15.) and herein exceeded Samson, that
he not only died with the Philistines, but rose again
to triumph over them.
Lastly, The story of Samson concludes, 1. With
an account of his burial; his own relations, animated
by the glories that attended his death, came and
found out his body among the slain, brought it hon¬
ourably to his own country, and buried it in the
place of his father’s sepulchres; the Philistines be¬
ing in such a consternation, that they durst not op¬
pose it. 2. With the repetition of the account we
had before of the continuance of his government,
he judged Israel twenty years; and if they had not
been as mean and sneaking as he was brave and
daring, he had left them clear of the Philistines’
yoke. They might have been easy, safe and happy,
if they would but have given God and their judges
leave to make them so.
CHAP. XVIJ.
All agree that what is related in this, and the rest of the
chapters to the end of this book, was not done, as the
narrative occurs, after Samson, but long before, even
soon after the death of Joshua, in the davs of Phinehas
the son of Eleazar, eh. 20. 28 But it is' cast here into
the 1 ‘tter part of the book, that it might not interrupt the
history of the Judges. That it might appear how happy
the nation was in <he Judges, here is showed how un¬
happy they were w hen there was none. I. Then idolatrv
began in the family of Micah, ch. 17. IT. Then it spread
itself into the tribe of Dan, ch. 18. III. Then villany
was committed in Gibeah of Benjamin, ch. 19. IV.
Then that whole tribe was destroved for countenancing
it, ch. 20. V. Then strange expedients were adopted to
keep up that tribe, ch. 21. Therefore blessed be God for
the government we are under. In this chapter we are
told how Micah an Ephraimite furnished himself, ].
184 JUDGES, XVII.
With an image for his god, ver. 1 . . 6. 2. With a Levite,
such a one as he was, for his priest, v. 7 . . 13.
1. i ND there was a man of mount
Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
2. And he said unto his mother, The eleven
hundred shekels of silver that were taken
from thee, about which thou cursedst, and
spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the sil¬
ver is with me; I took it. And his mother
said, Blessed he thou of the Lord, my son.
3. And when he had restored the eleven
hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his
mother said, 1 had wholly dedicated the
silver unto the Lord, from my hand, for my
son, to make a graven image and a molten
image ; now, therefore, I will restore it unto
thee. 4. Yet he restored the money unto
his mother ; and his mother took two hun¬
dred shekels of silver, and gave them to the
founder, who made thereof a graven image
and a molten image: and they were in the
house of Micah. 5. And the man Micah
had a house of gods, and made an ephod,
and teraphim, and consecrated one ol his
sons, who became his priest. 6. In those
days there ivas no king in Israel, hut every
man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Here we have, •
I. Micah and his mother quarrelling. 1. The
son robs the mother. The old woman had hoarded,
with long scraping and saving, a great sum of mo¬
ney — eleven hundred pieces of silver. It is likely
she intended, when she died, to leave it to her son;
in the mean time, it did her good to look upon it,
and to count it over. The young man has a family
of children grown up, for he had one of age to be a
priest; ( v . 5.) he knows where to find his mother’s
cash, thinks he has more need of it than she has,
cannot stay till she dies, and so takes it away pri¬
vately for his own use. Though it is a fault in pa¬
rents' to withhold from the children that which is
meet, and leads them into temptation to wish them
in their graves, yet even that will by no means ex¬
cuse the wickedness of those children that steal
from their parents, and think all their own which
they can get from them, though by the most indi¬
rect methods. 2. The mother curses the son, or
whosoever had taken her money. It should seem
she suspected her son; for when she cursed, she
spoke in his ears so loud, and with so much passion
and vehemence, as made both his ears to tingle.
See what mischief the love of money makes, how it
destroys the duty and comfort of every relation. It
was the love of money that made Micah so unduti-
ful to his mother as to rob her, and made her so un¬
kind and void of natural affection to her son as to
curse him if he had it and concealed it. Outward
losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad
people to their curses. This woman’s silver was her
god, before it was made either into a graven or a
'molten image, else the loss of it would not have put
her into such a passion as quite to forget and break
through all the laws of decency and piety. It is a.
very foolish thing for those that are provoked, to
throw their curses about, as a madman that casteth
fire-brands, arrows and death, since they know
not but they may light upon those that are most
dear to them.
II. Micah and his mother reconciled. 1. The
son was so terrified with the mother’s mrses, that
he restored the money. Though he had so little
grace as to take it, he had so much left as not to
dare to keep it, when his mother had sent a curse
after it. He cannot believe his mother’s money
would do him any good, without his mother’s bless¬
ing; nordares he deny the theft when he is charged
with' it, nor retain the money when it is demanded
by the right owner. It is best not to do evil, but it
is next best, when it is done, to undo it again, by re¬
pentance, confession, and restitution. Let children
be afraid of having the prayers of their parents
against them; for though the curse causeless shall
not come, yet that which is justly deserved, may be
justly feared, even though it w. s passionately and
indecently uttered. 2. The mother was so pleased
with her son’s repentance, that she recalled her
curses, and turned them into prayers for her son’s
welfare; Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.
When those that have been guilty of a fault, appear
to be free and ingenuous in owning it, they ought to
be commended for their repentance, rather than
still be condemned and upbraided for their fault.
III. Micah and his mother agreeing to turn theii
money into a god, and set up idolatry in their fami¬
ly; and this seems to have been the first instance of
the revolt of any Israelite from God and his insti¬
tuted worship, after the death of Joshua, and the
elders that outlived him, and is therefore thus par¬
ticularly related. And though this was only the
worship of the true God by an image, against the
second commandment, yet this opened the door to
the worship of the other gods, Baalim and the
groves, against the first and great commandment.
Observe,
1. The mother’s contrivance of this matter.
When the silver was restored, she pretends she
had dedicated it to the Lord; (v. 3.) either before
it was stolen, and then she would have that thought
to be the reason why she was so much grieved at
the loss of it, and imprecated evil on him that had
taken it, because it was a dedicated, and therefore
an accursed, tiling; or, after it was stolen, she had
made a vow that if she could retrieve it, she would
dedicate it to God, and then she would have the
providence that had so far favoured her as to bring
it back to her hands, to be an owning of her vow.
“ Come,” said she to her son, “ the money is mine,
but thou hast a mind to it : let it be neither mine nor
thine, but let us both agree to make it into an image
for a religious use.” Had she put it to a use that
had been indeed for the service and honour of God,
it had been a good way of accommodating the mat¬
ter between them; but as it was, the project was
wicked. Probably, this old woman was one of those
that came out of Egypt, and would have such
images made as she had seen there; now that she
began to dote, she called to remembrance the follies
of her youth, and perhaps told her son that this
way of worshipping God by images, was, to her
knowledge, the old religion.
2. The son’s compliance with her. It should
seem, when she first proposed the thing, he stum¬
bled at it, knowing what the second commandment
was; for when she said (v. 3.) she designed it foi
her son to make an image of, yet he restored it to
his mother, (being loath to have a hand in making
the image,) and she gave it to the founder and had
the thing done, blaming him perhaps for scrupling
it, v. 4. But when the images were made, Micah,
by his mother’s persuasion, was not only well re¬
conciled to them, but exceedingly pleased and in
love with them; so strangely bewitching was idola¬
try, and so much supported by traditions received
from their parents, 1 Pet. 1. 18. Jer. 44. 17. But ob¬
serve how the old woman’s covetousness prevailed,
in part, above her superstition; she had wholly de-
JUDGES, XVII.
dicated the silver to make the graven and molten
images, (v. 3.) all the eleven hundred pieces; but
when it came to be done, she made less than a fifth
part serve, even two hundred shekels , v. 4. She
thought that enough, and indeed it was too much to
give for an image that is a teacher of lies. Had it
been devoted truly to the honour of God, he would
not thus have been put off with part of the price,
but would have signified his resentment of the af¬
front, as he did in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.
Now observe, (1.) What was the corruption here
introduced, v. 5. The man Micah had a house of
gods, a house of God, so the LXX, for so he thought
it, as good as that at Shiloah, and better, because
his own, of his own inventing, and at his own dis¬
posal; for people love to have their religion under
their girdle, to manage it as they please. A house
of error, so the Chaldee, for really it was so, a de¬
viation from the way of truth, and an inlet to all
deceit. Idolatry is a great cheat, and one of the
worst of errors. That which he aimed at in the
progress of his idolatry, whether he designed it at
first or no, was, to mimic and rival both God’s
oracles and his ordinances. (1. ) His oracles. For
he made Teraphim, little images, which he might
advise with as there was occasion, and receive in¬
formations, directions, and predictions from. What
the Urim and Thummim were to the prince and
people, these Terafihim should be to his family; yet
he could not think that the true God should own
them, or give answers by them, and therefore de¬
pended upon such demons as the heathen worship¬
ped, to inspire them, and make them serviceable
to him. Thus while the honour of Jehovah was
pretended, [y. 3.) yet, his institution being relin¬
quished, they unavoidably lapsed into downright
idolatry and demon-worship. (2.) His ordinances.
Some room or apartment in the house of Micah was
appointed for the temple or house of God; an ophod,
or holy garment, was provided for his priest to
officiate in, in imitation of those used at the taber¬
nacle of God; and one of his sons he consecrated,
robably the eldest, to be his priest. And when he
ad set up a graven or molten image to represent
the object of his worship, no marvel if a priest of
his own getting and his own making, served to be
the manager of it. Here is no mention of any altar,
sacrifice, or incense, in honour of these silver gods,
but, having a priest, it is probable he had all these;
unless we suppose that, at first, his gods were in¬
tended only to be advised with, not to be adored,
like Laban’s Teraphim; but the beginning of idola¬
try, as of other sins, is like the letting forth of water.
Break the dam, and you bring a deluge. Here
idolatry began, and it spread like a fretting leprosy.
Dr. Lightfoot would have us observe that as eleven
hundred pieces of silver were here devoted to the
making of an idol, which ruined religion, especially
in the tribe of Dan, (as we shall find after,) which
was Samson’s tribe; so eleven hundred pieces of sil¬
ver were given by each Philistine-lord for the ruin
of Samson.
(2. ) What was the cause of this corruption, ( v . 6. )
there was no king in Israel, no Judge or sovereign
prince to take cognizance of the setting up of these
images, (wnicli, doubtless, the country about soon
resorted to,) and to give orders for the destroying of
them : none to convince Micah of his error, and to
restrain and punish him ; to take this disease in time,
by which the spreading of the infection might have
been happily prevented. Every man did that which
was right in his own eyes, and they soon did that
which was evil in the sight of the Lord. When they
were without a king to keep good order among
them, God’s house was forsaken, his priests neg¬
lected, and all went to ruin among them. See I
wh-it a mercy government is, and what reason there
Vol. ii. — 2 A
185
is, that not only hrayers and intercessions, but
giving of thanks, should be made for kings and all
in authority, 1 Tim. 2. 1, 2. Nothing contributes
more, under God, to the support-of religion in the
world, than the due administration of those two
great ordinances, magistracy and ministry.
7. And there was a young man out of
Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of •Judah,
who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
8. And the man departed out of the city
from Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he
could find a place: and he came to mount
Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he
journeyed. 9. And Micah said unto him,
Whence comest thou? And he said unto
him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah,
and I go to sojourn where I may find a
place. 10. And Micah said unto him,
Dwell with me, and be unto me a father
and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels
of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel,
and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.
11. And the Levite was content to dwell
with the man ; and the young man was un¬
to him as one of his sons. 12. And Micah
consecrated the Levite; and the young
man became his priest, and was in the
house of Micah. 13; Then said Micah,
Now know I that the Lord will do me
good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
We have here an account of Micah’s furnishing
himself with a Lev ite for his chaplain, either think¬
ing his son, because the heir of his estate, too good
to officiate, or rather, because not of God’s tribe,
not good enough. Observe,
I. What brought this Levite to Micah. By his
mother’s side he was of the family of Judah, and
lived at Beth-lehem among his mother’s relations,
(for that was not a Levites’ city,) or, upon some
other account, as a stranger or inmate, sojourned
there, v. 7. Thence he went to sojourn where he
could find a place, and in his travels came to the
house of Micah in mount Ephraim, v. 8 Now, 1.
Some think it was his unhappiness that he was un¬
der a necessity of removing, either because he was
persecuted and abused, or rather neglected and
starved, at Bethlehem. God had made plentiful
provision for the Levites, but the people withheld
their dues, and did not help them into the posses¬
sion of the cities assigned them; so that they were
reduced to straits, and no care was taken for their
relief. Israel’s forsaking of God, began with for¬
saking the Levites, which therefore they are warn¬
ed against, Dent. 12. 19. It is a sign religion is
going to decay, when good ministers are neglected,
and at a loss for a livelihood. But, 2. It seems
rather to have been his fault and folly, that he loved
to wander, threw himself out where he was, and
forfeited the respect of his friends, and, having a
roving head, would go seek his fortune, as we say.
We cannot conceive that things were yet come to
that bad pass among them, that a Levite should be
poor, unless it was his own fault. As those are fit
to be pitied, that would fix but may not, so those
are fit to be punished, that might fix but will not.
Unsettledness being, one would think, a constant un¬
easiness, it is strange that any Israelite, especially
any Levite, should affect it.
186 JUDGES, XVIII.
II. What bargain Micah made with him. Had he
not been well enough content with his son for his
priest, he would have gone or sent abroad to inquire
out a Levite; but now he only takes hold of one that
drops into his hands, which showed that he had no
great zeal in the matter. It is probable that this ram¬
bling Levite heard, in the country, ot Micah’s house
of gods, his graven and molten image, which, if he
had had any thing of the spirit of a Lev ite in him,
would have brought him thither, to reprove Micah
for his idolatry, to tell him how directly contrary it
was to the law of God, and how it would bring the
judgments of God upon him; but instead of that,
like a base and degenerate branch of that sacred
tribe, thither he goes, to offer his service, with
Have you any work for a Levite ? For I am out of
business, and go to sojourn where I may find a
/ ilace ; all he aimed at was to get bread, not to do
good, v. 9. Micah courts him into his family, (v.
10.) and promises him, 1. Good preferment; Be
unto me a father and a priest. Though a young
man and taken up at the door, yet if he take him
for a priest, he will respect him as a father, so far
is he from setting him among his servants. He asks
not for his credentials, takes no time to inquire how
he behaved in the place of his last settlement, con¬
siders not whether, though he was a Levite, yet he
might not be of such a bad character, as to be a
plague and scandal to his family, but thinks, though
he were ever so great a rake, he might serve for a
priest to a graven image, like Jeroboam’s priest of
the lowest of the people, 1 Kings 12. 31. No marvel
if they who can make any thing serve for a god,
make any thing serve for a priest. 2. A tolerable
maintenance. He will allow him meat, artd drink,
and clothes, a double suit, so the word is in the mar¬
gin, a better and a worse, one for every day’s wear,
and one for holy days, and ten shekels, about twen¬
ty-five shillings a year, for spending money; a poor
salary, in comparison of wh t God provided for the
Levites that behaved well; but those that forsake
God’s service, will never mend themselves, nor find
a better master. The ministry is the best calling,
but the worst trade, in the world.
III. The Levite’s settlement with him, v. 1 1. He
was content to dwell with the man ; though his work
was superstitious, and his wages scandalous, he ob¬
jected against neither, but thought himself happy
that he had lighted on so good a house. Micah,
thinking himself holier than any of his neighbours,
resumes to consecrate this Levite; ( v . 12.) as if his
uilding, furnishing, and endowing, this chapel,
authorized him, not only to appoint the person that
should officiate there, but to confer those orders
upon him which he had no right to give, nor the
other to receive. And now he shows him respect
as a father, and tenderness as a son, and, with that,
is walling to make up the deficiency of the coin he
gave him.
IV. Micah’s satisfaction in this; (r>. 13.) Now
know I that the Lord will do me good; that is, he
hoped that his new establishment would gain repu¬
tation among his neighbours, and that would turn to
his advantage, for he would share in the profits of
his altar; or rather, that God would countenance
and bless him in all he put his hand unto, because
1 have a Levite to be my priest. 1. He thought it
was a sign of God’s favour to him and his images,
that he had so opportunely sent a Levite to his door.
Thus they who please themselves with their own
delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any
thing to their hands, that furthers them in their evil
way, are too apt from thence to infer that God is
pleased with them. 2. He thought now that the
error of his priesthood was amended, all was well,
though he still retained his graven and molten im¬
age. Note, Many deceive themselves into a good
opinion of their state, by a partial reformation
They think they are as good as they should be, be
cause, in some particular instance, they are not sc
bad as they have been; as if the correcting of one
fault would atone for persisting in all the rest. 3.
He thought the making of a Levite into a priest
was a v ery meritorious act, which really was a pre¬
sumptuous usurpation, and very provoking to God.
Men’s pride, and ignorance, and self-flattery, will
undertake, not only to justify, but magnify and
sanctify, the most daring impieties and invasions
upon the divine prerogatives. With much reason
might Micah have said, “Now may 1 fear that God
will curse me, because I have debauched one of his
own tribe, and drawn him into the worship of a
graven image;” yet, for this, he hopes God will do
him good. 4. He thought that having a Levite in
the house with him, would of course entitle him to
the divine favour. Carnal hearts are apt to build
too much upon their external privileges, and to
conclude that God will certainly do them good, be¬
cause they are born of godly parents, dwell in pray¬
ing families, are linked in society with those that
are very good, and sit under a lively ministry;
whereas all this is but like having a Lev ite to be
their priest, which amounts to no security at all
that God will do them good, unless they be good
themselves, and make a good use of those advan¬
tages.
CHAP. XVIII.
How idolatry crept into the family of Micah we read in the
chapter before, bow it was translated from thence into the
tribe of Dan we, have an account in this chapter, and how
it gained a settlement in a city of note; for how great a
matter doth a little fire kindle! The tribe of Dan had their
lot assigned them last of all the tribes, and, it happening
to be too strait for them, a considerable city in the ut¬
most corner of Canaan northward was added to it, “ Let
them get it, and take it;” it was called I.aish or Leshem,
Josh. 19. 47. Now here we are told, I. How they sent
spies to bring them an account of the place, who, by the
way, got acquainted with Micah’s priest, v. 1 . . 6. II.
What an encouraging report these spies brought back,
v. 7.. 10. III. What forces were sent to conquer Laish,
v. 11 . . 13. IV. How they, bvthe way, plundered Micah
. of his gods, v. 14.. 26. V. How easily they conquered
Laish, v. 27 . .29. and, when they had it, set up the graven
image in it, v. 30, 31.
l.jN those days there ivas no king in Is-
I rael: and in those days the tribe of
the Danites sought them an inheritance to
dwell in; for unto that day all their inherit¬
ance had not fallen unto them among the
tribes of Israel. 2. And the children of
Dan sent of their family five men from their
coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from
Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search
it ; and they said unto them, Go, search the
land : who, when they came to mount
Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged
there. 3. When they were by the house of
Micah, they knew the voice of the young
man the Levite ; and they turned in thither,
and said unto him, Who brought thee
hither? and what makest thou in this place?
and what hast thou here? 4. And he said
unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah
with me, and hath hired me, and I am his
priest. 5. And they said unto him, Ask
I counsel, we pray thee, of God, that, we may
JUDGES, XVJIJ.
187
know whether our way which we go shall
he prosperous. 6. And the priest said unto
them, Go in peace: before the Lord is
your way wherein ye go. i
Here is,
1. The eye which these Danites had upon Laish,
not the whole tribe of Dan, but one family of them,
to whose lot, in tire subdivision of Canaan, that city
tell. Hitherto this family had sojourned with their
brethren, who had taken possession ol their lot,
which lay between Judah and the Philistines, and
had declined going to their own city, because there
was no king in Israel to rule over them, v. 1.
It lay a great way off, separate from the rest of
their tribe: it was entirely in the enemy’s hand, and
therefore they would spunge upon their brethren,
rather than go far to provide for themselves. But,
at length, necessity forced them to it, and they be¬
an to think of an inheritance to dwell in. It is
etter to have a little of one’s own, than always to
hang upon others.
2. The inquiry which this family of the Danites
made concerning Laish. They sent Jive men to
search the land, (v. 2.) that they might know the
character of the country, whether it was an inherit¬
ance worth going so far for; and the posture of the
people, whether the making of themselves masters
of it was a thing practicable, what force was neces¬
sary in order thereunto, and which was the best
way of making an attack upon it. The men they
sent, were men of valour, who, if they fell into their
enemies’ hands, knew how to look danger in the
face. It is prudent to look before we leap; Dan
had the subtlety of a serpent by the way, ((Jen. 49.
17.) as well as the courage of a lion’s whelp, leaping
from. Bashan, Deut. 33. 22.
3. The acquaintance which their spies got with
Micah’s priest, and the improvements they made
of that acquaintance. It seems, they had known
this Levite formerly, he having, in his rambles,
been sometimes in their country; and though his
countenance might be altered, they knew him again
byj his voice, v. 3. They were surprised to find
him so far off, inquired what brought him thither,
and he told them, v. 4. what business he had there,
and what encouragement. They, understanding
that he had no oracle in his custody, desired he
would tell them whether they should prosper in
their present undertaking, v. 5. See their care¬
lessness and regardlessness of God and his provi¬
dence; they would not have inquired of the Lord at
all, if this Levite’s mentioning of the teraphim he
had with him, had not put it into their heads.
Many never think of religion but just when it falls
in their way, and they cannot avoid it, like chance-
customers. See their ignorance of the divine law,
that they thought God, who had forbidden the re¬
ligious use of graven images, would yet own them
in consulting an image, and give them an answer of
peace. Should he be inquired of by them ? Ezek.
14. 3. They seem to have had a greater opinion of
Micah’s teraphim, than of God’s Urim; for they had
passed by Shiloh, and, for aught that appears, had
not inquired there of God’s High-priest, but Micah’s
shabby Levite shall be an oracle to them. He be¬
takes himself to his usual method of consulting his
teraphim; and whether he himself believed it or no,
he humoured the thing so well, that he made them
believe he had an answer from God, encouraging
them to go on, and assuring them of good success,
v. 6. “ Go in peace , you shall be safe, and may be
easy, for before the Lord is your way,” that is, he
approves it,” (as the Lord is said to know the way
of the righteous with acceptation,) “ and therefore
!;■ will make it prosperous; his eye will be upon you I
fo • good, he will direct your way, and preserve
y< ur going out and coming in. ” Note, Our great
care should be that our way be such as God ap¬
proves, and if it be so, we may^o in peace. If God
care for us, on him let us cast our care, and be
satisfied that we cannot miss our way, if he go be¬
fore us.
7. Then the five men departed, and came
to Laish, and saw the people that were
therein, how they dwelt careless after the
manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure;
and there was no magistrate in the land, that
might put them to shame in any thing : and
they were far from the Zidonians, and had
no business with any man. 8. And they
came unto their brethren to Zorah and Esh-
taol: and their brethren said unto them,
What say ye ? 9. And they said, Arise,
that we may go up against them : for we
have seen the land, and, behold, it is very
good : and are ye still ? be not slothful to
go, and to enter to possess the land. 10.
When ye go, ye shall come unto a people
secure, and to a large land : for God hath
given it into your hands; a place where
there is no want of any thing that is in the
earth.. 1 1 . And there went from thence of
the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and
out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed
with weapons of war. 12. And they went
up, and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah:
wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-
dan, unto this day : behold,, it is behind
Kirjath-jearim. 13. And they passed thence
unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the
house of Micah.
Here is,
I. The observation which the spies made upon
the city of Laish, and the posture of its inhabitants,
v. 7. Never was place so ill governed, and so ill
guarded, which would make it a very easy prey to
the invader.
1. It was ill governed, for every man might be as
bad as he would, and there was no magistrate, no
heir of restraint, as the word is, that might so much
as put them to shame in any thing, much less put
them to death ! so that by the most impudent im¬
moralities they provoked God’s wrath, and by all
manner of mutual mischiefs weakened and con¬
sumed one another. See here, (1. ) What the office
of magistrates is; they are to be heirs of restraint,
that is, to preserve a constant entail of power, ;.s
heirs to an inheritance, in the places where they
are, for the restraining of that which is evil. They
are possessors of restraint, intrusted with their au¬
thority for this end that they may check and sup¬
press every thing that is vicious, and be a terror to
evil doers. It is only God’s grace that can renew
men’s depraved minds and turn their hearts ; but
the magistrate’s power may restrain their bad prac¬
tices, and tie their hands, so that the wickedness of
the wicked may not be either so injurious, or so in¬
fectious, as otherwise it would be. Though the
sword of justice cannot cut up the root of bitterness,
it may cut off its branches, and hinder its growth and
spreading, that vice may not go without a check, f i
then it becomes daring and dangerous, and tin-
188
JUDGES, XVIII.
community shares in the guilt. (2. ) See what me¬
thod must be used for the restraint of wickedness.
Sinners must be put to shame, that they who will
not be restrained by the shamefulness of the sin be¬
fore God and their own consciences, may be re¬
strained by the shamefulness of the punishment be¬
fore men. All ways must be tried to dash sin out of
countenance, and cover it with contempt, to make
people ashamed of their idleness, drunkenness,
cheating, lying, and other sins, by making reputa¬
tion always appear on virtue’s side. (3.) See how
miserable, and how near to ruin, those places are,
that either have no magistrates, or none that bear
the sword to any purpose; the wicked then walk
on every side, Ps. 12. 8. And how happy we are
in good laws and a good government.
2. It was ill guarded. The people of Laish
dwelt careless, quiet, and secure, their gates left
open, their walls out of repair, because under no
apprehension of danger, any way; though their
wickedness was so great, that thev had reason to
fear divine vengeance every day. It was a sign that
the Israelites, through their sloth and cowardice,
were not now such a terror to the Canaanites, as
they had been when they first came among them,
else the city of Laish, which, probably, knew it¬
self to be assigned to them, would not have been so
very secure. Though they were an open and in¬
land town, they lived secure like the Zidonians, who
were surrounded with the sea, and were well forti¬
fied both by art and nature; but were far from the \
Zidonians, who therefore could not come in to their
assistance, nor help to defend them from the dan¬
ger w'hich, by debauching their manners, they had j
helped to bring them into. And lastly, They had
no business with any man, which bespeaks either
the idleness they affected, they followed no trade,
and so grew lazy and luxurious, and utterly unable
to defend themselves, or the independency they af¬
fected, they scorned to be either in subjection to,
or alliance with, any of their neighbours, and so
'hey had none to protect them, or bring in any aid 1
to them. They cared for nobody, and therefore
nobody cared for them. Such as these were the
men of Laish.
II. The encouragement which from hence they
gave to their countrymen that sent them, to prose¬
cute their design upon this city, v. 8 **10. Proba¬
bly, the Danites had formed notions of the insuper¬
able difficulties of the enterprise, thought it impos¬
sible ever to make themselves masters of Laish,
and therefore had kept themselves so long out of
the possession of it; perhaps suggesting likewise to
one another, in their unbelief, that it was not a coun¬
try worth going so far and running such a risk for.
Which jealousies the spies (and they were not, in
this, evil spies) had an eye to in their report.
1. They represent the place as desirable. “ if you
will trust our judgments, we have seen the land, and
we are agreed in our verdict upon the view, that,
behold, it is very good, (v. 9.) better than this
mountainous country into which we are here crowd¬
ed by the Philistines. You need not doubt of living
here comfortably in it, for it is a place where there
is no want of any thing,” v. 10. See what a good
land Canaan was, that this city, which lay furthest
of all northward, in the utmost corner of "the coun¬
try, stood on such a fruitful spot. 2. They repre¬
sent it as attainable; they do not at all question but,
with God’s blessing, they may soon get possession
of it; for the profile are secure, v. 10. And the more
secure, always the less safe; “ God has given it in¬
to your hands, and you may have it for the taking.”
They stir them up to the undertaking; “ Arise, that
we may go up against them, let us go about it
speedily and resolutely. They expostulate with j
them for their delays, and chide them out for their 1
I sluggishness; Are ye still? Be not slothful to go.
Men need to be thus stirred up to mind even their
interest. Heaven is a very good land where there
is no want of any thing; our God has, by the pro¬
mise, given it into our hands, let us be not slothful
then in making it sure, and laying hold on eternal
life, but strive to enter.
III. The Danites’ expedition against Laish. This
particular family of them, to whose lot that city fell,
now at length make towards it, v. 11- *13. The
military men were but six hundred in all, not a
hundredth part of that tribe, for when they entered
Canaan, the Danites were above sixty-four thou¬
sand, Numb. 26. 43. It was strange that none of
their brethren of their own tribe, much less of any
other, came in to their assistance; but it was long
after Israel came to Canaan, before there appeared
among them any thing of a public spirit, or concern
for a common interest, which was the reason why
they seldom united in a common head, and that
kept them low and inconsiderable. It appears, by
v. 21. that these six hundred were the whole num¬
ber that went to settle there, for they had their fa¬
milies and effects with them, their little ones and
cattle, so confident were they of success. The other
tribes gave them a free passage through their coun¬
try, their first day’s march brought them to Kir-
jath-jearim; (x\ 12.) and such rare things were mi¬
litary encampments now become in Israel, that the
place where they rested that night, was from thence
called Mahaneh-dun, the camp of Dan; and, pro¬
bably, the place whence they began their march
between Zorah and Eshtaol, was called by the same
name, and is meant, ch. 13. 25. The second day’s
march brought them unto mount Ephraim, near
Micah’s house, ( v . 13.) and there we must pause
awhile.
14. Then answered the five men that
went to spy out the country of Laish, and
said unto their brethren, Do ye know that
there is in these houses an ephod, and tera
phim, and a graven image, and a molten
image ? now, therefore, consider what ye
have to do. 15. And they turned thither¬
ward, and came to the house of the young
man the Levite, even unto the house of Mi-
cah, and saluted him. 16. And the six
hundred men appointed with their weapons
of war, which were of the children of Dan,
stood by the entering of the gate. 17. And
the five men that went to spy out the land
went up, and came in thither, and took the
graven image, and the ephod, and the tera-
phim, and the molten image : and the priest
stood in the entering of the gate with the
six hundred men that were appointed with
weapons of war. 1 8. And these went into
Micah’s house, and fetched the carved
image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the
molten image. Then said the priest unto
them, What do ye? 19. And they said
unto him, Hold thy peace, lav thine hand
upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to
us a father and a priest : is it better for thee
to be a priest unto the house of one man,
or that thou be a priest, unto a tribe and a
family in Israel ? 20. And the priest's heart
189
JUDGES, XVII r.
was glad ; and he took the ephod, and the
teraphim, and the graven image, and went
in the midst of the people. 21. So they
turned and departed, and put the little ones,
and the cattle, and the carriage, before
them. 22. And when they were a good
way from the house of Micah, the men that
were in the houses near to Micah’s house
were gathered together, and overtook the
children of Dan. 23. And they cried unto
the children of Dan : and they turned their
faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth
thee, that thou contest with such a com¬
pany ? 24. And he said, Ye have taken
away my gods which I made, and the priest,
and ye are gone away: and what have 1
more ? and what is this that ye say, unto
me, What aileth thee ? 25. And the chil¬
dren of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice
be heard among us, lest angry fellows run
upon thee, and thou lose thy life with the
lives of thy household. 26. And the chil¬
dren of Dan went their way : and when
Micah saw that they were too strong for
him, he turned, and went back unto his
house
The Danites had sent out their spies to find out a
country for them, and they sped well in their
search; but here, now that they came to the place,
(for till that brought it to their mind, it does not
appear that they had mentioned it to their bre¬
thren,) they oblige them with a further discovery,
they can tell them where there are gods; “Here
in these houses, there are an ephod, and teraphim,
and a great many fine things for devotion, such as
we have not the like in our country, now therefore
consider what ye have to do, v. 14. We consulted
them, and had a good answer from them; they are
worth having, nay, they are worth stealing, (that
is, having upon the worst terms,) and if we can but
make ourselves masters of these gods, we may the
better hope to prosper, and make ourselves masters
of Laish. ” So far they were in the right, that it
was desirable to have God’s presence with them,
but wretchedly mistaken when they took these
images for tokens of God’s presence, which were
fitter to be used in a puppet play, than in acts of de¬
votion. They thought an oracle would be prettv
company for them in their enterprise, and instead
of a council of war, to advise upon every emergen¬
cy: and the place they were going to settle >n3 be¬
ing so far from Shiloh, they thought they had more
need of a house of gods among themselves, than
Micah had that lived so near it. They might have
made as good an ephod and teraphim themselves as
this was, and which would have served their pur¬
pose every whit as well, but the reputation which
they found this in the possession of, (though it had
had that reputation but a while,) amused them into a
strange veneration for it, which they would soon
have dropped, if they had had so much sense as to
inquire into its original, and whether there was any
thing divine in its institution.
Being determined to take these gods along with
them, we are here told how they stole the images,
cajoled the priest, and frightened Micah from at¬
tempting to rescue them.
I. The five men that knew the house, and the
avenues to it, and particularly the chapel, went in
and fetched out the images, with the ephod and
teraphim, and all the appurtenances, while the six
hundred men kept the priest in talk at the gate, v.
16. 18. See what little care this sorry priest tock
of his gods; while he was sauntering at the gate, and
gazing at the strangers, his treasure (such as it was)
was gone. See how impotent these sorry gods
were, that could not keep themselves from being
stolen; it is mentioned as the reproach < f idols, that
themselves are gone into captivity, Isa. 46. 2. O, the
sottishness of these Danites! How could they ima¬
gine those gods should protect them, that could not
keep themselves from being stolen? Yet because
they went by the name of gods, as if it were not
enough that they had with them the piesenceof
the invisible God, nor that they stood in relation to
the tabernacle, where there were ev en visible to¬
kens of his presence, nothing will serve them but
they must have gods to go before them, not of their
own making indeed, but, which was as bad, of their
own stealing. Their idolatry began in theft, a pro¬
per prologue for such an opera. In order to the
breaking of the second commandment, they begin
with the eighth, and take their neighbour’s goods
to make them their gods. The holy God "hates
robbery for burnt-offerings, but the Devil loves it.
Had these Danites seized the images, to deface and
abolish them, and the priest, to punish him, they
had done like Israelites indeed, and had appeared
jealous for their God, as their fathers had done;
(Josh. 22. 16.) but to take them for their own use
was such a complicated crime, as showed they nei¬
ther feared God, nor regarded man, but were per¬
fectly lost both to godliness and honesty.
II. They set upon the priest, and flattered him
into a good humour, not only to let the gods go, but
to go himself along with them; for without him they
knew not well how to make use of the gods. Ob¬
serve, 1. How they tempted him, v. 19^ They as¬
sured him of better preferment with them than
what he now had. It would be more honour and
profit to be chaplain to a regiment, (for they were
no more, though they call themselves a tribe,) than
to be only a domestic chaplain to a private gentle¬
man. Let him go with them, and he shall have
more dependents on him, more sacrifices brought
to his altar, and more fees for consulting his tera¬
phim, than he had here. 2. How they won him.
A little persuasion served, his heart was glad, v. 20.
The proposal took well enough with his rambling
f mcy, which would never let him stay long at a
place, and gratified his covetousness and ambition.
He had no reason to say, but that he was well off,
where he was, Micah had not deceived hi?n, or
changed his wages, he was not moved with any re¬
morse of conscience for attending on a graven
image; had he gone away to Shiloh to minister to
the Lord’s priests, according to the duty of a Le-
vite, he might have been welcome there, (Deut.
18. 6.) and his removal had been commendable;
but instead of that, he takes the images with him,
and carries the infection of the idolatry into the
whole city. It had been very unjust and ungrateful
to Micah, if he had only gone away himself, but
much more so, to take the images along with him,
which, he knew, the heart of Micah was set upon.
Yet better could not be expected from a treacher¬
ous Levite; what house can he sure of him who has
forsaken the house of the Lord? Or what friend
will he be true to, that has been false to his God?
He could not pretend that he was under compulsive
force, for he was glad in his heart to go. If ten
shekels won him, (as Bishop Hall expresses it,)
eleven would lose him ; for what can hold those that
have made shipwreck of a good conscience? The
hireling fees because he is a hireling. The priest
and his gods went in the midst of the people, there
190 JUDGES, XV11I.
they placed him, that they might secure him, ei¬
ther trom going back himself, if his mind should
change, or from being fetched back by Micah; or
perhaps in imitation of the order of Israel’s march
through the wilderness, in which the ark and the
priests went in the midst of their camp.
III. They frightened Micah back, when he pur¬
sued them to recover his gods. As soon as ever he
perceived that his chapel was plundered, and his
chaplain was run away from him, he mustered all
the forces he could, and pursued the robbers, v. 22.
His neighbours, and perhaps tenants, that used to
join with him in his devotions, were forward to
help him on this occasion ; they got together, and
pursued the robbers, who having their children and
cattle before them, (x>. 21.) could make no great
haste, so that they soon overtook them; hoping by
strength of reason to recover what was stolen, for
the disproportion of their numbers was such, that
they could not hope to do it by strength of arm.
The pursuers called after them, desiring to speak a
word with them; they in the rear, (where it is pro¬
bable they posted the fiercest and strongest of their
company, expecting there to be attacked,) turned
about, and asked Micah what ailed him to be so
much concerned, and what he would have, v. 23.
He argues with them, and pleads his right, which,
he thought should prevail; but they, in answer,
plead their might, which, it proved, did prevail; for
it is common that might overcomes right.
1. He ins-sts upon the wrong they had certainly
done him; (v. 24.) “ Ye have taken away my gods,
my images of God, which I have such an incontes¬
table title to, for I made them myself, and which I
have such an affection for, that I am undone if I lose
them, for what have I more that will do me any
good, if these be gone?” Now, (1.) This discovers
to us the folly of idolaters, and the power that Satan
has over them. What a folly was it for him to call
those his gods, which he had made, when he only
is to be worshipped by us as a God, that made us !
Folly indeed to set his heart upon such silly idle
things, and to look upon himself as undone when he
had lost them! (2.) This may discover to us our
spiritual idolatry; that creature which we place
our happiness in, which we set our affections inordi¬
nately upon, and which we can by no means find in
our hearts to part with, of which we say, “What
have we more?” That we make an idol of. That is
put in God’s place, and is an usurper, which we are
concerned about, as if our life and comfort, our
hope, and happiness, and all, were bound up in it.
But, (3.) If all people will thus walk in the name
of their god, shall we not be in like manner affected
towards our God, the true God? Let us reckon the
having of an interest in God, and communion with
him, incomparably the richest portion, and the
oss of God the sorest loss; Woe unto us if he de¬
part, for what have we more? Deserted souls that
are lamenting after the Lord, may well wonder, as
Micah did, that you should ask, what ails them?
For the tokens of God’s favour are suspended,
his comforts are withdrawn; and what have they
more?
2. They insist upon the mischief they would cer¬
tainly do him, if he prosecuted his demand. They
would not hear reason, nor do justice, nor would so
much as offer to pay him the prime cost he had been
at upon those images, nor promise to make restitu¬
tion of what they had taken, when they had served
their present purpose with them in this expedition,
and had time to copy them, and make others like
them for themselves: much less had they any com¬
passion for a loss he so bitterly lamented; they
would not so much as accost him kindly, or give him
good words, but resolve to justify their robbery with
murder, if he did not immediately let fall his
claims; (x’. 25. ) “ Take heed, lest angry fellows run
u/ion thee, and thou lose thy life; and that is worse
than losing thy gods.” Wicked and unreasonable
men reckon it a great provocation to be asked to do
justice, and support themselves by their power
against right and reason. Micah’s crime is asking
his own; yet, for this, he is in danger to lose his
life, and the lives of his household. Micah has not
courage enough to venture his life for the rescue of
his gods, so little opinion had he of their being able
to protect him and bear him out, and therefore
tamely gives them up, v. 26, He turned, and went
back to his house: and if the loss of his idols did but
convince him (as, one would think, it should) of
their vanity and impotency, and of his own folly in
setting his heart upon them, and send him back to
the true God from whom he had revolted, he that
lost them, had a much better bargain than they
that by force of arms carried them off. If the loss
of our idols cure us of the love of them, and make
us say, What have we to do any more with idols?
the loss will be unspeakable gain. See Isa. 2. 20. —
30. 22.
27. And they took the things which Mi¬
cah had made, and the priest which he had,
and came unto Laish, unto a people that
were at quiet and secure: and they smote
them with the edge of the sword, and burnt
the city with fire. 28. And there was no
deliverer, because it was far from Zidon,
and they had no business with any man;
and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-
rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt
therein. 29. And they called the name of
the city Dan, alter the name of Dan their
father, who was born unto Israel : howbeit,
the name of the city was Laish at the first.
30. And the children of Dan set up the
graven image : and Jonathan the son of
Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his
sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until
the day of the captivity of the land. 31.
And they set them up Micah’s graven
image, which he made, all the time that the
house of God was in Shiloh.
Here is,
I. Laish is conquered by the Danites. They pro¬
ceeded on their march, and, because they met with
no disaster, perhaps concluded they had not done
amiss in robbing Micah; many justify themselves
in their impiety by their prosperity. Observe, 1.
What posture they found the people of Laish in, both
those of the city, and those of the country about;
they were quiet and secure, not jealous of the five
spies that had been among them to search out the
land, nor had they any intelligence of the approach
of this enemy, which made them a very easy prey
to this little handful of men that came upon them,
v. 27. Note, Many are brought to destruction by
their security. Satan gets advantage against us
when we are careless and off our watch; happy
therefore is the man that feareth always. 2. W hat
a complete victory they obtained over them; they
fiut all the fieo/ile to the sword, and burnt down so
much of the city as they thought fit to rebuild, (x>.
27,28.) and, for aught that appears herein, they
met with no resistance; for the measure of the ini¬
quity of the Canaanites was full, that of the Dan¬
ites was but beginning to fill. 3. How the con-
191
JUDGES, XIX.
querors settled themselves in their 100m, v. 28, 29.
They hu It the city, or much of it, anew, (the old
buildings being gone to decay,) and called the name
of it Dan, to be a witness for them that they were
Danites by birth, though separated so far off from
their brethren, which might hereafter, by reason
of their distance, be called in question. We should
feel concerned not to lose the privilege of our rela¬
tion to God’s Israel, and therefore should take all
occasions to own it, and preserve the remembrance
of it to our’s after us.
II. Idolatry immediately set up there. God had
graciously performed his promise, in putting them
in possession of that which fell to their lot, obliging
them thereby to be faithful to him who had been so
to them : they inherited the labour of the fieofile, that
they might observe his statutes, Ps. 105. 44, 45. But
the first thing they do after they are settled, is, to
break his statutes; as soon as they began to settle
themselves, they set ufi the graven image, v. 30.
perversely attributing their success to that idol,
which, if God had not been infinitely patient, would
have been their ruin. Thus a prosperous idolater
goes on to offend, imfiuting this his flower unto his
god, Heb. 1. 11. Their Levite, who officiated as
priest, is at length named here, Jonathan, the son
of Gershom, the son of Manasseh. The w rd Ma-
nasseh, in the original, has the letter JVun set over
the head, which, some of the Jewish Rabbins say,
is an intimation that it should be left out, and then
Manasseh will be Moses, and this Levite, they say,
was grandson to the famous Moses, who indeed had
a son, named Gershom; but, say they, the historian,
in honour of Moses, by a half interposition of that
letter, turned the name into Manasseh. The vul¬
gar Latin reads it Moses. And if indeed Moses
had a grandson that was rakish, and was picked up
as a fit tool to be made use of in the setting up of
idolatry, it is not the only instance (would to God it
were ! ) of the unhappy degenerating of the posterity
of great and good men. Children’s children are not
always the crown of old men. But the learned
Bishop Patrick takes this to be an idle conceit of the
Rabbins, and supposes this Jonathan to be of some
other family of the Levites. How long these cor¬
ruptions continued, we are told in the close. 1. That
the posterity of this Jonathan continued to act as
Eriests to this family of Dan, that was seated at
.aish, and in the country about, till the captivity,
v. 30. After Micah’s image was removed, that fa¬
mily retained the character of priests, and had re¬
spect paid them as such by that city, and it is very
probable that Jeroboam had an eye to them, when
ne set up one of his calves there, (which they would
welcome to Dan, and put some reputation upon,
when the priests of the Lord would have nothing to
do with them,) and that his family officiated as
some of his priests. 2. That these images continued
till Samuel’s time, for so long the ark of God was at
Shiloh; and, it is probable, in his time effectual care
was taken to suppress and abolish this idolatry.
See how dangerous it is to admit an infection, for
spiritual distempers are not so soon cured as caught.
CHAP. XIX.
The three remaining chapters of this book contain a most
tragical story of the wickedness of the men of Gibeah,
patronised by the tribe of Benjamin, for which that
tribe was severely chastised, and almost entirely cut off
by the rest of the tribes. This seems to have been done,
not long after the death of Joshua, for it was when there
was no king, no judge in Israel-, (v. 1. and ch. 21. 25.)
and Phinehas was then High Priest, ch. 20.28. These
particular iniquities, the Danites’ idolatry, and the Ben-
jamites’ immorality, let in that general apostasy, ch. 3. 7.
The abuse of the Levites’ concubine is here very par¬
ticularly related. I. Her adulterous elopement from
him, v. 1,2. II. His reconciliation to her, and the jour¬
ney he took to fetch her home, v. 3. III. Her father’s
kind entertainment of him, v. 4 . . 9. IV. The abuse he
met with at Gibeah, where, being benighted, he was
forced to take up. 1. He was neglected by the men of
Gibeah, (v, 10. . 15.) and entertained by an Ephraimite
that sojourned among them, v. 16 . . 21 . They set upon
him in his quarters, as the Sodomites did on Lot’s guests,
v. 22. . 24. 3. They' villanously forced his concubine to
death, v. 25. .28. \ . The course he took, to send notice
of this to all the tribes of Israel, v. 29, 30.
1. A ND it came to pass in those days,
1JL when there teas no king in Israel,
that there was a certain Levite sojourn¬
ing on the side of mount Ephraim, who took
to him a eoncubine out of Beth-lehem-ju-
dah. 2. And his concubine played the
whore against him, and went away from
him unto her father’s house to Beth-lehem-
judah, and was there four whole months.
3. And her husband arose, and went after
her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring
her again, having his servant with him, and
a couple of asses : and she brought him into
her father’s house ; and when the father of
the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet
him. 4. And his father-in-law, the damsel’s
father, retained him; and he abode with
him three days : so they did eat and drink,
and lodged there. 5. And it came to pass
on the fourth day, when they arose early in
the morning, that he rose up to depart : "and
the damsel’s father said unto his son-in-law,
Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread,
and afterward go your way. 6. And they
sat down, and did eat and drink both of
them together: for the damsel’s father had
said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee,
and tarry all night, and let thine heart be
merry. 7. And when the man rose up to
depart, his father-in-law urged him ; there¬
fore he lodged there again. 8. And he arose
early in the morning on the fifth day to de¬
part : and the damsel’s father said, Comfort
thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried
until afternoon, and they did eat both of
them. 9. And when the man rose up to
depart, he and his concubine and his ser¬
vant, his father-in-law, the damsel’s father,
said unto him, Behold now, the day draweth
toward evening ; I pray you tarry all night :
behold, the day groweth to an end ; lodge
here, that thine heart may be merry ; and
to-morrow get you early on your way, that
thou mayest go home. 10. But the man
would not tarry that night, but he rose up
and departed, and came over against Jebus,
which is Jerusalem : and there were with
him two asses saddled ; his concubine also
was with him. 11. And when they were by
Jebus, the day was far spent ; and the ser¬
vant said unto his master, Come, I pray
thee, and let us turn in unto this city of the
JUDGES, XIX.
192
Jebusitrs, and lodge in it. 12. And his
master said unto him, We will not turn
aside hither into the city of a stranger, that
is not of the children of Israel ; we will
passover to Gibeah. 13. And he said unto
his servant, Come, and let us draw near to
one of these places to lodge all night, in Gi¬
beah, or in llamah. 14. And they passed
on and went their way ; and the sun went
down upon them when they u'ere by Gibeah,
which belongeth to Benjamin. 15. And they
turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in
Gibeah : and when he went in, he sat him
down in a street of the city ; for there was
no man that took them into his house to
lodging.
The domestic affairs of this Levite would not
have been related thus largely, but to make way
for the following story of the injuries done him, in
which the whole nation interested themselves.
Bishop Hall’s first remark upon this story is, That
there is no comfilaint of afiublicly ordered state, but
there is a Levite at one end of it, either as an agent,
or as a patient. In Micah’s idolatry, a Levite was
active; in the wickedness o.f Gibeah, a Levite was
passive; no tribe shall sooner feel the want of gov¬
ernment than that of Levi; and in all the book of
Judges, no mention is made of any of that tribe, but
of these two. This Levite was of mount Ephraim,
v. 1. He married a wife of Beth-lehem-Judah; she
is called his concubine, because she was not endow¬
ed, for perhaps he had nothing to endow her with,
being himself a sojourner, and not settled; but it
does not appear that he had any other wife, and
the margin calls her a wife, a concubine, v. 1. She
came from the same city that Micah’s Levite came
from, as if Beth-lehem-Judah owed a double ill turn
to mount Ephraim, for she was as bad for aLevite’s
wife, as that other for a Levite.
I. This Levite’s concubine played the whore,
and eloped from her husband, v. 2. The Chaldee
reads it, only that she carried it insolently to him,
or despised him, 2nd he being displeased at it, she
went away from him, and(which was not fair) was
received and entertained at her father’s house.
Had her husband turned her out of doors unjustly,
her father ought to have pitied her affliction; but
when she treacherously departed from her husband
to embrace the bosom of a stranger, her father
ought not to have countenanced her sin. Perhaps
she would not have violated her duty to her hus¬
band, if she had not known too well where she
should be kindly received. Children’s ruin is often
owing very much to parents’ indulgence.
II. The Levite went himself to court her return.
It was a sign there was no king, no judge, in Israel,
else she had been prosecuted and put to death, as
an adulteress, but instead of that, she is applied to
in the most respectful manner by her injured hus¬
band, who takes a long journey on purpose to be¬
seech her to be reconciled, v. 3. If lie had put
her away it had been a crime in him to return to
her again, Jer. 3. 1. But she having gone away, it
was a virtue in him to forgive the offence, and,
though the party wronged, to make the first mo¬
tion to her to be friends again. It is a part of the
haracter of the wisdom from above, that it is gen¬
tle and easy to be entreated. He spak e friendly to
her, or comfortably, for so the Hebrew phrase of
s peaking to the heart commonly signifies; which in¬
timates that she was in sorrow, penitent for what
she had done amiss, which, probably, he heard of
when he came to fetch her back. Thus God pro¬
mises concerning adulterous Israel, (Hes. 2. 14.) 1
will bring her into the wilderness, and speak com¬
fortably to her.
III. Her father bid him very welcome, and, by
his extraordinary kindness to him, endeavoured to
atone for the countenance he had given his daugh¬
ter in withdrawing from him, and to confirm him
in his disposition to be reconciled to her. 1. He en¬
tertains him kindly, rejoices to see him, v. 3. treats
him generously for three days, v. 4. And the
Levite, to show that he was perfectly reconciled,
accepted his kindness, and we do not find that he
upbraided him or his daughter with what had been
amiss, but was as easy and as pleasant as at his
first wedding-feast. It'becomes all, but especially
Levites, to forgive as God does. Every thing
among them gave a hopeful prospect of their living
comfortably together for the future; but could they
have foreseen what befell them within one day or
two, how would all their mirth have been imbitter-
ed and turned into mourning! When the affairs of
our families are in the best posture, we ought to
rejoice with trembling; because we know not what
troubles one day may bring forth. We cannot
foresee what evil is near us, but we ought to con¬
sider, what may be, that we may not be secure, as
if to-morrow must needs be as this day, and much
more abundant, Isa. 56. 12. 2. He is very earnest
for his stay, as a further demonstration of his hearty
welcome: the affection he had for him, and the
pleasure he took in his company, proceeded, 1.
From a civil regard to him as his son-in-law and an
ingrafted branch of his own house. Note, Love
and duty are owing to those whom we are by mar¬
riage related to, as well as to those who are bone
of our bone; and they that show kindness, as this
Levite did, may expect, as he did, to receive kind¬
ness. And, 2." From a pious respect to him as a
Levite, a servant of God’s house; if he were such
a Levite as he should be (and nothing appears to
the contrarv,) he is to be commended for courting
his stay, finding his conversation profitable, and
having opportunity7 to learn from him the good
knowledge of the Lord; hoping also that the Lord
will do him good, because he has a Levite to be his
son-in-law, and will bless him for his sake. (1.)
He forces him to stay the fourth day, and that was
kind, not knowing when they might be together
again, he engages him to stay as long as he possi¬
bly could. The Levite, though nobly treated, was
very urgent to be gone; a good man’s heart is where
his business is, for as a bird that wanders from her
nest, so is a man that wanders from his place. It is
a sign a man has either little to do at home, or lit¬
tle heart to do what he has to do, that can take
pleasure in being long abroad where he has nothing
to do. It is especially good to see a Levite willing
to go home to his few sheep in the wilderness. Yet
this Levite was overcome by importunity and kind
management to stay longer than he intended, v. 5,
7. We ought to avoid the extremes of an over-
easy yielding, to the neglect of our duty on the one
hand, and that of moroseness and wilfulness to the
neglect of our friends and their kindnesses on the
other hand. Our Saviour, after his resurrection,
was prevailed upon to stay with his friends longer
than he first intimated to be his purpose, Luke 24.
28, 29. (2.) He forces him to stay till the afternoon
of the fifth day, and that, as it proved, was unkind,
v. 8, 9. He would by no means let him go before
dinner, promises him he shall have dinner earl}-,
designing thereby, as he had done the day before,
to detain him another night; but the Levite was
intent on the house of the Lord at Shiloh, v. 18.
I and being impatient to get thither, would stay no
i longer. Had they set out early, they might have
193
JUDGES, XIX.
reached some better lodging place than that which
they were now constrained to take up with, nay,
they might have got to Shiloh. Note, Our friends’
designed kindnesses often prove, in the event, real
injuries; what is meant for our welfare, becomes a
trap. Who knows what is good for a man in this
life? The Levite was unwise in setting out so late;
he might have got home better, if he had staid a
night longer, and taken the day before him.
IV. In his return home, he was forced to lodge
at Gibeah, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, after¬
ward called Gibeah of Haul, which lay on his road
toward Shiloh and mount Ephraim. When it
drew toward night, and the shadows of the even¬
ing were stretched out, they began to think (as it
behoves us to do when we observe the day of our
life hastening towards a period) where they must
lodge. When night came, they could not pursue
their journey; he that walket h in darkness, knoweth
not whither he goes: they could not but desire rest,
for which the night was intended, as the day for
labour. 1. The servant proposed that they should
lodge in Jebus, afterwards Jerusalem, but as yet in
the possession of the Jebusites. “ Come,” (said the
servant,) “ let us lodge in this city of the Jesubites,”
v. 11. And if they had done so, it is probable
they had had much better usage than they met with
in Gibeah of Benjamin. Debauched and profligate
Israelites are worse and much more dangerous than
Canaanites themselves. 2. But the master, as be¬
came one of God’s tribe, would by no means quar¬
ter, no, not one night, in a city of strangers, (v.
12.) not because he questioned his safety among
them, but he was not willing, if he could possibly
avoid it, to have so much intimacy and familiarity
with them as a night’s lodging came to, nor to be
so much beholden to them. By shunning this place,
he would witness against the wickedness of those
that contracted friendship and familiarity with
those devoted nations. Let Israelites, Levites es¬
pecially, associate with Israelites, and not with the
sons of the stranger. 3. Having passed by Jebus,
which was about five or six miles from Beth-lehem,
(the place whence they came,)andnot having day¬
light to bring them to Ramah, they stopped at Gi¬
beah; (v. 13 •• 15.)there they sat down in the street,
nobody offering them a lodging. In these coun¬
tries, at that time, there were no inns, or public-
houses, in which, as with us, travellers might have
entertainment for their money; but they carried en¬
tertainment along with them, as this Levite did
here, (t>. 19.) and depended upon the courtesy and
hospitality of the inhabitants for a lodging. Let
us take occasion from hence, when we are in jour¬
neys, to thank God for this, among other conve¬
niences of travelling, that there are inns to enter¬
tain strangers, and in which they may be welcome,
and well accommodated, for their money. Surely
there is no country in the world, wherein one may
stay at home with more satisfaction, or go abroad
with more comfort, than in our own nation. This
traveller, though a Levite, (and to those of that
tribe God had particularly commanded his people
to be kind upon all occasions,) met with very cold
entertainment at Gibeah, no man took them into
his house; if they had any reason to think he was a
Levite, perhaps that made those ill-disposed peo¬
ple the more shy of him. There are those who
will have this laid to their charge at the great day,
/ was a stranger, and ye took me not in.
16. And, behold, there came an old man
from his work out of the field at even,
which was also of mount Ephraim ; and
he soiourned in Gibeah : but the men of
die place were Benjamites. 17. And when
Vol ii. — 2B
he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a way¬
faring man in the street of the city : and
the old man said, Whither goest thou? and
whence contest thou? 18. And he said
unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-
judali toward the side of mount Ephraim;
from thence am I : and I went to Beth-
lehem-judah, but I am now going to the
house of the Lord; and there is no man
that receiveth me to house. 19. Yet there
is both straw and provender for our asses ;
and there is bread and wine also for me,
and for thy handmaid, and for the young
man which is with thy servants : there is no
want of any thing. 20. And the old man
said, Peace he with thee : howsoever, let all
thy wants lie upon me ; only lodge not in
the street. 21. So he brought them into
his house, and gave provender unto the
asses : and they washed their feet, and did
eat and drink.
Though there was not oneo/Gibeah, yet it proved
there was one in Gibeah, that showed some civility
to this distressed Levite, who was glad that any one
took notice of him. It was strange that some of
those wicked people, who, when it was dark, de¬
signed so ill to him and his concubine, did not, un¬
der pretence of kindness, invite them in, that they
might have a fairer opportunity of peipetrating
their villany; but either they had notwit enough
to be so designing, or not wickedness enough to be
so deceiving. Or, perhaps, none of them separate¬
ly thought of such a wickedness, till in the black
and dark night they got together to contrive what
mischief they should do. Bad people in confedera¬
cy make one another much worse than any of them
would be by themselves. When the Levite, and
his wife, and servant, were beginning to fear that
they must lie in the street all night, (and as good
have lain in a den of lions,) they were at length in¬
vited into a house. And we are here told,
I. Who that kind man was, that invited them.
1. He was a man of mount Ephraim, and only so¬
journed in Gibeah, v. 16. Of all the tribes of Is¬
rael, the Benjamites had most reason to be kind to
poor travellers, for their ancestor, Benjamin, was
born upon the road, his mother then upon a jour¬
ney, and very near to this place, Gen. 35. 16, 17.
Yet they were hard-hearted to a traveller in dis¬
tress, while an honest Ephraimite had compassion
on him, and no doubt, was the more kind to him,
when, upon inquiry, he found that he was his coun¬
tryman, of mount Ephraim likewise. He that was
himself but a sojourner in Gibeah, was the more
compassionate to a wayfaring man, for he knew the
heart of a stranger, Exod. 23. 9. Deut. 10. 19.
Good people that look upon themselves but as
strangers and sojourners in this world, should, for
this reason, be tender one to another, because they
all belong to the same better country, and are net
at home here. 2. He was an old man, one that
retained some of the expiring virtue of an Israel¬
ite; the rising generation was entirely corrupted;
if there was any good remaining among them, it
was only with those that were old and going off. 3.
He was coming home from his work out of the
field at even. The evening calls home labourers,
Ps. 104. 23. But, it should seem, this was the only
labourer that this evening brought home to Gib
eah. The rest had given up themselves to sloth
194
JUDGES, XIX.
and luxury, and no marvel there was among them,
as in Sodom, abundance of uncleanness, when there
was among them, as in Sodom, ab undunce of idle¬
ness, Ezek. 16. 49. But he that was honestly dili¬
gent in his business, all day, was disposed to be
generously hospitable to these poor strangers, at
night. Let men labour, that they may have to
give, Eph. 4. 28. It appears, from v. 21. that he
was a man of some substance, and yet had been
himself at work in the field. No man’s estate will
privilege him in idleness.
II. How free and generous he was in his invita¬
tion; he did not stay till they applied themselves
to him to beg for a night’s lodging, but when he
saw them, (v. 17.) inquired into their circum¬
stances, and prevented them with his kindness:
thus our good God answers before we call. Note,
A charitable disposition expects only opportunity,
not im/iortunity, to do good, aijd will succour, upon
sight, unsought unto. Hence we read of a bounti¬
ful eye, Prov. 22. 9. If Gibeah was like Sodom,
this old man was like Lot in Sodom, who sat in
the gate to invite strangers, Gen. 19. 1. Thus«/o6
opened his doors to the traveller, and would not suf¬
fer him to lodge in the street, Job 31. 32. Obsei’ve,
1. How ready he was to give credit to the Levite’s
account of himself, when he saw no reason at all
to question the truth of it. Charity is not apt to
distrust, but hofieth all things, (1 Cor. 13. 7.) and
will not make use of Nabal’s excuse for his churl¬
ishness to David, Many servants now-u-duys break
from their master, 1 Sam. 25. 10. The Levite, in
his account of himself, professes that he was now
going to the house of the Lord, (y. 18.) for there
he designed to attend, either with a trespass-offer
ing for the sins of his family, or with a ptace-offer-
ing for the mercies of his family, or both, before
he went to his own house. And if the men of Gib¬
eah had any intimation of his being bound that
way, probably they would therefore be disinclined
to entertain him; the Samaritans would not re¬
ceive Christ, because his face was toward Jerusa¬
lem, Luke 9. 53. But for that reason, because he
was a Levite, and was now going to the house of
the Lord, this good old man was the more kind to
him. Thus he received a disciple in the name of a
disci/i/e, a servant of God for his Master’s sake.
2. How free he was to give him entertainment.
The Levite was himself provided with all necessa¬
ries, ( v . 19.) wanted nothing but a lodging, but his
generous host would be himself at the charge of his
entertainment, (v. 20.) Let all thy wants be ufion
me; so he brought him into his house, v. 21. Thus
God will, some way or other, raise up friends for
his people and ministers, even when they seem for¬
lorn.
22. Now , as they were making their hearts
merry, behold, the men of the city, certain
sons of Belial, beset the house round about,
and beat at the door, and spake to the mas¬
ter of the house, the old man, saying, Bring
forth the man that came into thine house,
that we may know him. 23. And the man,
the master of the house, went out unto
them, and said unto them, Nay, my breth¬
ren, nay , 1 pray you, do not so wickedly ;
seeing that this mantis come into mine
house, do not this folly. 24. Behold, here
is my daughter, a maiden, and his concu¬
bine ; them I will bring out now, and hum¬
ble ye them, and do with them what seemeth
good unto you : but unto this man do not so
vile a thing. 25. But the men would not
hearken to him : so the man took his con¬
cubine, and brought her forth unto them ;
and they knew her, and abused her all the
night until the morning : and when the day
began to spring, they let her go. 26. Then
came the woman, in the dawning of the
day, and fell down at the door of the man’s
house where her lord teas, till it was light.
27. And her lord rose up in the morning,
and opened the doors of the house, and
went out to go his way: and, behold, the
woman his concubine was fallen down at
the door of the house, and her hands were
upon the threshold. 28. And he said unto
her, Up, and let us be going: but none an¬
swered. Then the man took her up upon
an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him
unto his place. 29. And when he was
come into his house, he took a knife, and
laid hold on his concubine, and divided her,
together with her bones, into twelve pieces,
and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
30. And it was so, that all that saw it said,
There was no such deed done nor seen
from the day that the children of Israel
came up out of the land of Egypt unto this
day : consider of it, take advice, and speak
your minds.
Here is,
I. The great wickedness of the men of Gibeah.
One could not imagine that ever it should enter
into the heart of men that had the use of human
reason, of Israelites that had the benefit of divine
revelation, to be so very wicked. “Lord, what is
man!” said David, “ what a mean creature is he!”
“ Lord, what is man,” may we say, upon the read¬
ing of this story, “ what a vile creature is he, when
he is given up to his own heart’s lusts!” 1. The
sinners are here called the sons of Belial, that is un¬
governable men, men that would endure no yoke.
Children of the Devil, for he is Belial, resembling
him, and joining with him in rebellion against God
and his government. Sons of Benjamin, of whom Mo¬
ses had said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell
in safety by him, (Deut. 33. 12.) are become such
sons of Belial, that an honest man cannot lodge in
safety among them. 2. The sufferers were a Le¬
vite and his wife, and that kind man that gave
them entertainment. We are strangers upon earth,
and must expect strange usage. It is said they
were making their hearts merry when this trouble
came upon them, v. 22. If the mirth was inno¬
cent, it teaches us of what uncertain continuance all
our creature-comforts and enjoyments are; when
we are ever so well pleased with our friends, we
know not how near our enemies are; nor, if it be
well with us this hour, can we be sure it will be so
the next. If the mirth was sinful and excessive,
let it be a warning to us to keep a strict guard upon
ourselves, that we grow not intemperate in the use
of lawful things, nor be transported into indecencies
by our cheerfulness, for the end of that mirth is
heaviness. God can soon change the note of those
that are making their hearts merry, and turn their
laughter into mourning, and their joy into heaviness.
Let us see what the wickedness of these Benja-
mites was.
195
JUDGES, XIX.
(1.) They made a rude and insolent assault, in
the night, upon the habitation of an honest man,
that not only lived peaceably among them, but kept
a good house, and was a blessing and ornament to
their city. They beset the house round, and, to
the great terror of those within, beat as hard as
they could at the door, v. 22. A man’s house is
his castle, in which he ought to be both safe and
quiet, and where there is law, it is taken under the
special protection of it; but there was no king in Is¬
rael to keep the peace, and secure honest men
from the sons of violence.
(2. ) They had a particular spite at the strangers
that were within their gates, that only desired a
night’s lodging among them, contrary to the laws
of hospitality, which all civilized nations have ac¬
counted sacred, and which the master of the house
pleaded with them; ( v . 23.) Seeing (hat this man is
come into my house. They are base and abject
spirits indeed, that will trample upon the helpless,
and use a man the worse for his being a stranger,
whom they know no ill of.
(3.) They designed, in the most filthy and abomi¬
nable manner, (not to be thought of without horror
and detestation,) to abuse the Levite, whom per¬
haps they had observed to be young and comely.
Bring him forth, that we may know him. We
should certainly have concluded they meant only
to inquire whence he came, and to know his charac¬
ter, but that the good man of the house, who
understood their meaning too well, by his answer
lets us know that they designed the gratification of
that most unnatural and worse than brutish lust,
which was expressly forbidden by the law of Mo¬
ses, and called an abomination, Lev. 18. 22. They
that are guilty of it are ranked in the New Testa¬
ment among the worst and vilest of sinners, (1
Tim. 1. 10. j and such as shall not inherit the king¬
dom of God, 1 Cor. 6. 9. Now, [1.] This was the
sin of Sodom, and from thence is called Sodomy.
The dead Sea, which was the standing monument
of God’s vengeance upon Sodom for its filthiness,
was one of the boundaries of Canaan, and lay not
many miles off from Gibeah; we may suppose the
men of Gibeah had seen it many a time, and yet
would not take warning by it, but did worse than
Sodom, (Ezek. 16. 48.) and sinned just after the si¬
militude of their transgression. Who would have
expected (says Bishop Hall) such extreme abomi¬
nation to come out of the loins of Jacob? Even the
worst pagans were saints to them. What did it
avail them that they had the ark of God in Shiloh,
when they had Sodom in their streets; God’s law in
their fingers, but the Devil in their hearts? No¬
thing but hell itself can yield a worse creature than
a depraved Israelite. (2. ) This was the punish¬
ment of their idolatry, that sin to which they were,
above all other, most addicted. Because they liked
not to retain God in their knowledge, therefore he
gave them uf to these vile affections, by which they
dishonoured themselves, as they had by their idol¬
atry dishonoured him, and turned his glory into
shame, Rom. 1. 24, 28. See and admire, in this
instance, the patience of God; whv were not these
sons of Belial struck blind, as the Sodomites were?
* Why were not fire and brimstone rained from
heaven upon their city? It was because God would
leave it to Israel to punish them by the sword, and
would reserve his own punishment of them for the
future state, in which those that go after strange
flesh, shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire,
Jude 7.
(4. ) They were deaf to the reproofs and reason¬
ings of the good man of the house, who, being well-
acquainted (we may suppose) with the story of Lot
and the Sodomites, seeing the men of this city imi¬
tate the Sodomites, set himself to ;mitate Lot. v 23,
24. Compare Gen. 19. 6, 8. He went out to
them as Lot did, spoke civilly to them, and called
them brethren, begged of them to desist, pleaded
the protection of his house which his guests were
under, and represented to them the great wicked¬
ness of their attempt; “Do not so wickedly, so
very wickedly,” he calls it folly and a vile thing.
But in one thing he conformed too far to Lot’s ex¬
ample, (as we are apt, in imitating good men, to
follow them, even in their false steps,) in offering
them his daughter to do what they would with.
He had not power thus to prostitute his daugh¬
ter, nor ought he to have done this evil that good
might come. But this wicked proposal of his, may
be in part excused, from the great surprise and
terror he was in, his concern for his guests, and his
having too close a regard to what Lot did in the
like case, especially not finding that the angels who
were by, reproved him for it. And perhaps he
hoped that his mentioning of this as a more natural
gratification of their lust, would have sent them
back to their common harlots. But they would not
hearken to him, v. 25. Headstrong lusts are like
the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, they sear the
conscience and make it insensible.
(5.) They got the Levite’s wife among them,
and abused her to death, v. 25. They slighted the
old man’s offer of his daughter to their lust, either
because she was not handsome, or because they
knew her to be one of great gravity and modesty;
but when the Levite brought them his concubine,
they took her with them by force to the place ap¬
pointed for their filthiness. Josephus, in his nari'a-
tive of this story, makes her to be the person they
had a design upon when they beset the house, and
says nothing of their villanous design upon the Le¬
vite himself. They saw her (he says) in the street,
when they came into the town, and were smitten
with her beauty; and perhaps, though she was re¬
conciled to her husband, her looks did not speak
her to be one of the most modest; many bring mis¬
chief of this kind upon themselves by their loose
carriage and behaviour; a little spark may kindle a
great fire. One would think the Levite should
have followed them, to see what became of his
wife, but it is probable he durst not, lest they
should do him a mischief. In the miserable end of
this woman, we may see the righteous hand of
God, punishing her for her former uncleanness,
when she played the whore against her husband, x’.
12. Though her father had countenanced her, and
her husband had forgiven her, and the fault was
forgotten now that the quarrel was made up, yet
God remembered it against her, when he suffered
these wicked men thus wretchedly to abuse her: in
doing which, how unrighteous soever thev were, in
permitting it the Lord was righteous. Her punish¬
ment answered her sin. Culjia libido f nit, fizena li¬
bido fuit — Lust was her sin, and lust was her
fiunishment. By the law of Moses, she was to have
been put to death for her adultery; she escaped
that punishment from men, yet vengeance pursued
her; for if there was no king ‘in Israel, yet thei-e
was a God in Israel, a God that iudgeth in the
earth. We must not think it enough to make our
peace with men, whom by our sins we have wrong¬
ed, but are concerned, by repentance and faith, to
make our peace with God, who sees not as men
see, nor makes so light of sin as men often do.
The j istice of God in this matter, does not at all
extenuate the horrid wickedness of those men of
Gibeah, than which noming could be more barba¬
rous and inhuman.
II. The notice that was sent of this wickedness
to all the tribes of Israel. The poor abused woman
made towards her husband’s lodgings, as soon as
i ever the approach of the day-light obliged the sons
196
JUDGES, XX.
of Belial to let her go, (for those works ot darkness
hate and dread the light,) v. 25. Down she fell at
the cLor, with her hands on the threshold, begging
pardon (as it were) for her former transgression,
and in the posture of a penitent, with her mouth in
the dust, she expired; there he found her, ( [v . 26,
27. ) supposed her asleep, or overcome with shame
and confusion for what had happened, but soon
perceived she was dead; (y. 28.) took up her dead
body, which we may suppose, had all over it marks
cf the hands, the blows, and other abuses, she had
received. On this sad occasion, he waved his pur¬
pose of going to Shiloh, and went directly home; he
that went out in hopes to return rejoicing, came in
again melancholy and disconsolate, sat down and
considered, “Is this an injury fit to be passed by?”
He cannot call for fire from heaven to consume the
men of Gibeah, as those angels did who were, after
the same manner, insulted by the Sodomites. There
was no king in Israel, nor (for aught that appears) any
Sanhedrim, or great council, to appeal to, and de¬
mand justice from; Phinehas is High Priest, but he
attends closely to the business of the sanctuary, and
Will be no judge or divider; he has therefore no
other way left him, than to appeal to the people:
let the community be judge; though they had no
general stated assembly of all the tribes, yet it is
probable that each tribe had a meeting of. their
chiefs within itself; to each of the tribes, in their
respective meetings, he sent by special messengers
a remonstrance of the wrong that was done him, in
all its aggravating circumstances, and with it a piece
of his wife’s dead body, ( v . 29.) both to confirm
the truth of the story, and to affect them the more
with it. He divided it into twelve pieces, accord¬
ing to the bones, so some read it, that is by the
joints, sending one to each tribe, even to Benjamin
among the rest, with the hope that some among
them would have been moved to join in punishing
so great a villany, and the more warmly, because
committed by some of their own tribe. It did in¬
deed look very barbarous, thus to mangle a dead
body, which, having been so wretchedly dishonour¬
ed, ought to have been decently interred; but the
Levite designed hereby, 1. To represent their bar¬
barous usage of his wife, whom they had better
have cut in pieces thus, than have used as they did.
2. To express his own passionate concern, and
thereby to excite the like in them.
And it had the desired effect. All that saw the
pieces of the dead body, and were told how the
matter was, expressed the same sentiments upon
it. (1.) That the men of Gibeah had been guilty
of a very heinous piece of wickedness, the like to
which had never before been known in Israel, v.
30. It was a complicated crime, loaded and black¬
ened with all possible aggravations. They were
not such fools as to make a mock at this sin, or turn
the story off with a jest. (2.) That a general as¬
sembly of all Israel should be called, to debate 1
what was fit to be done for the punishment of this
wickedness, that a stop might be put to this threat¬
ening inundation of debauchery, and the wrath of
God might not be poured upon the whole nation for
it. It is not a common case, and therefore they {
stir up one another to come together upon the oc¬
casion, with this, Consider of it, take advice, and
s/ieak your minds. W e have here the three great |
rules by which they that sit in council ought to go
in every arduous affair. (1.) Let every man retire
into himself, and weigh th^ matter impartially and
fully in his own thoughts, and seriously and calmly
consider it, without prejudice on either side, before
he speaks of it. (2.) Let them freely talk it over,
and every man take advice of his friend, know his
opinion, with his reasons, and weigh them. (3.)
Then let every man speak his mind, and give his
vote according to his conscience. In the multitude
of such counsellors there is safety.
CHAP. XX.
Into the book of the wars of the Lord the story of this
chapter must be brought, but it looks as sad and uncom-
fortabje as any article in all that history; for there is no¬
thing in it that looks bright and pleasant, but the pious
zeal of Israel against the wickedness of the men of Gib¬
eah, which made it on their side a just and holy war;
but otherwise the obstinacy of the Benjamites in pro¬
tecting their criminals, which was the foundation of the
war, the vast loss which the Israelites sustained in car¬
rying on the war, and (though the righteous cause was
victorious at last, yet) the issuing of "the war, in the al¬
most utter extirpation of the tribe of Benjamin, make
it, from first to last, melancholy. And yet this happen¬
ed soon after the glorious settlement of Israel in Ihe
land of promise, upon which, one would have expect¬
ed every thing to be prosperous and serene. In this
chapter we have, 1. The Levite’s cause heard in a gener¬
al convention of the tribes, v. 1 . . 7. II. A unanimous
resolve to avenge his quarrel upon the men of Gibeah.
v. 8 . . 1 1. III. The Benjamites appearing in defence of
the criminals, v. . 12. 17. IV. The defeat of Israel in
the first and second day’s battle, v. 18 . . 25. V. Their
humbling of themselves before God upon that occasion,
v. 26.. 28. VI. The total rout they gave the Benja¬
mites in the third engagement, by a stratagem, by which
they were all cut off", except six hundred men, v. 29..
48. And all this, the effect of the indignities done to
one poor Levite and his wife ; so little do they that do
iniquity, consider what will be the end thereof.
1. ^TPHEN all the children of Israel went
JL out, and the congregation was gath¬
ered together as one man, from Dan even
to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto
the Lord in Mizpeh. 2. And the chief
of all the people, even of all the tribes of
Israel, presented themselves in the assem¬
bly of the people of God, four hundred
thousand footmen that drew sword. 3.
(Now the children of Benjamin heard that
the children of Israel were gone up to Miz¬
peh.) Then said the children of Israel,
Tell us how was this wickedness ? 4.
And the Levite, the husband of the wo¬
man that was slain, answered and said, I
came into Gibeah that belongeth to Ben¬
jamin, I and my concubine, to lodge : 5.
And the men of Gibeah rose against me,
and beset the house round about upon me
by night, and thought to have slain me ;
and my concubine have they forced, that
she is dead. 6. And I took my concubine,
and cut her in pieces, and sent her through¬
out all the country of the inheritance of
Israel : for they have committed lewdness
and folly in Israel. 7. Behold, ye are all
children of Israel ; give here your advice •
and counsel. 8. And all the people arose
as one man, saying, We will not any of us
go to his tent, neither will we any of us
turn into his house : 9. But now, this shall
he the thing which we will do to Gibeah,
we will go up by lot against it: 10. And
we will take ten men of a hundred through¬
out all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred
of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten
JUDGES, XX.
197
thousand, to fetch victual for the people,
that they may do, when they come to Gib-
eah of Benjamin, according to all the folly
that they have wrought in Israel. 1 1 . So
all the men of Israel were gathered against
the city, knit together as one man.
Here is,
I. A general meeting of all the congregation of
Israel, to examine the matter concerning the Le-
vite’s concubine, and to consider what was to be
done upon it, v. 1, 2. It does not appear that they
were summoned by the authority of any one com¬
mon head, but they came together by the consent
and agreement, as it were, of one common heart,
fired with a holy zeal for the honour of God and
Israel. 1. The place of their meeting was Miz¬
peh, they gathered together unto the Lord there;
for Mizpeh was so very near to Shiloh, that their
encampment might very well be supposed to reach
from Mizpeh to Shiloh. Shiloh was a small
town, and therefore, when there was a general
meeting of the people to present themselves before
God, they choose Mizpeh for their head-quarters,
which was the next adjoining city of note; perhaps,
because they were not willing to give that trouble
to Shiloh, which so great an assembly would occa¬
sion; it being the residence of the priests that at¬
tended the tabernacle. 2. The persons that met,
were all Israel, from Dan, (the city, very lately so
called, ch. 18. 29.) in the north, to Beer-sheba, in
the south, with the land of Gilead, that is, the
tribes on the other side Jordan, all as one man; so
unanimous were they in their concern for the pub¬
lic good. Here was an assembly of the people of
God; not a convocation of the Levites and priests,
though a Levite was the person principally con¬
cerned in the cause, but an assembly of the people,
to whom the Levite referred himself with an Ap-
fiello populum — I appeal to the people; the people
of God were four hundred thousand footmen that
drew sword, that is, were armed and disciplined,
and fit for service; and some of them, perhaps,
such as had known the wars of Canaan, ch. 3. 1.
In this assembly of all Israel, the chief (or corners)
of the people (for rulers are the corner-stones of
the people that keep all together) presented them¬
selves as the representatives of the rest; they ren¬
dered themselves at their respective posts, at the
head of the thousands and hundreds; the fifties and
tens, over which they presided; for so much order
and government, we may suppose at least, they
had among them, though they had no general or
commander in chief. So that here was, (1.) A
general congress of the states for counsel; the
chief of the people presented themselves to lead
and direct in this affair. (2. ) A general rendez¬
vous of the militia for action, all that drew sword
and were men of war, v. 17. not hirelings or press¬
ed men, but the best freeholders that went at their
own charge. Israel was above six hundred thou¬
sand when they came into Canaan, and we have
reason to think they were, at this time, much in¬
creased, rather than diminished: but then all be¬
tween twenty and sixty were military men; now
we may suppose more than the one half excnin ed
from bearing arms, to husband the land; s. that
these were as the trained bands. The militia of
the two tribes and a half were forty thousand,
Josh. 4. 13. but the tribes were many more.
II. Notice given to the tribe of Benjamin of this
meeting, v. 3. They heard that the children of Is¬
rael were gone up to Mizpeh ; probably they had a
legal summons sent them to appear with their
brethren, that the cause might be fairly debated,
before any resolutions were taken up upon it, and
so the mischiefs that followed, would have been
happily prevented; but the notice they had of this
meeting, rather hardened and exasperated them,
than awakened them to think of things that belong¬
ed to their peace and honour.
III. A solemn examination of the crime char¬
ged upon the men of Gibeah. A very horrid re¬
presentation of it had been made by the report of
the messengers that were sent to call them togeth¬
er, but it was fit it should be more closely inquired
into, because such things are often made worse
than really they were; a committee therefore was
appointed to examine the witnesses, (upon oath,
no doubt,) and to report the matter. It is only the
testimony of the Levite himself, that is here re¬
corded, but it is probable his servant and the old
man were examined, and gave in their testimony,
for that more than one were examined, appeals by
the original, (i;. 3.) which is, Tell yens; and the
law was, that none should be put to death, much
less many, upon the testimony of one witness only.
The Levite gives a particular account of the mat¬
ter. That he came into Gibeah only as a traveller,
to lodge there, not exciting the least suspicion that
he designed them any ill turn, v. 4. That the
men of Gibeah, even those that were of substance
among them, that should have been a protection to
the stranger within their gates, riotously set upon
the house where he lodged, and thought to have
slain him; he could not, for shame, relate the de¬
mand which they, without shame, made, ch. 19.
22. They declared their sin as Sodom, even the
sin of Sodom, but his modesty would not suffer
him to repeat it, it was sufficient to say they would
have slain him, for he would rather have been slain
than have submitted to their villany; and if they
hod got him into their hands, they would have
abused him to death; witness what they had done
to his concubine, they have forced her, that she is
dead, v. 5. And to excite in his countrymen an
indignation at this wickedness, he had sent pieces
of the mangled body to all the tribes which had
fetched them together to bear their testimony
against the lewdness and folly committed in Israel,
v. 6. All lewdness is folly, but especially lewd¬
ness in Israel; for them to defile their own bodies,
who have the honourable seal of the covenant in
their flesh; for them to defy the divine vengeance,
to whom it is so clearly revealed from heaven —
Nabal is their* name, and folly is with them. He
concludes his declaration with an appeal to the
judgment of the court, v. 7, Ye are all children
of Israel, and therefore ye know law and judg¬
ment; (Esth. 1. 13.) “Ye are a holy people to
God, and have a dread of every thing which will
dishonour God, and defile the land; ye are of the
same community; members of the same body, and
therefore likely to feel from the distempers of it;
ye are the children of Israel, that ought to take
particular care of the Levites, God’s tribe among
you, and therefore give here your advice and coun¬
sel, what is to be done.”
IV. The resolution they came to hereupon, which
was, that, being now together, they would not dis¬
perse till they had seen vengeance taken upon this
wicked city, which was the reproach and scandal
of their nation. Observe, 1. Their zeal against
the lewdness that was committed. They would
not return to their houses, how much soever their
families and their affairs<Gt home wanted them, till
they had vindicated the honour of God and Israel,
and recovered with their swords, if it could not
be had otherwise, that satisfaction for the crime,
which the justice of the nation called for, v. 8. By
this they showed themselves children of Israel in¬
deed, that they preferred the public interest before
198
JUDGES, XX.
their private concerns. 2. Their prudence in send¬
ing out a considerable body of their forces to fetch
provisions for the rest, v. 9, 10. One of ten, and he
chosen by lot, forty thousand in all, must go to their
respective countries, whence they came, to fetch
bread and other necessaries for the subsistence of
this great army; for when they came from home,
they took with them provisions only for a journey
to Mizpeh, not for an encampment (which might
prove long) before Gibeah. This was to prevent
their scattering to forage for themselves, which, if
they had done, it would have been hard to get
them all together again, especially all in so good a
mind. Note, When there appears in people a pi¬
ous zeal for any good work, it is best to strike
while the iron is hot, for such zeal is apt to cool
quickly, if the prosecution of it be delayed. Let
it never be said that we left that good work to be
done to morrow, which we could as well have done
to-day. 3. Their unanimity in these counsels, and
the execution of them. The resolution was voted,
Nemine contradicente — Without a dissenting voice ,
(v. 8.) it was one and all; and, when it was put in
execution, they were knit • together as one man, v.
11. This was their glory and strength that the
several tribes had no separate interests when the
common good was concerned.
12. And the tribes of Israel sent men
through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying,
What wickedness is this that is done
among you ? 13. Now therefore deliver
us the men, the children of Belial, which
are in Gibeah, that we may put them to
death, and put away evil from Israel. But
the children of Benjamin would not heark¬
en to the voice of their brethren the chil¬
dren of Israel: 14. But the children of
Benjamin gathered themselves together out
of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to bat¬
tle against the children of Israel. 1 5. And
the children of Benjamin were numbered
at that time, out of the cities, twenty and
six thousand men that drew sword, besides
the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were
numbered seven hundred choseti men. 16.
Among all this people there were seven
hundred chosen men left-handed ; every
one could sling stones at a hair breadth ,
and not miss. 1 7. And the men of Israel,
besides Benjamin, were numbered four
hundred thousand men that drew sword :
all these were men of war.
Here is,
I. The fair and just demand which the tribes f
Israel, now encamped, sent to the tribe of Benja¬
min, to deliver up the malefactors of Gibeah to
justice, v. 12, 13. If the tribe of Benjamin had
come up, as they ought to have done, to the assem
bly, and agreed with them in their resolutions, they
had had none to deal with but the men of Gibeah
only, but they, by their absence, taking part with
the criminals, application must be made to them
all; the Israelites were zealous against the wicked¬
ness that was committed, yet they were discreet in
their zeal, and did not think it would justify them
in falling upon the whole tribe of Benjamin, unless
they, by refusing to give up the criminals, and pro¬
tecting them against justice, should make them¬
selves guilty, exfiost facto — as accessaries after the
fact. They desire them to consider how great
the wickedness was, that was committed, v 12.
and that it was done among them ; and how neces¬
sary it was therefore that they should either pun¬
ish the malefactors with death themselves, accor¬
ding to the law of Moses, or deliver them up to
this general assembly, to be so much the more pub¬
licly and solemnly punished, that evil might be
put away from Israel, the national guilt removed,
the infection stopped by cutting off the gangrened
part, and national judgments prevented; for the sin
was so very like that of the Sodomites, that they
might justly fear, if they did not punish it, God
would rain hail from heaven upon them, as he did,
not only upon Sodom, but the neighbouring cities.
If the Israelites had not made this reasonable de¬
mand, they would have had much more reason to
lament the following desolations of Benjamin. All
methods of accommodation must be used before
we go to war, or go to law. The demand was like
that of Joab’s to Abel, 2 Sam. 20. 20, 21. “Only
deliver up the the traitor, and we will lay down
our arms,,” On these terms, and no other, God
will be at peace with us, that we may part with
our sins, that we mortify and crucify our lusts, and
then all shall be well; his anger will be turned
away.
II. The wretched obstinacy and perverseness of
the men of Benjamin, who seem to have been as
unanimous and zealous in their resolutions to stand
by the criminals, as the rest of the tribes were to
punish them; so little sense had they of their hon¬
our, duty, and interest.
They were so prodigiously vile, as to patronise
the wickedness that was committed. They would
not hearken to the voice of their brethren,v. 13. Ei¬
ther because they of that tribe were generally
more vicious and debauched at this time than the
rest of the tribes, and therefore would not bear to
have that punished in others, which they knew
themselves guilty of. Some of the most fruitful
and pleasant parts of Canaan fell to the lot of this
tribe; their land, like that of Sodom, was as the
garden of the Lord, which, perhaps, helped to
make the inhabitants, like the men of Sodom,
wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly,
Gen. 13. 10, 13. Or, because (as Bishop Patrick
suggests) they took it ill that the other tribes should
meddle with the concerns of their’s; they would
not do that which they knew was their auty, be¬
cause they were reminded of it by their brethren,
by whom they scorned to be taught and controlled.
If there were any wise men among them that
would have complied with the demand made, yet
they were overpowered by the majority, who thus
made the crime of the men of Gibeah their own.
Thus we ha xe fel/owshi/i with the unfruitful works
of darkness, if we say A confederacy with those
that have, and make ourselves guilty of other
men’s sins, by countenancing and defending them.
It seems there is no cause so bad but it will find
some patrons, some advocates, to appear for it; but
woe be to those by whom such offences come. Those
will have a great deal to answer for, that obstruct
the course of necessary justice, and strengthen the
hands of the wicked, by saying, O wicked man,
thou shalt not die.
2. They were so prodigiously vain and presump¬
tuous, as to make head against the united force of
all Israel. Never, surely, were men so wretchedly
infatuated as they were, when they took up arms in
opposition (l.)to so good a cause as Israel had.
How could they expect to prosper when they fought
against justice, and consequently against the just
God himself, against them that had the High Priest
and the divine oracle on their side, and so acted in
downright rebellion against the sacred and supreme
199
JUDGES, XX.
authority of the nation? (2.) To so great a force as
Israel had. This disproportion of their numbers
was much greater than that, Luke 14. 31, 32. where
he that had but ten thousand, durst not meet him
that came against him with twenty thousand, and
therefore desired conditions of peace. There the
enemy was but two to one, here above fifteen to one;
yet they despised conditions of peace. All the for¬
ces they could bring into the field, were but twenty-
six thousand men, beside seven hundred men of Gi-
beah; (y. 15.) yet with these they will dare to face
four hundred thousand men of Israel, v. 1?. Thus
s.nners are infatuated to their own ruin, and provoke
him to jealousy, who i!5 so infinitely stronger than
they, 1 Cor. 10. 22. But it should seem they de¬
pended upon the skill of their men, to make up
what was wanting in numbers, especially a regi¬
ment of slingers, seven hundred men, who, though
left-handed, were so dexterous at slinging stones,
that they would not be a hair’s breadth beside their
mark, v. 16. But these good marksmen were very
much out of their aim, when they espoused this baa
cause. Benjamin signifies the son of the right
hand, yet we find his posterity left-handed.
1 8. And the children of Israel arose, and
went up to the house of God, and asked
counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall
go up first to the battle against the children
of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah
shall go up first. 19. And the children of
Israel rose up in the morning, and encamp¬
ed against Gibeah. 20. And the men of
Israel went out to battle against Benjamin ;
and the men of Israel put themselves in ar¬
ray to fight against them at Gibeah. 2 1 . And
the children of Benjamin came forth out of
Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground,
of the Israelites that day, twenty and two
thousand men. 22. And the people, the
men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and
set their battle again in array, in the place
where they put themselves in array the first
day. 23. (And the children of Israel went
up, and wept before the Lord until even,
and asked counsel of the Lord, saying,
Shall I go up again to battle against the
children of Benjamin my brother ? And the
Lord said, Go up against him.) 24. And
the children of Israel came near against the
children jof Benjamin the second day.
25. And Genjamin went forth against them
out of Gibeah the second day, and destroy¬
ed down to the ground, of the children of
srael again, eighteen thousand men; all
ihese drew the sword.
We have here the defeat of the men of Israel in
tieir first and second battle with the Benjamites.
I. Before their first engagement, they ask counsel
(f God concerning the order of their battle, and were
drected, and yet they were sorely beaten. They
cd not think it was proper to ask of God, whether
tiey should go up at all against Benjamin, (the case
vas plain enough, the men of Gibeah must be pun-
med for their wickedness, and they must do it, or
itwould not be done,) but “ Who shall go first?”
(. 18.) that is, “Who shall be general of our ar¬
my?” For, whichsoever tribe was appointed to go
first, the prince of that tribe must be looked upon as
commander in chief of the whole body; for if thev
had meant it of the order of their march only, it
had been proper to have asked, “Who shall go
next?” and then, “Who next?” But if they know
that Judah must go first, they know they must all
observ e the orders of the prince of that tribe. This
honour was done to Judah because our Lord Jesus
was to spring from that tribe, who was in all things
to have the pre-eminence. The tribe that went
up first had the most honourable post, but withal
the most dangerous, and, probably, lost most in
the engagement. Who would strive for preceden¬
cy that sees the peril of it?
Yet though Judah, that strong and valiant tribe,
goes up first, and all the tribes of Israel attend them,
little Benjamin (so he is called, Ps. 68. 27.) is too
hard for them all. The whole army lay siege to
Gibeah, v. 19. The Benjamites advance to raise
the siege, and the army prepares to give them a
warm reception, v. 20. But between the Benja¬
mites that attacked them in the front with incredi¬
ble fury, and the men of Gibeah that sallied out
upon their rear, they were put into confusion, and
lost twenty-two thousand men, v. 21. Here was no
prisoners taken, for there was no quarter given, but
all put to the sword.
II. Before the second engagement, they again
asked counsel of God, and more solemnly than be¬
fore, for they wept before the Lord until even,
{v. 23.) lamenting the loss of so many brave men,
especially as it was a token of God’s displeasure,
and would give occasion to the Benjamites to tri¬
umph in the success of their wickedness. Also at
this time they did not ask, Who should go up first;
but, Whether they should go up at all. They inti¬
mate a reason, why they should scruple it, espe-
pecially now that Providence had frowned upon
them, because Benjamin was their brother; and a
readiness to lay down their arms, if God should so
order them. God bid them go up, he allowed the
attempt; though Benjamin was their brother, he
was a gangrened member of their body, and must
be cut off. Upon this, they encouraged themselves,
perhaps more in their own strength than in the di¬
vine commission, and made a second attempt upon
the forces of the rebels, in the same place where the
former battle was fought, (y. 22. ) with the hope of
retrieving their credit upon the same spot of ground
where they had lost it, which they would not su-
perstitiously change, as if there were any thing un¬
lucky in the place; but they were, this second time,
repulsed, with the loss of eighteen thousand men,
x/. 25. The former day’s loss, and this, amounted
to forty thousand, which was just a tenth part of the
whole army, and the same number that they had
drawn out by lot to fetch victuals, v. 10. They de¬
cimated themselves for that service, and now God
again decimated them for the slaughter.
But what shall we say to these things, that so
just and honourable a cause should thus be put to
the worst once and again? Were they not fighting
God’s battles against sin? Had they not his commis¬
sion? What, and yet miscariy thus ! 1. God’s
judgments are a great deep, and his way is in the
sea. Clouds and darkness are often round about
him, but judgment and justice are always the habi¬
tation of his throne. We may be sure of the righte¬
ousness, when we cannot see the reasons, of God’s
proceedings. 2. God would hereby show them,
and us in them, that the race is not to the swift, nor
the battle to the strong, that numbers are not to be
confided in, which perhaps the Israelites did with,
too much assurance. We must never lay that
weight on an arm of flesh, which the Rock of ages
only will bear. 3. God designed hereby to cc rrect
200
JUDGES, XX.
Israel for their sins. They did well to show such
a zeal against the wickedness of Gibeah ; but •were
there not with them, even with them, sins against
the Lord their God? Those must be made to know
their own iniquity, that are forward in condemning
the iniquity ot others. Some think it was a rebuke
to them, for not witnessing against the idolatry of
Micah and the Danites, by which their religion was
corrupted, as they now did against the lewdness of
Gibeah and the Benjamites, by which the public
peace \vas disturbed, though God had particularly
ordered them to levy war upon idolaters, Deut. 13.
12, &c. 4. God would hereby teach us, not to think
it strange, if a good cause suffer worst for a while,
nor to judge of the merits of it by the success of it.
The interest of grace in the heart, and of religion
in the world, may be foiled, and suffer great loss,
and seem to be quite run down, but judgment will
be brought forth to victory at last. Vincimur in
fircelio, sed non in hello — We are foiled in a battle,
but not in the whole camfiaign. Right may fall,
but it shall arise.
26. Then all the children of Israel, and
all the people, went up, and came unto the
house of God and wept, and sat there be¬
fore the Lord, and fasted that day until
even, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-
offerings before the Lord. 27. And the
children of Israel inquired of the Lord,
(for the ark of the covenant of God was
there in those days; 28. And Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood
before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet
again go out to battle against the children
of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease ?
And the Lord said, Go up ; for to-morrow
I will deliver them into thine hand. 29.
And Israel set liers in wait round about
Gibeah. 30. And the children of Israel
went up against the children of Benjamin
on the third day, and put themselves in ar¬
ray against Gibeah, as at other times. 31.
And the children of Benjamin went out
against the people, and were drawn away
from the city ; and began to smite of the
people and kill, as at other times, in the
highways, of which one goeth up to the
house of God, and the other to Gibeah in
the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32.
And the children of Benjamin said, They
are smitten down before us, as at the first.
But the children of Israel said, Let us flee,
and draw them from the city unto the high¬
ways. 33. And all the men of Israel rose
up out of their place, and put themselves in
array at Baal-tamar ; and the liers in wait
of Israel came forth out of their places,
even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34. And
there came against Gibeah ten thousand
chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle
was sore : but they knew not that evil was
near them. 35. And the Lord smote Ben¬
jamin before Israel : and the children of Is¬
rael destroyed of the Benjamites that day
twenty and five thousand and a hundred
j men : all these drew the sword. 36. So
the children of Benjamin saw that they
were smitten : for the men of Israel gave
place to the Benjamites, because they trust¬
ed unto the liers in wait which they had set
beside Gibeah. 37. And the liers in wait
hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah ; and the
liers in wait drew themselves along, and
smote all the city with the edge of the
sword. 38. Now there was an appointed
sign between the men of Israel and the liers
in wait, that they should make a great
flame with smoke rise up out of the city.
39. And when the men of Israel retired in
the battle, Benjamin began to smite and
kill of the men of Israel about thirty per¬
sons ; for they said, Surely they are smitten
down before us, as in the first battle. 40.
But when the flame began to arise up out
of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Ben¬
jamites looked behind them, and, behold, the
flame of the city ascended up to heaven. 41.
And when the men of Israel turned again,
the men of Benjamin were amazed : for they
saw that evil was come upon them. 42.
Therefore they turned their backs before the
men of Israel unto the way of the wilder¬
ness; but the battle overtook them: and
them which came out of the cities they de¬
stroyed in the midst of them. 43. Thus
they inclosed the Benjamites round about,
and chased them, and trode them down
with ease, over against Gibeah toward the
sun-rising. 44. And there fell of Benjamin
eighteen thousand men : all these were men
of valour. 45. And they turned, and fled
toward the wilderness unto the rock of
Rimmon : and they gleaned of them in the
highways five thousand men ; and pursued
hard after them unto Gidoin, and slew two
thousand men of them. 46. So that all
which fell that day of Benjamin were twen¬
ty and five thousand men that drew the
sword : all these were men of valour. 47.
But six hundred men turned, and fled to
the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and
abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
48. And the men of Israel turned again up¬
on the children of Benjamin, and smote
them w ith the edge of the sword, as well
the men of every city as the beast, and all
that came to hand : also they set on fire all
the cities that they came to.
We have here a full account of the complete vic¬
tory which the Israelites obtained over the Benja¬
mites in the third engagement: the righteous cause
wts victorious at last, when the managers of it
amended what had been amiss; for when a good
cause suffers, it is for want of good management
JUDGES, XX.
20!
Observe then how the victory was obtained, and
how it was pursued.
I. How the victory was obtained. Two things
they had trusted too much to in the former engage¬
ments, the goodness of their cause, and the supe¬
riority of their numbers; it was true, that they had
both right and strength on their side, which were
great advantages. But they depended too much
upon them, to the neglect of those duties, which
now, this third time, when they see their error,
they apply themselves to.
1. They were, previously, so confident of the
goodness of their cause, that they thought it need¬
less to address themselves to God for his presence
and blessing; they took that for granted, nay, per¬
haps they concluded that he owed them his favour,
and could not in justice withhold it, since it was in de¬
fence of virtue that they appeared, and took up
arms. But God having showed them that he was
under no obligation to prosper their enterprise, that
he neither needed them nor was tied to them, that
they were more indebted to him for the honour of
being ministers of his justice, than he to them for
the service, now they became humble petitioners
for success. Before, they only consulted God’s ora¬
cle, Who shall go up first? And, Shall we go ufi?
But now they implored his favour, fasted and pray¬
ed, and offered burnt-offerings, and fieace-offerings,
x'. 26. to make an atonement for sin, and an ac¬
knowledgment of their dependence upon God, as
an expression of their desire toward him. We
cannot expect the presence of God with us, unless
we thus seek it in the way he has appointed. And
when they were in this frame, and thus sought the
Lord, that he not only ordered them to go up
against the Benjamites the third time, but gave
them a promise of victory, To-morrow I will deli¬
ver them into thine hand, v. 28.
2. They were, previously, so confident of the
greatness of their strength, that they thought it
needless to use any art, to lay any ambush, or form
a stratagem, not doubting but to conquer them
purely by a strong hand; but now thev saw it was
requisite to use some pofcy, as if they had an enemv
to deal with them, that had been superior in num¬
ber; accordingly they set liers in wait, x>. 29. and
gained their point, as their fathers did before Ai;
Josh. 8. stratagems of that kind being most likely to
take effect after a previous defeat, which has flush¬
ed the enemy, and made the pretended flight the
less suspected. The management of this artifice is
here very largely described. The assurance God
'had given them of success in this day’s action, in¬
stead of making them remiss and presumptuous, set
all heads and hands on work for the effecting of
what God had promised. Observe the method thev
took; the body of the army faced the city of Gibeah,
as they had done before, advancing toward the
gates, x>. 30. The Benjamites, the body of whose
army was now quartered at Gibeah, sallied out up¬
on them, charged them with great bravery; thebe-
siegers gave back, retired with precipitation, as if
their hearts failed them upon the sight of the Ben¬
jamites, which they were willing to believe, who
proudly conceited that by their former success they
had made themselves very formidable; some loss
the Israelites sustained in this counterfeit flight,
about thirty men were cut off in their rear, ay. 31,
39. But when the Benjamites were all drawn out of
the city, the ambush seized the city, v. 37. gave a
signal to the body of the army, v. 38, 40. which
immediately turned upon them, v. 41. and, it should
seem, another considerable party that was posted
at Baal-tamar came upon them at the same time;
v. 33. so that the Benjamites were quite surround¬
ed, which put them into the greatest consternation
that could be: a sense of guilt now disheartened
Vol. ii. — 2 C
them, and the higher their hopes had been raised,
the more grievous was this confusion. At first, the
battle was sore, v. 34. the Benjamites fought with
fury, but when they saw what a snare they were
drawn into, they thought one pair of heels (as we
say) was worth two pair of hands, and they made
the best of their way toward the wilderness , v. 42.
but in vain, the battle oxiertook them, and, to com¬
plete their distress, they which came out of the cities
of Israel, that waited to see the event of the battle,
joined with the pursuers and helped to cut them off.
Every man’s hand was against them.
Observe, in this story, 1. That the Benjamites,
in the beginning of the battle, were confident that
the day was their own. They are smitten down be¬
fore us, v. 32. 39. Sometimes God suffers wicked
men to be lifted up in successes and hopes, that
their fall may be the sorer. See how short their
joy is, and their triumphing but for a moment. Let
not him that girdeth on the harness boast, except he
has reason to boast in God. 2. Evil was near them,
and they did not know it; v. 34. but v. 41. thev saw,
when it was too late to prevent it, that evil was
come ufxon them. What evils may at any time be
near us, we cannot tell, but the less they are fear¬
ed, the heavier they fall; sinners will not be per¬
suaded to see evil near them, but how dreadful
will it be when it comes, and there is no escaping!
1 Thess. 5. 3. (3.) Though the men of Israel plaved
their parts so well in this engagement, yet the vic¬
tory is ascribed to God; v. 35, The Lord smote Ben¬
jamin before Israel. The battle was his, and so
was the success. 4. Thev trode down the men of
Benjamin with ease, when God fought against them,
7>. 43. It is an easy thing to trample upon those who
have made God their enemy. See Mai. 4. 3.
II. How the victory was prosecuted and improved
in a military execution done upon these sinners
against their own souls. 1. Gibeah itself was de¬
stroyed in the first place, that nest of lewdness.
The ambush that entered the city by surprise, drew
themselves along, that is, dispersed themselves into
several parts of it, which they might easily do, now
that all the men of war were sallied out, and had
• very presumptuously left it defenceless, and they
smote all they found, even women and children,
with the savor d, v. 37. and set fire to the city, v. 40.
Sin brings ruin upon cities. 2. The army in the
field was quite routed and cut off, eighteen thousand
men of valour lav dead upon the spot, x>. 44. 3.
Those that escaped from the field were pursued,
and cut off in their flight, to the number of seven
thousand, v. 45. It is to no purpose to think of out¬
running divine vengeance. Evil pursues sinners,
and it will overtake them. 4. Even thev that tar¬
ried at home, were involved in their ruin. Thev
let their sword devour for ex'er, not considering
that it would be bitterness in the latter end, as Ab¬
ner pleads long after, when he was at the head
of an army of Benjamites, probablv with an eve
to this very story, 2 Sam. 2. 25, 26. They put to the
sword all that breathed, and set fire to all the cities r
v. 48. So that of all the tribe of Benjamin, for
aught that appears, there remained none alive but
six hundred men that took shelter in the rock Rim-
mon, and lay close there four months, v. 47. Now,
1. It is hard to justify this severity, as it was Is¬
rael’s act. The whole tribe of Benjamin was culpa¬
ble; but must th,ev therefore be used as devoted Ca-
naanites? That it was done in the heat of war —
That this was the way of prosecuting victories,
which the sword of Israel had been accustomed to
— That the Israelites were extremelv exasperated
against the Benjamites for the slaughter they had
made among them in the two former engagements
— will go but a little way to excuse the crueltv of
this execution. It is true, they had sworn that who-
202
JUDGES, XXI.
soever did not come up to Mizpeh, should be put to
death: ch. 21. 5. but that, if it was a justifiable oath,
vet extended only to the men of war, the rest were
hot expected to come. Yet, (2. ) It is easy to justify
the hand of God in it; Benjamin had sinned against
him, and God had threatened, that if they forgot
him, they should perish as the nations that were be¬
fore them perished, Deut. 8. 20. who were all in
this manner cut off. It is easy likewise to improve
it for warning against the beginnings of sin, they are
like the letting forth of water , therefore leave it off
before it be meddled, with, for we know not what will
be in the end thereof. The eternal ruin of souls will
be worse, and more fearful, than all these desola- ^
tions of a tribe. This affair of Gibeah is twice
spoken of by the prophet Hosea, as the beginning
of the corruption of Israel, and a pattern to all that
followed, ch. 9. 9. They have deeply corrupted
themselves as in the days in Gibeah, and ch. 10. 9.
Thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah, and it is
added, that the battle in Gibeah against the children
of iniquity did not that is, did not at first, over¬
take them.
CHAP. XXI.
The ruins of the tribe of Benjamin we read of in the fore¬
going chapter; now here we have, I. The lamentation
which Israel made over these ruins, v. 1 . . 4. 6, 15. II.
The provision they made for the repair of them out of the
six hundred men that escaped, for whom they procured
wives, 1. Of the virgins of Jabesh-Gilead, when they de¬
stroyed that city for not sending to the general rendez¬
vous, v. 5, 7 .. 14. 2. Of the daughters of Shiloh, v. 16 . .
25. And so this melancholy story concludes.
1 . I^TOW the men of Israel had sworn in
1^1 Mizpeh, saying, There shall not
any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin
to wife. 2. And the people came to the
house of God, and abode there till even be¬
fore God, and lifted up their voices, and
wept sore ; 3. And said, O Lord God of
Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel,
that there should be to-day one tribe lack¬
ing in Israel ? 4. And it came to pass on
the morrow, that the people rose early, and
built there an altar, and offered burnt-offer¬
ings and peace-offerings. 5. And the chil¬
dren of Israel said, Who is there among all
the tribes of Israel that came not up with
the congregation unto the Lord ? For they
had made a great oath concerning him that
came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, say¬
ing, He shall surely be put to death. 6.
And the children of Israel repented them
for Benjamin their brother, and said, There
is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7.
How shall we do for wives for them that re¬
main, seeing we have sworn by the Lord,
that we will not give them of our daughters
to wives ? 8. And they said, What one is
there of the tribes of Israel that came not 1
up to Mizpeh to the Lord ? And, behold,
there came none to the camp from Jabesh-
gilead to the assembly. 9. F or the people
were numbered, and, behold, there were
none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
there 10. And the congregation sent
thither twelve thousand men of the valiant-
est, and commanded them, saying, Go and
smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with
the edge of the sword, with the women and
the children. 11. And this is the thing that
ye shall do, ye shall utterly destroy every
male, and every woman that hath lain by
man. 12. And they found among the inha¬
bitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young
virgins, that had known no man by lying
with any male: and they brought them unto
the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of
Canaan. 13. And the whole congregation
sent some to speak to the children of Benja¬
min that were in the rock Rimmon. and to
call peaceably unto them. 14. And Benja¬
min came again at that time ; and they gave
them wives which they had saved alive of
the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so
they sufficed them not. 15. And the people
repented them for Benjamin, because that
the Lord had made a breach in the tribes
of Israel.
We may observe, in these verses,
1. The ardent zeal which the Israelites had ex¬
pressed against the wickedness of the men of Gib¬
eah, as it was countenanced by the tribe of Benja¬
min. Occasion is here given to mention two instan¬
ces of their zeal on this occasion, which we did not
meet with before.
1 While the general convention of the states
was gathering together, and was waiting for a full
house before they would proceed, they bound them¬
selves with the great execration, which they called
the Cherum, utterly to destroy all those cities that
should not send in their representatives and their
quota of men upon this occasion; or, had sentenced
them to that curse, who should thus refuse; (t\ 5.)
for they would look upon such refusers, as having
no indignation at the crime committed, no concern
for the securing of the nation from God’s judgments
by the administration of justice, nor any regard to
the authority of a common consent, by which they
were summoned to meet.
2. When they were met, and had heard the cause,
they made another solemn oath, that none of all
the thousands of Israel, then present, nor any of
those whom they represented, (not intending to
bind their posterity,) should, if they could help it,
marry a daughter to a Benjamite, v. 1. This was
made an article of the war, not with any design to
extirpate the tribe, but because in general they
would treat them who were then actors and abet¬
tors of this villany, in all respects as they treated
the devoted nations of Canaan, whom they were not
only obliged to destroy, but with whom they were
forbidden to marry ; and because in particular, they
judged them unworthy to match with a daughter
of Israel, that had been so very barbarous and abu¬
sive to one of the tender sex, than which nothing
could be done more base and villanous, nor a more
certain indication of a mind perfectly lost to all
honour and virtue. We may suppose that the Lc-
vite’s sending the mangled pieces of his wife’s bodv
to the several tribes, helped very much to inspire
them with all this fury, and much more than a bare
narrative of the fact, though ever so well attested,
would have done. So much does the eye affect the
heart.
II. The deep concern which the Israelites din
203
JUDGES, XXL
express fox the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin
when it was accomplished. The tide of their an
ger at Benjamin’s crime, did not run so high and so
strong before, but the tide of their grief for Benja¬
min’s destruction, ran as high and as strong after.
They repented for Benjamin (heir brother, v 6. 15.
They did not repent of their zeal against the sin;
there is a holy indignation against sin, the fruit of
godly sorrow, which is to salvation, not to be re¬
pented of, 2 Cor. 7. 10, 11. But they repented of the
sad consequences of what they had done, that they
had carried the matter further than was either just
or necessary; it had been enough to destroy all they
found in arms, they needed not to have cut off the
husbandmen and shepherds, the women and chil¬
dren. Note, 1. There may be over-doing in well¬
doing. Great care must be taken in the government
of our zeal, lest that which seemed supernatural in
its causes, prove unnatural in its effects. That is no
good divinity, which swallows up humanity. Many
a war is ill ended which was well begun. 2. Even
necessary justice is to be done with compassion.
God does not punish with delight, nor should men.
3. Strong passions make work for repentance.
What we say and do in a heat, our calmer thoughts
commonly wish undone again. 4. In a civil war,
(according to the usage of the Romans,) no victo¬
ries ought to be celebrated with triumphs, because,
whichsoever side gets, the community loses, as
here there is a tribute cut off from Israel. What
the better is the body for one member’s crushing
another?
Now, how did thev express their concern?
(1.) By their grief for the breach that was made;
they came to the house of God, for thither they
brought all their doubts, all their counsels, all their
cares, and all their sorrows. There was to be heard
on this occasion, not the voice of joy and praise, but
only that of lamentation, and mourning, and woe.
They lifted up. their voices and wept sore, (v. 2. ) not
so much for the forty thousand which they had lost,
(those would not be so much missed out of eleven
tribes, ) but for the entire destruction of one whole
tribe; for this was the complaint they poured out
before God, (v. 3.) There is one tribe lacking. God
had taken care of every tribe; their number twelve
was that which they were known by; every tribe
had his station appointed in the camp, and his stone
in the High Priest’s breast-plate; every tribe had
his blessing, both from Jacob and Moses, and it
would be an intolerable reproach to them, iP they
should drop any out of this illustrious jury, and lose
one out of twelve; especially Benjamin, the young¬
est, who was particularly dear to Jacob their com¬
mon ancestor, and whom all the rest ought to have
been in a particular manner tender of. Benjamin is
not; what then will become of Jacob? Benjamin be¬
come a Benoni; the son of the right hand, a son of
sorrow! In this trouble they built an altar, notin
competition, but in communion, with the appointed
altar at the door of the tabernacle, which was not
large enough to contain all the sacrifices they de¬
signed; for they offered burnt-offerings and peace-
offerings, to give thanks for their victory, and also
to atone for their own folly in the pursuit of it, and
to implore the divine favour in their present strait.
Every thing that grieves us, should bring us to God.
(2.) By their amicable treaty with the poor dis¬
tressed refugees that were hidden in the rock Rim-
mon, to whom they sent an act of indemnity, as¬
suring them, upon the public faith, that they would
now no longer treat them as enemies, but receive
them as brethren, v. 13. The falling out of friends
should thus be the renewing of friendship. Even
those that have sinned, if at length they repent,
must be forgiven and comforted, 2 Cor. 2. 7.
f3.) By the care they took to provide wives for
|| them, that their tribe might be built up again, and
i| the ruins of it repaired. Had the men of Israel
1 sought themselves, they would have been secretly
g leased with the extinguishing of the families of
enjamin, because then the land allotted to them
j would escheat to the rest of the tribes, ob defectum
sanguinis — for want of heirs, and be easily seized
for want of occupants; but those have not the spirit
of Israelites, who aim to raise themselves upon the
ruins of their neighbouis. They were so far from
any design of this kind, that all heads are at work
to find out ways and means tor the rebuilding of this
tribe. All the women and chiklien of Benjamin
were slain; they had sworn not to marry their
daughters to any of them ; it was against the divine
law that they should match with the Canaanites; to
oblige them to that, would be, in effect, to bid them
go serve other gods.
What must they do then for wives for them?
While the poor distressed Benjamites that were
hidden in the rock feared their brethren were con¬
triving to ruin them, they were at the same time
upon a project to prefer them; and it was this;
[1. ] There was a piece of necessary justice to be
done upon the city of Jabesh-Gilead, which belong¬
ed to the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan. It
was found, upon looking over the muster-roll,
(which was taken, ch. 20. 2.) that none appeared
from that city, upon the general summons, ( v . 8, 9.)
and it was then resolved, before it appeared who
were absent, that whatever city of Israel should be
guilty of such a contempt of the public authority
and interest, that city should be an anathema; Ja¬
besh-Gilead lies under that severe sentence, which
might by no means be dispensed with. They that
had spared the Canaanites in many places, who
were devoted to destruction by the divine com¬
mand, could not find in their hearts to spare their
brethren that were devoted by their own curse.
Why did they not now send men to root the Jebu-
sites out of Jerusalem, to avoid whom the poor Le-
vite had been forced to go to Gibeah? ch. 19. 11,
12. Men are commonly more zealous to support
their own authority than God’s. A detachment is
therefore sent of twelve thousand men, to execute
the sentence upon Jabesh-Gilead. Having found,
that when the whole body of the army went against
Gibeah, the people were thought too many for God
to deliver them into their hands, on this expedition
they sent but a few, v. 10. Their commission is,
to put all to the sword, men, women, and children,
( v . 11.) according to that law, (Lev. 27. 29.)
whatsoever is devoted of men, by those that have
power to do it, shall surely be put to death.
[2.] An expedient is from hence formed for pro¬
viding the Benjamites with wives. When Moses
sent the same number of men to avenge the Lord
of Midian, the same orders were given, as here,
that all married women should be slain with their
husbands, as one with them, but that the virgins
should be saved alive, Numb. 31. 17, 18. That
precedent was sufficient to support the distinction
here made between a wife and virgin, v. 11, 12.
Four hundred virgins that were marriageable, were
found in Jabesh-Gilead, and these were married to
so many of the surviving Benjamites, v. 14. Their
fathers were not present when the vow was made,
not to marry with Benjamites, so that they were
not under any colour of obligation by it; and be¬
sides, being a prey taken in war, they were at the
disposal of the conquerors. Perhaps the alliance
now contracted between Benjamin and Jabesh-Gi¬
lead, made Saul, who was a Benjamite, the more
concerned for that place, (1 Sam. 11. 4.) though
then inhabited by new families.
16. Then the elders of the congregation
‘204
JUDGES, XXI.
said, How shall we do for wives for them
that remain, seeing the women are destroy¬
ed out of Benjamin? 17. And they said,
There must he an inheritance for them that
be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not
destroyed out of Israel. 18. Howbeit we
may not give them wives of our daughters :
for the children of Israel have sworn, say¬
ing, Cursed he he that giveth a wife to Ben¬
jamin. 19. Then they said, Behold, there
is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, in a
place which is on the north side of Beth-el,
on the east side of the highway that goeth
up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the
south of Lebonah. 20. Therefore they
commanded the children of Benjamin, say¬
ing, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ;
21. And see, and, behold, if the daughters
of Shiloh come out to dance in dances,
then come ye out of the vineyards, and
catch you every man his wife of the daugh¬
ters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benja¬
min. 22. And it shall be, when their fa¬
thers or their brethren come unto us to com¬
plain, that we will say unto them, Be fa¬
vourable unto them for our sakes ; because
we reserved not to each man his wife in the
war : for ye did not give unto them at this
time, that ye should be guilty. 23. And the
children of Benjamin did so, and took them
wives according to their number, of them that
danced, whom they caught : and they went
and returned unto their inheritance, and re¬
paired the cities, and dwelt in them : 24.
And the children of Israel departed thence
at that time, every man to his tribe, and to
his family ; and they went out from thence
every man to his inheritance. 25. In those
days there was no king in Israel : every man
did that which was right in his own eyes.
We have here the method that was taken to pro¬
vide the two hundred Benjamites that remained,
with wives. And though the tribe was reduced to
a small number, they were only in care to provide
each man with one wife, not with more, under pre¬
tence of multiplying them the faster. They may
not bestow their daughters upon them ; but to save
their oath, and yet marry some of their daughters
to them, they put them into a way of taking them
by surprise, and marrying them, which should be
ratified by their parents’ consent, ex post facto —
afterward. The less consideration is used before
the making of a vow, the more, commonly, there
is need of after, for the keeping of it.
I. That which gave an opportunity for the doing
of this, was, a public ball at Shiloh, in the fields, at
which all the young ladies of that city, and the parts
adjacent, that were so disposed, met to dance, in
honour of a feast of the Lord then observed; proba¬
bly the feast of tabernacles, (v. 19.) for that feast
(Bishop Patrick says,) was the only season wherein
the Jewish virgins were allowed to dance; and that,
not so much for their recreation, as to express their
holy joy, as David, when he danced before the ark:
<rtherwise, the present melancholy posture of public
affairs would have made dancing unseasonable, as
Isa. 22. 12, 13. The dancing was very riiodest and
chaste, it was not mixed dancing; no men danced
with these daughters of Shiloh, nor did any married
women so far forget their gravity as to join with
them. However, their dancing 'thus in public,
made them an easy prey to those that had a design
upon them. Whence, Bishop Hall observes, that
the ambushes of evil spirits carry awaij many souls
from dancing to a fearful desolation.
II. The elders of Israel gave authority to the
Benjamites to do this, to lie in wait in the vineyards
which surrounded the green they used to dance on,
and, when they were in the midst of their sport, to
come upon them, and catch every man a wife for
himself, and carry them straight away to their own
country, v. 20, 21. They knew that none of their
own daughters would be there, so that they could
not be said to give them, for they knew nothing of
the matter. A sorry salvo is better than none, to
save the breaking of an oath: it were much better
to be cautious in making vows, that there be not oc¬
casion afterward, as there was here, to say before
the angel, that it was an error. Here was a very
preposterous way of match-making, when both the
mutual affection of the young people and the con¬
sent of the parents must be presumed to come af¬
ter; the case was extraordinary, and may by no
means be drawn into a precedent. Over-hasty
marriages often occasion a leisurely repentance; and
what comfort can be expected from a match made
either by force or fraud? The virgins of Jabesh-
Gilead were taken out of the midst of blood and
slaughter, but these of Shiloh out of the midst of
mirth and joy; the former had reason to be thank¬
ful that they had their lives for a prey, and the lat¬
ter, it is to be hoped, had no cause to complain, af¬
ter a while, when they found themselves matched,
not to men of broken and desperate fortunes, as
they seemed to be, who were lately fetched out of a
cave, but to men of the best and largest estates in
the nation, as they must needs be, when the lot of
the whole tribe of Benjamin, which consisted of for^
ty-five thousand six hundred men, (Numb. 26. 41.)
Came to be divided again among six hundred, who
had all by survivorship.
III. They undertook to pacify the fathers of these
young women: as to the infringement of their pater¬
nal authority, they would easily forgive it, when
they considered to "what fair estates their daughters
were matched, and what mothers in Israel they
were likely to be; but the oath they were brund by,
not to give their daughters to Benjamites, might
perhaps stick with seme of them, whose consciences
were tender; yet as to that, this might satisfy them:
1. That the necessity was urgent, (v. 22.) JVe re¬
served not to each man his wife; now owning that
they did ill to destroy all the women, and desiring
to atone for their too rigorous construction of their
vow to destroy them, by the most favourable con¬
struction of their vow not to match with them.
“ And therefore, for our sakes, who were too se¬
vere, let them keep what they have got.” For, 2.
In strictness it was not a breach of their vow; they
had sworn not to give them their daughters, but
they had not sworn to fetch them back if they were
forcibly taken. So that if there was any fault, the
elders must be responsible, not the parents. And
Quod fieri non deouit, factum valet — That which
ought not to have been done, is yet valid when it is
done. The thing was done, and is ratified only by
connivance, according to the law, Numb. 30. 4.
Lastly, In the close of all, wc have, 1. The set¬
tling of the tribe of Benjamin again. The few that
remained, returned to the inheritance of that tribe,
v. 23. And soon after from among them sprang
Ehud, who was famous in his generation, the second
205
JUDGES, XXI.
/
Judge of Israel, ch. 3. 15. 2. The disbanding and
dispersing of the army of Israel, v. 24. They did
not set up for a standing army, nor pretend to make
any altex-ations or establishment in the government;
but when the affair was over, for which they were
called together, they quietly departed in God’s
peace, every man to his family. Public services
must not make us think ourselves above our own
private affairs, and the duty of providing for our
own house. 3. A repetition of the cause of these
confusions, v. 25. Though God was their King,
every man would be his own master, as if there was
no king. Blessed be God for magistracy.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE BOOK OF
ROTH.
This short history of the domestic affairs of one particular family, fitly follows the book of Judges, (the
events related here, happening in the days of the Judges,) and fitly goes before the books of Samuel,
because in the close it introduces David: yet the Jews, in their Bibles, separate it from both, and make
it one of the five Megilloth, or Volumes, which they put together toward the latter end; in this order,
Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. It is probable that Samuel was the
penman of it. It relates, not miracles or laws, wars or victories, or the revolutions of states, but the
afflictions first, and afterward the comfort, of Naomi; the conversion first, and afterward, the prefer¬
ment, of Ruth. Many such events have happened, which perhaps we may think as well worthy to be
recorded. But these God saw fit to transmit the knowledge of to us; and even common historians
think they have liberty to choose their subject. The design of this book is,
I. To lead to providence; to show us how conversant it is about our private concerns, and to teach us in
them all to have an eye to it, acknowledging God in all our ways, and in all events that concern us.
See 1 Sam. 2. 7. 8. Ps. 113. 7- -9.
II. To lead to Christ, who descended from Ruth, and part of whose genealogy concludes the book, from
whence it is fetched into Matth. 1. In the conversion of Ruth the Moabitess, and the bringing of her
into the pedigree of the Messiah, we have a type of the calling of the Gentiles in due time into the
fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord. The afflictions of Naomi and Ruth we have an account of, ch. 1.
Instances of their industry and humility, ch. 2. The bringing of them into an alliance with Boaz, ch. 3.
And their happy settlement thereby, ch. 4. And let us remember the scene is laid in Beth-lehcm, the
city where our Redeemer was born.
RUTH, I.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have Naomi’s afflictions. I. As a dis¬
tressed housekeeper, forced by famine to remove into the
land of Moab, v. 1, 2. II. Asa mournful widow and
mother, bewailing the death of her husband and her two
sons, v. 3.. 6. III. As a careful mother-in-law, desirous
to be kind to her two daughters, but at a loss how to be
so, when she returns to her own country, v. 6. .13. Or-
pah she parts with in sorrow, v. 14. Ruth she takes with
her in fear, v. 15. .18. IV. As a poor woman sent back
to the place of her first settlement, to be supported by
the kindness of her friends, v. 19. .22. All these things
were melancholy, and seemed against her, and yet all
were working for good.
I.XTOWit came to pass, in the days
JlN when the judges ruled, that there
was a famine in the land. And a certain
man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn
in the country of Moab, he, and his wife,
and his two sons. 2. And the name of the
man was Elimelech, and the name of his
wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons
Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathifes of Beth-
lehem-judah. And they came into the
country of Moab, and continued there. 3.
And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died;
and she was left, and her two sons. 4. And
they took them wives of the women of
Moab; the name of the one was Orpah,
and the name of the other Ruth : and they
dwelled there about ten years. 5. Ancl
Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them ;
and the woman was left of her two sons
and her husband.
The first words give all the date we have of this
story. It was in the days when the Judges ruled,
v. 1. not in those disorderly times when there was
no king in Israel, But under which of the judges
207
RUTH, 1.
these things happened, we are not told, and the
conjectures of the learned are very uncertain. It
must be toward the beginning of the judges’ time,
for Boaz, who married Ruth, was born of Rahab,
who received the spies in Joshua’s time. Some
think it was in the days of Ehud, others of Deborah;
the learned Bishop Patrick inclines to think it was
in the days of Gideon, beause in his days only we
read of a famine by the Midianites’ invasion, Judges
6. 3, 4. While the judges were ruling, some one
city, and some another, Providence takes particular
cognizance of Beth-lehem, and has an eye to a King,
to Messiah himself, who should descend from two
Gentile mothers, Rahab and Ruth.
Here is,
I. A famine in the land; in the land cf Canaan,
that land flowing with milk and honey. This was
one of the judgments which God had threatened to
bring upon them for their sins, Lev. 26. 19, 20. He
has many arrows in his quiver; in the days of the
judges they were oppressed by their enemies; and
when by that judgment they were not reformed,
God tried this, for when he judges, he will overcome.
When the land had i-est, yet it had not plenty; even
in Beth-lehem, which signifies the houae of bread,
there was scarcity. A fruitful land is turned into
barrenness, to correct and restrain the luxury and
wantonness of them that dwell therein.
II. An account of one particular family distress¬
ed in the famine; it is that of Elimelech. His name
signifies my God a King; agreeable to the state of
Israel when the judges ruled, for the Lord was their
king; and comfortable to him and his family in their
affliction, that God was their’s, and that he reigns
for ever. His wife was JVaomi, which signifies my
amiable or pleasant one. But his sons’ names were
Mahlon and Chilian, sickness and consumption, per¬
haps because weakly children, and not likely to be
long-lived. Such are the productions of our plea¬
sant things, weak and infirm, fading and dying.
III. The removal of this family from Beth-lehem,
into the country of Moab, on the other side Jordan,
for subsistence, because of the famine, v. 1, 2. It
seems there was plenty in the country of Moab,
when there was scarcity of bread in the land of Is-
r .cl. Common gifts of providence are often be¬
stowed in greater plenty upon those that are stran¬
gers to God, than upon those that know and wor¬
ship him. Moab is at ease from his youth, while
Israel is emptied from vessel to vessel; Jer. 48. 11.
not because God loves Moabites better, but because
they have their portion in this life. Thither Elim-
elech goes, not to settle for ever, but to sojourn
for a time, during the dearth, as Abraham, on the
like occasion, went into Egypt, and Isaac into the
land of the Philistines. Now here, 1. Elimelech’s
care to provide for his family, and his taking his
wife and children with him, were, without doubt,
commendable. If any provide not for his own, he
hath denied the faith, 1 Tim. 5. 8. When he was
in his straits, he did not forsake his house, go seek
his fortune himself, and leave his wife and children
to shift for their own maintenance, but, as became
a tender husband and a loving father, where he
went, lie took them with him, not as the ostrich,
Job 39. 16. But, 2. I see not how his removal into
the country of Moab, upon this occasion, could be
justified. Abraham and Isaac were only sojourn¬
ers in Canaan, and it was agreeable to their condi¬
tion to remove; but the seed of Israel were now
fixed, and ought not to remove into the territories
of the heathen. What reason had Elimelech to go,
more than any of his neighbours? If by any ill hus¬
bandry he had wasted his patrimony, and sold his
land, or mortgaged it, (as it should seem, ch. 4. 3,
4.) which brought him into a more necessitous con¬
dition than others, the law of God had obliged his
neighbours to relieve him; (Lev. 25. 35.) but that
was not his case, for he went out full, v. 21. By
those who tarried at home, it appears the famine
was not so extreme, but that there was sufficient to
keep life and soul together; and his charge was but
small, only two sons. But if he could not be con¬
tent with the short allowance that his neighbours
took up with, and in the day of famine could not be
satisfied, unless he kept as plentiful a table as he
had done formerly, it he could not live in hope that
there would come years of plenty again in due time,
l or could not with patience wait for these years, it
i was his fault, and he did by it dishonour God, and
j the good land he had given them, weaken the hands
of his brethren, with whom he should have been
willing to take his lot, and set an ill example to
others. If all should do as he did, Canaan would
be dispeopled. Note, It is an evidence of a discon¬
tented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of
the place in which God hath set us, and to be for
leaving it immediately, whenever we meet with
any uneasiness or inconvenience in it. It is folly to
think of escaping that cross which, being laid in our
way, we ought to take up. It is our wisdom to
make the best of that which is, for it is seldom that
changing our place is mending it. Or if he would
remove, why to the country of Moab? If he had
made inquiry, it is probable he would have found
plenty in some of the tribes of Israel, those, for in¬
stance, on the other side Jordan, that bordered on
the land of Moab; if he had that zeal for God and
his worship, and that affection for his brethren,
which became an Israelite, he would not have per¬
suaded himself so easily to go to sojourn ammg
Moabites.
IV. The marriage of his two sons to two of the
daughters of Moab after his death, v. 4. All agree
that this was ill done; the Chaldee says, They
transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, in
taking strange wives. If they would not stay un¬
married till their return to the land of Israel, they
were not so far off but that they might have fetched
them wives from thence. Little did Elimelech
think, when he went to sojourn in Moab, that ever
his sons should thus join in affinity with Moabites.
But those that bring young people into bad acqu lint-
ance, and take them out of the way of public ordi¬
nances, though they may think them well-princi¬
pled, and armed against temptation, know not what
they do, nor what will be the end thereof. It d( es
not appear that the women they married, were
proselyted to the Jewish religion, for Orpah is said
to return te her gods, v. 15. the gods of Maab were
her’s still. It is a groundless tradition of*the Jews,
that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon king of Moah,
vet the Chaldee paraphrast inserts it; but this and
their other tradition, which he inserts likewise,
cannot agree that Boaz, who married Ruth, was the
same with Ibzan who judged Israel two hundrorl
years after Eglon’s death, Judg. 12.
V. The death of Elimelech and his two sons, and
the disconsolate condition Naomi was thereby re¬
duced to. Her husband died, x<. 3. and her two
sons, v. 5. soon after their marriage; and the Chal¬
dee says, Their days were shortened, because they
transgressed the law in marrying strange wives.
See here, 1. That wherever we go, we cannot rut-
run death, whose fatal arrows fly in all places.
2. That we cannot expect to prosper when we go
out of the way of our duty. He that will save his
life by any indirect courses shall lose it. 3. That
death, when it comes into a family, often makes
breach upon breach. One is taken away, to pre¬
pare another to follow soon after; one is taken
away, and that affliction is not duly improved, and
therefore God sends another of the same kind.
i When Naomi had lost her husband, she took so
208
RUTH, I.
much the more complacency, and put so much the
more confidence, in her sons; under the shadow of
those surviving comforts, she thinks she shall live
among the heathen; and exceedingly glad she was
of these gourds, but, behold, they wither presently,
green and growing up in the morning, cut down
arid dried up before night; buried soon alter they
were married, for neither of them left any children.
So uncertain and transient are all our enjoyments
here. It is therefore our wisdom to make sure of
those comforts that will be made sure, and which
death cannot rob us of. But how desolate was the
condition, and how disconsolate the spirit, of poor
Naomi, when the woman was left of her two sons,
and her husband ! When these two things come up¬
on her in a moment, come upon her in their per¬
fection, by whom shall she be comforted? Loss of
children and widowhood! Isa. 47. 9. — 51. 19. It is
God alone who has wherewithal to comfort those
that are cast down.
6. Then she arose, with her daughters-
in-law, that she might return from the coun¬
try of Moab : for she had heard in the
country of Moab how that the Lord had
visited his people in giving them bread. 7.
Wherefore she went forth out of the place
where she was, and her two daughters-in-
law with her : and they went on the way to
return unto the land of Judah. 8. And
I\aomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
Go, return each to her mother’s house : the
Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have
dealt with the dead, and with me. 9. The
Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each
of you in the house of her husband. Then
she kissed them: and they lifted up their
voice and wept. 10. And they said unto
her, Surely we will return with thee unto
thy people. 11. And Naomi said, Turn
again, my daughters, why will you go with
me ? are. there yet any more sons in my
womb, that they may be your husbands ?
12. Turn again, mv daughters, go your
way ; for I am too old to have a husband.
If I should say, I have hope, if I should
have a husband also to-night, and should
also bear sons; 13. Would ye tarry for
them till they were grown ? would ye stay
for them from having husbands ? nay, my
daughters ; for it grieveth me much, for your
sakes, that the hand of the Lord is gone
out against me. 14. And they lifted up
their voice, and wept again : and Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave
unto her. 15. And she said, Behold, thy
sister-in-law is gone back unto her people,
and unto her gods : return thou after thy
sister-in-law. Ifi. And Ruth said, Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from fol¬
lowing after thee : for whither thou goest, I
will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge : thy people shall he my people, and
thv God my God. 17. Where thou diest
will I die, and there will I be buried : the
Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught
but death part thee and me. 18. When
she saw that she was steadfastly minded to
go with her, then she left speaking unto her.
See here,
I. The good affection Naomi bore to the land of
Israel, v. 6. Though she could not stay in it while
the famine lasted, she would not stay out of it when
the famine ceased; though the country of Moab had
afforded her shelter, and supply in time of need,
yet she did not intend it should be her rest for ever,
iio land should be that but the holy land, in which
the sanctuary of God was, of which he had said,
This is my rest for ever. Observe,
1. God, at last, returned in mercy to his people;
for though he contended long, he will not contend
always. As the judgment of oppression, under
which they often groaned in the time of the judges,
still came to an end, after a while, when God had
raised them up a deli \ erer; so here, the judgment of
famine: at length God graciously visited his fieople
in giving them bread. Plenty is God’s gift, and it
is his vis tation which, by bread, the staff of life,
holds our souls hi life. Though this mercy be the
more striking when it comes after famine, yet if we
have constantly enjoyed it, and never knew what
famine meant, we are not to think it the less valu¬
able.
2. Naomi then returned, in duty to her people.
She had often inquired of their state, what harvest
they had, and how the markets went, and still the
tidings were discouraging; but like the prophet’s
servant, who, having looked seven times and seen
no sign of rain, at length discerned a cloud, no big¬
ger than a man’s hand, which soon overspread the
heavens; so Naomi, at last, has good news brought
her of plenty in Beth-lehem, and then she can think
of no other than returning thither again. Her new
alliances in the country of Moab could not make
her forget her relation to the land of Israel. Note,
Though there be a reason for our being in bad
places, yet when the reason ceases, we must by no
means continue in them. Forced absence from
God’s ordinances, and forced presence with wicked
people, are great afflictions, but when the force
ceases, and it is continued of choice, then it be¬
comes a great sin. It should seem, she began to
think of returning immediately upon the death of
her two sons: (1.) Because she looked upon that
affliction to be a judgment upon her family for
lingering in the country of Moab: and hearing this
to be the voice of the rod, and of him that appointed
it, she obeys and returns. Had she returned upon
the death of her husband, perhaps she might have
saved the life of her sons; but when God judgeth,
he will overcome, and if one affliction prevail not to
awaken us to a sight and sense of sin and duty, an¬
other shall. When death comes into a family, it
ought to be improved for the reforming of what is
amiss in the family: when relations are taken away
from us, we are put upon inquiry, whether, in some
instance or other, we are not out of the way of our
duty, that we may return to it. God calls' our sins
to remembrance when he slays a son, 1 Kings 17. 18.
And if he thus hedge up our way with thorns, it is
that he may oblige us to say, We will go and re¬
turn to our first Husband, as Naomi here to her
country, Hos. 2. 7. (2.) Because the land of Moab
was now become a melancholy place to her. It is
with little pleasure that she can breathe in that air
in which her husband and sons had expired; or go
on that ground in which they lay buried out of her
sight, but not out of her thoughts; now she will go
to Canaan again. Thus God takes away from us
the comforts we stay ourselves too much upon, and
209
RUTH, i.
solace ourselves too much in, here in the land of
our sojourning, that we may think more of our home
in the other world, and by faith and hope may
hasten towards it. Earth is imbittered to us, that
heaven may be endeared.
II. The good affection which her daughters-in-
law, and one of them especially, bore to her, and her
generous return of their good affection.
1. They were both so kind as to accompany her,
some part of the way at least, when she returned
toward the land of Judah. Her two daughters-in-
law did not go about to persuade her to continue in
the land of Moab, but if she was resolved to go
home, would pay her all possible civility and respect
at parting; and this was one instance of it, they
would bring her on her way, at least, to the utmost
limits of their country, and help to carry her lug¬
gage as far as they went, for it does not appear she
had any servant to attend her, v. 7. By this we
see both that Naomi, as became an Israelite, had
been very kind and obliging to them, and had won
their love, in which she is an example to all mo¬
thers-in-law; and that Orpah and Ruth had a just
sense of her kindness, for they were willing to re¬
turn itiifrus far. It was a sign they had dwelt to-
getheiWn unity, though they were dead, by whom
the relationship between them came. Though they
retained an affection to the gods of Moab, (y. 15. )
and Naomi was still faithful to the God of Israel,
yet that was no hinderance to either side from love
and kindness, and all the good offices that the re¬
lation required. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-
law are too often at variance, (Matth. 10. 35. ) and
therefore it is the more commendable if they live in
love; let all in that relation aim at the praise of
doing so.
2. When they had gone a little way with her,
Naomi, with a great deal of affection, urged them
to go back; (i\ 8, 9.) Return each to her mother's \
house. When they were dislodged by a sad pro- i
vidence from the house of their husbands, it was a
mercy to them that they had their parents yet liv¬
ing, that they had their houses to go to, where they 1
might be welcome and easy, and were not turned
out to the wide world. Naomi suggests that their
own mothers would be more agreeable to them than
a mother-in-law, especially -when their own mo¬
thers had houses, and their mother-in-law was not
sure she had a place to lay her head in, which she
could call her own.
She dismisses them, (1.) With commendation :
that is a debt owing to those who had conducted
themselves well in any relation, they ought to have
the praise of it, Ye have dealt kindly with the dead
and with me; that is, “Ye were good wives to your
husbands that are gone, and have been good daugh¬
ters to me; and not wanting to your duty in either
relation. Note, When we and our relations are
parting, by death or otherwise, it is very comforta¬
ble, if we have both their testimony, and the tes¬
timony of our own consciences for us, that while we
were together, we carefully endeavour to do our
duty in the relation. This will help to allay the
bitterness of parting; and while we are together we
should labour so to conduct ourselves, as that when
we part, we may not have cause to reflect with re¬
gret upon our miscarriages in the relation. (2.)
With prayer. It is very proper for friends, when
they part, to part with prayer. She sends them
home with her blessing; and the blessing of a mo¬
ther-in-law is not to be slighted. In this blessing
she twice mentions the name Jehovah, Israel's God,
and the only true God; that she might direct her
daughters to look up to him as the only Fountain of
all good. To him she prays in general, that he
would recompense to them the kindness they had
showed to her and her’s. It may be expected and
Vol. ii. — 8 D
prayed for in faith, that Goa will deal kindly with
those that have dealt kindly with their relations,
He that watereth, shall be watered also himself; and,
in particular, that they might be happy in marry¬
ing again; The Lord grant that ye may find rest,
each of you in the house of her husband. Note, [1. j
It is very fit, that according to the apostle’s direc¬
tion, (1 Tim. 5. 14.) the younger women, and he
speaks there of young widows, should marry, beat
children, and guide the house. And it is a pity that
those who have approved themselves good wives,
should not again be blessed with good husbands,
especially those that, like these widows, have no
children. [2.] The married state is a state of rest,
such rest as this world affords, rest in the house of
a husband, more than can be expected in the house
of a mother, or a mother-in-law. [3.] This rest is
God’s gift. If any content and satisfaction be found
in our outward condition, God must be acknow¬
ledged in it. There are those that are unequally
yoked, that find little rest even in the house of a
husband. Their affliction ought to make those the
more thankful, to whom the relation is comfortable;
yet let God be the Rest of the soul, and no perfect
rest thought of on this side heaven. (3. ) She dis¬
missed them with great affection; she kissed them;
wished she had somewhat better to give them, but
silver and gold she has none. However this parting
kiss shall be the seal of such a true friendship, (as
though she never see them more) she will, while
she lives, retain the pleasing remembrance of. If
relations must part, let them thus part in love, that
they may (if they never meet again in this world)
meet in the world of everlasting love.
3. The two young widows could not think of
parting with their good mother-in-law, so much had
the good conversation of that pious Israelite won
upon them; they not only lifted up their voice and
wept, as loath to part, but they professed a resolu¬
tion to adhere to her; ( v . 10.) “ Surely we will re¬
turn with thee unto thy people, and take our lot
with thee.” It is a rare instance of affection to a
mother-in-law, and an evidence that they had, for
her sake, conceived a good opinion of the people of
Israel. Even Orpah, who afterward went back
to her gods, now seemed resolved to go forward
with Naomi. The sad ceremony of parting, and
the tears shed on that occasion, drew from her this
protestation, but it did not hold. Strong passions,
without a settled judgment, commonly produce
weak resolutions.
4. Naomi sets herself to dissuade them from
going along with her, v. 11 - - 13. If she had had
any sons in Canaan, or any near kinsmen, whom
she could have expected to marry the widows, to
raise up. seed to them that were gone, and to redeem
the mortgaged estate of the family, it might have
been some encouragement to them to hope for a
comfortable settlement at Beth-lehem. But she had
no sons, nor could she think of any near kinsman,
likely to do the kinsman’s part, and therefore
argues that she was never likely to have any sons
to be husbands for them, for she was too old to have
a husband; it became her age to think of dying and
going out of the world, not of marrying and begin
ning the world again. Or, if she had a husband,
she could not expect to have children, nor if she
had sons, could she think that these young widows
would stay unmarried, till her sons that should be
yet born, would grow up to be marriageable. Yet
this was not all, she could not only not propose to
herself to marry them like themselves, but she
knew not how to maintain them like themselves.
The greatest grievance of that poor condition to
which she was reduced, was, that she was not in a
capacity to do for them as she would. It grieveth
me more for your sakes, than for my own, that
210 RUTH, I.
the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. Ob- I
serve, (1.) She judges herself chiefly aimed at in
the affliction: that God’s quarrel was principally
with her, “ The hand of the Lord is gone out
against me. I am the sinner, it is with me that
God has a controversy, it is with me that he is con¬
tending, I take it to myself.” This will become us
when we are under affliction; though many others
share in the trouble, yet we must hear the voice of
the rod, as if it spoke only against us, and to us, not
billeting the rebukes of it at other people’s houses,
but taking them to ourselves. (2.) She laments
most the trouble that redounded to them from it.
She was the sinner, but they were the sufferers, It
grievcth me much for your sakes. A gracious gene¬
rous spirit can better bear its own burthen, than it
can bear to see it a grievance to others, or others
drawn any ways into trouble by it. Naomi could
more easily want herself, than see her daughters
want. “ Therefore turn again, my daughters, for
alas, I am in no capacity to do you any kindness.”
But did Naomi do well, thus to discourage her
daughters from going with her, when, by taking
them with her, she might save them from the
idolatry of Moab, and bring them to the faith and
worship of the God of Israel? Naomi, no doubt
desired to do that. But, [1.] If they did come with
her, she would not have them to come upon her
account; those that take upon them a profession of
religion, only in complaisance to their relations, to
oblige their friends, or for the sake of company,
will be converts of small value and of short continu¬
ance. [2.] If they did come with her, she would
have them to make it their deliberate choice, and
to sit down first and count the cost, as it concerns
those to do, that may take up a pirc fession of re¬
ligion. It is good for us to be told the worst;
our Saviour took this course with him who, in the
heat of zeal, spoke that bold word. Master, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest; “ Come,,
come,” says Christ, “ canst thou fare as I fare?
The Son of man has not where to lay his head;
know that, and then consider whether thou canst
find in thy heart to take thy lot with me,” Matth.
8. 19, 20. " Thus Naomi deals with her daughters-
in-law. Thoughts ripened into resolves by serious
consideration, are likely to be kept always in the
imagination of the heart; whereas what is soon ripe,
is soon rotten.
5. Orpah was easily persuaded to yield to her
own corrupt inclination, and to go back to her
country, her kindred, and her father’s house, now
when she stood fair for an effectual call from it.
They both lifted up their voices and wept again,
(t>. 14.) being much affected with the tender things
that Naomi had said; but it had a different effect
upon then); to Orpah it was a savour of death unto
death; the representation Naomi had made of the
inconveniences they must count upon, if they went
forward to Canaan, sent her back to the country of
Moab, and served her as an excuse for her apostasy.
But, on the contrary, it strengthened Ruth’s resolu¬
tion, and her good affection to Naomi, with whose
wisdom and goodness she was never so charmed,
as she was upon this occasion; thus to her it was a
savour of life unto life. 1. Orfiah kissed her mother-
n-law; that is, took an affectionate leave of her,
bid her farewell for ever, without any purpose to
follow her hereafter as he that said he would follow
Christ, when he had buried his father, or bidden
them farewell that were at home. Orpah’s kiss
showed she had an affection for Naomi, and was
loath to part from her; yet she did not love her
well enough to leave her country for her sake.
Thus, many have a value and affection for Christ,
and yet come short of salvation by him, because
■they cannot find in their hearts to forsake other l
things for him. They love him, and yet leave him,
because they do not lov e him enough, but love other
things better. Thus the young man that went away
from Christ, went away sorrowful. Matt. 19. 22.
But, (2.) huth clave unto her. Whether, when
she came from home, she was resolv ed to go for¬
ward with her or no, does not appear; perhaps she
was before determined what to do, cut of a sincere
affection to the God of Israel, and to his law, of
which, by the good instructions of Naomi, she had
some knowledge.
6. Naomi persuades Ruth to go back, urging, as
a further inducement, her sister’s example; v. 15,
Thy sister-in-law is gone back to her feofile, and
therefore of course gone back to her gods; for what¬
ever she might have done while she lived with her
mother-in-law, it would be next to impossible for
her to show any respect to the Gcd of Israel, when
she went to live among the worshippers of Che-
mosh. Those that forsake the communion of saints,
and return to the people of Moab, will certainly
break off their communion with God- and embrace
the idols of Moab. Now, return thou, after thy
sister; that is, “If ever thou wilt return, return
now. This is the greatest trial of thy constancy;
stand this trial, and thou art mine for evei®’ Such
offences as that of Orpah’s revolt, must needs come,
that they which are perfect and sincere, may be
made manifest, as Ruth was upon this occasion.
7. Ruth puts an end to the debate, by a most
solemn profession of her immoveable resolution
never to forsake her, nor to return to her own coun¬
try and her old relations again, v. 16, 17. Nothing
could be said more fine, more brave, than this; she
seems to have had another spirit, and another
speech, now that her sister was gone, and it is an
instance of the grace of God, inclining the soul to
the resolute choice of the better part. Draw me
thus, and we will run after thee. Her mother’s
dissuasions make her the more resolute; as when
Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot seri'e the
Lord, they said it with the more vehemence, Nay,
but we will.
1. She begs of her mother-in-law to say no more
against her going, “ Entreat me not to .leave thee,
or to return from following after thee ; for all thy
entreaties now cannot shake that resolution which
thy instructions formerly have wrought in me; and
therefore let me hear no more of them.” Note, It
is a great v exation and uneasiness to those that are
resolved for God and religion, to be tempted and
solicited to alter their resolution. They that would
not think of it, would not hear of it. Entreat me
not. The margin reads it, P.e not against me. Note,
We are to reckon those against us, and really our
enemies, that would hinder us in our way to the
heavenly Canaan. Our relations they may be, but
they cannot be our friends, that would dissuade us
from, and discourage us in the service of God, and
the work of religion.
2. She is very particular in her resolution to
cleave to her, and never to forsake her; and she
speaks the language of one resolved for God and
heaven. She is so in love, not with her mother’s
beauty, or riches, or gaiety, (all those were wither¬
ed and gone,) but with her wisdom, and virtue, and
grace, which remained with her, even in her present
poor and melancholy condition, that she resolves
to cleave to her. [l.J She will travel with her;
“ Whither thou goest I will go, though to a country
I never saw, and which I have been trained up in
a low and ill opinion of; though far from my own
country, yet with thee every road shall be pleas¬
ant.” [2.] She will dwell with her; “ Where thou
lodgest I will lodge, though it be in a cottage, nay,
though it be no better a lodging than Jacob had,
when he had the stones for his pillow. Where thou
21 1
RUTH, 1.
settest up thy staff, I will set up mine, be it where
jt will.” (3.) She will twist interests with her,
Thy people shall be my people. From Naomi’s
character she concludes certainly, that that great
nation was a wise and an understanding people; she
judges of them all by her good mother, who,
wherever she went, was a credit to her country,
(as all those should study to be, who profess rela¬
tion to the better country, that is, the heavenly,)
and therefore she will think herself happy if she
may be reckoned one of them. “ Thy people shall
be mine to associate with, or to be comfortable to,
and to be concerned for.” (4.) She will join in reli¬
gion with her; thus she determined to be her’s,
usque ad aras — to the very altars, “ Thy God shall
be my God, and farewell to all the gods of Moab,
which are vanity and a lie. I will adore the God
of Israel, the only living and true God, trust in him
alone, serve him, and in every thing be ruled by
him; this is to take the Lord for our God. (5. ) She
will gladly die in the same bed, Where thou diest
will I die: she takes it for granted they must both
die, and that, in all probability, Naomi, as the
elder, would die first, and resolves to continue in
the same house, if it might be, till her days also
were fulfilled; intimating likewise a desire to par¬
take of her happiness in death; she wishes to die in
the same place, in token of her dying after the same
manner, “ Let me die the death of righteous Nao¬
mi, and let my last end be like hers.” (6.) She will
desire to be buried in the same grave, and to lay
her bones by her’s; There will I be buried; not de¬
siring to have so much as her dead body carried
back to the country of Moab, in token of any re¬
maining kindness for it; but Naomi and she having
joined souls, she desires they may mingle dust, in
hopes of rising together, and being together for ever
in the other world.
3. She backs her resolution to adhere to Naomi
with a solemn oath; The Lord do so to me, and more
also, (which was an ancient form of imprecation,)
if aught, but death part thee and me. An oath for
confirmation was an end of this strife, and would
leave a lasting obligation upon her, never to forsake
that good way she was now making choice of. (1. ) It
is implied that death would separate between them
for a time. She could promise to die, and be bu¬
ried in the same place, but not at the same time:
it might so happen, that she might die first, and
that would part them. Note, Death parts those
whom nothing else will part. A dying hour is a
parting hour, and should be so thought of by us,
and prepared for. (2.) It is resolved that nothing
else should part them; not any kindness from her
own fimily and people, nor any hope of preferment
among them; nor any unkindness from Israel, nor
the fear of poverty and disgrace among them.
“ No, ] will never leave thee.”
Now this is a pattern of a resolute convert to
God and religion; thus must we be at a point. First,
We must take the Lord for our God. “ This God
is my God for ever and ever: I have avouched him
for mine.” Secondly, When we tike God for our
God, we must take his people for our people in all
conditions; though they be a poor despised people,
vet, if they be his, they must be our’s. Thirdly,
Having cast in our lot among them, we must be
willing to take our lot with them, and to fare as
they fare. We must submit to the same yoke, and
draw in it faithfully; take up the same cross, and
carry it cheerfully; go where God would have us
to go, though it should be into banishment, and to
lodge where he would have us to lodge, though it
be in a prison; die where he will have us to die, and
lay our bones in the graves of the upright, who en¬
ter into peace, and rest in their beds, though they
be but the graves of the common people. Fourth¬
ly, We must resolve to continue and persevere, and
herein our adherence to Christ must be closer than
that of Ruth to Naomi; she ' resolved that nothing
but death should separate them; but we must re¬
solve that death itself shall not separate us from
our happiness in Christ, and then we may be sure
that death itself shall not separate us from our hap¬
piness in Christ. Fifthly, We must bind our souls
with a bond never to break these pious resolutions,
and swear unto the Lord that we will cleave to
him. Fast bind, fast find. He that means honestly,
does not start at assurances.
Lastly, Naomi was hereby silenced, v. 18. Jt'hen
she saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to go with
her, (which was the very thing she aimed at in
all that she had said, to make her of a steadfast
mind in going with her,) when she saw that she
had gained her point, she was well satisfied, and
left off speaking to her. She could desire no more
than that solemn protestation which Ruth had just
now made. See the power of resolution, how it
puts temptation to silence. Those that are unre¬
solved, and go in religious ways without a steadfast
mind, tempt the tempter, and stand like a door
half open, which invites a thief; but resolution shuts
and bolts the door, resists the Devil, and forces him
to flee.
The Chaldee paraphrase thus relates the debate
between Naomi and Ruth. Ruth said, Fntreat me
not to leave thee, for I will be a proselyte; Naomi
said, We are commanded to keep sabbaths, and good
days, on which we may not travel above a thousand
cubits; (a sabbath-day’s journey;) Well, says Ruth,
whither thou goest, I will go. Naomi said, We are
commanded not to tarry all night with Gentiles;
Well, says Ruth, where thou lodgest, I will lodge.
Naomi said, We are commanded to keep six hun¬
dred and thirteen precepts; Well, says Ruth, what¬
ever thy people keep, 1 will keep, for they shall be
my people. Naomi said, We are forbidden to wor¬
ship any strange god; Well, says Ruth, thy God
shall be my God. Naomi said, We have four sorts
of deaths for malefactors, stoning, burning, stran¬
gling, and slaying with the sword; Well, says Ruth,
where thou diest, I will die. We have, said Naomi,
houses of sepulchre; And there, said Ruth, will I
be buried.
1 9. So they two went until they came to
Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when
they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the
city was moved about them; and they said,
Is this Naomi ? 20. And she said unto
them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara :
for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly
with me. 21. I went out full, and the
Lord hath brought me home again empty:
why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the
Lord hath testified against me, and the Al¬
mighty hath afflicted me ? 22. So Naomi
returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her
daughter-in-law, with her, which returned
out of the country of Moab : and they
came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of
barley-harvest.
Naomi and Ruth, after many a weary step, (the
fatigue of the journey, we may suppose, being
somewhat relieved by the good instructions Naomi
gave to her proselyte, and the good discourse the}'
had together,) came at last to Beth-lehem. And
they came very seasonably, in the beginning of the
212
RUTH, I].
barley harvest, which was the first of their har¬
vests, that of wheat following after. Now Naomi’s
own eyes might convince her of the truth of what
she had heard in the country of Moab, that the Lord
had visited his people in giving- them bread, and
Ruth might see this good land in its best state; and
now they had opportunity to provide for winter.
Our times are in God's hands; both the events, and
the time of them.
Notice is here taken,
I. Of the discomposure of the neighbours upon
this occasion; ( v . 19.) All the city -was moved about
them. Her old acquaintance gathered about her,
to inquire concerning her state, and to bid her wel¬
come to Beth-lehem again. Or perhaps, they were
moved about her, lest she should be a charge to the
town, she looked so bare. By this it appears that
she had formerly lived respectably, else there had
not been so much notice taken of her. If those that
have been in a high and prosperous condition,
break, or fall into poverty or disgrace, their fall is
the more remarkable, and they said, Is this JVao¬
mi? The woman of the city said it, for the word is
feminine. They with whom she had formerly been
intimate were surprised to see her in this condition;
she was so much broken and altered with her afflic¬
tions, that they could scarcely believe their own
eyes, or think that this was the same person whom
they had formerly seen, so fresh and fair, and gay;
Is this JVaomi ? So unlike is the rose, when it is with¬
ered, to what it was when it was blooming. What a
poor figure does Naomi make now, compared with
what she made in her prosperity ! If any asked this
question in contempt, upbraiding her with her mise¬
ries, (“Is this she that could not be content to fare
as her neighbours did, but must ramble to a strange
country? See what she has got by it!”) their tem-
er was very base and sordid: nothing more bar-
arous than to triumph over those that are fallen.
But we may suppose that the generality asked it in
compassion and commiseration; “ Is this she that
lived so plentifully, and kept so good a house, and
was so charitable to the poor? How is the gold be¬
come dim!” They that had seen the magnificence
of the first temple, wept, when they saw the mean¬
ness of the second; so these here. Note, Afflic¬
tions will make great and surprising changes in a
little time. When we see how sickness and old
age alter people, change their countenance and
temper, we may think of what the Beth-lehemites
said, Is this JVaomi? One would not take it to be
the same person. God, by his grace, fits us for all
such changes, especially the great change !
II. Of the composure of Naomi’s spirit. If some
upbraided her with her poverty, she was not moved
against them, as she would have been, if she had
been poor and proud; but, with a great deal of pi¬
ous patience, bore that and all the other melan¬
choly effects of her affliction; ( v . 20, 21.) Call me
not JVaomi, call me Mara, Isfc. “ JVaomi signifies
pleasant or amiable; but all my pleasant things are
laid waste; call me Mara, bitter, or bitterness, for I
am now a woman of a sorrowful spirit. ” Thus does
she bring her mind to her condition, which we all
ought to do, when our condition is not in every
thing to our mind. Observe,
1. The change of her state, and how that is de¬
scribed, with a pious regard to the divine provi¬
dence, and without any passionate murmurings or
complaints. (1.) It was a very sad and melan¬
choly change. She went out full; so she thought
herself when she had her husband with her, and
two sons. Much of the fulness of our comfort in
this world arises from agreeable relations. But she
now came home again empty, a widow, and child¬
less, and, probably, had sold her goods, and of all
the effects she took with her, brought home no
more than the clothes on her back. So uncertain
is all that which we call fulness in the creature, 1
Sam. 2. 5. Even in the fulness of that sufficiency
we may be in straits. But there is a fulness, a spi¬
ritual and divine fulness, which we can never be
emptied of; a good part which shall not be taken
from those that have it. (2.) She acknowledges
the hand of God, his mighty hand, in the affliction.
“ It is the Lord that has brought me home attain
empty; it is the Almighty that has afflicted me.”
Note, Nothing conduces more to satisfy a gracious
soul under an affliction, than the consideration of
the hand of God in it. It is the Lord, 1 Sam. 3. 18.
Job 1. 21. Especially to consider, that he who af¬
flicts us, is Shaddai, the Almighty, with whom it
is folly to contend, and to whom it is our-duty and
interest to submit. It is that name of God by
which he enters into covenant with his people, 1
am God Almighty, God All-sufficient, Gen. 17. 1.
He afflicts as a God in covenant, and his all-suffi¬
ciency may be our support and supply under all our
afflictions. He that empties us of the creature,
knows how to fill us with himself. (3.) She speaks
very feelingly of the impression which the affliction
had made upon her; He has dealt very bitterly with
me. The cup of affliction is a bitter cup; and even
that which afterward yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness, yet for the present, is not joyous, but
grievous, Heb. 12. 11. Job complains, Thou writest
bitter things against me. Job. 13. 26. (4.) She owns
the affliction to come from God as a controversy;
The Lord hath testified against me. Note, When
God corrects us, he testifies against us, and con¬
tends with us, (Job 10. 17.) intimating that he is
displeased with us. Every rod has a voice, tht
voice of a witness.
2. The compliance of her spirit with this changt.
“ Call me not JVaomi, for I am no more pleasant,
either to myself or to my friends, but call me Mara,
a name more agreeable to my present state.”
Many that are debased and impoverished, yet af¬
fect to be called by the empty names and titles of
honour they have formerly enjoyed. Naomi did not
so; her humility regards not a glorious name in a
dejected state; if God deal bitterly with her, she
accommodates herself to the dispensation, and is
willing to be called Mara, bitter. Note, It well be¬
comes us to have our hearts humbled under hum¬
bling providences. When our condition is brought
down, our spirits should be brought down with it.
And then our troubles are sanctified to us, when
we thus comport with them ; for it is not an affliction
in itself, but an affliction rightly borne, that does us
good. Perdidisti tot mala, si nondum misera esse
didicisti—So many calamities have been lost upon
you, if you have not yet learned how to suffer. Sen.
ad Helv. Tribulation works patience.
CHAP. II.
There is scarcely any chapter in all the sacred history, that
stoops so low as this to take cognizance of so mean a
person as Ruth, a poor Moabitish widow, so mean an
action as her gleaning- corn in a neighbour’s field, and
the minute circumstances thereof. But all this was in
order to her being grafted into the line of Christ, and
taken in among his ancestors, that she misrht be a figure
of the espousals of the Gentile church to Christ, Isa. 54.
I. And this makes the story remarkable; and many of
the passages of it are instructive, and very improveable.
Here is, I. Ruth’s humility and industry in gleaning
corn, Providence directing her to Boaz’s field, v. 1..3.
II. The great favour which Boaz showed to her in many
instances, v. 4.. 16. III. The return of Ruth to her
mother-in-law, v. 18 . . 23.
1. A ND Naomi had a kinsman of her
l\. husband’s, a mighty man of wealth,
of the family of Elimelech; and his name
213
RUTH, II.
was Boaz. 2. And Ruth the Moabitess
said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the
field, and glean ears of com after him in
whose sight I shall find grace. And she
said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3. And
she went, and came, and gleaned in the
field after the reapers : and her hap was to
light on a part of the field belonging unto
Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
Naomi had now gained a settlement in Bethlehem
among her old friends; and here we have an ac¬
count,
I. Of her rich kinsman, Boaz, a mighty man of
wealth, v. 1. The Chaldee reads it, mighty in the
law ; If he was both, it was a most rare and excel¬
lent conjunction, to be mighty in wealth, and mighty
in the scriptures too; those that are so, are mighty
indeed. He was grandson of Nahshon, that was
prince of the tribe of Judah in the wilderness, and
son of Salmon, probably a younger son, by Rahab,
the harlot of Jericho; he carries might in his name,
Boaz, in him is strength; and he was of the family
of Elimelech, that family which was now reduced
and brought so low. Observe, 1. Boaz, though a
rich and a great man, had poor relations; every
branch of the tree is not a top branch. Let not
those that are great in the world, be ashamed to
own their kindred that are mean and despised, lest
they be found therein proud, scornful, and unnatu¬
ral. 2. Naomi, though a poor contemptible widow,
had rich relations, whom yet she neither boasted of,
nor was burthensome to, nor expected any thing
from, when she was returning to Beth-lehem in dis¬
tress. Those that have rich relations, while they
themselves are poor, ought to know that it is the
wise providence of God that makes the difference,
(in which we ought to acquiesce,) and that to be
proud of our relation to such, is a great sin, and to
trust to it, is great folly.
II. Of her poor daughter-in-law, Ruth. 1. Her
condition was very low and poor; which was a great
trial to the faith and constancy of a young proselyte.
The Beth-lehemites had done well, if they had in¬
vited Naomi and her daughter-in-law first to one
good house, and then to another; (it would have
been a great support to an aged widow, and a great
encouragement to a new convert;) but, instead of
tasting the dainties of Canaan, they have no way
of getting necessary food, but by gleaning corn; anil
otherwise, for aught that appears, they might have
starved. Note* God has chosen the floor of this
world; and poor they are like to be, for though
God has chosen them, commonly men overlook
them. 2. Her character, in this condition, was
very good; v , 2, She said to Naomi, not, “Let me
now go to the land of Moab again, for there is no
living here; here there is want, but in my father’s
house there is bread enough no, she is not mind¬
ful of the country from which she came out, other¬
wise she had now a fair occasion to return; the God
of Israel shall be her God, and though he slay her,
vet will she trust in him and never forsake him.
But her request is, Let me go to the field and glean
ears of corn. Those that are well born, and have
been well brought up, know not what straits they
may be reduced to, nor what mean employments
they may be obliged to get their bread by, Lam. 4.
5. When the case is thus melancholy, let Ruth be
remembered, who is a great example.
1. Of humility; when providence had made her
poor, she did not say, “ To glean, which is in effect
to beg, I am ashamed;” but cheerfully stoops to the
meanness of her circumstances, and accommodates
nerself to her lot. High spirits can more easily
starve than stoop; Ruth was none of those. She
does not tell her mother she was never brought up
to live upon crumbs. Though she was not brought
up to it, she is brought down to it, and is not un
easy at it. Nay, it is her own motion, not her mo
ther’s injunction; humility is one of the brightest or •
naments of youth, and one of the best omens. Be¬
fore Ruth’s honour was this humility. Observe,
how humbly she speaks of herself, in her expecta¬
tion of leave to glean; “ Let me glean after him, in
whose sight I shall find grace.” She does not say,
“I will go glean, and surely nobody will deny me
the liberty;” but, “ I will go glean, in the hope that
somebody will allow me the liberty.” Note, Poor
people must not demand kindness as a debt, but
humbly ask it, and take it as a favour, though in
ever so small a matter. It becomes the poor to use
entreaties.
2. Of industry. She does not say to her mother-
in-law, “ Let me now go a visiting to the ladies of the
town, or go a walking in the fields to take the air,
and be merry, I cannot sit all day moping with
you;” no, it is not sport, but business, that her heart
is upon, “ Let me go and glean ears of corn, and
that will turn to some good account.” She was one
of those virtuous women that love not to eat the
bread of idleness; she loved to take pains. This is
an example to young people; let them learn be¬
times to labour, and what their hands find to do, do
it with their might; a disposition to diligence bodes
well, both for this world and the other. Love not
sleep, love not sport, love not sauntering, but love
business. It is also an example to poor people to
work for their living, and not beg that which they
are able to earn. We must not be shy of any honest
employment, though it be mean, l^yov ?v Ivfnfot —
No labour is a reproach. Sin is a thing below us,
but we must not think any thing else so that Provi¬
dence calls us to.
3. Of regard to her mother; though she was but
her mother-in-law, and though, being loosed by
death from the law of her husband, she might easily
suppose herself thereby loosed from the law of her
husband’s mother, yet she is dutifully observant of
her. She will not go out without letting her know,
and asking her leave. This respect young people
ought to show to their parents and governors; it is a
part of the honour due to them. She did not say,
“ Mother, if you will go with me, I will go glean;”
but, “ Uo you sit at home, and take your ease, and
I will go abroad, and take pains.” Juniores ad
Labores — Youth should work. Let young people
take advice from the aged, but not put them upon
toil.
4. Of dependence upon Providence; intimated in
that, I will glean after him, in whose sight I shall
find grace. She knows not which way to go, nor
whom to inquire for, but will trust Providence to
raise her up some friend or other that will be kind
to her. Let us always keep up good thoughts of the
Divine Providence, and believe, that while we do
well, it will do well for us.
And it did well for Ruth; for when she went out
alone, without guide or companion, to glean, her hap
was to light on the field of Boaz, v. 3. To her it
seemed casual, she knew not whose field it was, nor
had she any reason for going to that more than any
other, and therefore it is said to be her hap; but
Providence directed her steps to this field. Note,
God wisely orders small events; and those that
seem altogether contingent, serve his own glory,
and the good of his people. Many a great affair is
brought about by a little turn, which seemed for¬
tuitous to us, but was directed by Providence with
design.
4. And, behold, Boaz came from Both-
214
RUTH, 11.
lehem, and said unto the reapers, The !
Lord be with you. And they answered
nun, The Lord bless thee. 5. Then said
Boaz unto his servant that was set over the
reapers, Whose damsel is this ? 6. And the
servant that was set over the reapers an¬
swered and said, It is the iVIoabitish damsel
that came back with Naomi out of the
country of Moab : 7. And she said, I pray |
you, let me glean and gather after the reap¬
ers among the sheaves : so she came, and
hath continued even from the morning until ;
now, that she tarried a little in the house.
8. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest
thou not, my daughter ? Go not to glean in
another field, neither go from hence, but
abide here fast by my maidens : 9. Let
thine eyes be on the field that they do reap,
and go thou after them : have I not charged
the young men that they shall not touch
thee ? and when thou art athirst, go unto
the vessels, and drink of that which the
young men have drawn. 10. Then she fell
on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
and said unto him, Why have I found grace
in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take know¬
ledge of me, seeing 1 am a stranger ? 11.
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It
hath fully been showed me all that thou
hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the
death of thine husband ; and how thou hast
left thy father and thy mother, and the land
of thy nativity, and art come unto a people
which thou knewest not heretolore. 12.
TJie Lord recompense thy work, and a full
reward be given thee of the Lord God of
Israel, under whose wings thou art come to
trust. 13. Then she said, Let me find fa¬
vour in thy sight, my lord ; for that, thou hast
comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken
friendly unto thinr handmaid, though I be
not like unto one. of thine handmaidens.
1 !. And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time
come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and
dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat
beside the reapers: and he reached her
parched corn , and she did eat, and was suf¬
ficed, and left. 15. And when she was
risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his
young men, saying, Let her glean even
among the sheaves, and reproach her not :
1G. And let fall also some of the handfuls
of purpose for her, and leave them, that she
may glean them, and rebuke her not.
Now Boaz himself appears, and a great deal of de¬
cency there appears in his carriage, both toward his
own servants, and toward this poor stranger.
I. Toward his own servants, and those that were
employed for him in reaping and gathering in his
corn. Harvest-time is a busy time; many hands
must then be at work. Boaz that had much, being
a mighty man of wealth, had much to do, and con
sequently many to work under him, and to live upon
him; as goods are increased, they are increased that
eat them; and what good has the owner thereof,
save the beholding of them with his eyes ? Boaz is
here an example of a good master.
1. He had a servant that was set over the reap¬
ers, v. 6. In great families, it is requisite there
should be one to oversee the rest of the servants,
and appoint to each their portion, both of work and
meat. Ministers are such servants in God’s house,
and it is requisite that they be both wise and faith¬
ful, and show their Lord all things, as he here, v. 6.
2. Yet he came himself to his reapers, to see how
the work went forward, if he found any thing amiss,
to rectify it, and to gi\ e further orders what should
be done. This was both for his own interest, (he
that wholly leaves his business to others, will have
it done by halves; the master’s eye makes a fat
horse,) and it was also for the encouragement of his
servants, who would go on the more cheerfully in
their work, when their master countenanced them
so far as to make them a visit. Masters that live at
ease, should think with tenderness of those that toil
for them, and bear the burthen and heat of the day.
3. Kind and pious salutations were interchanged
between Boaz and his reapers. He said to them,
The Lord be with you; and they replied, The Lord
bless thee, v. 4. Hereby they expressed, (1.) Their
mutual respect to each other; he to them as good
servants, and they to him as a good master. When
he came to them, he did not fall a chiding them, as
if he came only to find fault and exercise his autho¬
rity, but he prayed for them; “ The Lord be with
you, prosper you, and give you health and strength,
and preserve you from any disaster:” nor did they,
as soon as ever he was out of hearing, fall a cursing
him, as some ill-natured servants that hate their
master’s eye; but they returned his courtesy, “ The
Lord bless thee, and make our labours serviceable
to thy prosperity ! ” Things are likely to go on well
in a house where there is such good-will as this be¬
tween masters and servants. (2.) Their joint de¬
pendence upon the divine providence; they express¬
ed their kindness to each other by praying one for
another. They show not only their courtesy, but
their piety, and an acknowledgment that all good
comes from the presence and blessing of God, which
therefore we should value and desire above any
thing else, both for ourselves and others. Let us
from hence learn to use, [1.] Courteous salutations,
as expressions of a sincere good-will to our friends.
J2.] Pious ejaculations, lifting up our hearts to God
or his favour, in such short prayers as these. Only,
we must take heed that they do not degenerate into
formality, lest in them we take the name of the
Lord our God in vain ; but if we be serious in them,
we may in them keep up our communion with God,
and fetch in mercy and grace from him. It appears
to have been the usual custom, thus to wish reapers
good speed, Ps. 129. 7, 8.
4. He took an account from his reapers concern¬
ing a stranger he met with in the field, and gave
necessary orders concerning her, that they should
not touch her, v. 9. nor reproach her, v. 15. Mas¬
ters must take care, not only that they do not hurt
themselves, but that they suffer not their serv ants
and those under them, to do hurt. He also ordered
them to be kind to her, and let fall some of the hand¬
fuls on purpose for her; though it is fit that mas¬
ters should restrain and rebuke their servants’
wastefulness, yet they should not tie them up from
being charitable, but give them allowance f r that,
with prudent directions.
II. Boaz was very kind to Ruth, and showed her
a great deal of favour, induced to it by the account
he had of her, and what he observed concerning
215
RUTH, II.
her, God also inclining his heart to countenance
Pier. Coming among his reapers, he observed this
stranger among them, and got intelligence from his
steward who she was, and here is a very particular
account of what passed concerning her.
1. The steward gave to Boaz a very fair account
of her, pioperto recommend her to his favour, v.
6, 7. (1.) That she was a stranger, and therefore
one of those that by the law of God were to gather
the gleanings of the harvest. Lev. 19. 9, 10. She
is the Moubitish damsel. (2. ) That she was allied
to his family; she came back, with Naomi, the wife
of Elimelech, a kinsman of Boaz. (3.) That she
was a proselyte, for she came out of the country of
Moab, to settle in the land of Israel. (4. ) That she
was very modest, and had not gleaned till she had
asked leave. (5.) That she was very industrious,
and had continued close to her work from morning
even until now. And the poor, that are industrious
and willing to take pains, are fit to be encouraged.
Now, in the heat of the day, she tarried a little in
the house or booth, that was set up in the field for
shelter from the weather, to repose herself, and
some suggest that it is probable she retired for her
devotion. But she soon came back to her work,
and, except that little intermission, kept close to it
all day, though it was not what she was used to.
Servants should be just in the characters and re¬
ports they give to their masters, and take heed they
do not misrepresent any person, nor without cause
discourage their masters’ charity.
2. Boaz was hereupon extremely civil to her in
divers instances. (1.) He ordered her to attend
his reapers in every field they gathered in, and not
to glean in another field, for she should not need to
go any where else to mend herself; ( v . 8.) Abide
here fast by my maidens; for those of her own sex
were the fittest company for her. (2.) He charg¬
ed all his servants to be very tender of her, and
respectful to her, who, no doubt, would be so to
one whom they saw their master kind to. She
was a stranger, and, it is probable, her language,
dress, and mien, differed much from their’s; but he
charged them that they should not in any thing af¬
front her, or be abusive to her, as rude servants
are too apt to be to strangers. (3.) He bid her
welcome to the entertainment he had provided for
his servants. He ordered her, not only to drink of
the water which was drawn for them, (for that
seems to be the liquor he means, ( v . 9.) drawn
from the famous well of Beth-lehem, which was by
the gate, the water of which David longed for, 2
Sam. 23. 15.) but at meal-time to come eat of their
bread; (v. 14. ) yea, and she should be welcome to
their sauce too, Come di/i thy morsel in the vinegar,
to make it savoury; for God allows us, not only
nourishing but relishing food, not for necessity only,
but for delight. And, for encouragement to her,
and direction to the servants, he himself, happen¬
ing to be present when the reapers sat down to
meat, reached her fiarched corn to eat. It is no dis¬
paragement to the finest hand, to be reached forth
to the needy, (Prov. 31. 20.) and to be employed in
serving the poor. Observe, Boaz was not scanty in
his provision for his reapers, but sent them so much
more than enough for themselves as would be en¬
tertainment for a stranger. Thus there is that
scattereth, and yet increaseth. (4. ) He commend¬
ed her for her dutiful respect to her mother-in-law,
which, though he did not know her by sight, yet
he had heard of; v. 11, It has been fully showed
me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law.
Note, Those that do well, ought to have the praise
cf it. But that which especially he commended
her for, was, that she had left her own country,
and was become a proselyte to the Jewish religion;
for so the Chaldee expounds it: “ Thou art come
to be proselyted, and to dwell among a fieofile
which thou knowest not.” Those that leave all, to
embrace the true religion, are worthy of double ho¬
nour. (5.) He prayed for her; a'. 12, The Lord
recompense thy work. Her strong affection to the
commonwealth of Israel, to which she was by birth
an alien, was such a work of the divine grace in
her, as would certainly be crowned with a full re¬
ward by him under whose wings she was come to
trust. Note, Those that by faith come under the
wings of the divine grace, and have a full compla¬
cency and confidence in that grace, may be sure of
a full recompense of reward for their so doing.
From this expression, the Jews describe a proselyte
to be one that is gathered under the wings of the
divine majesty. Lastly, He encouraged her to go
on in her gleaning, and did not offer to take her off
from that: for the greatest kindness we can do cur
poor relations, is, to assist and encourage their in¬
dustry. Boaz ordered his servants to let her glean
among the sheaves, where other gleaners were not
allowed to come, and not to reproach her, that is,
not to call her thief, or to suspect her of taking
more than was allowed her, v. 15. All this shows
Boaz to have been a man of a generous spirit, and
one that, according to the law, considered the heart
of a stranger.
3. Ruth received his favours, with a great deal of
humility and gratitude, and conducted herself with
as much propriety in her place, as he did in his,
but little thinking that she should shortly be the
mistress of that field she was now gleaning in. (1.)
She paid all possible respect to him, and gave him
honour, according to the usage of the country; (v.
10.) She fell on her face, and bowed herself to the
ground. Note, Good breeding is a great ornament
to religion; and we must render honour to whom
honour is due. (2.) She humbly owned herself
unworthy of his favours; I am a stranger, [y. 10.)
and not like one of thy handmaidens; (x\ 13.) not
so well dressed, nor so well taught: not so neat, nor
so handy. Note, It well becomes us all to think
meanly of ourselves, and to take notice of that in
ourselves, which is diminishing, esteeming others
better than ourselves. (3.) She gratefully acknow¬
ledged his kindness to her; though it was no great
expense to him, nor much more than what he was
obliged to by the divine law, yet she magnifies and
admires it, Why have 1 found grace in thine eyes?
v. 10. (4. ) She begs the continuance of his good¬
will, Let me find favour in thy sight, v. 13. and
owns that what he had said, had been a cordial to
her, Thou hast comforted me, for that thou hast
spoken friendly to me. Those that are great, and
in high places, know not how much good they may
do to their inferiors with a kind look, or by speak
ing friendly to them; and so small an expense, one
would think, they should not grudge, when it shall
be put upon the score of their charity. (5. ) When
Boaz gave her her dinner with his reapers, she ate
so much as would suffice her, and left the rest; and
immediately rose up to glean, v. 14, 15. She did
not, under pretence either of her want, or of her
labour, eat more than was convenient for her, nor
so much as to unfit her for work in the afternoon:
temperance is a friend to industry; and we must eat
and drink to strengthen us for business, and not to
indispose us to it.
17. So she gleaned in the field until even,
and beat out that she had gleaned : and it
was about an ephah of barley. 18. And
she took it up, and went into the city; aed
her mother-in-law saw what she had glean¬
ed : and she brought forth, and gave to h,er
216
ruth, ii.
that she had reserved after she was sufficed.
19. And her mother-in-law said unto her,
Where hast thou gleaned to-day ? and
where wroughtest thou ? blessed be he that
did take knowledge of thee. And she show¬
ed her mother-in-law with whom she had
wrought, and said, The man’s name with
whom I wrought to-day is Boaz. 20. And
Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Bles¬
sed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off
his kindness to the living and to the dead.
And Naomi said unto her, The man is near
of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.
21. And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said
unto me also, Thou shaft keep fast by my
oung men, until they have ended all my
arvest. 22. And Naomi said unto Ruth
her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter,
that thou go out with his maidens, that they
meet thee not in any other field. 23. So
she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to
glean unto the end of barley-harvest, and
of wheat-harvest ; and dwelt with her moth¬
er-in-law.
Here,
I. Ruth finishes her day’s work, v. 17. 1. She
took care not to lose time, for she gleaned until
even. We must not be weary of well-doing, be¬
cause in due season we shall reap. She did not
make an excuse to sit still, or go home, till the
evening: let us work the works of him that sent us,
while it is day. She scarcely used, much less did
she abuse the kindness of Boaz; for though he or¬
dered his servants to leave handfuls for her, she
continued to glean the scattered ears. 2. She took
care not to lose what she had gathered, but thresh¬
ed it herself, that she might the more easily carry
it home, and might have it ready for use. The
slothful man roasteth not that which he took in
hunting, and so loseth the benefit of it; but the sub¬
stance of a diligent man is precious, Prov. 12. 27.
Ruth had gathered it ear by ear, but when she had
put it all together, it was an ephah of barley, about
four pecks. Many a little makes a great deal. It
is an encouragement to industry, that in all labour,
even that of gleaning, there is profit; but the talk
of the li/is tendeth only to penury. When she had
got her corn into as little compass as she could, she
took it up herself, and carried it into the city,
though, had she asked them, it is likely some of
Boaz’ servants would have done that for her. We
should study to be as little as possible troublesome
to those that are kind to us. She did not think it
either too hard or too mean a service, to carry her
corn herself into the city, but was rather pleased
with what she had gotten by her own industry, and
careful to secure it; and let us thus take care that we
lose not those things which we have wrought, which
we have gained, 2 John 8.
II. She paid her respects to her mother-in-law;
went straight home to her, and did not go to con¬
verse with Boaz* servants; showed her what she
had gleaned, that she might see she had not been
idle.
1. She entertained her with what she had left of
the good dinner Boaz had given her. She gave to
her that she had reserved, after she was sufficed,
v. 18. which refers to v. 14. If she had any thing
better than another, her mother should have part 1
with her. Thus, having showed industry abroad,
she showed piety at home; so children’s maintain¬
ing of their parents is called, (1 Tim. 5. 4.) and it
is part of the honour due to them by the fifth com¬
mandment, Matt. 15. 6.
2. She gave her an account of her day’s work, and
how a kind providence had favoured her in it,
which made it very comfortable to her; for the
gleanings that a righteous man hath, are better
than the harvests of many wicked, Ps. 37. 16.
(1.) Naomi asked her where she had been-
Where hast thou gleaned to-day? Note, Parents
should take care to inquire into the ways of their
children, how, and where, and in what company
they spend their time. This may prevent many
extravagancies which children, left to themselves,
run into, by which they bring both themselves and
their parents to shame. If we are not our breth¬
ren's, yet surely we are our children's keepers: and
we know what a son Adonijah proved, that never
had been chidden. Parents should examine their
children, not to frighten or discourage them, so as
to make them hate home, or tempt them to tell a
lie, but to commend them if they have done well,
and with mildness to reprove and caution them if
they have done otherwise. It is a good question
for "us to ask ourselves in the close of every day,
“ Where have I gleaned to-day? What improve¬
ments have I made in knowledge and grace? What
have I done or gotten, that will turn to a good ac¬
count?”
(2.) Ruth gave her a particular account of the
kindness she had received from Boaz, ( v . 19.) and
the hopes she had of further kindness from him, he
having ordered her to attend his servants through¬
out all the har\ est, v. 21. Note, Children should
look upon themselves as accountable to their pa¬
rents and to those that are over them, and not to
think it a disparagement to them to be examined;
let them do that which is good, and they shall have
praise of the same. Ruth told her mother what
kindness Boaz had showed her, that she might take
some occasion or another to acknowledge it, and
return him thanks; but she did not tell her how
Boaz had commended her, v. 11. Humility teach¬
es us, not only not to praise ourseb es, but not to be
forward to publish others’ praises of us.
(3.) We are here told what Naomi said to it.
[1.] She prayed heartily for him that had been
her daughter’s benefactor, even before she knew
who it was; ( v . 19.) Blessed be he, whoever he was,
that did take knowledge of thee; shooting the arrow
of prayer at a venture. But more particularly,
when she was told who it was; v. 20, Blessed be he
of the Lord. Note, The poor must pray for those
that are kind and liberal to them, and thus requite
them, when they are not capable of making them
any other requital. Let the loins of the poor bless
those that refresh them, Job 29. 13. — 31. 20. And
he that hears the cries of the poor against their op¬
pressors, (Exod. 22. 27.) it may be hoped, will
hear the prayers of the poor for their benefactors.
She now remembered the former kindnesses Boaz
had showed to her husband and sons, and joins
those to this, he has not left off his kindness to the
living and to the dead. If we generously show
kindness even to those that seem to have forgotten
our former favours, perhaps it may help to revive
the remembrance, even of those which seem bu¬
ried.
[2.] She acquainted Ruth with the relation their
family was in to Boaz; The man is near of kin to us.
It should seem she had been so long in Moab, that
she had forgotten her kindred in the land of Israel,
till by this providence God brought it to her mind.
At least, she had not told Ruth of it, though it
might have been some encouragement to a young
217
RUTH, 111.
proselyte. Unlike to humble Naomi, are many,
who, though fallen into decay themselves, are con¬
tinually boasting of their great relations. Nay, ob¬
serve the chain of thought here, and in it a chain
of providences, bringing about what was designed
concerning Ruth. Ruth names Boaz as one that
had been kind to her; Naomi bethinks herself who
that should be, and presently recollects herself;
“ The man is near of kin to us; now that I hear his
name, I remember him very well.” This thought
brings in another; “ He is our next kinsman; our
Goel, that has the right to redeem our estate that
was mortgaged, and therefore from him we may
expect further kindness. That is the likeliest
man in all Beth-lehem to set us up.” Thus God
brings things to our mind, sometimes of a sudden,
that prove to have a wonderful tendency to our
good.
[3. ] She appointed Ruth to continue her attend¬
ance in the fields of Boaz; (ta 22.) “ Let them not
meet thee in any other field, for that will be con¬
strued a contempt of his courtesy.” Our blessed
Saviour is our Goel; it is he that has a right to re¬
deem : if we expect to receive benefit by him, let us
closely adhere to him, and his fields and his family;
let us not go to the world and its fields for that which
is to be had with him only, and which he has en¬
couraged us to expect from him. Has the Lord
dealt bountifully with us? Let us not be found in
any other field, nor seek for happiness and satisfac¬
tion in the creature. Tradesmen take it ill, if
those that are in their books, go to another shop.
We lose divine favours, if we slight them. Some
think Naomi gave her daughter-in-law a tacit re¬
buke; she had spoken (v. 21.) of keeping fast by
the young men; “Nay,” said Naomi, (i\ 22.) “it
is good that thou go out with his maidens, they are
fitter company for thee than the young men .” But
they are too critical: Ruth spake of the young men,
because they were the principal labourers, and to
them Boaz had given dii-ections concerning her; and
Naomi takes it for granted, while she attended the
young men, her society would be with the maidens,
as was fit.
Ruth dutifully obeyed her mother’s directions;
she continued to glean, to the end, not only of the
barley-harvest, but of the wheat-harvest, which
followed it, that she might gather food in harvest to
serve for winter, Prov. 6. 6- -8. She also kept fast
by the maidens of Boaz, with whom she afterward
cultivated an acquaintance, which might do her
service, v. 23. But she constantly came to her
mother at night in due time, as became a virtuous
woman, that was for working-days, and not for mer¬
ry nights. And when the harvest was ended, (as
Bishop Patrick expounds it,) she did not gad
abroad, but kept her aged mother company at
home. Dinah went out to see the daughters of the
land, and we know what a disgrace her vanity end¬
ed in; Ruth kept at home, and helped to maintain
her mother, and went out on no other errand than
to get provision for her; and we shall find afterward
what preferment her humility and industry ended
in. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? Ho¬
nour is before him.
CHAP. III.
We found it very easy, in the former chapter, to applaud
the decency of Ruth’s behaviour, ana to show what good
use we may make of the account given us of it; but, in
this chapter, we shall have much ado to vindicate it from
the imputation of indecency, and to save it from having
an ill use made of it; but the goodness of those times
was such, as saves what is recorded here from being ill
done, and yet the badness of these times is such, as that
it will not justify any now in doing the like. Here is, I.
The direction Naomi gave to her daughter-in-law, how
to claim Boaz for her husband, v. 1 . . 5. II. Ruth’s
Vol. ii. — 2 E
punctual observance of these directions, v. 6, 7. III.
The kind and honourable treatment Boaz gave her, v
8 . . 15. IV. Her return to her mother-in-law, v. 16 . . 18.
1. r 1 THEN Naomi her mother-in-law said
JL unto her, My daughter, shall I not
seek rest for thee, that it may be well with
thee? 2. And now is not Boaz of our kin¬
dred, with whose maidens thou wast ? be¬
hold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the
threshing-floor. 3. Wash thyself, therefore,
and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon
thee, and get thee down to the floor : but
make not thyself known unto the man, un¬
til he shall have done eating and drinking.
4. And it shall be, when he lieth down, that
thou shalt mark the place where he shall
lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his
feet, and lay thee down ; and he will tell
thee what thou shalt do. 5. And she said
unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I
will do.
Here,
I. Naomi’s care for her daughter’s comfort, is,
without doubt, very commendable, and is recorded
for imitation. She had no thoughts of marrying
herself, ch. 1. 12. But though she that was old,
had resol ved upon a perpetual widowhood, yet she
was far from the thoughts of confining her daughter-
in-law to it, that was young. Age must not make
itself a standard to youth. On the contrary, she is
full of contrivance how to get her well married.
Her wisdom projected that for her daughter, which
her daughter’s modesty forbade her to project for
herself, v. 1. This she did, 1. In justice to the
dead, to raise up seed to them that were gone, and
so to preserve the family from being extinct. 2. In
kindness and gratitude to her daughter-in-law,
who had conducted herself very dutifully and re¬
spectfully to her. “ My daughter,” (said she,
looking upon her in all respects as her own,) “ shall
I not seek rest for thee,” that is, “ a settlement in
the married state; shall I not get thee a good hus¬
band, that it may be well with thee,” that is, “ that
thou mayest live plentifully and pleasantly, and not
spend all thy days in the mean and melancholy
condition we now live in?” Note, (1.) A married
state is, or should be, a state of rest to young peo¬
ple; wandering affections are then fixed, and the
heart must be at rest: it is at rest in the house of a
husband, and in his heart, ch. 1. 9. Those are
giddy indeed, that marriage does not compose. (2.)
That which should be desired and designed by those
that enter into a marriage state, is, that it may be
well with them; in order to which, it isnecessary that
they chuse well; otherwise, instead of being a rest to
them, it may prove the greatest uneasiness. Pa¬
rents, in disposing of their children, must have this
in their eve, that it may be well with them. And be
it always remembered, That, it is best for i/s, which
is best for our sot/ls. (2.) It is the duty of parents
to seek this rest for their children, and to do all that
is fit for them to do, in due time, in order to it.
And the more dutiful and respectful they are to
them, though they can the worse spare them, yet
thev should the rather prefer them, and the better.
II. The course she took in order to her daughter’®
preferment, was very extraordinary, and looks sus¬
picious. If there was any thing improper in it, the
fault must lie upon Naomi, who put her daughter
upon it, and who knew, or should know, the laws
and usages of Israel better than Ruth. 1. It was
218
RUTH, 111.
true, that Boaz, being near of kin to the deceased,
and (for aught that Naomi knew to the contrary)
the nearest of all now alive, was obliged by the di¬
vine law to marry the widow of Mahlon, who was
the eldest son of Elimelech, and was dead without
issue,!'. 2. “Is not Boaz of our kindred, and
therefore bound in conscience to take care of our
affairs? Why should we not remind him of his du¬
ty?” This may encourage us to lay ourselves by
faith at the feet of Christ, that he is our near
Kinsman, having taken our nature upon him, he is
bone of our bone arid Jit ah of our flesh. 2. It was a
convenient time to remind him of it, now that he
had got so much acquaintance with Ruth, by her
constant attendance upon his reapers during the
whole harvest, which was now ended; and he also,
by the kindness he had showed to Ruth in lesser
matters, had encouraged Naomi to hope that he
would not be unkind, much less unjust, in this
greater. And she thought it was a good opportunity
to apply to him, when he made a winnowing-feast
at his threshing-floor, (v. 2.) then and there com¬
pleting the joy of the harvest, and treating his
workmen like a kind master; He winnoweth barley
to-night, that is, he makes his entertainment to¬
night; as Nabal and Absalom had feasts at their
sheep-shearing, so Boaz at his winnowing. 3. Na¬
omi thought Ruth the most proper person to do it
herself; and perhaps it was the usage in that
country, that in this case the woman should make
the demand, so much is intimated by the law, Deut.
25. 7. . 9. Naomi therefore orders her daughter-
in-law to make herself clean and neat, not to make
herself fine; (to 3.) “ Wash thyself and unoint thee,
not paint thee, (as Jezebel,) put on thy raiment,
but not the attire of the harlot, and go down to the
floor,” whither, it is probable, she was invited to
the supper there made; but she must not make her¬
self known, that is, not* make her errand known,
(she herself could not but be very well known
amoDg Boaz’s reapers,) till the company was dis¬
persed, and Boaz was retired. And upon this oc¬
casion, she would have an easier access to him in
private, than she could have at his own house. And
thus far was well enough. But, 4. Her coming to lie
down at his feet, when he was asleep in his bed, had
such an appearance of evil, was such an approach
towards it, and might have been such occasion of
it, that we know not well how to justify it. Many
expositors think it unjustifiable, particularly the
excellent Mr. Poole. We must not do evil that
good may come. It is dangerous bringing the spark
and the tinder together; for how great a matter
may a little fire kindle! All agree that it is not to
be drawn into a precedent; neither our laws nor our
times are the same that were then; yet I am willing
to make the best of it. If Boaz was, as they pre¬
sumed, the next kinsman, she was his wife before
God, (as we say,) and there needed but little cere¬
mony to complete the nuptials; and Naomi did not
intend that Ruth should approach to him any other¬
wise than as his wife; she knew Boaz to be not only
an old man, (she would not have trusted to that
alone in venturing her daughter-in-law so near
him,) but a grave sober man, a virtuous and reli¬
gious man, and one that feared God. She knew
Ruth to be a modest woman, chaste, and a keeper
at home. Tit. 2. 5. The Israelites had indeed been
once debauched by the daughters of Moab, (Numb.
25. 1.) but this Moabitess was none of those daugh¬
ters. Naomi herself designed nothing but what was
honest and honourable, and her charity (which be-
lieveth all things and hofleth all things) banished
and forbade all suspicion that either Boaz or Ruth
would offer any thing but what was likewise honest
and honourable. If what she advised, had been
then as indecent and immodest (according to the
usage of the country) as it seems now to us, we can
I not think that if Naomi had had so little virtue,
(which yet we have no reason to suspect,) that she
should have had so little wisdom, as to put her
daughter upon it, since that alone might have mar-
j red the match, and have alienated the affections
| of so grave and good a man as Boaz from her. We
! must therefore think that the thing did not look so
: ill then as it does now. Naomi referred herdaugh-
1 ter-in-law to Boaz for further directions. When
she had thus made her claim, Boaz, who was more
learned in the laws, would tell her what she must
do. Thus we must lay ourselves at the feet of our
Redeemer, to receive from him our doom, Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do? Acts 9. 6.
We may be sure, if Ruth had apprehended any
evil in that which her mother advised her to, she
was a woman of too much virtue, and too much
sense, to promise as she did, ( v . 5.) All that thou
sayest unto me I will do. Thus must the younger
submit to the elder, and to their grave and prudent
counsels, when they have nothing worth speaking
of to object against it.
6. And she went down unto the floor, and
did according to all that her mother-in-law
bade her. 7. And when Boaz had eaten
and drunk, and his heart was merry, he
went to lie down at the end of the heap of
corn : and she came softly, and uncovered
his feet, and laid her down. 8. And it came
to pass, at midnight, that the man was
afraid, and turned himself ; and, behold, a
woman lay at his feet. 9. And he said,
Who art thou? And she answered, [ am
Ruth thine handmaid ; spread therefore thy
skirt over thine handmaid ; for thou art a
near kinsman. 10. And he said, Blessed
be thou of the Lord, my daughter ; for thou
hast showed more kindness in Ihe latter end
than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou fol-
lowedst not young men, whether poor or
rich. 1 1. And now, my daughter, fear not ,
I will do thee all that thou requirest : for all
the city of my people doth know that thou
art a virtuous woman. 1 2. And now, it is
true that I am thy near kinsman : howbeit,
there is a kinsman nearer than I. 13. Tar¬
ry this night, and it shall be in the morning,
that if he will perform unto thee the part of
a kinsman, well ; let him do the kinsman’s
part : but if he will not do the part of a kins¬
man to thee, then will I do the part of a
kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth : lie
down until the morning.
Here is,
I. Boaz’s good management of his common af¬
fairs; it is probable, according to the common usa^e,
1. When his servants winnowed, he was with
them, and had his eye upon them, to prevent,
not their stealing any of his corn, (he had no rea¬
son to fear that,) but their waste of it through care¬
lessness in the winnowing of it. Masters may sus¬
tain great losses by servants that are heedless,
though they be honest, which is a reason why men
should be diligent to know the state of their own
flocks, and look well to them. 2. When he had
more than ordinary work to be done, he treated his
219
RUTH, 111.
servants with extraordinary entertainments, and,
for their encouragement, did eat and drink with
them. It well becomes those that are rich and
great, to be generous to, and also to be familiar
with, those that are under them, and employed for
them. 3. When Boaz had supped with his work¬
men, and been a while pleasant with them, he
went to bed in due time, so early, that by midnight
he'had his first sleep, ( v . 8.) and thus he would be
fit for his business betimes next morning. All that are
good husbands will keep good hours, and not indulge
themseb es or their families in unseasonable mirth.
The Chaldee paraphrase tells us, ( v . 7.) that Boaz
ate and drank, and his heart was good, (and so the
Hebrew word is,) and he blessed the name of the
Lord, who had heard his prayers, and taken away
the famine from the land of Israel. So that he
went sober to bed, his heart was in a good frame,
and not ov ercharged with surfeiting and drunken¬
ness. And he did not go to bed without prayer.
Now that he had eaten, and was full, he blessed
the Lord, and now that he was going to rest, he
committed himself to the divine protection; it was
well he did, for he had an unusual temptation before
him, though he knew not of it. 4. He had his bed
or couch laid at the end of the heap of corn; not be¬
cause he had set his heart upon it, nor only that he
might tend and keep it safe from thieves, but it
was too late to go home to the city, and here he
would be near his work, and ready for it next
morning, and he would show that he was not nice
or curious in his lodging, neither took state, nor
consulted his ease, but was like his father Jacob, a
plain man, that, when there was occasion, could
make his bed in a barn, and, if need were, sleep :
contentedly in the straw.
II. Ruth’s good assurance in the management of
her affair. She observed her mother’s orders,
went and laid her down, not by his side, but over¬
cross his bed’s feet, in her clothes, and kept awake,
waiting for an opportunity to tell her errand. When
he awaked in the night, and perceived there was
somebody at his feet, and inquired who it was, she
told him her name, and then her errand, (v. 9.) that
she came to put herself under his protection, as the
person appointed by the divine law to be her pro¬
tector. “ Thou art he that has a right to redeem a
family and an estate from perishing, and therefore
let this ruin be under thine hand: and spread thy
skirt over me, be pleased to espouse me and my
cause.” Thus must we by faith apply ourselves to
Jesus Christ as our next Kinsman that is able to re¬
deem us, come under his wings, as we are invited,
(Matth. 23. 37. ) and beg of him to spread his skirt
over us. “ Lord Jesus, take me into thy covenant,
and under thy care: lam oppressed, undertake for
me.”
III. The good acceptance Ruth gained with Boaz.
What she did, had no ill effect, either one way or
other, so that Naomi was not mistaken in her good
opinion of her kinsman. He knew her demand was
just and honourable, and treated her accordingly,
and did not deal with his sister as with a harlot,
Gen. 34. 31. For, 1. He did not offer to violate her
chastity, though he had all the opportunity that
could be for it. The Chaldee paraphrase thus des
cants upon it, He subdued his concupiscence, and
did not approach to her, but did as Joseph the Just,
who would not come npar to his Egyptian mistress,
and as Phaltiel the Pious, who, when Saul had
given him Michal, David’s wife, (1 Sam. 25. 44.)
put a sword between himself and her, that he might
not touch her. Boaz knew it was not anv sinful lust
that brought her thither, and therefore bravely
maintained both his own honour and her’s. 2. He
did net put any ill construction upon what she did,
did not reproach her as an impudent woman, and
unfit to make an honest man a wife; she having ap¬
proved herself w ell in the fields, and all her con¬
duct haying been modest and decent, he would not,
from this instance, entertain the least suspicion of
her character, or seem to do sc; perhaps blaming
himself that he had not offered the service of a
kinsman to these distressed widows, and saved her
this trouble, and ready to say as Judah concerning
his daughter-in-law, She is more righteous than I.
But on the contrary, (1.) He commended her,
spoke kindly to her, called her his daughter, and
spoke honourably of her, as a woman of eminent
virtue. She had showed in this instance more kind¬
ness to her mother-in-law, and to the family into
which she had matched, than in any instance yet.
It was very kind to leave her own country, and
come along with her mother to the land of Israel, to
dwell with her, and help to maintain her; for this
he had blessed her; (ch. 2. 11.) but now he says.
Thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end,
than at the beginning, (y. 10.) in that she consulted
not her own fancy, but her husband’s family, in
marrying again. She received not the addresses of
young men (much less did she seek them) whether
poor or rich, but was willing to marry as the law
directed, though it was to an old man, because it
was for the honour and interest of the family into
which she had matched, and for which she had an
i entire kindness. Young people must aim, in dis-
! posing of themselves, not so much to please their
own eve, as to please God and their parents.
(2.) He promised her marriage; (v. 11.) “Fear
not that I will slight thee, or expose thee; no, I
j will do all that thou requirest, for it is the same that
the law requires, from the next of kin, and I have
no reason to decline it , for all the city of my people
\ doth know that thou art a virtuous woman,” v. 11.
Note, (1.) Exemplary virtue ought to have its due
praise, (Phil. 4. 8.) and it will recommend both
men and women to the esteem of the wisest and
best. Ruth was a poor woman, and poverty often
obscures the lustre of virtue: yet Ruth’s virtues,
e\en in a mean condition, were generally taken no¬
tice of, and could not be hid; nay, her virtues took
away the reproach of her poverty; if poor people
i be but good people, they shall have honour from
j God and man. Ruth had been remarkable for her
humility, which paved the way to this honour; the
less she proclaimed her own goodness, the more did
her neighbours take notice of it. (2. ) In the choice
; of yoke-fellows, virtue should especially be regard
ed, known approx ed virtue; let religion determine
the choice, and it will certainly crown the choice
and make it comfortable. Wisdom is better than
gold, and when it is said to be good with an inherit¬
ance, the meaning is, that an inheritance is worth
little without it.
(3.) He made his promise conditional, and could
not do otherwise, for it seems there was a kinsman
that was nearer than he, to whom the right of re¬
demption did belong, v. 12. This he knew, but we
may reasonably suppose Naomi (who had been long
abroad, and could not be exact in the pedigree of
her husband’s family) was ignorant of it, otherwise
she would never have sent her daughter to make
her claim of Boaz. Yet he did not bid her go her¬
self to this other kinsman, that had been to put too
great a hardship upon her. But he promises (1.)
That he would himself propose it to the other
kinsman, and know his mind. The Hebrew word
fora widow, signifies one that is dumb; Boaz will
therefore open his mouth for the dumb, (Prov.
31. 8.) and will say that for this widow, which
she knew not how to say for herself. (2.) That
if the other kinsman refused to do the kinsman’s
part, he would, do it; would marry the widow,
redeem the land, and so repair the family. This
220
RUTH, IV.
promise he backs with a solemn oath, for it was
a conditional contract of marriage; (v. 13.) As
the Lord liveth. Thus keeping the matter in sus¬
pense, he bade her wait till morning. Bishop Hall
thus sums up this matter in his Contemplations.
“ Boaz, instead of touching her as a wanton, bless-
eth her as a father, encourageth her as a friend,
promiseth her as a kinsman, rewards her as a pa¬
tron, and sends her away laden with hopes and
Sifts, no less chaste, more happy, than she came.
' admirable temperance, worthy the progenitor of
Him in whose lips and heart there was no guile!”
14. And she lay at his feet until the morn¬
ing; and she rose up before one could know
another. And he said, Let it not be known
that a woman came into the floor. 15. Al¬
so he said, Bring the vail that thou hast
upon thee, and hold it. And when she held
it, he measured six measures of barley, and
laid it on her: and she went into the city.
16. And when she came to her mother-in-
law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter?
And she told her all that the man had done
to her. 1 7. And she said, These six mea¬
sures of barley gave he me ; for he said to
me, Go not empty unto thy mother-in-law.
18. Then said she, Sit still my daughter,
until thou know how the matter will fall :
for the man will not be in rest, until he have
finished the thing this day.
We are here told,
I. How Ruth was dismissed by Boaz. It had not
been safe for her to go home in the dead of the
night, therefore she lay at his feet (not by his side)
until morning; but as soon as ever the day broke,
that she had light to go home by, she got away, be¬
fore one could know another , that if she were seen,
yet she might not be known to be abroad so unsea¬
sonably. She was not shy of being known to be a
gleaner in the field, nor ashamed of that mark of
her poverty; but she would not willingly be known
to be a night-walker, for her virtue was her great¬
est honour, and that which she most valued.
Boaz dismissed her, 1. With a charge to keep
counsel; {v. 14.) Let it not be know?i that a woman
came into the floor, and lay all night so near to
Boaz; not that they needed to care much what peo¬
ple said of them, while they were both conscious
to themselves of an unspotted purity, but because
few could have come so near the fire as they did,
and not have been scorched. Had it been known,
it would have occasioned suspicions in some, and
reflections from others; good people would have
been troubled, and bad people would have tri¬
umphed, and therefore let it not be known. Note,
We must always take care, not only to keep a
good conscience but to keep a good name: either
we must not do that, which, though innocent, is lia¬
ble to be misinterpreted, or if we do, we must not
let it be known We must avoid not only sin, but
scandal. Thei e was likewise a particular reason
for concealment here; if this matter should take
wind, it might prejudice the freedom of the other
kinsman's choice, and he would make this his rea¬
son for refusing Ruth, that Boaz and she had been
together. 2. He dismissed her with a good present
of com, which would be very acceptable to her
poor mother at home, and an evidence for her, that
he had not sent her away in dislike, which Naomi
might have suspected, if he had sent hei away emp¬
ty, He gave it her in her vail , or afiron . or mantle;
gave it her by measure; like a prudent corn mas¬
ter, he kept an account of all he delivered out; it
was six measures, that is, six omers, as is supposed,
ten of which made an ephah; whatever the mea¬
sure was, it is probable that he gave her as much as
she could well carry, v. 15. And the Chaldee says.
Strength was given her from the Lord to carry it;
and add that now it was told her by the spirit of pro¬
phecy, That from her should descend six of the
most righteous men of their age, namely, David,
Daniel, his three comjianio?is, and the King Messiah ,
II. How she was welcomed by her mother-in-
law. She asked her, “ Who art thou, my daughter?
Art thou a bride or no? Must 1 give thee joy So
Ruth told her how the matter stood, v. 16, 17.
Whereupon her mother, 1. Advised her to be satis¬
fied in what was done; Sit still, my daughter, tilt
thou know how the matter will fall, v. 18. How it
is decreed in heaven, so the Chaldee reads it, for
marriages are made there. She had done all that
was fit for her to do, and now she must patiently
wait the issue, and not be perplexed about it. Let
us learn hence to cast our care upon providence, to
follow that and attend the motions ot it, composing
ourselves into an expectation of the event, with a
resolution to acquiesce in it, whatever it be; some¬
times that proves best done for us, that is least our
own doing: “ Sit still therefore, and see how the
matter will fall, and say, Let it fall how it will, I
am ready for it. ” 2. She assured her that Boaz,
having undertaken this matter, would approve him¬
self a faithful careful friend; He will not be at rest ,
till he have finished the matter. Though it was a
busy time with him in the fields and the floor, yet
having undertaken to serve his friend, he would not
neglect the business. Naomi believes Ruth has
won his heart, and therefore he will not be easy till
he knows whether she be his or no. This she gives
as a reason why Ruth should sit still and not per¬
plex herself about it, that Boaz had undertaken it,
and he would be sure to manage it well. Much
more reason have good Christians to be careful for
nothing, but cast their care on God, because he has
promised to care for them ; and what need have we
to care, if he do? “ Sit still and see how the matter
will fall, for the Lord will perfect that which con¬
cerns thee, and will make it to work for good to
thee.” Ps. 37. 4, 5. — 138. 8. Your strength is to sit
still Isa. 30. 7.
CHAP. IV.
In this chapter, we have the wedding between Boaz and
Ruth, in the circumstances of which there was something
uncommon, which is kept upon record, for the illustra¬
tion, not only of the law concerning the marrying of a
brother’s widow, (Deut. 25. 5, &c. for cases help to ex¬
pound laws,) but of the gospel too, for from this mar¬
riage descended David, and the Son of David, whose es¬
pousals to the Gentile church were hereby typified. We
are here told, I. How Boaz got clear of his rival, and
fairly shook him off', v. 1 . . 8. II. How his marriage with
Ruth was publicly solemnized, and attended with the
good wishes of his neighbours, v. 9 .. 12. III. The happy
issue that descended from this marriage. Obed, the
grandfather of David, v. 13 . . 17. And so the book con¬
cludes with the pedigree of David, v. 18 . . 22 Perhaps
it was to oblige him, that the blessed "Spirit directed the
inserting of this story into the sacred canon, he being de¬
sirous that the virtues of his great-grandmother, Ruth,
together with her Gentile extraction, should be trans¬
mitted to posterity, and the singular providence that at¬
tended her.
1. ^W^HEN went Boaz up to the gate,
a and sat him down there: and, be¬
hold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake,
came by : unto whom he said, Ho, such a
one ! turn aside, sit down here. And he
221
RUTH, IV.
t imed aside, and sat down. 2. And he
took ten men of the elders of the city, and
said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
3. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi,
that is come again out of the country of
Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was
our brother Elimelech’s : 4. And I thought
to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the
inhabitants, and before the elders of my
people. If thou wilt redeem it , redeem it ;
but if thou wilt not redeem it , then tell me,
that I may know : for there is none to re¬
deem it besides thee ; and I am after thee.
And he said, I will redeem it. Then said
Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the
hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of
Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to
raise up the name of the dead upon his in¬
heritance. 6. And the kinsman said, I
cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine
own inheritance: redeem thou my right to
thyself; for I cannot redeem it. 7. Now
this teas the manner in former time in Is¬
rael, concerning redeeming, and concerning
changing, for to confirm all things ; A man
plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his
neighbour : and this was a testimony in Is¬
rael. 8. Therefore the kinsman said unto
Boaz, Buy it for thee : So he drew off his shoe.
Here,
1. Boaz calls a court immediately. It is probable
he was himself one of the elders (or aldermen) of
the city, for he was a mighty man of wealth; per¬
haps he was father of the city, and sat chief, for he
seems here to have gone up to the gate, as one hav¬
ing authority, and not as a common person; like
Job, ch. 29. 7, &c. We cannot suppose him less
than a magistrate in his city, who was grandson to
Nahshon, prince of Judah; and his lying at the end J
of a heap of com in the threshing-floor the night
before, was not at all inconsistent, in those days of
plainness, with the honour of his sitting judge in the
gate. But why was Boaz so hasty, why so fond of
the match? Ruth was not rich, but lived upon alms;
not honourable, but a poor stranger; she was never
said to be beautiful; if ever she had been so, we
may suppose that weeping, and travelling, and
gleaning, had withered her lilies and roses. But
that which made Boaz in love with her, and solicit¬
ous to expedite the affair, was, that all her neigh¬
bours agreed she was a virtuous woman; this set
her price with him far above rabies, Prov. 31. 10.
And therefore, he thinks, if, by marrying her, he
might do her a real kindness, he should also do
himself a very great kindness; he will therefore
bring it to a conclusion immediately. It was not
court-day, but he got ten men of the elders of the
city to meet him in the town-hall over the gate,
where public business used to be transacted, v. 2.
So many, it is probable, by the custom of the city,
made a full court. Boaz, though a judge, would
not be a judge in his own cause, but desired the
concurrence of other elders. Honest intentions
dread not a public cognizance.
2. He summons his rival to come and hear the
matter that was to be proposed to him; (v. 1.)
“Ho, such a one, sit down here.” He called him
h v his name, no doubt, but the divine historian I
thought not fit to record it; for because he refused
to raise up the name of the dead, he deserved not to
have his name preserved to future ages in this his¬
tory. Providence favoured Boaz in ordering it so,
that this kinsman should come by thus opportunely,
just when the matter was ready to be proposed to
him. Great affairs are sometimes much furthered
by small circumstances which facilitate and expe¬
dite them.
3. He proposes to the other kinsman the redemp¬
tion of Naomi’s land, which, it is probable, had been
mortgaged for money to buy bread with, when the
famine was in the land; (v. 3.> “ JVaomi has a far¬
ed of land to sell, namely the equity of the redemp¬
tion of it out of the hands of the mortgagee, which
she is willing to part with;” or, as some think, it
was her jointure for life, and wanting money, for a
small matter she would sell her interest to the heir
at law, who was the fittest to be a purchaser.
This he gives the kinsman legal notice of, (v. 4.)
that he might have the refusal of it. Whoever had
it must pay for it, and Boaz might have said, “ My
money is as good as my kinsman’s; if I have a mind
to it, why may I not buy it privately, since I had
the first proffer of it, and say nothing to my kins¬
man?” No; Boaz, though fond enough of the pur¬
chase, would not do so mean a thing, as to take a
bargain over another man’s head, that was near
akin to it; and we are taught by his example, to
be not only just and honest, but fair and honourable,
in all our dealings, and to do nothing which we are
unwilling should see the light, but be above-boa~d.
4. The kinsman seemed forward to redeem the
land, till he was told, that if he did that, he must
marry the widow, and then he flew off. He liked
the land well enough, and, probably, caught at that
the more greedily, because he hoped that the poor
widow being under a necessity of selling, he might
have so much the better bargain; “ I will redeem
it” (said he) “ with all my heart;” thinking it would
be a fine addition to his estate, v. 4. But Boaz told
him there was a young widow in the case, and if he
have the land, he must take her with it, Terra
transit cum onere — The estate passes with this in¬
cumbrance; either the divine law or the usage of
the country would oblige him to it, or Naomi insist¬
ed upon it that she should not sell the land, but up¬
on this condition, v. 5. Some think this does not
relate to that law of marrying the brother’s widow,
(for that seems to oblige only the children of the
same father, (Deut. 25. 5.) unless by custom it was
afterward made to extend to the next of kin,) but it
refers to the law of redemption of inheritances
(Lev. 25. 24, 25. ) for it is a Goel, a redeemer, that
is here inquired for; and if so, it was not by the law,
but by Naomi’s own resolution, that the purchaser
was to marry the widow. However it was, this
kinsman, when he heard the conditions of the bar¬
gain, refused it; (v. 6. ) “I cannot redeem it for
myself, I will not meddle with it upon these terms,
lest I mar my own inheritance;” the land, he
thought, would be an improvement of his inherit¬
ance, but not the land with the woman, that would
mar it. Perhaps he thought it would be a dispa¬
ragement to him to marry such a poor widow that
was come from a strange country, and almost lived
upon alms; he fancied it would be a blemish to his
family, it would mar his blood, and disgrace his
posterity; her eminent virtues were not sufficient
in his eye to balance this. The Chaldee para¬
phrase makes his reason for this refusal to be, that
he had another wife, and if he should take Ruth, it
might occasion strife and contention in his family,
and that would mar the comfort of his inheritance.
Or, he thought she might bring him a great many
children, and they would all expect shares out of
his estate, which would scatter it into too many
222
RUTH, JV.
hands, so that his family would make the less figure.
This makes many shy of the great redemption,
they are not willing to espouse religion; they have
heard well of it, and have nothing to say against it;
they will give it their good word, but at the same
time they will give their good word with it, they are
willing to part with it, and cannot be bound for it,
for fear of marring their own inheritance in this
world. Heaven they could be glad of, but holiness
they can dispense with; it will not agree with the
lusts they have already espoused, and therefore let
who will purchase heaven at that rate, they cannot.
5. The right of redemptidn is fairly resigned to
Boaz; if this nameless kinsman lost a good bargain,
a good estate, and a good wife too, he may thank
himself for not considering it better, and Boaz will
thank him for making his way clear to that which
he valued and desired above any thing. In those
ancient times it was not the usage to pass estates by
writings, as afterwards, (Jer. 32. 10, & c. ) but by
some sign or ceremony, as with us by livery and
seisin, as we commonly call it; that is, the delivery
Of seisin, seisin of a house by giving the key, of land
by giving turf and a twig. The ceremony here
used, was, he that surrendered, plucked off his shoe,
(the Chaldee says, it was the glove of his right
hand,) and gave it to him to whom he made the
surrender, intimating thereby, that whatever right
he had to tread or go upon the land, he conveyed
and transferred it, upon a valuable consideration, to
the purchaser; this was a testimony in Israel; v. 7.
and it was done in this case, v. 8. If this kinsman
was obliged by the law to have married Ruth, and
his refusal had been a contempt of that law, Ruth
must have plucked off his shoe, and spit in his face.
Deut. 25. 9. But though his relation should in
some measure oblige him to the duty, yet the dis¬
tance of his relation might serve to excuse him
from the penalty, or Ruth might very well dispense
with it, since his refusal was all she desired from
him. But Bishop Patrick, and the best interpret¬
ers, think this had no relation to that law, and that
the drawing off of the shoe was not any disgrace,
as there, but a confirmation of the surrender, and
an evidence that it was not fraudulently or surrep¬
titiously obtained. Note, Fair and open dealing in
all matters of contract and commerce, is what all
those must make conscience of, that would approve
themselves Israelites indeed, without guile. How
much more honourably and honestly does Boaz
come by this purchase, than if he had secretly un¬
dermined his kinsman, and privately struck up a
bargain with Naomi, unknown to him. Honesty
will be found the best policy.
9. And Boaz said unto the elders, and
unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this
day that T have bought all that teas Elime-
lech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mall-
Ion’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10. More¬
over, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of
Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance, that the. name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren, and
from the gate of his place : ye are witnesses
this day. 11. And all the people that were
in the gate, and the elders, said, TVe are
witnesses. The 1 ,ord make the woman
that is come into thine house like Rachel
and like 1 ;cah, which two did build the
house of Israel : and do thou worthily in I
Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem
12. And let thy house be like the house of
Pharez, (whom Tamar bare unto Judah,)
of the seed which the Lord shall give thee
of this young woman.
Boaz now sees his way clear, and therefore de¬
lays not to perform his promise made to Ruth,
that he would do the kinsman’s part, but, in the
gate of his city, before the elders and all the people,
gublishes a marriage-contract between himself and
uth the Moabitess, and therewith the purchase of
all the estate that belonged to the family of Elime-
lech. If he had not been ( ch . 2. 1.) a mighty man
of wealth, he could not have compassed his re¬
demption, nor done this service to his kinsman’s
family. What is a great estate good for, but that
it enables a man to do so much the more good in
his generation, and especially to those of his own
household, if he have but a heart to use it so ?
Now concerning this marriage, it appears,
I. That it was solemnised, or at least published,
before many witnesses; ( v . 9. 10.) “Ye are wit¬
nesses,” 1. “That I have bought the estate; who¬
ever has it or any part of it, mortgaged to them, let
him come to me and he shall have money, accord¬
ing to the value of the land,” which was computed
by the number of years to the year of jubilee, (Lev.
25. 15.) when it would have returned of course
to Elimelech’s family. The more public the sales
of estates are, the better they are guarded against
frauds. 2. “ That I have purchased the widow to
be my wife;” he had no portion with her; what
jointure she had, was incumbered, and he could not
have it without giving as much for it as it was
worth, and therefore he might well say, he pur¬
chased her, and yet being a virtuous woman, he
reckoned he had a good bargain. House and riches
are the inheritance of fathers, but a prudent wife is
more valuable, is from the Lord as a special gift.
He designed, in marrying her, to preserve the
memory of the dead, that the name of Mahlon,
though he left no son to bear it up, might not be
cut off from the gate of his place, but by this means
might be preserved, that it should be inserted in
the public register, that Boaz married Ruth the
widow of Mahlon, the son of El'melech, which
posterity, whenever thev had occasion to consult
the register, would take particular notice of. And
this history being preserved for the sake of that mar¬
riage and the issue of it, that proved an effectual
means to perpetuate the name of Mahlon, even be¬
yond the thought or intention of Boaz, to the world’s
end. And observe that because Boaz did this ho¬
nour to the dead, as well as this kindness to the liv¬
ing, God did him the honour to bring him into the
genealogy of the Messiah, by which his family was
dignified above all the families in Israel; while the
other kinsman, that was so much afraid of dimin¬
ishing himself, and marring his inheritance, by mar¬
rying the widow, has his name, family, and inherit¬
ance, buried in oblivion and disgrace. A tender
and generous concern for the honour of the dead,
and the comfort of poor widows and strangers,
neither of which can return the kindness, (Luke
14. 14.) is what God will be well pleased with,
and will surely recompense. Our Lord Jesus is our
God, our /Redeemer, our everlasting Redeemer;
he looked, like Boaz, with compassion on the de¬
plorable state of fallen mankind; at a vast expense
lie redeemed the heavenly inheritance for us,
which bv sin was mortgaged, and forfeited in the
hands of divine justice, and which we could never
have been able to redeem. He likewise purchased
a peculiar people, whom he would espouse to him¬
self, though strangers and foreigners, like Ruth,
RUTH, IV.
poor, and despised, that the name of that dead and
buried race might not be cut off for ever. He ven¬
tured the marring of his own inheritance, to do
this, for though he was rich, yet for our sakes he
became poor; but he was abundantly recompensed
for it by his Father, who, because he thus hum¬
bled himself, hath highly exalted, and given him a
name above every name. Let us own our obliga¬
tions to him, make sure our contract with him, and
study all our days how to do him honour.
Boaz, by making a public declaration of this mar¬
riage and purchase, not only secured his title
against all pretenders, as it were by a fine with
proclamations, but put honour upon Ruth, showed
that he was not ashamed of her, and her parentage,
and poverty, and left a testimony against clandes¬
tine marriages. It is only that which is evil, that
hates the light, and comes not to it. Boaz called
witnesses to what he did, for it was what he could
justify, and would never disown; and such regard
was then had, even to the contemned crowd, that
not only the elders, but all the people that were in
the gate, passing and re -passing, were appealed to,
^9.) and hearkened to, ( v . 11.) when they said,
’ are witnesses.
II. That it was attended with many prayers.
The elders and all the people when they witnessed
to it, wished well to it, and blessed it, v. 11, 12.
Ruth, it should seem, was now sent for, for they
speak of her (v. 12. ) as present, this young woman;
and he having taken her to wife, they look upon
her as already come into his house. And very
heartily they pray for the new-married couple.
The senior elder, it is likely, made this prayer,
and the rest of the elders, with the people, joined
in it, and therefore it is spoken of, as made by them
all, for in public prayers, though but one speaks,
we must all pray. Observe, 1. Marriages ought to
be blessed, and accompanied with prayer, because
every creature and every condition are that to us,
and no more, that God makes them to be. It is
civil and friendly to wish all happiness to those that
enter into that condition; and what good we desire,
we should pray for from the Fountain of all good.
The minister who gives himself to the word and
prayer, as he is the fittest person to exhort, so he is
the fittest to bless and pray for, those that enter
into this relation. 2. We ought to desire and pray
for the welfare and prosperity one of another so far
from envying or grieving at it. Now here,
(1.) They pray for Ruth; The Lord make the
woman that is come into thine house like Rachel
and Leah; that is, “ God make her a good wife,
and a fruitful mother.” Ruth was a virtuous wo¬
man, and yet needed the prayers of her friends,
that by the grace of God she might be made a
blessing to the family she was come into. They
pray she might be like Rachel and Leah, rather
than like Sarah and Rebekah; for Sarah had but
one son, and Rebekah but one that was in covenant;
the other was Esau, who was rejected: but Rachel
and Leah did build ufi the house of Israel; all their
children were in the church, and their offspring
was numerous. “ May she be a flourishing, fruit¬
ful, faithful, vine by thy house side.”
(2.) They pray for Boaz, that he might continue
to do worthily in the city, to which he was an or¬
nament, and might there be more and more famous.
They desire that the wife might be a blessing, in
the private affairs of the house, and the husband a
blessing, in the public business of the town; that she
in her place and he in his, might be wise, virtuous,
and successful. Observe, The way to be famous,
is to do worthily. Great reputation must be got
by great merits. It is not enough not to do unwor¬
thily, to be harmless and inoffensive, but we must
do worthily, be useful and serviceable to our gene¬
223
ration; they that would be truly illustrious, must in
their places shine as lights.
(3.) They pray for the family; Let thy house be
like the house of Pharez; that is, “Let it be very
numerous, let it greatly increase and multiply, as
the house of Pharez did.” The Beth-lehemites were
of the house of Pharez, and knew well how nume¬
rous it was; in the distribution of the tribes, that
grandson of Jacob had the honour which none of the
rest had but Manasseh and Ephraim, that his pos¬
terity was subdivided into two distinct families,
Hezron and Hamul, Numb. 26. 21. Now they
pray that the family of Boaz, which was one branch
of that stock, might in process of time become as
numerous and as great as the whole stock now
was.
13. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his
wife : and, when he went in unto her, the
Lord gave her conception, and she bare a
son. 14. And the women said unto Naomi,
Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left
thee this day without a kinsman, that his
name may be famous in Israel. 15. And
he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life,
and a nourisher of thine old age : for thy
daughter-in-law which loveth thee, which is
better to thee than seven sons, hath borne
him. 16. And Naomi took the child, and
laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto
it. 17. And the women her neighbours
gave it a name, saying, There is a son born
to Naomi ; and they called his name Obed :
he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18. Now these are the generations of Pha¬
rez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19. And Hez¬
ron begat Ram, and Ram begat Ammina-
dab, 20. And. Amminadab begat Nahshon,
and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21. And Sal¬
mon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
22. And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat
David.
Here is,
1. Ruth a wife; Boaz took her with the usual so¬
lemnities, to his house, and she became his wife, v.
13. All the city, no doubt, congratulating the pre¬
ferment of a \ irtuous woman, purely for her vir¬
tues. We have reason to think that Orpah, who
returned from Naomi to her people, and her gods,
was never half so well preferred as Ruth was. He
that forsakes all for Christ, shall find more than
all with him; it shall be recompensed a hundred¬
fold in this present time. Now Orpah wished she
had gone with Naomi too; but she, like the other
kinsman, stood in her own light. Boaz had prayed
that this pious proselyte might receive a full reward
of her courage and constancy from the God of Is¬
rael, under whose wings she was come to trust; and
now he became an instrument of that kindness,
which vvas an answer to his prayer, and helped to
make his own words good. Now she had the com¬
mand of those servants with whom she had asso¬
ciated, and of those fields in which she had gleaned.
Thus sometimes, God raised up. the poor out of the
dust to set them with princes, Ps. 113. 7, 8.
2. Ruth a mother; the Lord gave her conception,
for the fruit of the womb is his reward, Ps. 127. 3.
It is one of the keys he hath in his hand; and he
sometimes makes the barren wcm?Ji that had been
224
RUTH, IV.
long so, to be a joyful mother of children, Ps. 113.
9. Isa. 54. 1.
3. Ruth still a daughter-in-law, and the same that
she always was, to Naomi, who was so far froip be¬
ing forgotten, that she was a principal sharer in
these new joys. The good women that were at the
labour when this child was born, congratulated
Naomi upon it, more than either Boaz or Ruth, be¬
cause she was the match-maker; and it was the fa¬
mily of her husband that was hereby built up. See
here, as before, what an air of devotion there was
then attending the common expressions of civility
among the Israelites; prayer to God attended the
marriage, (t>. 11.) and praise to him attended the
birth of the child. What pity it is that such pious
language should either be disused among Christians,
or degenerate into a formality. “ Blessed be the
Lord that has sent thee this grandson,” v. 14, 15.
(1.) Who was the preserver of the name of her fa¬
mily, and who, they hoped, would be famous, be¬
cause his father was so. (2.) Who would be here¬
after dutiful and kind to her; so they hoped, be¬
cause his mother was so. If he would but take
after her, he would be a comfort to his aged grand¬
mother, a restorer of her life, and, if there should
be occasion, would have wherewithal to be the
nourisher of her old age. It is a great comfort to
those that are going into years, to see of those that
descend from them, growing up, that are likely, by
the blessing of God, to be a stay and support to them,
when the years come wherein they will need such,
and of which they will say, they have no pleasure
in them. Observe, They say of Ruth, that she
loved Naomi, and therefore was better to her than
seven sons. See how God in his providence some¬
times makes up the want and loss of those relations
from whom we expected most comfort, in those
from whom we expected least. The bonds of love
prove stronger than those of nature, and there is a
friend that sticks closer than a brother ; so here,
there was a daughter-in-law, better than an own
child. See what wisdom and grace will do.
Nowhere, [1.] The child is named by the neigh¬
bours, v. 17. The good woman would have it call¬
ed Obed, a servant, either in remembrance of the
meanness and poverty of the mother, or in prospect
of his being hereafter a servant, and very service¬
able, to his grandmother. It is no dishonour to
those that are ever so well bom, to be servants to
God, their friends, and their generation. The motto
of the prince of Wales, is, Ich dien — I serve. [2.]
The child is nursed by the grandmother, that is,
dry nursed, when the mother had weaned him from
the breast, v. 16. She laid it in her bosom in to¬
ken of her tender affection to it, and care of it.
Grandmothers are often most fond.
4. Ruth is hereby brought in among the ancestors
of David and Christ, which was the greatest honour.
The genealogy is here drawn from Pharez, through
Boaz and Obed, to David, and so leads toward the
Messiah, and therefore not an endless genealogy.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE FIRST BOOK OF
SAMUEL.
This book, and that which follows it, bear the name of Samuel in the title, not because he was the pen¬
man of them, (except of so much of them as fell within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter of the
first book, in which we have an account of his death,) but because the first book begins with a large
account of him, his birth and childhood, his life and government; and the rest of these two volumes
that are denominated from him, contains the history of the reigns of Saul and David, who were both
anointed by him. And because the history of these two kings takes up the greatest part of these books,
the vulgar Latin calls them the first and second Books of the Kings ; and the two that follow, the third
and fourth, which the titles of our English Bibles take notice of with an alias, otherwise called the first
Book of the Kings. The LXX call them the first and second Bonks of the Kingdoms. It is needless
to contend about it, but there is no occasion to vary from the Hebrew verity. These two books con¬
tain the history of the two last of the judges, Eli and Samuel, who were not, as the rest, men of war,
but priests; and so much of them is an entrance upon the history of the kings. They contain a consi¬
derable part of the sacred history, are sometimes referred to in the New Testament, and often in the
title of David’s Psalms, which, if placed in their order, would fall in, in these books. It is uncertain
who was the penman of them; it is probable that Samuel wrote the history of his own time, and that,
after him, some of the prophets that were with David, (Nathan, as likely as any,) continued it. The
first book gives us a full account of Eli’s fall, and Samuel’s rise and good government, ch. 1-- 8. Of
Samuel’s resignation of the government, and Saul’s advancement and maladministration, ch. 9 . . 15.
The choice of David, his struggles with Saul, Saul’s ruin at last, and the opening of the way for Da¬
vid to the throne, ch. 16 . . 31. And these things are written for our learning.
I. SAMUEL, I.
CHAP. I.
The history of Samuel here begins as early as that of Sam¬
son did, even before he was born, as afterwards the histo¬
ry of John the Baptist and our blessed Saviour. Some of
the scripture worthies drop out of the clouds, as it were,
and their first appearance is in their full growth and lustre.
But others are accounted for from the birth, and from the
womb, and from the conception. It is true of all, what
God says of the prophet Jeremiah, Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee, Jer. 1. 5. But some great men
were brought into the wrnrld with more observation than
others, and were more early distinguished from common
persons, as Samuel for one. Goa, in this matter, acts
as a free agent. The story of Samson introduces him
as a child of promise, Judg. 13. But the story of Samuel
introduces him as a child of prayer. Samson’s birth was
foretold bv an angel to his mother; Samuel was asked
of God by his mother: both together intimate what won¬
ders are produced by the word and prayer. Samuel’s
mother was Hannah, the principal person concerned in
the story of this chapter. I. Here is her affliction, she
was childless, and this affliction aggravated by her ri¬
val’s insolence, but in some measure balanced by her
husband’s kindness, v. 1 . . 8. II. The prayer and vow
Vol. ii. — 2 F
she made to God under this affliction, in which Eli the
High Priest at first censured her, and afterward encour¬
aged her, v. 9. . 18. III. The birth and nursing of Sa¬
muel, v. 19.. 23. IV. The presenting of him to the
Lord, v. 24. . 28.
1. 1WTOW there was a certain man
11 of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount
Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the
son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son
of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite :
2. And he had two wives ; the name of the
one was Hannah, and the name of the other
Peninnah : and Peninnah had children, but
Hannah had no children. 3. And this man
went up out of his city yearly to worship,
and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in
Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, the priests of the LoRD,&;ere
226 1. SAA
there. 4. And when the time was that El-
kanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife
and to all her sons and her daughters, por¬
tions: 5. But unto Hannah he gave a
worthy portion : for he loved Hannah ; but
the -Lord had shut up her womb. 6. And
her adversary also provoked her sore, for to
make her fret, because the Lord had shut
up her womb. 7. And as he did so year
by year, when she went up to the house of
the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore
she wept, and did not eat. 8. Then said
Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why
weepest thou ? and why eatest thou not 1
and why is thy heart grieved ? am not I bet¬
ter to thee than ten sons ?
We have here an account of the state of the fa¬
mily into which Samuel the prophet was born. His
father’s name was Elkanah, a Levite, and of the
family of the Koathites, (the most honourable house
of that tribe,) as appears, 1 Chron. 6. 33, 34. His
ancestor Zuph was an Ephrathite, that is, of Beth-
lehem-Judah, which was called Rfihrathah, Ruth
1. 2. There this family of the Levites was first
seated, but one branch of it, in process of time, re¬
moved to mount Ephraim, from which Elkanah de¬
scended: Micah’s Levite came from Beth-lehem to
Mount Ephraim, Judg. 17. 8. Minister’s families
are as moveable as any. Perhaps notice is taken of
their being originally Ephrathites, to show their al¬
liance to David. This Elkanah lived at Ramah, or
Ramathaim, which signifies the double Ramah, the
higher and lower town, the same with Arimathea
of w'hich Joseph was, here called Ramathaim-zo-
fihim. Zophim signifies watchmen probably, they
had one of the schools of the prophets there, for
prophets are called watchmen ; the Chaldee para¬
phrase calls Elkanah a disciple of the prophets.
But it seems to me that it was in Samuel that pro¬
phecy was revived; before his time the> e being, for
a great while, no < pen vision, ch. 3. 1. Nor is there
anv mention of a prophet of the Lord from Moses
to Samuel, except Judg. 6. 8. So that we have no
reason to think that there was any nursery or col¬
lege of prophets here, till Samuel himself founded
one, ch. 19. 19, 20. This is the account of Samuel’s
parentage, and the place of his nativity.
Let ue now take notice of the state of the family.
1. It was a devout family. All the families of Is¬
rael should be so, but Levites’ families in a particu¬
lar manner. Ministers should be patterns of family
religion. Elkanah went up at the solemn fasts to
the tabernacle at Shiloh, to worship and to sacrifice
to the Lord of hosts. I think this is the first time
in scripture, that God is called the Lord of hosts,
Jehovah Sabaoth, a name by which he was after¬
ward very much called and known. Probably, Sa¬
muel the prophet was the first that used this title
of God, for the comfort of Israel, when in his time
their hosts were few and feeble, and those of their
enemies many and mighty; then it would be a sup¬
port to them, to think that the God they served,
was Lord of hosts, of all the hosts both of heaven
and earth; of them he has a sovereign command,
and makes what use he pleases of them. Elkanah
was a country Levite, and, for aught that appears,
had not any place or office which required his at¬
tendance at the tabernacle, but he went up as a
common Israelite, with his own sacrifices, to en¬
courage his neighbours and set them a good exam¬
ple. When he sacrificed, lie worshipped, joining
prayers and thanksgivings with his sacrifices. In
UEL, I.
this course of religion he was constant, for he went
up yearly.
And that which made it the more commendable
in him was,
I. That there was a general decay and neglect
of religion in the nation ; some among them wor
shipped other gods, and the generality were remiss
in the service of the God of Israel; and yet Elkanah
kept his integrity; whatever others did, his resolu¬
tion was, that he and his house should serve the
Lord. 2. That Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of
Eli, were the men that were now chiefly employed
in the service of the house of God; and they were
men that conducted themselves verv ill in their
place, as we shall find afterward; yet Elkanah went
up to sacrifice. God had then tied his people to one
place and one altar, and forbidden them, under any
pretence whatsoever, to worship elsewhere, anti
therefore, in pure obedience to that command, he
attended at Shiloh; if the priests did not do their
duty, he would do his. Thanks be to God, we, un¬
der the gospel, are not tied to any one place or fa¬
mily; but the pastors and teachers whom the exalt¬
ed Redeemer has given to his church, are those
only whose ministration tends to the perfecting of
the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ,
Eph. 4. 11, 12. None have dominion over our
faith; but our obligation is to those that, are the
helpers of our holiness and joy, not to any that by
their scandalous immoralities, like Hophni and
Phinehas, make the sacrifices of the Lord to be ab¬
horred; though still the validity and efficacy of the
sacraments depend not on the purity of him that
administers them.
II. Yet it was a divided family, and the divisions
of it carried with them both guilt and grief. Where
there is pie.ty, it is pity but there should be unity.
The joint devotions of a family should put an end to
divisions in it.
1. The original cause of this division, was Elka-
nah’s marrying two v'ives, which was a transgres¬
sion of the original institution of marriage, to which
our Saviour reduces it, Matt. 19. 5. 8, From the
beginning it was not so. It made mischief in Abra¬
ham’s family, and Jacob’s, and here in Elkanah’s;
how much better does the law of God provide for
our comfort and ease in this world than we should,
if we were left to ourselves! It is pi’obable that
Elkanah married Hannah first, and because he had
no children by her so soon as he hoped, he married
Peninnah, who bare him children, indeed, but was
in other things a vexation to him. Thus are men
often beaten with rods of their own making.
2. That which followed upon this error, was, that
the two wives could not agree. They had different
blessings; Peninnah, like Leah, was fruitful and had
many children, which should have made her easy
and thankful, though she was but a second wife, anil
was less beloved; Hannah, like Rachel, was child¬
less indeed, but she was very dear to her husband,
and he took all occasions to let both her and others
know that she was so, and many a worthy portion
he gave her; v. 5. and this should have made her
easy and thankful. But they were of different tem¬
pers; Peninnah could not bear the blessing of fruit¬
fulness, but she grew haughty and insolent; Han¬
nah could not bear the affliction of barrenness, but
she grew melancholy and discontented; and Elka¬
nah had a difficult part to act between them.
(1.) Elkanah kept up his attendance at God’s
altar, notwithstanding this unhappy difference in
his family, and took his wives and children with
him, that if they could not agree in other things,
they might agree to worship God together. If the
devotions of a family prevail not to put an end to
its divisions, yet let not the d‘ visions put a stop to
the devotions.
1. SAMUEL, J. 227
(2.) He did ;dl he coula, to encourage Hannah, |
and to keep up her spirits under her afflictions, v.
4, 5. At the feasts, he offered peace-offerings, to
supplicate for peace in his family; and when he and
his family were to eat their share of the sacrifice,
in token of their communion with God and his
altar, though he carved to Peninnah and her chil¬
dren competent portions, yet to Hannah he gave a
worthy portion, the choicest piece that came to
the table, the piece (whatever it was) that used to
be given on such occasions to those that were most
valued: this he did, in token of his lnve to her, anclq
to give all possible assurances of it. Observe, [1.]
Elkanah loved his wife never the less for her being
ban en. Christ loves his church, notwithstanding
her infirmities, her barrenness; and so ought men
to love their wives, Eph. 5. 25. To abate our just
love to any relation for the sake of any infirmity
which they cannot help, and which is not their sin,
but their affliction, is to make God’s providence
quarrel with his precept, and very unkindly to add
affliction to the afflicted. (2.) He studied to show
his love so much the more, because she was afflict¬
ed, insulted, and low-spirited. It is wisdom and
duty to support the weakest, and to hold up those
that are run down. (3.) He showed his great love
to her, by the share he gave her of his peace-offer¬
ings. Thus we should testify our affection to our
friends and relations, by abounding in prayer for
them. The better we love them, the more room
let us give them in our prayers.
(3.) Peninnah was extremely peevish and pro¬
voking. (1.) She upbraided Hannah with her af¬
fliction, despised her because she was barren, and
gave her taunting language, as one whom Heaven
did not favour. (2. ) She envied the interest she
had in the love of Elkanah, and the more kind he
was to her, the more was she exasperated against
her; which was all over base and barbarous. (3.)
She did this most when they went i ip to the house
of the Lord, perhaps, because then they were
more together than at other times, or because then
Elkanah showed his affection most to Hannah.
But it was very sinful at such a time to show her
malice, when pure hands were to be lifted up at
God’s altar without wrath and quarrelling. It was
likewise very unkind at that time to vex Hannah,
not only because then they were in company, and
others would take notice of it, but then Hannah
was to mind her devotions, and desired to be most
calm and composed, and free from disturbance.
The great adversary to our purity and peace is
then most industrious to ruffle us, when we should I
be most composed. When the sons o f Cod come
to present themselves before the Lord, Satan will
be sure to come among them, Job 1. 6. (4.) She |
continued to do this from year to year, not once or
twice, but it was her const ant practice; neither de¬
ference to her husband, nor compassion to Hannah, :
could break her of it; and Lastly, That which she
designed, was, to make her fret; perhaps in hopes
to break her heart, that she might possess her hus¬
band’s heart solely. Or, because she took a plea¬
sure in her uneasiness: nor could Hannah gratify j
her more than by fretting. Note, It is an evidence
of a bad disposition, to delight in grieving those
that are melancholy and of a sorrowful spirit, and
in putting those out of humour, that are apt to fret
and be uneasy. We ought to bear one another’s
burthens, not add to them.
(4.) Hannah (poor woman) could not bear the
provocation; she we/it, and did not eat, v. 7. It
made her uneasy to herself and to all her relations.
She did not eat of the feast, her trouble took away
her appetite, made her unfit for any company, and
a jar in the harmony of family-joy. It was of the
feast upon the sacrifice that she did not eat, for
they were not to eat of the holy things in their
mourning, Deut. 26. 14. Lev. 10. 19. Yet it was
her infirmity, so f.,r to give way to the sorrow of
the world, as to unfit herself for holy joy in God.
Those that are of a fretful spirit, and are apt to
lay provocations too much to heart, are enemies to
themselves, and strip themselves very much of the
comforts both of life and godliness. We find that
God took notice of this ill effect of discontents and
disagreements in the conjugal relation; the parties
aggrieved, covered the altar of the Lord with tears,
insomuch that he regarded not the offering, Mai. 2.
13.
(5.) Elkanah said what he could to her, to com¬
fort her. She did not upbraid him with his un¬
kindness in marrying another wife, as Sarah did,
nor did she render to Peninnah railing for railing,
but took the trouble wholly to herself, which made
her an object of much compassion. Elkanah
showed himself extremely grieved at her grief;
( v . 8.) Hannah why weepest thou? [1.] He is much
concerned to see her thus overwhelmed with sor¬
row. Thev that by marriage are made one flesh,
ought thus far to be of one spirit too, to share in
each other’s troubles, so that one cannot be easy
while the other is uneasy. [2.] He gives her a
loving reproof for it, Why weepest thou 7 And
why is thy heart grieved? As many as God lov es
he rebukes, and so should we. He puts her upon
inquiring into the cause of her grief; though she
had just reason to be troubled, yet let her consider
whether she had reason to be troubled to such a
degree; especially so much as to be taken off by it
from eating of the holy things. Note, Our sorrow
upon any account is then sinful and inordinate,
when it diverts us from our duty to God, and im-
bitters our comfort in him ; when it makes us un¬
thankful for the mercies we enjoy, and distrustful
of the goodness of God to us in further mercies;
when it casts a damp upon our joy in Christ and
hinders us from doing the duty, and taking the
comfort, of our particular relations. [3.] He inti¬
mates that nothing should be wanting on his part
to balance her grief. ((Am not I better to thee
than ten sons? Thouknowest thou hast my affec¬
tion entire, and let that comfort thee.” Note, We
ought to take notice of our comforts, to keep us
from grieving excessively for our crosses; for, our
crosses we deserve, but our comforts we have for¬
feited. If we would keep the balance even, we
must look at that which is for us, as well as that
which is against us, else we are unjust to Provi¬
dence, and unkind to ourselves. God hath set the
one over-against the other, (Eccl. 7. 14.) and so
should we.
9. So Hannah rose up, after they had
eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk :
(now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a
post of the temple of the Lord :) 10. And
she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed
unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11. And
she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord
of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the
affliction of thine handmaid, and remem¬
ber me, and not forget thine handmaid, but
wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child,
then I will give him unto the Lord all
the days of his life, and there shall no razor
come upon his head. 12. And it came
to pass, as she continued praying before
the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth
228
I. SAMUEL, 1.
13. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart;
only her lips moved, but her voice was not
heard : therefore Eli thought she had been
drunken. 1 4. And Eli said unto her, How
long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy
wine from thee. 15. And Hannah an¬
swered and said, No, my lord; I am a wo¬
man of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk
neither wine nor strong drink, but havej
poured out my soul before the Lord. 16.
Count not thine handmaid lor a daughter ol
Belial : for out of the abundance of my
complaint and grief have I spoken hith¬
erto. 17. Then Eli answered and said,
Go in peace : and the God of Israel grant
thee thy petition that thou hast asked ol
him. 18. And she said, Let thine hand¬
maid find grace in thy sight. So the wo¬
man went her way, and did eat, and her
countenance was no more sad.
Elkanah had gently reproved Hannah for her in¬
ordinate grief, and here we find the good effect of
the reproof.
I. It brought her to her meat. She ate and
drank, v. 9. She did not harden herself in sorrow,
nor grow sullen when she was reproved for it; but
when she perceived her husband uneasy that she
did not come and eat with them, she cheered up
her own spirits as well as she could, and came
to table. It is as great a piece of self-denial to
control our passions, as it is to control our appe¬
tites.
II. It brought her to her prayers. It put her
upon considering, “Do I well to be angry? Do
I well to fret? What good does it do me? Instead
of binding the burthen thus upon my own shoul¬
ders, had" I not better ease myself of it, and cast it
upon the Lord by prayer?” Elkanah had said,
Am not 1 better to thee than ten sons ? Which per¬
haps occasioned her to think with herself, “ Wheth¬
er he be so or no, God is, and therefore to him will
I apply myself, and before him will I pour out my
complaint, and try what relief that will give me.”
If ever she will make a more solemn address than
ordinary to the throne of grace upon this errand,
now is the time. They are at Shiloh, at the door
of the tabernacle, where God had promised to
meet his people, and which was the house of pray¬
er. They had lately offered their peace-offerings,
to obtain the favour of God and all good, and in
token of their communion with him; and, taking
the comfort of their being accepted of him, they
had feasted upon the sacrifice, and now it was
proper to put up her prayer in virtue of that sacri¬
fice; for the peace-offerings typified Christ’s medi¬
ation, as well as the sin-offerings, for by it not only
atonement is made for sin, but the audience and ac¬
ceptance of our prayers, and an answer of peace
to them, are obtained for us: to that Sacrifice, in all
our supplications, we must have an eye.
Now concerning Hannah’s prave”, we may ob¬
serve,
1. The warm and lively devotion there was in it;
which appeared in several instances, for our direc¬
tion in prayer.
(1.) She improved the present grief and trouble
of her spirit, for the exciting and quickening of
her pious affection in pravers. Being in bitterness
of soul, she prayed, v.' 10. This good use we
should make of bur afflictions, they should make
us the more lively in our addresses to God Our
blessed Saviour himself, being in an agony, prayed
more earnestly, Luke 22. 44.
(2.) She mingled tears with her prayers. It
was not a dry prayer; she wept sore; like a true
Israelite, She wept and made supplication, (Hos.
12. 4.) with an eye to the tender mercy of our
God, who knows the troubled soul; the prayer
came from her heart, as the tears fi rm her eyes.
(3.) She was very particular, and yet very mo¬
dest, in her petition. She begged a child, a man
child, that it might be fit to serve in tire tabernacle.
God gives us leave, in prayer, not only to ask good
things in general, but to mention that special good
thing which we most need and desire. Yet she
says not, as Rachel, Gh'e me children, Gen. 30. 1.
She will be very thankful for one.
(4.) She made a solemn vow or promise, that if
God would give her a son, she would give him up
to God, v. 11. He would be, by birth, a Levite,
and so dev oted to the service of God; but he should
be, by her vow, a Nazarite, and his very child¬
hood should be sacred. It is probable she had ac¬
quainted Elkanah with her purpose before, and
had his consent and approbation. Note, (1.) Pa¬
rents have a right to dedicate their children to God,
as living sacrifices and spiritual priests; and an ob¬
ligation is therebv laid upon them to serve God
faithfully all the days of their life.. (2.) It is very
proper, when we are in pursuit of any mercy, to
bind our own souls with a bond, that if God give it
us, we will devote it to his honour, and cheerfully
use it in his service. Not that hereby we can pre¬
tend to merit the gift, but thus we are qualified for
it, and for the comfort of it. In hope of mercy, let
us promise duty.
(5.) She spoke all this so softly, that none could
hear her. Her lips moved, but her voice was not
heard, v. 13. Hereby she testified her belief of
God’s knowledge of the heart and its desires.
Thoughts are words with him, nor is he one of
those gcds that must be cried aloud to, 1 Kings 18.
27. It was likewise an instance of her humility
and holy shame-facedness in her approach to God;
she was none of those that made her voice to be
heard on high, Isa. 58. 4. It was a secret prayer,
and therefore, though made in a public place, yet
was thus made secretly, and not, as the Pharisees
prayed, to be seen of men. It is true, prayer is not
a thing we have reason to be ashamed of, but we
must avoid all appearances of ostentation. Let
what passes between God and our souls, be kept to
ourselves.
2. The hard censure she fell under for it. Eli
was now High Priest, and Judge in Israel: he sat
upon a seat in the temple, to oversee what was
done there, v. 9. The tabernacle is here called
the temple, because it was now fixed, and served
all the purposes of a temple. There Eli sat to re¬
ceive addresses and give direction, and somewhere,
(it is probable,) in a private corner, he espied
Hannah at her prayers, and, by her unusual man¬
ner, fancied she was drunken, and spoke to her ac¬
cordingly; v. 14, How long wilt thou be drunken/?
_ the very imputation that Peter and the apostles
fell under, when the Holy Ghost gave them utter¬
ance, Acts 2. 4. Perhaps in this degenerate age,
it was no strange thing to see drunken women at the
door of the tabernacle; for, otherwise, one would
think the vile lust of Hophni and Phinehas could not
have found so easy a prey there, ch. 2. 22. Eli
took Hannah for one of these. It is one bad effect
of the abounding of iniquity, and its becoming
fashionable, that it often gives occasion to suspect
the innocent. When a disease is. epidemical, every
one is suspected to be tainted with it.
Now, (1.) This was Eli’s fault; and a great fault
it was, to pass so severe a censure without better
1. S AML EL, 1.
229
observation or information. If his own eyes were
already waxen dim, he should have employed
those about him to inquire. Drunkards are com¬
monly noisy and turbulent, but this poor woman
was silent and composed. His fault was the worse,
that he was the priest of the Lord, who should
have had comfiassion on the ignorant, Heb. 5, 2.
Note, It ill becomes us to be rash and hasty in our
censures of others, and to be forward to believe
people guilty of bad things, while either the mat¬
ter of fact on which the censure is grounded, is
doubtful and unproved, or is capable of a good con¬
struction. Charity commands us to hope the best
concerning all, and forbids censorioysness. Paul
had very good information, when he. did but partly
believe, (1 Cor. 11. 18.) hoping it was not so. Es¬
pecially we ought to be cautious how we censure
the devotion of others, lest we call that hypocrisy,
enthusiasm, or superstition, which is really the
fruit of an honest zeal, and is accepted of God.
(2.) It was Hannah’s affliction; and a great afflic¬
tion it was, added to all the rest; vinegar to the
wounds of her spirit. She had been reproved by
Elkanah, because she would not eat and drink; and
now to be reproached by Eli, as if she had eaten
and drunk too much, was very hard. Note, It is
no new thing for those that do well, to be ill thought
of, and we must not think it strange if at any time
it be our 1 ot.
3. Hannah’s humble vindication of herself from
this crime with which she was charged. She bore
it admirably well; she did not retort the charge,
and upbraid him with the debauchery of his own
sons; did not bid him look at home and restrain
them; did not tell him how ill it became one in his
place, thus to abuse a poor sorrowful worshipper at
the throne of grace. When we are at any time un¬
justly censured, we have need to set a double watch
before the door of our lips, that we do not recrimi¬
nate, and return censure for censure. Hannah
thought it enough to vindicate herself, and so must
we, v. 15, 16. (1.) In justice to herself, she ex¬
pressly denies the charge; speaks to him with all
possible respect, calls him My lord ; intimates how
very desirous she was to stand well in his opinion ;
and how loath to lie under his censure. “ No, my
lord, it is not as you suspect, I have drunk neither
wine nor strong drink, nor any at all,” (though it
was proper enough to be given to one of such a
heavy heart, Prov. 31. 6.) “much less to any ex¬
cess; therefore count not thy handmaid for a daugh¬
ter of Belial.,y Note, Drunkards are children of
Belial, women-drunkards particularly; children of
the wicked one; children of disobedience; children
that will not endure the yoke; (else they would not
be drunk;) they are more especially what has
just been stated, when actually drunk. They
that cannot govern themselves, will not bear that
any one else should. Hannah owns the crime had
been very great, if she had indeed been guilty of it,
and he might justly have shut her out of the courts
of God’s house; but the very manner of her speak¬
ing in her own defence, was sufficient to demon¬
strate that she was not drunk. 2. In justice to him,
she accounts for the manner which had given occa¬
sion to his suspicion. “ I am a woman of a sorrow¬
ful spirit, dejected and discomposed, and that is
the reason I do not look as other people; the eyes
are red, not with wine, but with weeping. And at
this time, I have not been talking to myself, as
drunkards and fools do, but I have been pouring
out my soul before the Lord, who hears and under¬
stands the language of the heart, and this, out of the
abundance of my complaint and grief.” She had
been, more than usual, fervent in prayer to God,
and that, she tells him«|Was the true reason of the
disorder she seemed tcnBe in. Note, When we are
unjustly censured, we should endeavour, not only
to clear ourselves, but to satisfy our brethren, by
giving them a just and true account of that which
they misapprehended.
4. The atonement Eli made for his rash unfriend¬
ly censure, by a kind and fatherly benediction, v.
17. He did not (as many are apt to do in such a
case) take it for an affront to have his mistake rec¬
tified, and to be convinced of his error, nor did it
put him out of humour. But, on the contrary, he
now encouraged Hannah s devotions, as much as
before he had discountenanced them; not only inti
mated that he was satisfied of her innocency by
those words, Go in peace, but being High-priest, as
one having authority, he blessed her in the name oi
the Lord, and though he knew not what the par
ticular blessing was, that she had been praying for,
yet he puts his Amen to it, so good an opinion had
he now conceived of her prudence and piety. . The
God of Israel grant thee thy petition, whatever it
is, that thou hast asked of him. Note, By our meek
and humble carriage toward those that reproach
us because they did not know us, we may perhaps
make them our friends, and turn their censures of
us into prayers for us.
5. The great satisfaction of mind with which
Hannah now went away, v. 18. She begged the
continuance of Eli’s good opinion of her, and his
good prayers for her, and then she went her way,
and did eat of what remained of the peace-offerings,
(none of which was to be left until the morning,)
and her countenance was no more sad; no more as
it had been, giving maiks of inward trouble and
discomposure; but she looked pleasant and cheer¬
ful, and all was well. Whence came this sudden
happy change? She had by prayer committed her
case to God, and left it with him, and now she was
no more perplexed about it. She had prayed for
herself, and Eli had prayed for her; and she be¬
lieved that God would either give her the mercy
she had prayed for, or make up the want of it to her
some other way. Note, Prayer is heart’s ease to a
gracious soul; the seed of Jacob have often found it
so, being confident that God will never say unto
them, Seek ye me in vain. See Phil. 4. 6, 7. Pray¬
er will smooth the countenance; it should do so.
19. And they rose up in the morning
■arly, and worshipped before the Lord,
and returned, and came to their house to
ilamah : and Elkanah knew Hannah his
wife ; and the Lord remembered her. 20.
j Wherefore it came to pass, when the time
was come about after Hannah had con¬
ceived, that she bare a son, and called his
name Samuel, saying , Because I have asked
him of the Lord. 21. And the man Elka¬
nah, and all his house, went up to offer
unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his
vow. 22. But Hannah went not up ; for
she said unto her husband, I will not go up
until the. child be weaned, and then 1 will
bring him, that he may appear before the
Lord, and there abide for ever. 23. And
Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do
what seemeth thee good ; tarry until thou
have weaned him ; only the Lord establish
his word. So the woman abode, and gave
her son suck until she weaned him. 24.
And when she had weaned him, she took
him up with her, with three bullocks, and
230
I. SAMUEL, 1.
one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and !
brought him unto the house of the Lord in
Shiloh : and the child was young. 25. And
they slew a bullock, and brought the child
to Eli. 26. And she said, Oh, my lord ! as
thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman
that stood by thee here, praying unto the
Lord. 27. For this child I prayed ; and the
Lord hath given me my petition which I
asked of him: 28. Therefore also I have
lent him to the Lord ; as long as he liveth
he shall be lent to the Lord. And he wor¬
shipped the Lord there.
Here is,
I. The return of Elkanah and his fanrfly to then-
own habitation, when the days appo'nted for the
feast were over, v. 19. Observe how they im¬
proved their time at the tabernacle: every day they
were there, even that which was fixed for their
journey home, they worshipped God. And they
rose up early to do it. It is good to begin the day
with God. Let him that is the first, have the first.
They had a journey before them, and a family of
children to take with them, and yet they would not
stir till they had worshipped God together. Pray-
er and provender do not hinder a journey. They
had spent several days now in religious worship,
and yet they attended once more. We should not
be weary of well-doing.
II. The birth and name of this desired son. At
length the Lord remembered Hannah; the very
thing she desired; (>. 11.) and more she needed
not desire, that was enough, for then she conceived
and bare a son. I hough God seems long to forget
his people’s burthens, troubles, cares, and prayers,
yet he will at length make it to appear that 'they
are not out of his mind. This son the mother call¬
ed Samuel, v. 20. Some make the etymology of it
to be much the same with that of Ishmael, heard of
God, because the mother’s prayers were remarka¬
bly heard, and he was an answer to them. Others,
because of the reason she gives for the name, make
it to signify asked of God; it comes nearly to the
same; she designed by it to perpetuate the remem¬
brance of (rod’s favour to her in answering her
prayers. 1 hus she designed, upon every mention
of his name, to t ike the comfort to herself, and to
give God the glory of that gracious condescension.
Note, Mercies in answer to prayer, are to be remem¬
bered with peculiar expressions of thankfulness, as
Ps. 116. 1, 2. How many seasonable deliverances
and suppl es may we call Samuel, asked of God;
and whate ver is so, we are :n a special manner en¬
gaged to devote to him. Hannah intended by this
name to put her son in mind of the obligation he
was under to be the Lord’s, in consideration of this,
that he was asked of God, and was at the same
time dedicated to him. A child of prayer is in a
special manner bound to be a good child. Lemuel’s
mother reminds him that he was the son of her
vows, Prov. 31. 2.
III. The close attendance Hannah gave to the
nursing of him, not only because he was dear to her,
but because he was devoted to God, and for him
she nursed him. She therefore nursed him herself,
and did not hang him on another’s breast. We
ought to take care of our children, not only with an
eye to the law of nature as they are our’s.’but with
an eye to the covenant of grace as they are given
up to God. See Ezek. 16. 20, 21. This sanctifies
the nursing of them, when it is done as unto the
I .ord.
Elkanah went up every year to worship at the
tabernacle, and particularly to perform his vow;
perhaps some vow he had made distinct from Han¬
nah’s, if God would give him a son by her, v. 21.
But Hannah, though she felt a warm regard for the
courts of God’s heuse, begged leave of her husband
to stay.at home; for the women were not under
any obligation to go up to the three yearly feasts,
as the men were. However, Hannah had been ac¬
customed to go, but now 'desired to be excused,
1. Because she would not be so long absent from her
nursery. Can a woman forget her sucking child ?
We may suppose she kept constant at home, for if
she had gone any whither, she would have gone to
Shiloh. Note, -God will have mercy, and not sa¬
crifice. Thr se that are detained from public ordi¬
nances, by the nursing and tending of little children,
may take comfort from this instance, ar.d believe,
that if they do that with an eye to God, he will
graciously accept them therein; and though they
tarry at home, they shall divide the spoil. 2. Be¬
cause she would net go up to Shiloh till her sen
was big enough, not only to be taken thither, but to
be left there; for if once she took him thither, she
thought she could never find it in her heart to
bring him back again. Note, Those who are stead¬
fastly resolved to pay their vows, may yet see good
cause to defer the payment of them. ' Every thing
is beautiful in its season. No animal was accepted
in sacrifice, till it had been for some time under its
dam, Lev. 22. 27. Fruit is best when it is ripe.
Elkanah agrees to what she proposes, v. 23, Do
•what seemeth thee good. So far was he from de¬
lighting to cross her, that he referred it entirely to
her. B'ehold, how good and pleasant a thing it is,
when yoke-fellows thus draw even in the yoke, and
accommodate themselves to one another; each
thinking well of what the other dees, especially in
works of piety and charity. He adds a prayer,
Only the Lord establish his word; that is, “ God
preserve the child through the perils of his infan¬
cy, that the solemn vow which God signified his
acceptance of, by giving us the child, may be per¬
formed in its season, and so the whole matter may
be accomplished.” Note, Those that have in sin¬
cerity devoted their children to God, may with com¬
fort pray for them, that God will establish the word
sealed to them, at the same time that they were
sealed for him.
IV. The solemn entering of this child into the
service of the sanctuary. We may take it for
granted that he was presented to the Lord at forty
days old, as all the first-born were; (Luke 2. 22,
23.) but that is not mentioned, because there was
nothing in it singular; but now that he was weaned,
he was presented, not to be redeemed. Some
think it was as soon as he was weaned from the
breast, which, the Jews say, was not till he was
three years old; it is said, She gave him suck till
she had weaned him, v. 23. Others think it was
not till he was weaned from childish things, at eight
or ten years old. But I see no inconvenience in
admitting such an extraordinary child as this, into
the tabernacle, at three years old, to be educated
among the children of the priests. It is said, v. 24,
The child was young; but, being intelligent above
his years, he was no trouble. None can begin too
soon to be religious. The child was a child, so the
Hebrew reads it, in his learning-age. For whom
shall he teach knowledge, but them that are newly
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts,
Isa. 28. 9.
Observe how she presented her child.
1. With a sacrifice; no less than three bullocks,
with a meat-offering for each, v. 24. A bullock,
perhaps, for each year of tfyj- child’s life. Or, cne
for a bui-nt-offering, another for a sin-offering, and
1. SAMUEL, II.
231
the third for a peace-offering. So far was she from
thinking that, by presenting her son to God, she
made God her Debtor, that she thought it requisite
by these slain offerings to seek God’s acceptance of
her living sacrifice. All our covenants with God
for ourselves, and our’s, must be made by sacrifice,
the gre.it Sacrifice.
2. With a grateful acknowledgment of God’s good¬
ness in answer to prayer. This she makes to Eli,
because he had encouraged her to hope for an an¬
swer of peace; v. 26, 27, For this child. 1 prayed.
(Here it was obtained by prayer, and here it is re¬
signed to the prayer-hearing God.) “You have
forgotten me, my lord; but I who now appear so
cheerful, am the woman, the very same, that,
three years ago, stood by thee here, weeping and
praying, and this was the child I prayed for.”
Answers of prayer may thus be humbly triumphed
in to the glory of God. Here is a living testimony
for God, “I am his witness that he is gracious.”
See Ps. 66. 16* *19. “ For this mercy, this comfort,
I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition .”
See Ps. 34. 2, 4, 6. Hannah does not remind Eli
of it by adverting to the suspicion he had formerly
expressed; she does not say, “ I am the woman
whom you passedthatsevere censure upon; what do
you think of me now?” Good men ought not to be up¬
braided with their infirmities and oversights; they
have themselves repented of them, let them hear
no more of them.
3. With a full surrender of all her interest in this
child unto the Lord; v. 28, I have lent him to the
Lord as long as he liveth. And she repeats it, be¬
cause she will never revoke it, he shall be (a deo-
dand) lent or given to the Lord. Not that she
designed to call for him back, as we do what we
lend, but she uses this word, Shaol, he lent, because
it is the same word that she had used before, v. 20.
I asked him of the Lord, only in another conjuga¬
tion. And, v. 27. the Lord gave me the petition
which I asked, f Shaalti, in Kal, therefore I have
lent him; Hishilti, the same word in Hiphil:) and so
it gives another etymology of his name, Samuel,
not only asked of God, but lent to God. And ob¬
serve, (1.) Whatever we give to God, may, upon
this account, be said to be lent from him. All our
gifts to him were first gifts to us. Of thine own,
Lord, have we given thee, 1 Chron. 29. 14, 16. (2.)
Whatever we give to God, may, upon this account,
lv said to be lent to him; that though we may not
l . '1 it as a thing lent, yet he will certainly repay
it with interest, to our unspeakable advantage, par¬
ticularly what is given to his poor, Prov. 19. 17.
When by baptism we dedicate our children to God,
let us remember that they were his before by
a sovereign right, and that "they are our’s still so
much the more to our comfort. Hannah resigns
him to the Lord, not for a certain term of years, as
children are sent apprentices, but durante vita — as
long as he liveth, he shall be lent unto the Lord; a
Nazaritefor life. Such must our covenant with God
be, a marriage-covenant; as long as we live, we
must be his and never forsake him.
Lastly, The child Samuel did his part beyond
what could have been expected from one of his
years; for of him that seems to be spoken, He wor¬
shipped the Lord there; that is, he said his prayers.
He was, no doubt, extraordinarily forward, (we
have known children that have discovered some
sense of religion very young,) and his mother, de¬
signing him for the sanctuary, took particular care
to train him up to that which was to be his work in
the sanctuary. Note, Little children should learn
betimes to worship God. Their parents should in¬
struct them in it, and bring them to it; put them
upon doing it as well as they can, and God will gra¬
ciously accept them, and teach them to do better.
CHAP. II.
In this chapter, ive have, I. Hannah’s song of thanksgiving
to God for his favour to her, in giving her Samuel, v.
1 . . 10. II. Their return to their family, with Eli’s bless¬
ing, v. 11.. 20. The increase of their family, (v. 21.)
Samuel’s growth and improvement, (v. 11, 18, 21, 26.)
and the care Hannah took to clothe him, v. 19. III. The
great, wickedness of Eli’s sons, v. 12.. 17, 22. IV.
The over mild reproof that Eli gave them for it, v. 23 . . 25.
V. The justly dreadful message God sent him by a
prophet, threatening the ruin of his family for the wick¬
edness of his sons, v. 27 . . 36.
1. 4 ND Hannah prayed, and said, My
heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine
horn is exalted in the Lord ; my mouth is
enlarged over mine enemies ; because I re¬
joice in thy salvation. 2. There is none
holy as the Lord : for there is none beside
thee ; neither is there any rock like our
God. 3. Talk no more so exceeding
proudly ; let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth : for the Lord is a God of
knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
4. The bows of the mighty men are bro¬
ken, and they that stumbled are girded with
strength. 5. They that were full have hired
out themselves for bread ; and they that were
hungry ceased : so that the barren hath
borne seven; and she that hath many chil¬
dren is waxed feeble. 6. The Lord killeth,
and maketh alive ; he bringeth down to the
grave, and bringeth up. 7. The Lord
maketh poor, and maketh rich : he bringeth
low, and lifteth up. 8. He raiseth up the
poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beg¬
gar from the dung-hill, to set them among
princes, and to make them inherit the throne
of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the
Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon
them. 9. He will keep the feet of his saints,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness ;
for by strength shall no man prevail. 10.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken
to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them ; the Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth; and he shall give strength
unto his king, and exalt the horn of his
anointed.
We have here Hannah’s thanksgiving, dictated,
not only by the spirit of prayer, but by the spirit of
prophecy. Her petition for the mercy she desired,
we had before, ( ch . 1. 11.) and here her return of
praise; in both, out of the abundance of a heart
deeply affected, (in the former, with her own wants,
and in the latter, with God’s goodness,) her mouth
spake.
Observe in general, 1. When she had received
mercy from God, she owned it, with thankfulness
to his praise. Not like the nine lepers, Luke 17. 17.
Praise is our rent, our tribute, we are unjust if we
do not pay it. 2. The mercy she had received,
was an answer to prayer, and therefore she thought
, herself especially obliged to give' thanks for it.
I What we win by pr ver, we may wear with com-
I fort, and must wear with praise. 3. Her thanks-
232
I. SAMUEL, If.
giving is here called a prayer; Hannah prayed; for
Thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer. In
every address to God, we must express a grateful
regard to him as our Benefactor. Nay, and thanks¬
giving for mercies received, shall be accepted as a
petition for further mercy. 4. From this particular-
mercy which she had received from God, she takes
occasion, with an elevated and enlarged heart, to
speak glorious things of God, and of his government
of the world, for the good of his church. Whatever
at any time gives rise to our praises, in this manner
they should be raised. 5. Her prayer was mental,
her voice was not heard; but in her thanksgiving
sue spake, that all might hear her. She made her
supplication with groanings that could not be utter- j
ed, but now her lips were opened to show forth \
God's praise. 6. This thanksgiving is here left
upon record for the encouragement of those of the
weaker sex to attend the throne of grace; God will
regard their prayers and praises. The virgin
Mary’s song has great affinity with this of Hannah,
Luke 1. 46.
Three things we have in this thanksgiving.
I. Hannah’s triumph in God, in his glorious per¬
fections, and the great things he had done for her,
v. 1* 3. Observe,
1. What great things she says of God. She takes
little notice of the particular mercy she was now
rejoicing in, does not commend Samuel for the
prettiest child, the most toward and sensible of his
age, or that she ever saw, as fond parents are apt
to do; no, she overlooks the gift, and praises the
Giver; whereas most forget the Giver, and fasten
only on the gift. Every stream should lead us to
the Fountain; and the favours we receive from God,
should raise our admiration of the infinite perfec¬
tions there are in God. There may be other
Samuels, but no other Jehovah. There is none be¬
side thee. Note, God is to be praised as a peerless
Being, and of unparalleled perfection; this glory is
due unto his name, to own, not only that there is
none like him , but that there is none beside him.
All others were pretenders, Ps. 18. 31.
Four of God’s glorious attributes Hannah here
celebrates the glory of. (1.) His unspotted purity.
This is that attribute which is most praised in the
upper world, by those that always behold his face,
Isa. 6. 3. Rev. 4. 8. When Israel triumphed over
the Egy ptians, God was praised as glorious in holi¬
ness, Exod. 15. 11. So here, in Hannah’s triumph,
There is none holy as the Lord. It is the rectitude
of his nature, his infinite agreement with himself,
and the equity of his government and judgment, in
:dl the administrations of both. At the remembrance
of this, we ought to give thanks. (2.) His almighty
power. Neither is there any rock ( or any strength,
for so the word is sometimes rendered) like our
God. Hannah had experienced a mighty support
by staying herself upon him, and therefore speaks
as she had found, and seems to refer to that of
Moses, Deut. 32. 31. (3.) His unsearchable wis¬
dom. The Lord, the Judge of all, is a God of
knowledge; he clearly and perfectly sees into the
character of every person, and the merits of everv
cause, and he gives knowledge and understanding
to those that seek it of him. (4.) His unerring
justice. By him actions are weighed. His own are
so, in his eternal counsels; the actions of the chil¬
dren of men are so, in the balance of his judgment;
so that he will render to every man according to his
work, and is not mistaken in what any man is, or
does.
2. How she solaces herself in these things. What
we give God the glory of, we may take the comfort
of; Hannah does so, (1.) In holy joy. My heart
rcjoiceth in the Lord; not so much in her son, as in
her God; he is to be the Gladness of our joy, (Ps.
43. 4.) and our joy must not terminate in any thing
short of him. I rejoice in thy salvation; not only
in this particular favour to me, but in the salvaticii
of thy people Israel, those salvations especially
which this child will be an instrument of, and that
above all, by Christ, which those are but the types
of. (2.) In holy triumph. “ My horn is exalted;
not only my reputation saved by my having a son,
but greatly raised by having such a son.” We read
of some of the singers whom David appointed to lift
up the horn, an instrument of music, in praising
God; (1 Chron. 25. 5.) so that, My horn is exalted,
means this, “My praises are very much elevated
to an unusual strain.” Exalted in the Lord; God
is to have the honour of all our exaltations, and in
him must we triumph. My mouth is enlarged;
this is, “ Now I have wherewith to answer them
that reproached me;” he that has his quiver full of
arrows, his house full of children, shall not be
ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate, Ps.
127. 5.
3. How she herewith silences those that set up
themselves as rivals with God, and rebels against
him;^. 3, Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let
not Peninnah and her children upbraid her any¬
more with her confidence in God, and praying to
him; at length she found it not in vain. See Mic.
7. 10, Then she that is mine enemy, shall see it,
and shame shall cover her that said. Where is my
God ? Or, perhaps, it was below her to take so
much notice of Peninnah, and her malice, in th s
song; but this is intended as a check to the insolence
of the Philistines, and other enemies of God and
Israel, that set their mouth against the heavens, Ps.
73. 9. “Let this put them to silence and shame;
he that has thus judged for me against my adver¬
sary, will judge for his people against all their’s. ”
II. The notice she takes of the wisdom and
sovereignty of the divine providence, in its disposal
of the affairs of the children of men; such are the
vicissitudes of them, and such the strange and sud¬
den turns and revolutions of them, that it is often
found a very short step between the height of pros¬
perity and the depth cf adversity; God has net only
set the one over against the other, Eccl. 7. 14. but
the one very near the other, and no gulf fixed be¬
tween them, that we may rejoice as though we re¬
joiced not, and weep as though we wept not.
1. The strong are soon weakened, and the weak
are soon strengthened, when Ged pleases, v. 4. On
the one hand, if he speak the word, the bows of the
mighty men are broken, they are disarmed, disabled
to do as they have done, and as thev have designed;
they have been worsted in battle who seemed upon
all accounts to have had the advantage cn their side,
and thought themselves sure of victory. See Ps.
46. 9.-37. 15, 17. Particular persons are seen
weakened by sickness and age, and they find that
the bow does not long abide in strength, many a
mighty man who has gloried in his might, has found
it a deceitful bow, that failed him when he trusted to
it. On the other hand, if the Lord speak the word,
thev who stumbled through weakness, who were
so feeble that they could not go straight or steady,
are girded with strength, in body and mind, and
are able to bring great things to pass. They who
are weakened by sickness, return to their vigour.
Job 33. 25. by sorrow shall recover their comfort;
which will confirm the weak hands and the feeble
knees, Isa. 35. 3. Victory turns in favour of that
side that was given up for gone, and even the lame
take the prey, Isa. 33. 23.
2. The rich are soon impoverished, and the
poor strangely enriched of a sudden, v. 5. Provi¬
dence sometimes does so blast men’s estates, and
cross their endeavours, and with a fire not blown
consume their increase, that they who were full.
i. SAMUEL, 11.
-233
(their barns full, and their bags full, their houses ,
full of good things, Job 22. 18. and their bellies full
of these hid treasures, (Ps. 17. 14.) have been re¬
duced to such straits and extremities as to want the
necessary supports of life, and to hire out them
selves for bread, and they must dig, since to beg
they are ashamed. Riches flee away, (Prov. 23. 5. )
and leave those miserable, who, when they had
them, placed their happiness in them. To them
that have been full and free, poverty and slavery
must needs be doubly grievous. But, on the other
hand, sometimes Providence so orders it, that they
who were hungry, ceased, that is, ceased to hire
out themselves for bread as they had done; having,
by God’s blessing on their industry, got before hand
in the world, and enough to live upon at ease, they
shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more. This is
not to be ascribed to fortune, nor merely to men’s
wisdom or folly, Riches are not to men of under¬
standing, nor favour to men of skill; (Eccl. 9. 11.)
nor is it always men’s own fault that they become
poor, but, (x\ 7. ) The Lord maketh some floor, and
maketh others rich; the impoverishing of one is the
enriching of another, and it is God’s doing. To
some he gives power to get wealth, from others he
takes away power to keep the wealth they have.
Are we poor? God made us poor, which is a good
reason why we should be content, and reconcile
ourselves to our condition. Are we rich? God
made us rich, which is a good reason why we
should be thankful, and serve him cheerfully in the
abundance of good things he gives us. It may be
understood of the same person; those that were
rich God makes poor, and after a while makes rich
again, as Job: he gave, he takes away, and then
gives again. Let not the rich be proud and secure,
for God can soon make them poor; let not the poor
despond and despair, for God can in due time enrich
them again.
3. Empty families are replenished, and numerous
families diminished and made few. This is the
instance that comes close to the occasion of the
thanksgiving. TJie barren hath borne seven, mean¬
ing herself, for though at present she had but one
son, yet that one being a Nazarite, devoted to God,
and employed in his immediate service, he was to
her as good as seven. Or, it is the language of her
faith; now that she has one, she hopes for more, and
was not disappointed, she had five more; (v. 21.) so
that if we reckon Samuel but for two, as we may
well, she has the number she promised herself; the
barren hath borne seven, while, on the other hand,
she that hath many children, is waxed feeble, and
hath left bearing; she says no more, Peninnah is
now mortified, and crest-fallen. The tradition of
the Jews, is, that when Hannah bore one child,
Peninnah buried two. There are many instances
both of the increase of families that were inconsid¬
erable, and the extinguishing of families that made
a figure, Job 12. 23. Ps. 107. 38, &c.
4. God is the sovereign Lord of life and death;
{y. 6.) The Lord killeth and maketh alive. Under¬
stand it, (IT) Of God’s sovereign dominion and uni¬
versal agency, in the lives and deaths of the chil¬
dren of men. He presides in births and burials.
Whenever any die, it is God that directs the arrows
of death, the Lord killeth, death is his messenger,
strikes whom and when he bids; none are brought
to the dust, but it is he that brings them down, for
in his hand are the keys of death, and the grave,
Rev. 1. 18. Whenever any are born, it is he that
makes them alive; none knows what is the way of
the spirit, but this we know, that it comes from the
Father of spirits. Whenever any are recovered
from sickness, and delivered from imminent perils,
it is God that bringeth up, for to him belong the
issues from death. (2.) Of the distinction he makes
Vol. ii. — 2 G
between some and others; he killeth some, and
maketh, that is, keepeth others alive that were in
the same danger, in war, suppose, or pestilence.
Two in a bed together, it maybe; one taken by
death, and the other yet alive; even so, Father, be¬
cause it seemed good in thine eyes. Some that were
most likely to live, brought down to the grave, and
others that were as likely to die, brought up; for
living and dying do not go by likelihoods. God’s
providences towards some are killing, ruining to
their comforts; and towards others at the same
time reviving. (3.) Of the changes he makes with
one and the same person. He killeth and bringeth
down to the grave; that is, he brings even to death’s
doors, and then revives and raises up, when even
life was despaired of, and a sentence of death re¬
ceived, 2 Cor. 1. 8, 9. He turns to destruction, and
then says, Return, Ps. 90. 3. Nothing is too haid
for God to do, no not the quickening of the dead,
and putting life into dry bones.
5. Advancement and abasement are both from
him. He brings some low, and lifts up others;
(v. 7.) humbles the proud, and gives grace and
honour to the lowly; lays those in the dust that
would vie with the God above them, and trample
upon all about them; (Job 40. 12, 13.) but lifts up
those with his salvation, that humble themselves
before him, Jam, 4. 10. Or, it may be underwood
of the same persons; these whom he had brought
low, when they are sufficiently humbled, he lifteth
up. This is enlarged upon, v. 8. He raiseth up
the poor out of the dust, a low and mean condition,
nay, from the dunghill, a base and servile condition,
loathed, and despised, to set them among princes.
SeePs. 113. 7, 8. Promotion comes not by chance,
but from the counsel of God, which often prefers
those that were very unlikely, and that men
thought very unworthy. Joseph and Daniel, Moses
and David, were thus strangely advanced, from a
prison to a palace, from a sheep-hook to a sceptre.
The princes they are set among, may be tempted
to disdain them, but God can establish the honour
which he gives thus surprisingly, and make them
even to inherit the throne of glory. Let not those
whom Providence has thus preferred, be upbraided
with the dust and the "dunghill they are raised cut
of, for the meaner their beginnings were, the more
are they favoured, and God glorified, in their ad¬
vancement, if it be by lawful and honourable means.
Lastly, A reason is given for all these dispensa¬
tions, which obliges us to acquiesce in them, how
surprising soever they are, for the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's. (1.) If we understand it literally,
it bespeaks God’s almighty power, which cann< t
be controlled. He upholds the whole creation,
founded the earth, and still sustains it by the word
of his power. What cannot he do in the affairs of
families and kingdoms far beyond our conception
and expectation, who hangs the earth upon nothing ?
Job 26. 7. But, (2.) If we understand it figuratively,
! it bespeaks his incontestable sovereignty, which can¬
not be disputed. The princes and great ones of the
earth, the di' ectors of states and governments, are
the pillars of the earth. Ps. 75. 3. On these hinges
the affairs of the world seem to turn, but they are
the Lord's, Ps. 47. 9. Freni him they have their
power, and therefore he may advance whom he
pleases; and who may say, iThat dost thou ?
III. A prediction of the preservation and ad¬
vancement of all God’s faithful friends, and the de¬
struction of all his and their enemies, having testi¬
fied her joyful triumph in what God had done, and
is doing, she concludes with jovful hopes of what he
would do, v. 9, 10. Pious affections (says Bishop
Patrick) in those days rose up many times to the
| height of propheev, whereby God continued in that
i nation his true religion, in the midst of their idola
234
I. SAMUEL, 11.
trors inclinations. This prophecy may refer, 1. |
More immediately to the government of Israel by
Samuel, and David whom he was employed to
anoint. The Israelites, God’s saints, should be
protected and delivered; the Philistines, their ene¬
mies, should be conquered and subdued, and parti¬
cularly bv thunder , cfu 7. 10. Their dominion
should be enlarged, king David strengthened and
greatly exalted, and Israel (that in the time of the
iudges had made so small a figure, and had much .
ido to subsist) should now shortly become great i
and considerable, and give law to all its neighbours, j
An extraordinary change that was, and the birth
of Samuel was, at it were, the dawning of that day.
But, 2. We have reason to think tv.at this prophecy
looks further, to the kingdom cf Christ, and the ad¬
ministration of that kingdom of grace, of which she
now comes to speak, having spoken so largely of the
kingdom of providence. And here is the first time
that we meet with the name Messiah, or his Anoint¬
ed. The ancient expositors, both Jewish and Chris¬
tian, make it to look beyond David, to the Son of
David; glorious things are here spoken of the king¬
dom of the mediator, both before and since his in¬
carnation; for the method of the administration of it,
both by the eternal Word, and by that Word made
flesh, is much the same.
Concerning that kingdom we are here assured,
(1.) That all the loyal subjects of it shall be care¬
fully and powerfully protected; v. 9, He will keefi
the feet of his saints. There are a people in the
world that are God’s saints, his select and sanctified
ones; and he will keep their feet, that is, all that
belongs to them shall be under his protection, down
to their very feet, the lowest part of the body. If
he will keep their feet, much more their head and
hearts; or, he will keep their feet, that is, he will
secure the ground they stand on, and establish their
goings, he will set a guard of grace upon their af¬
fections and actions, that their feet may neither
wander out of the way, nor stumble in the way.
When their feet are ready to slip, Ps. 73, 2. his mer¬
cy holdeth them ufi, Ps. 94. 18. and keefieth them
from falling, Jude 24. While we keep God’s
ways, he will keep our feet. SeePs. 37. 23, 24.
(2.) That all the powers engaged against.it shall
not be able to effect the. ruin of it. By strength no
man shall prevail. God’s strength is engaged for
the church; and while it is so, man’s strength shall
not prevail against it. The church seems destitute
of strength, her friends few and feeble; but preva¬
lency does not go by human strength; Ps. S3. 16.
God neither needs it for him, (Ps. 147. 10.) nor
dreads it against him.
(3.) That all the enemies of it will certainly be
broken and brought down; The wicked shall be silent
in darkness; v. 9. they shall be struck both blind
and dumb, not be able to see their way, nor have
any thing to say for themselves. Damned sinners
are sentenced to utter darkness, and in it they will
be for ever speechless, Matth. 22. 12, 13. The
wicked are called, The adversaries of the Lord,
and it is foretold, v. 10. that they shall be broken to
fiieces. Their designs against his kingdom among
men, will all be dashed, and they themselves de¬
stroyed; how can they speed better, that are in
arms against Omnipotence.1’ See Luke 19. 27. God
has many ways of doing it, and, rather than fail,
from heaven shall be thunder upon them, and so,
not only put them in terror and consternation, but
bring them to destruction. Who can stand before
God’s thunderbolts?
(4. ) That the conquests and commands of this
kingdom shall extend themselves to distant regions;
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. David’s
victories and dominions reached far, but the utter¬
most- parts' of the earth are promised to the Messiah
tor his possession , Ps. 2. 8. to be either reduced to
his golden ;^ptre, or ruined by his iron rod. God
is Judge of all, and he will judge for his people,
against his and their enem.es, Ps. 110. 5, 6.
(5.) That the power and honour of Messiah the
Prince shall grow and increase more and more. He
shall give strength unto his Kmg for the accom¬
plishing of his great undertaking, Ps. 89, 21. and
see Luke 22. 43. strengthen him to go through the
difficulties of his humiliation, and in his exaltation
he will lift up the head, (Ps. 110. 7.) lift up the horn,
the power and honour of his anointed, and make him
higher than the kings of the earth, Ps. 89. 27. This
crowns the triumph, and is, more than any thing,
the matter of her exaltation. Her horn is exulted,
v. 1. because she foresees the horn of the Messiah
will be so. This secures the hope; the subjects of
Christ’s kingdom will be safe, and the enemies of it
will be ruined, for the Anointed, the Lord Christ,
is girt with strength, and is able to save and destroy
unto the uttermost.
11. And Elkanah went to Ramah to his
house ; and the child did minister unto the
Lord before Eli the priest. 12. Now the
sons of Eli were sons of Belial ; they knew
not the Lord. 13. And the priest’s custom
with the people teas, that , when any man
offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came,
while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-
hook of three teeth in his hand ; 1 4. And
he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cal¬
dron, or pot ; all that the flesh-hook brought
up the priest took for himself. So they did
in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came
thither. 15. Also before they burnt the fat,
the priest’s servant came, anti s;tid to the
man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for
the priest ; for he will not have sodden flesh
of thee, but raw. 16. And if any man said
unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat
presently, and then take as much as thy soul
desireth ; then he would answer him, Nay ;
but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I
will take it by force. 17. Wherefore the sin
of the young men was very great before tire
Lord ; for men abhorred the offering of the
Lord. 1 8. But Samuel ministered before
the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen
ephod. 19. Moreover, his mother made him
a little coat, and brought it to him from year
to year, when she came up with her hus¬
band to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20. And
Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said,
The Lord give thee seed of this woman,
for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And
they went unto their own home. 21. And
the Lord visited Hannah, so that she con¬
ceived, and bare three sons and two daugh¬
ters. And the child Samuel grew before tlx;
Lord. 22. Now Eli was very old, and
heard all that his sons did unto all Israel;
and how they lay with the women that as¬
sembled at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. 23. And he said unto them,
235
I. SAMUEL, II.
Why do ye such things ? for I hear of vo r
evil dealings by all this people. 2-1. Nay,
my sons : for it is no good report that I hear ;
ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.
25. If one man sin against another, the
judge shall judge him : but if a man sin
against the Lord, who shall entreat for
him ? Notwithstanding, they hearkened not
unto the voice of their father, because the
Lord would slay them. 26. (And the child
Samuel grew on, and was in favour both
with the Lord, and also with men.)
In these verses we have the good character and
posture of Elkanah’s family, and the bad character
and posture of Eli’s family; the account of these two
is observably interwoven throughout this whole pa¬
ragraph; as if the historian intended to set the one
over against the other, that they might set off one
another. The devotion and good order of Elkanah’s
family aggravated the iniqu-ty of Eli’s house; while
the wickedness of Eli’s sons made Samuel’s early
piety shine the more bright and illustrious.
I. Let us see how well things went in Elkanah’s
family, and how much better than formerly.
1. Eli dismissed them from the house of the Lord,
when they had entered their little son there, with a
blessing, v. 20. He blessed as one having authority;
T'he Lord give thee more children of this woman,
for the loan that is lent to the l.ord. If Hannah had
then had many children, it had not been such a
generous piece of piety to part with one out of
many for the service of the tabernacle; but when
she had but one, an only one, whom she loved, her
Isaac, to present him to the Lord, was such an act
of heroic piety as should by no means lose its re¬
ward. As when Abraham had offered Isaac, he
received the promise of a numerous issue, (Gen.
22. 16, 17.) so did Hannah, when she had presented
Samuel unto the Lord, a living sacrifice. Note,
What is lent to the Lord will certainlv be repaid
with interest, to our unspeakable advantage, and
oftentimes in kind. Hannah resigns one child to
God, and is recompensed with five, for Eli’s bless- 1
ing took effect, (x\ 21.) she hare three sons and two
daughters. There is nothing lost bv lending to God, !
or losing for h;m; it shall be repaid a hundred fold, i
Matth. 19. 29.
2. They returned to their own habitation; this is
twice mentioned; ( v . 11. and again v. 20.) it was
very pleasant to attend at God’s house, to bless
him, and to be blessed of him. But they have a
family at home that must be looked after, and thi¬
ther they return, cheerfully leaving the dear little
one behind them, knowing they left him in a good
place; and it does not appear that he cried after
them, but was as willing to stay as they were to
leave him, so soon did he put away childish things,
and behave like a man.
3. They kept up their constant attendance at the
house of God, with their yearly sacrifice, v. 19.
They did notthink that their son’s ministering there
would excuse them, or that that offering must serve
instead of other offerings, but having found the be¬
nefit of drawing near to God, they would omit no
appointed season for it; and now they had one load¬
stone more in Shiloh to draw them thither. We
may suppose they went thither to see their child
oftener than once a year, for it was not ten miles from
Ramah, but their annual visit is taken notice of,
because then they brought their yearly sacrifice;
and then -Hannah fitted up her son (and some think
oftener than once a year) with anew suit of clothes,
a little coat (x\ 19. ) and every thing belonging to
it. She undertook to find him in clothes during his
apprenticeship at the tabernacle, and took care he
should be well provided, that he might appear the
more decent and sightly in his ministration, and to
encourage him in his towardly beginnings. Parents
must take care that their children want nothing
that is fit for them, whether they are with them or
from them; but those that are dutiful and hopeful,
and minister to the Lord, must be thought worthy
of double care and kindness.
4. The child Samuel did very well. Four several
times he is mentioned in these verses, and two
things we are told of:
( 1. ) The service he did to the Lord. He did well
indeed, for he ministered to the Lord, (v. 11, 18.)
according as his capacity was; he learnt his cate¬
chism, and was constant to his devotions; soon learnt
to read, and took a pleasure in the book of the law,
and thus he ministered to the Lord. He ministered
before Eli, that is, under his inspection, and as he
ordered him, not before Eli’s sons; all parties were
agreed that they were unfit to be his tutors. Per¬
haps, he attended immediately on Eli’s person, was
ready to him to fetch and bring as he had occasion,
and that is called ministering to the Lord. Some
little services perhaps he was employed in about the
altar, though much under the age appointed by the
law for the Levites’ ministration. He could light a
candle, or hold a dish, or run on an errand, or shut
a door; and because he did this with a pious dispo-
tion of mind, it is called ministering to the Lord,
and great notice is taken of it. After a while, he
did his work so well, that Eli appointed that he
should minister with a linen ephoa as the priests
did, (though he was no priest,) because he saw that
God was with him. Note, Little children must
learn betimes to minister to the Lord ; parents must
train them up to it, and God will accept them; par¬
ticularly, let them learn to pay respect to. their
teachers as Samuel to Eli. None can begin too
soon to be religious. See Ps. 8. 2. and Matth. 21.
15, 16.
(2.) The blessing he received from the Lord,
He grew before the Lord, as a tender plant, (i'.
21.)' grew on ( v . 26.) in strength and stature, and
especially in wisdom and understanding, and fitness
for business. Note, Those young people that ser\ e
God as well as thev can, he will enable to improv e,
that they may serve him better. Thev that are
planted in God’s house, shall flourish, Ps. 92. 13.
He was in favour with God and with man. Note,
It is a great encouragement to children to be tracta¬
ble, and virtuous, and good betimes, that if they be,
both God and man will love them. Such children
are the darlings both of heaven and earth. What
is here said of Samue1, is said of eur blessed Sa¬
viour, that great example, Luke 2. 52.
II. Let us now see how ill things went in Eli’s
family, though seated at the very door of the taber¬
nacle. The nearer the church, the further from
God.
1. The abominable wickedness of Eli s sens; (x'.
12.) The sons of Eli were sons of Belial. It is em¬
phatically expressed. Nothing appears to the con¬
trary, but that Eli himself was a very good man,
and, no doubt, had educated his sons well, giving
them good instructions, setting them good exam¬
ples, and putting up many a good prayer for them : :
and vet, when they grew up, they proved sons of
Belial, profane wicked men, and arrant rakes;
They knew not the Lord. They could not but have
a notional knowledge of God and his law, a form r.
knowledge; (Rom.' 2. 20.) yet because their prac¬
tice was not accordingly, they are sppken of as
wholly ignorant of God; they lived as if they knew
nothing at all of God. Note, Parents cannot gi' e
grace to their children, nor dees it run in the blood,
236 I. SAMUEL, II.
Many that are sincerely pious themselves, live to
see those that come from them, notoriously impious
and profane, for the race is not to the swift. Eli was
High Priest and Judge in Israel; his sons were
priests by their birth; their character was sacred
and honourable, and obliged them, for their repu-
tation’s-sake, to observe decorum: they were resi¬
dent at the fountain-head both of magistracy and
ministry, and yet they were sons of Belial, and
their honour, power, and learning, made them so
much the worse. They did not go to serve other
gods, as those did that lived at a distance from the
altar, for from the house of God they had their
wealth and dignity; but, which was worse, they
managed the service of God as if he had been one
of the dunghill-deities of the heathen. It is hard to
say which dishonours God more, idolatry, or pro¬
faneness, especially the profaneness of the priest'.
Let us see the wickedness of Eli’s sons; and it is
a sad sight:
(1. ) They profaned the offerings of the Lord, and
made a gain to themselves, or rather a gratification
of their own luxury, out of them. God had pro¬
vided competently for them out of the sacrifices; the
offerings of the Lord made by fire, were a consider¬
able branch of their revenue, but that did not please
them, they served not the God of Israel but their own
bellies; (Rom. 16. 18.) such as the prophet calls
greedy dogs, that can never have enough, Isa. 56.
11. [1.] They robbed the offerers, and seized for
themselves some of their part of the sacrifice of the
peace-offerings. The priests had for their share
the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder, (Lev. 7.
34.) but that did not content them; when the flesh
was boiling for the offerer to feast upon religiously
with his friends, they sent a servant with a flesh-
hook of three teeth, a trident, and that must be
struck into the pot, and whatever that brought up
the priest must have; (x». 13, 14.) and the people,
out of their great veneration, suffered this to grow
into a custom, so that after a while prescription was
pleaded for this manifest wrong. [2.] They step¬
ped in before God himself, and encroached upon
his right too; as if Jit were a small thing to weary
men, they wearied my God also, Isa. 7. 13. Be it
observ ed to the honour of Israel, that though the
people tamely yielded to their unwarrantable de¬
mands from -them, yet they were very solicitous
that God should not be robbed; Let them not fail
to burn the fat presently, v. 16. Let the altar have
its due, for that is the main matter; unless God have
the fat, they can feast with little comfort upon the
flesh: it was a shame that the priests should need
thus to be admonished by the people of their duty;
but they regarded not the admonition, the priest
will be served first, and will take what he thinks fit
of the f it too, for he is weary of boiled meat; he
must have roast, and, in order to that, they must
give it him raw; and if the offerer dispute it, though
not in his own favour, (let him take what he pleases
of his part,) but in favour of the altar, (let them be
sure to burn the fat first,) even the priest’s servant
was grown so very imperious, that he would either
have it now or take it by force; than which there
could not be a greater affront to God, or a greater
abuse to the people. The effect was, First, That
God was displeased: The sm of the young men was
very great before the Lord, v. 17. Nothing is more
provoking to God than the profanation of sacred
things, and men serving of their lusts with the of¬
ferings of the Lord. Secondly, That religion suf¬
fered by it; Men abhorred the offerings of the Lord.
All good men abhorred their management of the of¬
ferings, and too many insensibly fell into a contempt
of the offerings themselves for their sakes. It was
the people’s sin to think the worst of God’s institu¬
tions, but it was the much greater sin of the priests,
that gave them occasion to do so. Nothing brings
a greater reproach upon religion, than ministers’
covetousness, sensuality, and imperiousness. In the
midst of this sad story, comes in the repeated men¬
tion of Samuel’s devotion, But Samuel ministered
before the Lord, as an instance of the power of God’s
grace, in preserving him pure and pious, in the midst
of this wicked crew; and that helped to keep up the
sinking credit of the s mctuary in the minds of the
people, who, when they had said all they could
against Fit’s sons, could not but admire Samuel’s
seriousness, and speak well of religion for his sake.
(2. ) They debauched the women that came to
worship at the door of the tabernacle; (v. 22.) they
had wives of their own, but were like fed horses,
Jer. 5. 8. To have gone to the harlots’ houses, the
common prostitutes, had been abominable wicked¬
ness; but to use the interest which as priests they
had in those women that had devout dispositions,
and were religiously inclined, and to bring them to
commit this wickedness, was such horrid impiety,
as one can scarcely think it possible that men who
called themselves priests, should ever be guilty of.
Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and tremble, O
earth l No words can sufficiently express the vil-
lany of such practices as these.
2. The reproof which Eli gave his sons for this
their wickedness. Eli was very old, ( v . 22.) and
could not himself inspect the service of the taber¬
nacle as he had done, but left all to his sons, who,
because of the infirmities of his age, slighted him,
and did what they would; however, he was told of
the wickedness of his sons, and we may well ima¬
gine what a heart-breaking it was to him, and how
much it added to the burthens of his age; but it
should seem he did not so much as reprove them,
till he heard of their debauching the women, and
then he thought fit to give them a check. Had he
rebuked them for their greediness and luxury, this
might have been prevented. Young people should
be told of their faults, as soon as it is perceived that
they begin to be extrav agant, lest their hearts be
hardened. Now concerning the reproof he gave
them, observe,
(1.) That it was very just and rational. That
which he said, was very proper. [1.] He tells
them that the matter of fact was too plain to be de¬
nied, and too public to be concealed; “ I hear of
your evil dealings by all this people, v. 23. It is not
the surmise of one or two, but the avowed testimony
ot many, all your neighbours crv out shame on you,
and bring their complaints to me, expecting that I
should redress the grievance.” [2.] He shows
them the bad consequences of it, that they not only
sinned, but made Israel to sin, and would have the
people’s sin to answer for, as well as their own;
“ You that should turn men from iniquity, (Mai. 2.
6.) you make the Lord's people to transgress, and
corrupt the nation instead of reforming it; you tempt
people to go serve other gods, when they see the
God of Israel so ill served.” [3.) He warns them
of the danger they brought themselves into by it;
(n. 25.) he intimates to them what God afterward
told him, that the iniquity would not be purged with
sacrifice nor offering, ch. 3. 14. If one man sin
against another, the judge, that is, the priest, who
was appointed to be the judge in many cases, (Deut.
17. 9.) shall judge him, shall undertake his cause,
arbitrate the matter, and make atonement for the
offender; but if a man sin against the Lord, that is,
if a priest profane the holy things of the Lord, if a
man that deals with God for others, do himself af¬
front him, who shall entreat for him ? Eli was him¬
self a judge, and had often made intercession for
transgressors, but, says he, “You that sin against
the Lord,” that is, “against the law and honour of
God, in those very things which immediately per-
237
I. SAMUEL, II.
tain to him, and by which reconciliation is to be
made, how can I entreat for you?” Their condi¬
tion was deplorable indeed, when their own father
could not speak a good word for them, nor could
have the face to appear as their advocate. Sins
against the remedy, the atonement itself, are most
d ngerous; treading under foot the blood of the co¬
venant; for then there remains no more sacrifice,
Heb. 10. 26.
But, ?2. ) It was too mild and gentle. He should
have rebuked them sharply; their crimes deserved
it, their temper needed it; the softness of his deal¬
ing with them would but harden them the more.
The animadversion was too easy, when lie said, It
is no good report: he should have said, “ It is a
shameful scandalous thing, and not to be suffered!”
Whether it was because he loved them, or because
he feared them, that he dealt thus tenderly with
them, it was certainly an evidence of his want cf
zeal for the honour of God and his sanctuary. He
bound them over to God’s judgment, but he should
have taken cognizance of their crimes himself, as
High Priest and Judge, and have restrained and
punished them. What he said was right, but it
was not enough. Note, It is sometimes neces¬
sary that we put an edge upon the reproofs we give.
There are those that must be saved with fear,
Jude 23.
3. Their obstinacy against this reproof; his lenity
did not at all work upon them; they hearkened not
to their father, though he was also a Judge; they
had no regard either to his authority, or to his af¬
fection, which was to them an evident token of fier-
dition; it was because the Lord would slay them.
They had long hardened their hearts, and now
God, in a way of righteous judgment, hardened
their hearts, and seared their consciences, and
withheld from them the grace they had resisted
and forfeited. Note, Those that are deaf to the
reproofs of wisdom, are manifestly marked for ruin.
The Lord has determined to destroy them, 2 Chron.
25. 16. See Prov. 29. 1. Immediately upon this,
Samuel’s tractableness is again mentioned, (y. 26.)
to shame their obstinacy; the child Samuel grew.
God’s grace is his own; he denied it to the sons of
the High Priest, and gave it to the child of an ob¬
scure country Levite.
27. And there came a man of God unto
Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the
Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house
of thy father, when they were in Egypt in
Pharaoh’s house? 28. And did I choose
him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my
pri st, to offer upon mine altar, to burn in¬
cense, to wear an ephod before me ? and
did I give unto the house of thy father all
the offerings made by fire of the children of
Israel ? 29. Wherefore kick ye at my sa¬
crifice and at mine offering, which I have
commanded in my habitation, and honourest
thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat
with the chiefest of all the offerings of Is¬
rael mv people ? 30. Wherefore the Lord
God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thv
house, and the house of thy father, should
walk before me for ever : but now the Lord
saith, Be it far from me ; for them that ho¬
nour me I will honour, and they that de¬
spise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31. Be¬
hold, the days come that I will cut off thine
arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that
there shall not be an old man in thine house.
32. And tliou shalt see an enemy in my
habitation, in all the wealth which God shall
give Israel : and there shall not be an old
man in thine house for ever. 33. And the
man of thine, whom 1 shall not cut off from
mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes,
and to grieve thine heart : and all the in¬
crease ol thine house shall die in the flower
of their age. 34. And this shall be a sign
unto thee, that shall come upon thy two
sons, on Hophni and Phinehas : in one day
they shall die both of them. 35. And I will
raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do
according to that which is in my heart, and
in my mind : and I will build bin) a sure
house ; and he shall walk before mine
Anointed for ever. 36. And it shall come
to pass, that every one that is left in thine
house shall come and crouch to him for a
piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and
shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of
the priest’s offices, that I may eat a piece
of bread.
Eli reproved his sons too gently, and did not
threaten them as he should, and therefore God sent
a prophet to him to reprove him sharply, and to
threaten him, because, by his indulgence of them,
he had strengthened their hands in their wicked¬
ness. If good men be wanting in their duty, and by
their carelessness and remissness contribute any
thing to the sin of sinners they must expect both to
hear of it, and to smart for it. Eli’s family was now
nearer to God than all the fatnilies of the earth, and
therefore he will punish them, Amos 3. 2. The
message is sent to Eli himself, because God would
bring him to repentance and save him; not to his
sons, whom he had determined to destroy. And it
might have been a means of awakening him to do
his duty at last, and so to have prevented the judg¬
ment; but we do not find it had any great effect up¬
on him.
The message this prophet delivers from God, is
very close.
I. He reminds him of the great things God had
done for the house of his fathers, and for his family.
He appeared to Aaron in Egypt, (Exod. 4. 27.) m
the house of bondage, as a token of further favour
which he designed for him, v. 28. He advanced
him to the priesthood, entailed it upon his family,
and thereby dignified it above any of the families of
Israel. He intrusted him with honourable work, to
offer on God’s altar, to burn incense, and to wear
that ephod in which was the breast-plate of judg¬
ment. He settled upon him an honourable main¬
tenance, a share out of all the offerings made by
fire, v. 28. What could he have done more for
them, to engage them to be faithful to him? Note,
The distinguishing favours we have received from
God, especially those of the spiritual priesthood,
are great aggravations of sin, and will be remem¬
bered against us in the day of account, if we profane
our crown, and betray our trust, Deut. 32. 6. 2 Sam.
12. 7, 8.
II- He exhibits a high charge against him and
his family ; his children did wickedly, and he con¬
nived at it, and thereby involved himself in the
I guilt; the indictment therefore runs against them
238
I. SAMUEL, II.
all, v. 29. 1. His sons had impiously profaned the
holy things cf God; “ Ye kick at my .sacrifice which
T have commanded ; not only trample upon the in¬
stitution as a mean thing, but spurn at it as a thing
you hate to be tied up to.” They did the utmost
despite imaginable to the offerings of the Lord,
when they committed all that outrage and rapine
about them that we read of, and violently plunder¬
ed the pots on which, in effect, Holiness to the Lord
was written, (Zech. 14. 20.) and took that fat to
themsel ves, which God had appointed to be burned
on his altar. 2. Eli had bolstered them up in it, by
not punishing their insolence and impiety; “ Thou
for thy part honourest thy sons above me;” that is,
“Thou hadst rather see my offerings disgraced by
their profanation of them, than see thy sons dis¬
graced by a legal censure upon them for so doing,
which ought to have been inflicted, even to suspen¬
sion and deprivation ab officio et benejicio — of their
off ce and its emoluments.” Those that allow and
countenance their children in any evil way, and do
not use their authority to restrain and punish them,
do in effect honour them more than God, being
more tender of their reputation than of his glory,
and more desirous to humour them than to honour
him. 3. They had all shared in the gains of the
sacrilege. It is to be feared, that Eli himself,
though he disliked and reproved the abuses they
committed, yet did not forbear to eat of the roast
meat they sacrilegiously got; (t>. 15.) he was a fat
heavy man; ( ch . 4. 18.) and therefore it is charged
upon the whole family, (though Hophni and Phine-
has were principally guilty,) Ye make yourselves
fat with the chiefest of all the offerings. God gave
them sufficient to feed them, but that would not
suffice; they made themselves fat, and served their
lusts, with that which God was to be served with.
See Hosea, 4. 8.
III. He declares the cutting off of the entail of
the high-priesthood from his family; (-u. 30.) “ The
Lord God of Israel, who is jealous for his own
honour and Israel’s, says, and lets thee know it,
that thy commission is revoked and superseded.”
I said, indeed, that thy house, and the house of thy
father Ithamar, (for from that younger son o‘f Aa¬
ron, Eli was descended,) should walk before me for
ever. Upon what occasion the dignity of the high-
priesthood was transferred from the family of Elea-
zar to that of Ithamar, does not appear; but it seems
it had been done, and Eli stood fair to have that
honour perpetuated to his posterity; but observe,
the promise carried its own condition along with it,
They shall walk before me for ever; that is, They
shall have the honour, provided they faithfully do
the service; walking before God is the great con¬
dition of the covenant, Gen. 17. 1. Let them set
me before their face, and I will set them before my
face continually ; (Ps. 41. 12,) otherwise not. But
now the Lord says, Be it far from me: Now that
ye cast me off, you can expect no other than that I
should cast you off ; you will not walk before me as
you should, and therefore vou shall not;” such
wicked and abusive servants God will discard, and
turn out of h'S service. Some think there is a fur¬
ther reach in this recall of the grant, and that it
was not only to be fulfilled shortly in the deposing
of the posterity of Eli, when Zadok, who descended
from Eleazar, was put in Abiathar’s room, but it
was to have its complete accomplishment at length
in the total abolishing of the Levitical priesthood
by the priesthood of Christ.
IV. He gives a good reason for this revocation,
taken from a settled and standing rule of God’s
government, according to which, ali must expect to
be dealbwith; (like that by which Cain was tried,
Gen. 4. 7.) 'Them that honour me, I will honour;
and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.
Observe in general, 1. That God is the Fountain of
honour and dishonour; he can exalt the meanest,
and put contempt upon the greatest. 2. As wt
deal with God, we must expect to be dealt with by
him, and yet, mere favourably than we deserve.
See Ps. 18. 25, 26. Particularly be it spoken, (1.)
To the everlasting reputation of religion and serious
godliness, that it gives honour to God, and puts
honour upon men. By it we seek and serve the
glory of God, and he will be behind hand with none
that do so, but here and hereafter will secure their
glory. The way to be truly great, is to be truly
good. If we humble and deny ourselves in any
thing to honour God, and have a single eye to him
in it, we may depend upon this promise, he will put
the best honour upon us. See John 12. 26. (2.)
Be it spoken to the everlasting reproach of impiety
and profaneness, that this does dishonour to God,
(despises the greatest and best of beings whom
angels adore,) and will bring dishonour upon men,
for they that do so, shall be lightly esteemed; not
only God will lightly esteem them/ (that, perhaps,
they will not regard, as they that honour him value
his honour, of whom therefore it is said, I will
honour them,) but they shall be lightly esteemed by
all the world, the very honour thev are proud of
shall be laid in the dust; they shall 'see themselves
despised by all mankind, their names a reproach;
when they are gone, their memory shall rot, and
when they rise, again, it shall be’ to everlasting
shame and contempt. The dishonour which their
important malice puts upon God and his omnipotent
justice, will return upon their own heads, Ps. 79.
12.
V. He foretells the particular judgments, which
should come upon his family, to its perpetual igno¬
miny. A curse should be entailed upon his pos¬
terity, and a terrible curse it is; and shows how
jealous God is in the matters of his worship, and
how ill he takes it, when those who are obliged bv
their character and profession to preserve and ad¬
vance the interests of his glory, are false to their
trust, and betray them. If God’s ministers be
vicious and profane, how much sorer punishment
will they be thought worthy of, here and for ever,
than other sinners! Let such read the doom here
passed on Eli’s house and tremble. It is threatened,
1. That their power should be broken; (v. 31.)
I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s
house; they should be stripped cf all their au¬
thority, should be deposed, and hav e no influence
upon the people as they had had: God would make
them contemptible and base. See Mai. 2. 8, 9.
The sons had abused their power to oppress the
people and encroach upon their fights, and the
father had not used his power as he ought to have
done, to restrain and punish them, and therefore it
is justly threatened, that the arm should be cut off,
which was not stretched out as it should have been.
2. That their lives should be shortened; he was
himself an old man; but instead of using the wis¬
dom, gravity, experience, and authority, of his age,
for the service of God and the support of religion,
he had suffered the infirmities of age to make him
more cool and remiss in his duty, and therefore it is
here threatened, that none of his posterity should
live to be old: (v. 31, 32.) it is twice spoken; There
shall not be an old man in thy house for ever; and
again, (xc 33.) Jill the increase of thine house, from
generation to generation, shall die in the flower of
their age, when they are in the midst of the years of
their service; so that though the family should not
be extinct, yet it should never be considerable, nov
should any of it come to be eminent in their dav.
Bishop Patrick relates it, out of some of the Jewish
writers, that, long after this, there being a family in
Jerusalem, none of which commonly lived above
239
I. SAMUEL, III.
eighteen years, up on search it was found that they
descended from the house of Eli, on which this
sentence was passed.
3. That all their comforts should be imbittered.
(1.) The comfort they had in the sanctuary, in its
wealth and prosperity; Thou shalt see an enemy in
my habitation. This was fulfilled in the Philistines’
invasions, and the mischiefs they did to Israel, by
which the country was impoverished, ( ch . 13. 19.)
and, no doubt, the priests’ incomes were thereby
very much impaired. The captivity of the ark was
such an act of hostility, committed upon God’s
habitation, as broke Eli’s heart. As it is a blessing
to a family to see peace u/ion Israel, (Ps. 128. 5, 6.)
so the contrary is a sore judgment upon a family,
especially a family of priests. 2.*The comfort of
their children. “The man of thine, whom 1 shall
not cut off' by an untimely death, shall live to be a
blot and burthen to the family, a scandal and vexa¬
tion to his relations; he shall be to consume thine
eyes, and grieve thine heart, either for his foolish¬
ness, or his sickliness, or his wickedness, or his
poverty.” Grief for a dead child is great, but for a
bad child often greater.
4. That their substance should be wasted, and
they should be reduced to extreme poverty; (?;. 36.)
“He that is left alive in thy house, shall have little
joy of his life, for want of a livelihood he shall
come, and crouch to the succeeding family for a
subsistence.” (1.) He shall beg for the smallest
alms, a fiiece of silver, and the word signifies the
least piece, and a morsel of bread. See how this
answered the sin. Eli’s sons must have the -best
pieces of flesh, but their sons will be glad of a mor¬
sel of bread. Note, Want is the just punishment
of wantonness. Those who could not be content
without dainties and varieties, are brought, they or
their’s, to want necessaries, and the Lord is righ¬
teous in it. (2.) He shall beg for the meanest
office; Put me into somewhat belonging to the
priesthood, as it is in the original, make me as one
of the hired servants; the fittest place for a prodi¬
gal. Plenty and power are forfeited, when they
are abused. They should not be able to pretend to
any good preferment, not to any place at the altar,
but should petition for some poor employment, be
the work ever so hard and the wages ever so small,
so they might but get bread. This, it is probable,
was fully accomplished, when Abiathar, who was
of Eli’s race, was deposed by Solomon for treason,
and he and his turned out of office in the temple, (1
Kings 2. 26, 27.) by which it is easy to think his
posterity were reduced to the extremities here
described.
5. That God would shortly begin to execute
these judgments in the death of Hophni and Phine-
has, the sad tidings of which Eli himself should-
live to hear; This shall be a sign to thee, v. 34.
When thou liearest it, say, “Now the word of God
begins to operate; here is one threatening fulfilled,
from which I infer that all the rest will be fulfilled
in their order.” Hophni and Phinehas had many a
time sinned together, and it is here foretold that
they should die together both in one day. Bind
these tares in a bundle for the fire. It was fulfilled,
ch. 4. 11.
Lastly, In the midst of all these threatenings
against the house of Eli, here is mercv promised to
Israel; (v. 35.) I will raise fie up a faithful priest.
I. This was fulfilled in Zadoc, one of the family of
Eleazar, who came into Abiathar’s place, in the
beginning of Solomon’s reign, and was faithful to
his trust; and the High Priests were of his posteri¬
ty as long as the Levitical priesthood continued.
Note, The wickedness of ministers, though it de¬
stroy themselves, yet it shall not destroy the minis¬
try. How bad soever the officers are, the office [
shall continue always to the end of the world. If
some falsify their trust, yet others shall be raised
up, that w,ll be true to it. God’s work shall never
fall to the ground for want of hands to carry it on.
The High Priest is here said to walk before God’s
anointed, that is, Da\ id and his seed, because he
wore the breast-plate of judgment, which he was
to consult, not in common cases, but for the king,
in the affairs of state. Note, Notwithstanding the
degeneracy we see and lament in many families,
God will secure to himself a succession. If some
grow worse than their ancestors, others, to balance
that, shall grow better. 2. It has its full accom¬
plishment in the priesthood of Christ, that merciful
and faithful High Priest, whom God raised up
when the Levitical priesthood was thrown eft', who
in all things did his father’s mind, and for whom
God would build a sure house, build it on a rock, so
that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
CHAP. ill.
In the foregoing chapter we had Samuel a young priest,
though by birth a Levitc only, for he ministered before
the I.ord "in a linen ephod; in this chapter we have him
a young prophet, which was more; God in an extraordi¬
nary manner revealing himself to him, and in him re¬
viving, if not commencing, prophecy in Israel. Here
is, I. God’s first manifestation of himself in an extra¬
ordinary manner to Samuel, v. 1 • . 10. II. The message
he sent by him to Eli, 11.. 14. III. The faithful delivery
of that message to Eli, and his submission to the righ¬
teousness of God in it, v. 11 -.18. IV. The establish¬
ment of Samuel to be a prophet in Israel, v. 19. -21.
1. 4 ND the child Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. And the
word of the Loud was precious in those
days; there teas no open vision. 2. And it
came to pass at that time, when Eli was
laid down in his place, and his eyes began
to wax dim, that he could not see ; 3. And
ere the lamp of God went out in the tem¬
ple of the Lord, where the ark of God was,
and Samuel was laid down to sleep ; 4.
That the Lord called Samuel : and he an¬
swered, Here am I. 5. And he ran unto
Eli, and said, Here am I ; for thou calledst
me. And he said, I called not; lie down
again. And he went and lay down. 6.
And the Lord called yet again, Samuel.
And Samuel arose, and went to Eli, and
said, Here am I; for thou didst call me.
And he answered, I called not, my son; lie
down again. 7. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord, neither was the word of
the Lord yet revealed unto him. 8. And
the Lord called Samuel again the third
time. And he arose, and went to Eli, and
said, Here am I ; for thou didst call me,
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called
the child. 9. Therefore Eli said unto Sa¬
muel, Go, lie down : and it shall be, if he
call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord ;
for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went
and lay down in his place. 10. And the
Lord came, and stood, and called as at
other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Sa¬
muel answered, Speak ; for thy servant
heareth.
240 I. SAMUEL, III.
To make way for the account of God’s revealing
himself first to Samuel, we are here told, ( v . 1.)
1. How industrious Samuel was in serving God,
according as his place and capacity were; (v. 1.)
The child Samuel, though but a child, ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. It was an aggravation
of the wickedness of Eli’s sons, that the child
Samuel shamed them. They rebelled against the
Lord, but Samuel ministered to him; they slighted
their father’s admonitions, but Samuel was obser¬
vant of them, he ministered before Eli, under his
eye and direction. It was the praise of Samuel,
that he was so far from being influenced by their
bad example, that he did not in the least fall off,
but improved and went on. And it was a prepara¬
tive for the honours God intended him; he that was
thus faithful in a little, was soon after intrusted with
much more. Let those that are young, be humble
and diligent, and they will find that the surest way
to preferment. Those are fittest to rule, that have
learnt to obey. 2. How scarce a thing prophecy
then was which made the call of Samuel to be the
greater surprise to himself, and the greater favour
to Israel; The word of the Lord was precious in
those days. Now and then a man of God was em¬
ployed, as a messenger upon an extraordinary oc¬
casion; (as ch. 2. 27.) but there was no settled
prophets, to whom the people might have recourse
for counsel, nor from whom they might expect the
discoveries of the divine will. And the rarity of
prophecy made it the more precious in the account
of all those that know how to put a right value
upon it. It was precious, for what there was, (it
seems,) was private, there was no open vision, that
is, there were none that were publicly known to
have visions. Perhaps, the impiety and impurity
that prevailed in the tabernacle, and, no doubt,
corrupted the whole nation, had provoked God, as
a token of his displeasure, to withdraw the Spirit
of prophecy; till the decree was gone forth for the
raising up of a more faithful priest, and then, as an
earnest of that, this faithful prophet was raised up.
The manner of God’s revealing himself to Samuel
is here related very particularly, for it was uncom¬
mon.
I. Eli was retired; Samuel had waited on him to
his bed, and the rest that attended the service of
the sanctuary, were gone, we may suppose, to their
several apartments; (v. 2.) Eli was laid down in his
place, he went to bea betimes, being unfit for busi¬
ness, and soon weary of it, and perhaps loving his
ease too well. Probably, he kept his chamber
much, which gave his sons the greater liberty.
And he sought retirement the more, because his
eyes began to wax dim, an affliction which came
justly upon him for winking at his sons’ faults.
II. Samuel was laid down to sleep, in some closet
near to Eli’s room, as his page of the back-stairs,
ready within call, if the old man should want any
thing in the night, perhaps to read to him, if he
could not sleep. He chose to take Samuel into his
office rather than any of his own family, because
of the towardly disposition he observed in him.
When his own sons were a grief to him, his little
servitor was his joy. Let those that are afflicted in
their children, thank God if they have any about
them, in whom they are comforted. Samuel was
laid down ere the lamp of God went out; ( v . 3.) it
should seem he lay somewhere so near the holy
place, that he went to bed with that light, before
any of the lamps in the branches of the candlestick
went out, (for the main lamp never went out,)
which, probably, was toward midnight; till that
time, Samuel had been employing himself in some
good exercise or other, reading and prayer, or per¬
haps cleaning or making ready the holy place; and
then went softly to his bed. Then we may expect
God’s gracious visits, vhen we are constant and
diligent in our duty.
III. God called him by name, and he took it for
Eli’s call, and ran to him, v. 4, 5. Samuel lay
awake in his bed, h's thoughts, no doubt, well em¬
ployed, (as David’s, Ps. 63. 6.) when the Lord
called to him, Bishop Patrick thinks, out of the
most holy place; and so the Chaldee paraphrase
reads it, A voice was heard out of the temple of the
Lord; but Eli, though it is likely he lay nearer,
heard it not; yet, possibly, it might come some
other way. Hereupon, we have an instance, 1. Of
Samuel’s industry, and readiness to wait on Eli;
supposing it was he that called him, he hastened out
of his warm bed, and ran to him, to see if he want
ed any thing, and perhaps fearing he was not well.
“Here am I,” said he. A good example to ser¬
vants, to come when they are called; and to the
younger, not only to submit to the elder, but to be
careful and tender of them. 2. Of his infirmity,
and unacquaintedness with the visions of the A1
mighty, that he took that to be only Eli’s call,
which was really the call of God. Such mistakes
as these we make oftener than we think of. God
calls to us by his word, and we take it to be only the
call of the minister, and answer it accordingly; calls
to us by his providences, and we look only at the
instruments. His voice cries, and it is but here and
there a man of wisdom that understands it to be his
voice. Eli assured him he did not call him, yet did
not chide him for disturbing him with being over
officious; did not call him a fool, and tell him he
dreamed, but mildly bade him lie down again, he
had nothing for him to do. If servants must be
ready at their masters’ call, masters also must be
tender of their servants’ comfort, that thy man¬
servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as
thou. So Samuel went and lay down. God calls
many by the ministry of the word, and thev say, as
Samuel did, Here am I; but not looking at God, hoi
discerning his voice in the call, the impressions of
it are soon lost; they lay down again, and their con-
victions come to nothing.
IV. The same call was repeated, and the same
mistake made, a second and third time, v. 6* *9. 1.
God continued to call the child: yet again, ( v . 6.)
and again the third time, v. 8. Note, The call
which divine grace designs to make effectual, shall
be repeated till it is so; that is, till we come at the
call, for the purpose of God, according to which we
are called, shall certainly stand. 2. Samuel was
still ignorant that it was the Lord that called him;
( v . 7.) Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He
knew the written word, and was acquainted with
the mind of God in that, but he did not yet appre¬
hend the way in which God reveals himself to his
servants the prophets, especially by a still small
voice ; this was altogether new and strange to him;
perhaps he had been sooner aware of a divine reve¬
lation, had it come in a dream or a vision ; but this
was a way he had not only not known himself, but
not heard of. Those that have the greatest know¬
ledge of divine things, must remember the time
when they were as babes, unskilful in the word of
righteousness. When I was a child, I understood as a
child. Yet let us not despise the day of small things;
Thus did Samuel , (so the margin reads itA before
he knew the Lord, and before the word of the Lord
was revealed unto Mm; thus he blundered one
time after another, but afterward he understood
better. The witness of the Spirit in the hearts of
the faithful, is often thus mistaken, by which means
they lose the comfort of it; and the strivings of the
Spirit with the consciences of sinners are likewise
often mistaken, and so the benefit of their convic¬
tions is lost: God speaketh once, yea twice, but man
perceiveth it not, Job 33. 14. 3. Samuel went to.
I. SAMUEL, III.
Eli thi§ second and third time, the voice perhaps
resembling his, and the child beng very near to
him: and he tells him with great assurance, “ Thou
didst call me; (z’. 6- *8. ) it could be no one else.”
Samuel’s disposition to come when he was called,
though by Eli, proving him dutiful and active,
?ualified him for the favour, now to be showed him;
Jod chooseth to employ such. But there was a
special providence in it, that he should go thus often
to Eli; for herebv, at length, Eli f lerceived that the
Lord had called the child, v. 8. And, (1.) This
would be a mortification to him, and he would ap¬
prehend it to be a step toward his family’s being
degraded, that when God had something to say, he
should choose to say it to the child Samuel, his ser¬
vant that waited on him, and not to him. And it
would humble him the more, when afterward he
found it was a message to himself, and yet sent him
by a child. He had reason to look upon this as a
further token of God’s displeasure. (2.) This
would put him upon inquiring what it was that God
said to Samuel, and would abundantly satisfy him of
the truth and certainty of what should be delivered,
and no room would be left for him to suggest that
it was but a fancy of Samuel’s; for before the mes¬
sage was delivered, he himself perceived that God
was about to speak to him, and yet must not know
what it is, till he had it from Samuel himself. Thus
even the infirmities and mistakes of those whom
God employs, are overruled by infinite Wisdom,
and made serviceable to his purposes.
V. At length, Samuel was put into a posture to re¬
ceive a message from God, not to be lodged with him¬
self and go no further, but that he might be a com¬
plete prophet, to be published and made an open
vision. 1. Eli, perceiving that it was the voice of
God that Samuel heard, gave him instructions what
to say, v. 9. This was honestly done; that though
it was a disgrace to him for God’s call to pass him
by, and be directed to Samuel, yet he put him in a
way how to entertain it. Had he been envious of
this honour done to Samuel, he would have done
what he could to deprive him of it, and since he
did not perceive it himself, would have bidden him
lie down and sleep, and never heed it, it was but a
dream; but he was of a better spirit than to act so;
he gave him the best advice he could, for the for¬
warding of his advancement. Thus the eldershould,
without grudging, do the utmost to assist and im¬
prove the younger that are rising up, though thev
see themselves likely to be darkened and eclipsed
by them. Let us never be wanting to inform and
instruct those that are coming after us, even such
as will soon be preferred before us, John 1. 30. The
instruction Eli gave him, was, when God called the
next time, to say, Sfieak Lord, for thy servant
heareth. He must call himself God’s servant, must
desire to know the mind of God. “ Speak, Lord,
apeak to me, speak now:” and he must prepare to
hear, and promise to attend, thy servant heareth. \
Note, Then we may expect that God will speak to
us, when we set ourselves to hearken to what he
says, Ps. 85. 8. Hab. 2. 1. When we come to read
the word of God, and to attend on the preaching of
it, we should come thus disposed, submitting our
souls to the commanding light and power of it;
Sfieak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. 2. It should
seem that God spake the fourth time, in a way
somewhat different from the other; though the call
was, at other times, a call to him by name, yet now
he stood and called; which intimates, that there
was now some visible appearance of the divine
glory to Samuel, a vision that stood before him, like
that before Eliphaz, though he could not discern
the form thereof. Job 4. 16. This satisfied him that
it was not Eli that called, for he now saiv the -voice
that sfiake with him, as it is expressed, nev. 1. 12.
Vol. ii. — 2 H
Now also the call was doubled, Samuel, Samuet,
as if God delighted in the mention of h;s name; or to
intimate that now he should be made to understand
who spake to him. God hath sfioken once, twice
have I heard this, Ps. 62. 11. It was an honour to
him, that God was pleased to know him by name;
(Exod. 33. 12.) and then his call was powerful
and effectual, when he called him bv name, and so
brought it particularly to him, as Saul, Saul. Thus
God called to Abraham by name, Gen. 22. 1. 3.
Samuel said as he was taught, Speak, for thy ser¬
vant heareth. Note, Good words should be put
into children’s mouths betimes, and apt expressions
of pious and devout affections, by which they may
be prepared for a better acquaintance with divine
things, and trained up to a holy converse with them.
Teach young people what they shall say, for they
cannot order their speech by reason of darkness.
Samuel did not now rise and run as before, when
he thought Eli called, but lay still and listened.
The more sedate and composed our spirits are, the
better prepared they are for divine discoveries.
Let all tumultuous thoughts and passions be kept
under, and every thing be quiet and serene in the
soul, and then we are fit to hear from God. All
must be silent, when he speaks. But Observe,
Samuel left out one word; he did not say, Speak,
Lord, but only, Speak, for tfiy servant heareth;
perhaps, as Bishop Patrick suggests, out of uncer¬
tainty whether it was God that spoke to him or no.
However, by this answer, Speak, for thy servant
heareth, way was made for the message he was
now to receive, and Samuel was brought acquainted
with the words of God, and visions of the Almighty;
and this ere the lamp of God went out, (z>. 3.) in
the temple of the Lord, which some of the Jewish
writers put a mystical sense upon: before the fall
of Eli, and the eclipsing of the Urim and Thum-
mim for some time thereby, God called Samuel and
made him an oracle; whence they have an observa¬
tion among their doctors, That the sun riseth , and
the sun goeth down; (Eccl. 1. 5.) that is, say they,
Ere God maketh the sun of one righteous man to
set, he makes the sun of another righteous man to
rise. Smith ex Kimchi.
1 1. And the Lord said to Samuel, Be¬
hold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which
both the ears of every one that heareth it
shall tingle. 1 2. In that day 1 will perform
against Eli all things which 1 have spoken
concerning his house : when I begin, I will
also make an end. 13. For I have told him,
that I will judge his house for ever, for the
iniquity w7hich he knoweth ; because his sons
made themselves vile, and he restrained them
not. 14. And therefore I have sworn un'o
the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s
house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor
offering for ever. 15. And Samuel lay until
the morning, and opened the doors of the
house of the Lord : and Samuel feared to
show Eli the vision. 1 6. Then Eli called Sa¬
muel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he an¬
swered, Here am I. 1 7. And he said, What
is the thing that the LORD hath said unto
thee ? I pray thee hide it not from me : God do
so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any
thing from me of all the things that he said
unto thee. 1 8. And Samuel told him every
242
1. SAMUEL, III.
whit, and hid nothing from him. And he
said, It is the Lord : let him do what
seemeth him good.
Here is,
I. The message which, after all this introduc¬
tion, God delivered to Samuel concerning Eli’s
house. God did not come to him now, to tell him
how great a man he should be in his day, what a
figure he should make, and what a blessing he
should be in Israel. Young people have commonly
a great curiosity to be told their fortune, but God
came to Samuel, net to gratify his curiosity, but to
employ him in his service, and send him on an er¬
rand to another person, which was much better;
and yet the matter of this first message, which, no
doubt, made a very great impression upon him,
might be of good use to him afterward, when his
own sons proved, though not so bad as Eli’s, yet not
so good as they should have been, ch. 8. 3.
The message is short, not near so long as that
which the man of God brought; (ch. 2. 27.) for
Samuel being a child, it could not be expected he
should remember a long message, and God consi¬
dered his frame. The memories of children must
not be overcharged, no not with divine things.
But it is a sad message, a message of wrath, to rati¬
fy the message in the former chapter; and to bind
the sentence there pronounced, because perhaps
Eli did not give so much regard to that as he ought
to have done. Divine threatenings, the less they
are heeded, the surer they will come, and the
heavier they will fall. Reference is here had to
what was there said concerning both the sin and
the punishment.
1. Concerning the sin, it is the iniquity that he
knoweth, v. 13. The man of God told him of it,
and many a time his own conscience had told him of
it O what a great deal of guilt and corruption is
there in us, concerning which we may say, “ It is
the iniquity which our own heart knoweth; we are
conscious to ourselves of it!” In short, the iniquity
was this, his sons made themselves vile, and he re¬
strained them not. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, he
frowned not ufion them. If he did show his dis¬
like of their wicked courses, yet not to that degree :
that he ought to have done: he did reprov e them,
but he did not punish them, for the mischief thev
did, nor deprive them of their power to do mischief,
which, as a father, High Priest, and judge, he j
m:ght have done. Note, (1.) Sinners do by their j
own wickedness make ’themselves vile. They de¬
bauch themselves, for every man is tempted, when
he is drawn aside of his own lusts; (Jam. 1. 14.)
and thereby they debase themselves, and make
themselves not only mean, but odious to the holy
God, and holy men and angels. Sin is a vile thing,
and vilifies men more than any thing, Ps. 15. 4.
Eli’s sons made light of God, and made his offer¬
ings vile in the people’s eyes; but the shame re¬
turned into their own bosom, they made themselves
vile. (2. ) Those that do not restrain the sins of
others, when it is in the power of their hand to do
it, make themselves partakers of the guilt, and will
be charged as accessaries. Those in authority will
have a great deal to answer for, if they make not
the sword they bear, a terror to evil workers.
2. Concerning the punishment, it is that which I
have spoken concerning his house; (v. 12. and v.
13.) I have told him, that I will judge his house
for ever; that is, that a curse should be entailed
upon his family from generation to generation. The
particulars of this curse we had before; they are
not here repeated, but it is added,
(1.) That when that sentence began to be exe¬
cuted, it would be very dreadful and amazing to all
Israel; Cu. 11.) Both the cars of every one that hears
it shall tingle. Every Israelite would be struck
with terror and astonishment, to hear of the slaying
of Eli’s sons, the breaking of Eli’s neck, and the
dispersion of Eli’s family. Lord, how terrible art
thou in thy judgments! If this be done in a green
tree, what shall be done in the drv? Note, God’s
judgments upon others should affect us with a
holy fear, Ps. 119. 120.
(2.) That these direful first-fruits of the execu¬
tion would be certain earnests of the progress and
full accomplishment of it. “ When I begin, I will
proceed, and make an end of all I have threatened,”
v. 12. It is intimated that it might, possibly, be
some time before he would begin, but let them not
call that forbearance an. acquittance, nor that re¬
prieve a pardon; for when at length he does begin,
he will make thorough work of it, and though he
stay long, he will strike home.
(3.) That no room should be left for hope that
this sentence might be reversed, and the execution
stayed or mitigated, v. 14. [1.] God would not
revoke the sentence, for he backed it with an oath;
I have sworn to the house of Eli: and God will not
go back from what he hath sworn, either in mercy
or judgment. [2.] He would never come to a com¬
position for the forfeiture. The iniquity of Eli's
house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering
for ever. No atonement shall be made lor the
sin, nor any abatement of the punishment. This
was the imperfection of the legal sacrifices, that
there were iniquities which they did not reach,
which they would not purge; but the blood of Christ
cleanses from sin, and secures all these that by
faith are interested in it, from that eternal death
which is the wages of sin.
II. The deliverer of this message to Eli. Ob¬
serve,
1. Samuel’s modest concealment of it, v. 15. (1.)
He lay till the morning, and we may well suppose
he lay awake pondering on what he had heard, re¬
peating it to himself, and considering what use he
must make of it. After we have received the spi¬
ritual food of God’s word, it is good to compose our¬
selves and give it time to digest. (2.) He opened
the doors of the house of the Lord, in the morning,
as he used to do, being up first in the tabernacle.
That he should do so at other times, was an in¬
stance of extraordinary towardliness in a child, but
that he should do so this morning, was an instance
of great humility. God had highly honoured him
above all the children of his people, yet he was not
proud of the honour, nor puffed up with it; did not
think himself too great and too good to be employ¬
ed in these mean and servile offices, but, as cheer¬
fully as ever, went and opened the doors of the
tabernacle. Note, Those whom God manifests
himself to, he makes and keeps low in their own
eyes, and willing to stoop to any thing by whch
they may be serviceable to his glory, though but as
door-keepers in his house. One would have ex¬
pected that Samuel should have been so full of his
vision, as to forget his ordinary service; that he
should have gone among his companions, as one^ in
ecstasy, to tell them what converse he had with
God this night; but he modestly keeps it to him¬
self, tells the vision to no man, but silently goes on
in his business. Our secret communion with God
is not to be proclaimed on the house tops. (3.) He
feared to show Eli the vision. If he was afraid that
Eli would be angry with him, and chide him, it will
give us cause to supect that Eli used to be as severe
with this towardly child, as he was indulgent to his
own wicked sons, and that will bear hard upon him.
But we will suppose it was rather because he was
afraid to grieve and trouble the good old man, that
he was so shy. If he had run immediatelv with
the tidings to Eli, it would have looked as if he de-
243
I. SAMI
sired the woful day, and hoped to build his own
family upon the ruin of Eli’s, therefore it became
him not to be forward to do it; no good man can
take pleasure in bringing evil tidings, especially not
Samuel to Eli, the pupil to the tutor whom he loves
and honours.
2. Eli’s careful inquiry into it; (v. 16, 17.) as
soon as ever he heard Samuel stirring, he called
for him, probably, to his bed-side; and having per¬
ceived before, that God had spoken to him, he
obliged him, not only by importunity, I /tray thee,
hide it not from me, but, finding him timorous and
backward, by an adjuration likewise, God do so to
thee , and more also, if thou hide any thing from me!
He had reason enough to fear that the message
prophesied no good concerning him, but evil; and
yet, because it was a message from God, he coidd
not contentedly be ignorant of it. A good man de¬
sires to be acquainted with all the will of God,
whether it make for him, or against him. His
adjuration, God do so to thee, if thou hide any thing
from me, may intimate the fearful doom of unfaith¬
ful watchmen; if they warn not sinners, they bring
upon themselves that wrath and curse, which they
should have denounced in God’s name, against
those that go on still in their trespasses.
3. Samuel’s faithful delivery of his message at
last; ( v . 18.) He told him every whit ; when he saw
that he must tell him, he never minced the matter,
nor offered to make it better than it was, to blunt
that which was sharp, or to gild the bitter pill, but
delivered the message as plainly and fully as he re¬
ceived it, not shunning to declare the whole counsel
of God. Christ’s ministers must deal thus faith¬
fully.
4. Eli’s pious acquiescence in it: he did not ques¬
tion Samuel’s integrity, was not cross with him, nor
had he any thing to object against the equity of the
sentence; he. did not complain of the punishment,
as Cain did, that it was greater than either he
deserved or could bear, but patiently submitted,
and accepted the punishment of his iniquity; It is
the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. He
understood the sentence to intend only a temporal
punishment, and the entail of disgrace and poverty
upon his posterity, and not a final separation of
them from the favour of God, and therefore he
cheerfully submitted; did not repine, because he
knew the demerits of his family; nor did he now
intercede for the reversing of the sentence, because
God had ratified it with a solemn oath, of which he
would not repent: he therefore composes himself
into an humble resignation to God’s will, as Aaron,
in a case not much unlike; (Lev. 10. 3. ) He held his
peace. In a few words, (1.) He lays down this
satisfying truth, “ It is the Lord; it is he that pro¬
nounces the judgment, from whose bar there lies no
appeal, and against whose sentence there lies no
exception. It is he that will execute the judgment,
whose power cannot be resisted, or justice arraign¬
ed, or sovereignty contested. It is the Lord, who
will thus sanctify and glorify himself, and it is
highly fit he should. It is the Lord, with whom
there is no unrighteousness, who never did nor ever
will do any wrong to any of his creatures, nor exact
more than their iniquity deserves.” (2.) He infers
from it this satisfying conclusion, “ Let him do what
seemeth him good; I have nothing to say against his
proceedings; he is righteous in all his ways, and
holy in all his works, and therefore his will be done.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I
have sinned against him.” Thus we ought to quiet
ourselves under God’s rebukes, and never to strive
with our Maker.
19. And Samuel grew, and the Loan
was with him, and did let none of his words
EL, IV.
fall to the ground. 20. And all Israel, from
Dan even to Beer-sheba, knew that Samuel
was established to be a prophet of the Loud.
21. And the Lord appeared again in Shi¬
loh: for the Lord revealed himself lo
Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord
Samuel being thus brought acquainted with the
visions of God, we have Lore an account of the fur¬
ther honour done him as a prophet.
1. God did him honour. Having begun to favour
him, he carried on and crowned his own work in
him; (v. 19.) Samuel grew, for the Lord was with
him. All our increase in wisdom and grace, is
owing to the presence of God with us; it is all in
all to our growth. God honoured Samuel, (1.) By
further manifestations of himself to him. Samuel
had faithfully delivered the messages he was in¬
trusted with, and therefore God employed him
again in his service; v. 21, The Lord revealed
hims If again to Samuel in Shiloh. Note, God
will graciously repeat his visits to those that receive
them aright. (2.) By fulfilling what he spake by
him; v. 19, God did let none of his words fall to
the ground; whatever Samuel said, as a prophet,
it proved true, and was acc mplished in its season.
Probably, there were some remarkable instances
of the truth of Samuel’s predictions, that happened
soon after, which confirmed those that were after¬
ward to be fulfilled, and gave general satisfaction as
to his mission. God will confirm the word of his
servants, and /inform the counsels of his messen¬
gers, (Isa. 44. 26. )'and do what he hath said.
2. Israel did him honour. They all knew, and
owned that Samuel was established to be a prophet,
v. 20. (1.) He grew famous; all that came up to
Shiloh to worship, took notice of him, and admired
him, and talked of him when they came home.
Early piety will be the greatest honour of young
people, and bring them, as much as any thing, and
as soon, into reputation. Them that honour Gcd
he will honour. (2.) He grew useful and very ser¬
viceable to his generation. He that began betimes
to be good, soon came to do good. His established
commission from God, and established reputation
with the people, gave him a great opportunity of
shining as a light in Israel. When old Eli was re¬
jected, young Samuel was established; for God will
never leave himself without a witness, nor his
church without a guide.
' CHAP, IV.
The predictions in the foregoing chapter, concerning the
ruin of Eli’s house, here begin to be fulfilled; how long
after, does not appear; but it was not long. Such sin¬
ners God often makes quick work with. Here is, 1. The
disgrace and loss Israel sustained in an encountei with
the Philistines, v. 1,2. II. Their foolish project to for¬
tify themselves, by bringing the ark of God into their
camp upon the shoulders of Hophni and Phinehas? v. 3, 4.
which made them secure, v. 5. and struck a fear into the
Philistines, but such a fear as roused them, v. 6* .9. III.
The fatal consequences of it; Israel was beaten, and the
ark taken prisoner, v. 10, 11. IV. The tidings of this
brought to Shiloh, and the sad reception of those tidings.
1. The city was put into confusion, v. 12, 13. 2. Eli
fainted away, fell, and broke his neck, v. 14. .18. 3. His
dau<rhter-in-!aw fell in labour upon it, bore a son, but
died immediately, v. 19.. 22. These were the things
which would make the ears of those that heard them, to
tingle.
1. k ND the word of Samuel came to all
J\ Israel. Now Israel went out against
the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside
Eben-ezer ; and the Philistines pitched in
214
i. SAMUEL, IV.
Aphek. 2. And the Philistines put them¬
selves in array against Israel : and when
they joined battle, Israel was smitten before
the Philistines; and they slew of the army
in the field about four thousand men. 3.
And when the people were come into the
camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore
hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the
Philistines ? Let us fetch the ark of the
covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us,
that, when it cometh among us, it may save
us out of the hand of our enemies. 4. So
the people sent to Shiloh, that they might
bring from thence the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth be -
tween the cherubims : and the two sons of
Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were. there with i
the ark of the covenant of God. 5. And
when the ark of the covenant of the Lord
came into the camp, all Israel shouted with
a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
3. And when the Philistines heard the noise
of the shout, they said, What meaneth the
noise of this great shout in the camp of the
Hebrews? And they understood that the
ark of the Lord was come into the camp.
7. And the Philistines wrere afraid ; for they
said, God is come into the camp. And they
said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been
such a thing heretofore. 8. Woe unto us!
who shall deliver us out of the hand of these
mighty Gods ? these are the Gods that smote
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the
wilderness. 9. Be strong, and quit your¬
selves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye
be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they
have been to you : quit yourselves like men,
and fight.
The first words which relate to Samuel, that
his words came to all Israel, seem not to have any
reference to the following story, as if it was by any
direction of his, that the Israelites went out against
the Philistines; had they consulted him, though
but newly initiated as a prophet, it might have
stood them in more stead than the ark did; but per¬
haps the princes of Israel despised his youth, and
would not have recourse to him as an oracle, and
he did not as yet interpose in public affairs; nor do
we find any mention of his name from henceforward,
till some years after; (c//. 7. 3.) only his word came
to all Israel; that is, people from all parts, that
were piously disposed, had recourse to him as a
Drophet, and advised with him. Perhaps, it is
meant of his prophecy against the house of Eli, that
was generally known and talked of, and all that
were serious and observing, compared the events
here related, when they came to pass, with that
prophecy, and saw it accomplished in them.
Here is,
I. A war entered into with the Philistines, v. 1.
It was an attempt to throw off the yoke of their op¬
pression, and would have succeeded better, if they
had first repented and reformed, and so begun their
work at the right end. It is computed that this
was about the middle of the forty years’ dominion
|| that the Philistines had over Israel, (Judg. 13. 1.)
|j and soon after the death of Samson; so Bishop
■ Patrick, who thinks the slaughter he made ;.t his
| death, might encourage this attempt: but Dr. L ght-
I foot reckons it forty years after Samson’s death, for
so long Eli judged, v. 18.
II. The defeat of Israel in that war, v. 2. Israel,
who were the aggressors, were smitten, and had
four thousand men killed upon the spot. God had
promised that one of them should chase a thousand;
but now it is quite the contrary, Israel is smitten be¬
fore the Phili t nes. S n, 'he accursed thing, was
in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advan¬
tage against them, they could wish for.
III. The measures they concerted for another
engagement; a council of war was called, and, in¬
stead of resolving to fast and pray, and amend their
lives, so ill taught were they, (and no wonder,
when they had such teachers,) that, 1. They quar-
j ’elled with God for appearing against them; (v. 3.)
When fore hath the Lord smitten us? If they meant
j this as an inquiry into the cause of God’s displeasure,
they needed not to go far to find that out; it was
plain enough Israel had sinned, though they were
not willing to see it and own it; but it rather seems
that they expostulate boldly with God about it, t;re
displeased at what God had done, and dispute it with
him. They own the hand of God in their trouble,
(so far was right,) “ It is the Lord that has smitten
us;” but, instead of submitting to it, they quarrel
with it, and speak as those that were angry at him
and his providence, and not aware of any just pro¬
vocation they had given him. “ Wherefore shall
we, that are Israelites, be smitten before the Philis¬
tines? How absurd and unjust is it!” Note, The
foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his
heart frets against the Lord, (Prov. 19. 3.) and
finds fault with him. 2. They imagined that they
could oblige him to appear for them the next time,
by bringing the ark into their camp. The elders of
Israel were so ignorant and foolish as to pr< pose it,
(v. 3.) and the people soon put it into execution;
(t>. 4.) they sent to Shiloh for the ark, and Eli had
not courage enough to oppose it, but sent his un¬
godly sons, Hophni and Phinehas, along with it, at
least permitted them to go, though he knew that
wherever they went, the curse of God went along
with them. Now see here, (1.) The profound
veneration they had for the ark. “ O send for
that, and that will do wonders for us.” The ark
was, by institution, a visible token of God’s pre¬
sence. ’ God had said that he would dwell between
the cherubims, which were over the ark, and were
carried along with it; now they thought that, by
paying a great respect to this sacred chest, they
should prove themselves to be Israelites indeed,
and effectually engage God Almighty to appear in
their favour. Note, It is common for those that have
estranged themselves from the vitals of religion,
to discover a great fondness for the ritual and ex¬
ternal observance of it; for those that even deny the
power of godliness, not only to have, but to have in
admiration the form of it. The temple of the Lord
is cried up, and the ark of the Lord stickled for,
with a great deal of seeming zeal, bv multitudes,
that have no regard at all for the Lord of the tem¬
ple, and the god of the ark; as if a fiery concern for
the name rf Christianity, would atone for a profane
contempt of the thing. And yet indeed they did
but make an idol of the ark, and looked upon it to
be as much an image of the God of Israel, as those
which the heathen worshipped, were of their gods.
To worship the true God, and not to worship him
as God, is, in effect, not to worship him at all. (2.)
Their egregious folly in thinking that if they had
that in their camp, it would certainly save them out
of the hands of their enemies, and bring victory back
245
I. SAMUEL, IV.
to their side. For, [1. ] When the ark set forward,
Moses prayed, Rise up Lord, and let thine enemies
be scattered; well knowing that it v'as not the ark
moving with them, but God appearing for them,
that must give them success; and here was no pro¬
per means used to engage God to favour them with
his presence; what good then would the ark do
them, the shell without the kernel? [2.] They
were so far from having God’s leave to remove his
ark, that he had plainly enough intimated to them
in his law, that when they were settled in Canaan,
his ark should be settled in the place that he should
choose, (Deut. 12. 5, 11.) and that they must come
to it, and not it to them. How then could they ex¬
pect any advantage by it, when they had not a just
and legal possession of it, nor any warrant to stir it
from its place? Instead of honouring God bv what
they did, they really affronted him. Nay, [3.] If
there had been nothing else to invalidate their ex¬
pectations from the ark, how could they expect it
should bring a blessing, when Hophni and Phinehas
were the men that brought it? It would have given
too much countenance to their villany, if the ark
had done any kindness to Israel, while it was in the
hands of those graceless priests.
IV. The great joy that was in the camp of Israel,
when the ark was brought into it; (v. 5.) they
shouted so that the earth rang- again. Now they
thought themselves sure of victory, and therefore
gave a triumphant shout before the battle, as if the
day was without fail their own, intending by this
mighty shout to animate themselves and their own
forces, and to intimidate their adversaries. Note,
Carnal people triumph much in the external pri¬
vileges and performances of religion, and build
much upon them, as if those would infallibly save
them; and as if the ark, God’s throne, in the camp,
would bring them to heaven, though the world and
the flesh be upon the throne in the heart.
V. The consternation which the bringing of the
ark into the camp of Israel put the Philistines into.
The two armies lay so near encamped, that the
Philistines heal’d the shout the Israelites gave on
this great occasion. They soon understood what it
was they triumphed in, (v. 6. ) and were afraid of
the consequences. For, 3. It had never been done
before in their days. God is come into the camp ,
and therefore woe unto us; (v. 7.) and again, woe unto
us, -v. 8. The name of the God of Israel was for¬
midable even to those that worshipped other gods,
and some apprehensions, even the infidels had, of
the danger of contending with him. Natural con¬
science suggests this, that those are in a woful con¬
dition, who have God against them; yet see what
gross notions they had of the divine presence, as if
the God of Israel was not so much in the camp be¬
fore the ark came thither; which may very well be
excused in them, since the notions the Israelites
themselves had of that presence were no better.
“ O,” say they, “this is a new design upon us,
more frightful than all their stratagems, for there
has not been such a thing heretofore; this was the
most effectual course they could take to dispirit
our men, and weaken their hands.” 2. When it
had been done in the days of old, it had wrought
wonders, v. 8, These are the gods that smote the
Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
Here they were as much out in their history as in
their divinity; the plagues of Egypt were inflicted
before the ark was made, and before Israel came
into the wilderness; but some confused traditions
they had of wonders wrought by or for Israel, when
this ark was carried before them, which they at¬
tributed, not to Jehovah, but to the ark. Now, say
they, Uho shall deliver us out of the hands of these
mighty gods ? Taking the ark for God, as well
*hey might, when the Israelites themselves idolized
it. Yet it should seem they scarcely believed
themselves, when they spoke thus formidably of
these mighty gods, but only bantered; for, instead
of retreating, or proposing conditions of peace,
which they would have done, had they been really
convinced of the power of Israel’s God, they stirred
up one another to fight so much the more stoutly;
this surprising difficulty did but sharpen their reso¬
lution; (ru 9.) Be strong and quit yourselves like
men; the commanders inspiring bold and generous
thoughts into the minds of their soldiers, when they
bid them remember how they had lorded it over Is¬
rael, and what an intolerable grief and shame it
would be, if they flinched now, and suffered Israel
to lord it over them.
10. And the Philistines fought; and Is¬
rael was smitten, and they fled every man
into his tent : and there wras a very great
slaughter ; for there fell of Israel thirty thou¬
sand footmen. 1 1. And the ark of God was
taken ; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, were slain.
Here is a short account of the issue of this battle.
I. Israel was smitten, the army dispersed, and to¬
tally routed, not retiring into the camp as before,
( v . 2.) when they hoped to rally again, but return¬
ing to their tents, every man shifting for his own
safety, and making the best of his way home, des¬
pairing to make head anv more; and thirty thousand
were slain in the field of battle, v. 10. Israel was
put to the worse, 1. Though they had the better
cause, were the people of God, and the Philistines
were uncircumcised; they stood up in necessary de¬
fence of their just rights and liberties against inva¬
ders, and yet they failed of success, for the Rock
had sold them. A good cause often suffers for the
sake of the bad men that undertake it. 2. Though
they had the greater confidence, and put a better
heart on it. They shouted while the Philistines
trembled, and yet, when God pleased so to order it,
the Philistines’ terrors were turned into triumphs,
and Israel’s shouts into lamentations. 3. Though
they had the ark of God with them. External
privileges will secure none that abuse them, and
do not live up to them. The ark in the camp will
add nothing to its strength, when there is an Achan
in it.
11. The ark itself was taken by the Philistines;
and Hophni and Phinehas, who, it is likely, kept
close to it, and when it was in danger, ventured far
in the defence of it, because by it they got their
living, were both slain, v. 11. To this sad event
the Psalmist refers; (Ps. 78. 61, 64.) He delivered
his strength into captivity, and his glory into the
enemies' hands. Their priest fell by the sword. 1.
The slaughter of the priests, considering their bad
character, was no great loss to Israel, but it was a
dreadful judgment upon the house of Eli. The
word which God had spoken, was fulfilled in it;
(r/o 2. 34.) This shall be a sign unto thee, an ear¬
nest of the judgments threatened, thy two sons shall
die both in one day, and so shall all the increase of
thy house die in the flower o f their age, v. 33. If
Eli had done his duty, and put them, as polluted,
from the priesthood, (Neh. 7. 64.) they might have
lived, though in disgrace; but now God takes
the work into his own hands, and chases them
out of the world by the sword of the uncircumcised:
The Lord is known by those judgments which he
executeth. It is true, the sword devours one as
well as another, but these were waited for of the
sword, marked for vengeance. They were out of
their place; what had they to do in the camp? When
'246
I. SAMUEL, IV.
men leave the way of their duty, they shut them¬
selves out of God’s protection. But this was not all;
they had betrayed the ark, by bringing it into dan¬
ger, without a warrant from God, and this filled
the measure of their iniquities. But, 2. The taking
of the ark was a very great judgment upon Israel,
a certain token of God’s hot displeasure against
them. Now they are made to see their folly in
trusting to their external privileges, when they had
by their wickedness forfeited them, and fancying
that the ark would save them, when God was de¬
parted from them. Now they are made to reflect,
with the utmost regret, upon their own rashness
and presumption, in bringing the ark into the camp,
and so exposing it; and wish a thousand times they
had left it where God had fixed it. Now they are
convinced that God will not be prescribed to by
vain and foolish men, and that though he has bound
us to his ark, he has not bound himself to it, but
will rather deliver it into the hands of his sworn
enenres, than suffer it to be profaned by his false
fr ends, and countenance their superstition. Let
none think to shelter themselves from the wrath of
God, under the cloak of a visible profession, for
there will be those cast into utter darkness, that
have eaten and drunken in Christ's presence.
12. And there ran a man of Benjamin
out of the army, and came to Shiloh the
same day, with his clothes rent, and with
earth upon his head. 13. And when he
came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the way-
side, watching : for his heart trembled for
the ark of God. And when the man came
into the city, and told it, all the city cried
out. 1 i. And when Eli heard the noise of
the crying, he said, What, meaneth the noise
of this tumult? And the man came in
hastily, and told Eli. 15. Now Eli was
ninety and eight years old ; and his eyes
were dim, that he could not see. 16. And
the man said unto Eli, I mn he that came
out of the army, and I fieri to-day out of the
army. And he said, What is there done,
my son? 17. And the messenger answered
and said, Israel is fled before the Philis¬
tines ; and there hath been also a great
slaughter among the people ; and thy two
sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead ;
and the ark of God is taken. 18. And it
came lo pass, when he made mention of the
ark of God, that he fell from off the seat
backward, by the side of the gate ; and his
neck brake, and he died ; for he was an old
man, and heavy : and he had judged Israel
forty years.
Tidings are here brought to Shiloh of the fatal
issue of their battle with the Philistines. Ill news
flies fast. This soon spread tin- ugh all Israel,
every man that fled to his tent, brought it with too
p’ain a proof of it, to his neighbours: but noplace
was so nearly concerned as Shiloh, thither there¬
fore an express posted away immediately; as it was
a man of Benjam’n, the Jews funev it was Saul; he
rent his clothes, and put earth upon his head; by
these signs to proclaim to all that saw him as he
ran, the sorrowful news, and to show how much
himself was affected with it, v. 12. He went straight
to Shiloh with it; and here we are told,
I. How the city received it. Eli sat in the gate,
v. 13, 18. but the messenger was loath to tell h m
first, and therefore passed him by, and told it in the
city, with all the aggravating circumstances; and
now both the ears of every one that heard it, tingled ,
as was foretold; ch. 3. 11. their hearts trembled,
and every face gathered blackness. All the city
cried out, v. 13. and well they might; for besides
that this was a calamity to all Israel, it was a par¬
ticular loss to Shiloh, and the ruin of that place.
For though the ark was soon rescued out of the
hands of the Philistines, yet it never returned to
Shiloh again; their candlestick was remo\ed out of
its place, because they had left their first love, and
their city dwindled, and sunk, and came to nothing.
Now God forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, they
having driven him from them; and the tribe of
Ephraim, which had for three hundred and forty
years been blessed with the presence of the ark in
it, lost the honour, (Ps. 78. 60, 67.) and, some time
after, it was transferred to the tribe of Judah, the
mount Zion which he loved, as it follows there, v.
68. because the men of Shiloh knew not the day of
their visitation. This abandoning of Shiloh, Jeru¬
salem is long after reminded rf, and bid to take
warning by, Jer. 7. 12, Go see what I did to Shi¬
loh. From this day, this fatal day, let the desola¬
tions of Shiloh be dated; they had therefore reason
enough to cry out when they heard that the ark
was taken.
II. What a fatal blow it was to old Eli. Let us
see,
1. With what fear he expected the tidings.
Though old, and blind, and heavy, yet he could not
keep his chamber, when he was sensible the glory
of Israel lay at stake, but placed himself by the
way-side, to receive the first intelligence; for his
heart trembled for the ark of God, v. 13. His care¬
ful thoughts represented to him, what a dishonour
it would be to God, and what an irreparable loss to
Israel, if the ark fell into the Philistines’ hands:
with what profane triumphs it would be told in
Gath, and published in the streets of Ashkelon.
He also apprehends what imminent danger there
was of it; Israel had forfeited the ark, (his own
sons especially,) and the Philistines would aim at
it; and now the threatening comes to his mind, that
he should see an enemy in God's habitation; ch. 2.
32. and perhaps his own heart reproached him for
not using his authority, to prevent the carrying of
the ark into the camp; all these things made him
tremble. Note, All good men lay the interest of
God’s church nearer their hearts, than any secular
interest or concern of their own, and cannot but be
in pain and fear for them, if, at any time, they are
in peril. How can we be easy, if the ark be not
safe?
2. With what grief he received the tidings.
Though he could not see, he could hear the tumult
and crying of the city, and perceived it to be the
voice of lamentation and mourning and woe; like a
careful magistrate, he asks, What mearis the noise
of this tumult? v. 14. He is told, there is an ex¬
press come from the army, who relates the story to
him very distinctly, and with great confidence,
having himself been an eye-witness of it, v. 16, 17.
The account of the defeat of the army, and the
slaughter of a great number of the soldiers, was
very grievous to him as a judge; the tidings of the
death of his two sons, to whom he had been so in¬
dulgent, and who, he had reason to fear, died im¬
penitent, touched him in a tender part as a father,
yet it was not for these that his heart trembled,
there is a greater concern upon his spirit, which
swallows up the lesser. He does n( t interrupt the
247
1. SAMFEL, IV.
narrative with any passionate exclamations for his
sons, like David for Absalom, but waits for the end
of the story, not doubting but that the messenger,
being an Israelite, would, without being asked, say
something of the ark; and if he could but have said,
“ Yet the ark of God is safe, and we are bringing
that home,” his joy for that would hat e overcome
nis grief for all the other disasters, and have made
him easy; but when the messenger concludes his
story with, The ark of God is taken, he is struck to
the heart, his spirits fail, and, it should seem, he
swooned away, fell off his seat, and partly with the
fainting, and partly with the fall, he died imme¬
diately, and never spoke a word more. His heart
was broken first, and then his neck. So fell the
High Priest and judge of Israel, so fell his heavy
head, when he had lived within two of a hundred
years; so fell the crown from his head when he had
judged Israel about forty years; thus did his sunset
under a cloud, thus were the folly and wickedness
of those sons of his, whom he had indulged, his ruin
at last. Thus does God sometimes set marks of
his displeasure upon good men in this life, who have
misconducted themselves, that others may hear,
and fear, and take warning. A man may die mise¬
rably, and yet not die eternally; may come to an
untimely end, and yet the end be peace. Dr.
Lightfoot observes, that Eli died the death of an un¬
redeemed ass, whose neck was to be broken, Ex-
od. 13. 13. Here we must observe, to Eli’s praise,
that it was the loss of the ark, that was his death,
and not the slaughter of his sons. He does, in
effect, say, “Let me fall with the ark;” for what
gious Israelite can live with any comfort when
lod’s ordinances are removed? Farewell all in
this world, even life itself, if the ark be gone.
19 And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas1
wife, was with child, near to be delivered :
and when she heard the tidings, that the
ark of God was taken, and that her father-
in-law and her husband were dead, she
bowed herself and travailed ; for her pains
came upon her. 20. And about the time of
her death, the women that stood by her said
unto her, Fear not, for thou hast borne a
son. But she answered not, neither did she
regard it. 21. And she named the child
[-chabod, saying, The glory is departed
from Israel : (because the ark of God was
taken, and because of her father-in-law and
her husband :) 22. And she said, The glory
is departed from Israel ; for the ark of God
is taken.
We have here another melancholy story that
carries on the desolations of Eli’s house, and the
sorrowful feeling which the tidings of the ark’s cap¬
tivity excited. It is concerning the wife of Phine¬
has, one of those ungrateful sons of Eli, that had
brought all this mischief on Israel. It cost her her
life, though young, as well as her father-in-law,
that was old; for many a green head, as well
as many a hoary head, has been brought by sorrow
to the grave; it worketh death.
By what is here related of her, it appears,
I. That she was a woman of a very tender spirit.
Providence so ordered it, that, just at this time, she
was near her time; and our Saviour hath said, U'oe
to them that are with child, or give sack in such days
as these, Matth. 24. 19. So little joy will there
then be ;n the birth, even of a man child, that it
will be said, Blessed are the wombs that bare not,
Luke 23. 29. The amazing news coming at this
unhappy juncture, it put her into labour, as great
frights or other strong passions sometimes do.
When she heard of the death of her father-in-law
whom she reverenced, and her husband whom, bad
as he was, she loved, but especially of the loss of
the ark, she travailed, for her fains came thick upon
her; v. 19. and the tidings so seized her spirits, at a
time when they needed all possible supports, that
though she had strength to bear the child, she,
soon after, fainted and died away, being very willing
to let life go, when she had lost the greatest com¬
forts of her life. Those who are drawing near
to that needful hour, have need to treasure up for
themselves comforts from the covenant of grace, to
balance, not only the usual sorrows, but any thing
extraordinary that may add to the grief which they
do not foresee. Faith, at such a time, will keep
from fainting, Ps. 27. 13.
II. That she was a woman of a very gracious
spirit, though matched to a wicked husband. Her
concern for the death of her husband, and father-in-
law, was an evidence of her natural affection ; but her
much greater concern for .the loss of the ark, was
an evidence of her pious and devout affection to
God and sacred things. The former helped th
hasten her travail, but it appears by her dying
words, that the latter lay nearer her heart; (t>. 22.)
She said, The glory is departed from Israel; not
lamenting so much the sinking of that particular
family to which she was related, as the general ca¬
lamity of Israel in the captivity of the ark. This,
this was it, that was her grief, that was her death.
1. This made her regardless of her child. The
women that attended her, who, it is likely, were
some of the first rank in the city, encouraged her,
and, thinking that her concern was mostly about the
issue of her pains, when the child was born, said
unto her. Fear not, now the worst is past, for thou
hast borne a son, (and perhaps it was her first¬
born,) but she answered not, neither did she regard
it. The sorrows of her travail, if she had had no
other, would have been forgotten, for joy that a
man child was born into the world, John 16. 21.
But what is that joy, (1.) To one that feels herself
dying? No joy but that which is spiritual and di¬
vine, will stand us in any stead then; death is too
serious a thing to admit the relish of an earthly joy,
it is all flat and sapless then. (2. ) What is it to one
that is lamenting the loss of the ark? Small com¬
fort could she "have of a child born in Israel, in
Shiloh, when the ark is gone, and is a prisoner in
the land of the Philistines. What pleasure can we
I take in our creature-comforts and enjoyments, if we
1 want God’s word and ordinances, especially if we
want the comfort of his gracious presence, and the
light of his countenance? As vinegar upon nitre,
so is he that sings songs, to such heavy hearts.
2. This made her give her child a name which
should perpetuate the remembrance of the calami¬
ty, and her sense of it. She has nothing to say to
the child, only it being her province, now that her
husband was dead, to name the child, she orders
them to call it I-chabod, that is, Where is the glory "I
Or, Alas for the glory! or, There is no glory; (v.
21.) which she thus explains with her dying lips,
(v. 22.) “ The glory is departed from Israel; for
the ark of Go,d is taken. Call the child inglorious,
for so he is; the beauty of Israel is gone, and there
appears no hope of ever retrieving it; never let the
name of an Israelite, much less a priest, carry glory
in it any more, now that the ark is taken.” Note,
(1. ) The purity and plenty of God’s ordinances, and
the tokens of his presence in them, are the glory
of anv people, much more so than their wealth and
trade and interest among the nations. (2.‘) Nothing
is more cutting, more killing, to a faithful Israelite,
I. SAMUEL. V.
2-4. t
than the want and loss of these. If God go, the
glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us, if he
depart!
CHAP. V.
It is now time to inquire what is become of the ark of
God ; we cannot but think that we shall hear more of
that sacred treasure. I should have thought that the
next news would have been, that all Israel, from Dan to
Beer-sheba, had gathered together as one man, with a
resolution to bring it back, or die in the attempt: but
we find not any motion made of that kind, so little was
there of zeal or courage left among them. Nay, we do
not find that they desired a treaty with the Philistines
about the ransom of it, or offered any thing in lieu of it;
“ It is gone, and let it go.” Many have softness enough
to lament the loss of the ark, that have not hardness
enough to take one step toward the recovery of it, any
more than Israel here. If the ark will help itself, it may,
for they will not help it. Unworthy they were of the
name of Israelites, that could thus tamely part with the
glory of Israel. God would therefore take the work
into his own hands and plead his own cause, since men
would not appear for him. We are told in this chapter.
I. How the Philistines triumphed over the ark, (v 1, 2.)
and, II. How the ark triumphed over the Philistines. 1.
Over Dagon their god, v. 3. .5. 2. Over the Philistines
themselves, who were sorely plagued with emerods, and
made weary of the ark; the men of Ashdod first, (v. 6,
7.) then the men of Gath, (v. 8, 9.) and, lastly, those of
Ekron, which forced them at length upon a resolution to
send the ark back to the land of Israel ; for when God
judges, he will overcome.
1. k ND the Philistines took the ark of
J\. God, and brought it front Eben-
ezer unto Ashdod. 2. When the Philis¬
tines took the ark of God, they brought it
into the house of Dagon, and set it by Da¬
gon. 3. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, behold, Dagon ivas
fallen upon his face to the earth before the
ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon,
and set him in his place again. 4. And
when they arose early on the morrow morn¬
ing, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the ground before the ark of the Lord ;
and the head of Dagon and both the palms
of his hands were cut off upon the thresh¬
old; only the stump of Dagon was left to
him. 5. Therefore neither the priests of
Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s
house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in
Ashdod unto this day.
Here is,
I. The Philistines’ triumph over the ark, which
they were the more pleased, the more proud, to be
now masters of, because, before the battle, they
were possessed with a great fear of it, ch. 4. 7.
When they had it in their hands, God restrained
them, that they did not offer any violence to it; did
not break it to pieces, as the Israelites were order¬
ed to do by the idols of the heathen, but showed
some respect to it, and carefully carried it to a
place of safety. Whether their curiosity led them
to open it, and to read what was written with the
finger of God on the two tables of stone that were
in it, we are not told; perhaps they looked no fur¬
ther than the golden outside, and the cherubims
that covered it, like children that are more affected
with the fine binding of their Bibles than with the
precious matter contained in them. They car¬
ried it to Ashdod, one of their fiv e cities, arid that
m which Dagon’s temple was; there they placed
the ark of God, by Dagon, v. 2. Either, 1. As a
sacred thing, which they designed to pay some re¬
ligious respect to, in conjunction with Dagon; for
the gods of the heathen were never looked upon as
averse to partners. Though the nations would not
change their gods, yet they would multiply them,
and add to them. But they were mistaken in the
God of Israel, when, in putting his ark by Dagon’s
image, they intended to do him honour; for he is
not worshipped at all, if he be not worshipped
alone. The Lord our God is one Lord. Or, rather,
2. They placed it there as a trophy of victory, in
honour of Dagon their god, to whom, no doubt, they
intended to oner a great sacrifice, as they had done
when they had taken Samson; (Judg. 16. 23, 24.)
boasting, that as then they had triumphed over
Israel’s champion, so now over Israel’s God. What
a reproach was this to God’s great name ! What a
disgrace to the throne of his glory! Shall the ark,
the symbol of God’s presence, be a prisoner to Da¬
gon, a dunghill-deity: So it is, because God will
show of how little account the ark of the covenant
is, if the covenant itself be broken and neglected;
even sacred signs are not things that either he is
tied to, or we can trust to. So it is for a time, that
God may ha\ e so much the more glory, in reckon¬
ing with those that thus affront him, and get him
honour upon them. Having punished Israel that
betrayed the ark, by giving it into the hands of the
Philistines, he will next de 1 with those that abused
it, and will fetch it out of their hands again. Thus
even the wrath of man shall praise him; and he is
bringing about his own glory, even then when he
seems to neglect it, Ps. 76. 10. Out of the eater
shall come forth meat.
II. The ark’s triumph o\ er Dagon. Once and
again, Dagon was made to fall before it. If they
designed to do honour to the ark, God hereby
showed that he valued not their honour, nor would
he accept it, for he will be worshipped, not with
any god, but above all gods. He owes a shame (as
Bishop Hall expresses it) to those who will be mak¬
ing matches betwixt himself and Belial. But they
really designed to affront it; and though, for some
hours, Dagon stood by the ark, and, it is likely,
stood above it, (the ark at its footstool,), yet, the
next morning, when the worshippers of Dagon
came to pay their devotions to his shrine, thev
found their triumphing short, Job 20. 5.
1. Dagon, that is, the image, for that was all the
god, was fallen upon his face to the earth before the
ark, v. 3. God had seemed to forget his ark; but
see how the psalmist speaks of his appearing, at
last, to vindicate his own honour. When he had
delivered his strength into captivity, and all seemed
going to ruin, then the Lord awaked as one out of
sleep, and like a mighty man that shovteth by rea¬
son of wine, Ps. 78. 65. And therefore he pre¬
vented the utter desolations of the Jewish church,
because he feared the wrath of the enemy, Deut.
32. 26, 27. Great care was taken in setting up the
images of their gods, to fix them; (the prophet
takes notice of it, Isa. 41. 7. He fastened it with
nails, that it should nor be moved; and again, ch.
46. 7.) and yet Dagon’s fastenings stood him in no
stead; the ark of God triumphs over him upon his
own dunghill, in his own temple; down he comes
before the ark, directly towards it, (though the ark
was set on one side of him,) as it were, pointing to
the conqueror, to whom he is constrained to yield
and do obeisance. Note, The kingdom of Satan
will certainly fall before the kingdom of Christ,
error before truth, profaneness before godliness,
and corruption before grace in the hearts of the
faithful. When the interests of religion seem to be
run down, and ready to sink, yet even then we mav
be confident that the day of their triumph will
I
249
]. SAMUEL, V.
come. Great is the truth, and will prevail. Da-
gon, by falling prostrate before the ark of God,
which was a posture of adoration, did, as it were,
direct his worshippers to pay their homage to the
God of Israel, as greater than all gods. See Exod.
18. 11.
2. The priests that found their idol on the floor,
make all the haste they can, before it be known, to
set him in his place again. A sorry silly thing to
make a god of, which, when he was down, wanted
help to get up again; and sottish wretches those
were, that could pray for help from that idol that
needed, and, in effect, implored, their help. How
could they attribute their victory to the power of
Dagon, when Dagon himself cannot keep his own
ground before the ark? But they are resolved Da¬
gon shall be their god still, and therefore set him up
in his place. Bishop Hall observes hence, It is just
with God, that those who want grace, shall want
wit too; and it is in the power of superstition to turn
men into the stocks and stones they worship. 7 'hey
that make them , are like unto them. What is it
that the great upholders of the anti-christian king¬
dom are doing at this day, but heaving Dagon up,
and labouring to set him in his place again, and
healing the deadly wound that has been given to
the beast; but if the reformation be the cause of
God, before which it has begun to fall, it shall not
prevail, but shall surely fall before it.
3. The next night Dagon fell the second time, v.
4. They rose early, either, as usual, to make their
addresses to their god, or earlier than usual, being
impatient to know whether Dagon had kept his
standing this night; and, to their great confusion,
they find his case now worse than before; whether
the matter of which the image was made, was apt
to break or no, so it was, that the head and hands
were cut off from the threshold. So that nothing
remained but the stump, or, as the margin reads it,
the Jisliy part of Dagon; for (as many learned men
conjecture) the upper part of this image was in a
human shape, the lower, in the shape of a fish; as
mermaids are painted. Such strong delusions were
idolaters given up to, so vain were they in their
imaginations, and so wretchedly darkened were
their foolish hearts, as to worship the images, not
only of creatures, but of nonentities, the mere fig¬
ments of fancy. Well, the mis-shapen monster is
by this fall made to appear, (1.) Very ridiculous,
and worthy to be despised. An admirable figure
Dagon made now, when the fall had anatomized
him, and showed how the human part and the fishy
part were artificially put together, which, perhaps,
the ignorant devotees had been made to believe was
done by miracle. (2. ) Very impotent, and unwor¬
thy to be prayed to, or trusted to; for his losing of
his head and hands, proved him utterly destitute
both of wisdom and power, and for ever disabled
either to advise or act for them. This they got by
setting Dagon in his place again; they had better
have let him alone when he was down. But thev
can speed no better, that contend with God, and
will set up that which he is throwing down, Mai.
1. 4. God, by this, magnified his ark and made it
honourable, then when they vilified and made it
contemptible. He also showed what will be the
end of all that which is set up in opposition to him;
Gird yourselves, but ye shall be broken to pieces,
Isa. 8. 9.
4. The threshold of Dagon’s temple was ever
after looked upon as sacred, and not to be trodden
on, v. 5. Some think that reference is had to this
superstitious usage of Dagon’s worshippers, (Zeph.
1. 9.) where God threatens to punish those, who, in
imitation of them, leaped over the threshold. ■ One
would hav e thought that this incontestable proof of
the ark’s victorv over Dagon, should have convinc-
VOL. II. — 2 I
ed the Philistines of their folly in worshipping such
a senseless thing, and that from henceforward they
should have paid their homage to the Conqueror;
but, instead of being reformed, they were hardened
in their idolatry, and, as evil men and seducers are
wont to do, became worse and worse, 2 Tim. 3. 13.
Instead of despising Dagon, for the threshold’s sake
that beheaded him, they are almost ready to wor¬
ship the threshold, because it was the block on
which he was beheaded; and will never set their
feet on that on which Dagon lost his head; shaming
those who tread under foot the blood of the cove¬
nant, and trample on things truly sacred. Yet this
piece of superstition would help" to perpetuate the
remembrance of Dagon’s disgrace; for, with the
custom, the reason would be transmitted to posteri¬
ty, and the children that should be born, inquiring
why the threshold of Dagon’s temple must not be
trodden on, would be told, that Dagon fell before
the ark of the Lord. Thus God would have ho¬
nour, even out of their superstition. We are not
told that they repaired the broken image; it is pro¬
bable that they got the ark of God away first, and
then they patched it up again, and set it in its place;
for, it seems they cannot deliver their souls, nor
say, Is there not a lie in our right hand? Isa. 44. 20.
6. But the hand of the Lord was heavy
upon them of Ashdod; and he destroyed
them, and smote them with emerods, even
Ashdod, and the coasts thereof 7. And
when the men of Ashdod saw- that it teas so,
they said, The ark of the God of Israel
shall not abide with us : for his hand is sore
upon us, and upon Dagon our god. S.
They sent, therefore, and gathered all the
lords of the Philistines unto them, and said,
What shall we do with the ark of the God
of Israel ? And they answered, Let the
ark of the God of Israel be carried about
unto Gath. And they carried the ark of
the God of Israel about thither. 9. And it
was so , that, after they had carried it about,
the hand of the Lord was against the city
with a very great destruction : and he smote
the men of the city, both small and great,
and they had emerods in their secret parts.
10. Therefore they sent the ark of God to
Ekron. And it came to pass* as the ark of
God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites
cried out, saying, They have brought about
the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay
us and our people. 11. So they sent and
gathered together all the lords of the Philis¬
tines, and said, Send away the ark of the
God of Israel, and let it go again to his own
place, that it slay us not, and our people :
for there was a deadly destruction through¬
out all the city; the hand of God was very
heavy there. 12. And the men that died
not were smitten with the emerods: and the
cry of the city w ent up to heaven.
The downfall of Dagon (if the people had made
a good use of it, and had been brought by it to re
pent of their idolatries, and to humble themselves
before the God of Israel, and seek his face) might
have prevented the vengeance which God here
' 250
1. SAMUEL, VI.
proceeds to take upon them for the indignities done
to his ark, and their obstinate adherence to their
idol, in defiance of the plainest conviction: Lord ,
when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but
they shall see, Isa. 26. 11. And if they will not see
the glory, they shall feel the weight, of God’s hand,
for so the Philistines did; The hand of the Lord was
heavy upon them ; (y. 6.) and he not only convinced
them of their folly, but severely chastised their in¬
solence.
1. He destroyed them, that is, cut many of them
off by sudden death, those, we may suppose, that
had most triumphed in the captiv ity of the ark.
This is distinguished from the disease with which
others were smitten. At Gath, it is called a great
destruction, {v. 9.) a deadly destruction, v. 11.
And it is expressly said, (y. 12. ) that those who
were smitten with the emerods, were the men that
died not by the other destruction, which, probably,
was the pestilence. They boasted of the great
slaughter which their sword had made among the
Israelites, ch. 4. 10. But God lets them know that
though he does not see fit to draw Israel’s sword
against them, (they were unworthy to be employed,)
yet God had a sword of his own, with which he
could make a no less dreadful execution among
them, which if he whet, and his hand take hold on
judgment, he will render vengeance to his enemies,
Deut. 32. 41, 42. Note, Those that contend with
God, his ark, and his Israel, will infallibly be ruin¬
ed by it at last. If conviction conquer not, destruc¬
tion shall.
2. Those that were destroyed, he smote with
emerods, (v. 6.) in their secret parts, (y. 9.) so
grievous, th at (y. 12.) the cry went up to heaven ;
that is, it might be heard a great way off; and per¬
haps, in the extremity of their pain and misery,
they cried, not to Dagon, but to the God of heaven.
The psalmist, speaking of this sore judgment upon
the Philistines, describes it thus, that God smote his
enemies in the hinder parts, and put them to a per¬
petual reproach, Ps. 78. 66. God threatens the
emerods among the judgments that would be the
fruit of the curse, Deut. 28. 27. It was both a
pa nful and shameful disease; a vile disease for vile
deserts; by it God would humble their pride, and
put contempt upon them, as they had done upon
his ark. The disease was epidemical, and, perhaps,
among them, a new disease. Ashdod was smitten,
and the coasts thereof; the country round. For
contempt of God’s ordinances, many are weak and
sick, and many sleep, 1 Cor. 11. 30.
3. The men of Ashdod were soon aware that it
was the hand of God, the God of Israel, v. 7. Thus
they were constrained to acknowledge his power
and dominion, and themselves within his jurisdiction,
and yet they would not renounce Dagon, and sub¬
mit to him; but rather, now that he touched their
bone and their flesh, and in a tender part, they were
ready to curse him to his face; and, instead of
making their peace with him, and courting the stay
of his ark upon better terms, they desired to get
clear of it, as the Gadarenes, who, when they had
lost their swine, desired Christ to depart out of the
coasts. Carnal hearts, when they smart under the
judgments of God, would rather, if it were possi¬
ble, put him far from them, than enter into covenant
and communion with him, and make him their
friend. Thus the men of Ashdod resolve, The ark
of the God of Israel shall not abide with us.
4. It is resolved to change the place of its impri¬
sonment. A great council was called, and the ques¬
tion proposed to all the lords was, “ What shall we
do with the ark?” And, at last, it was agreed, that
it should be carried to Gath, v. 8. Some super¬
stitious conceit they had, that the fault was in the
place, and that the ark would be better pleased
with another lodging, further off from Dagon’s tem¬
ple; and therefore, instead of returning u, as they
should have done, to its own place, they contrive to
send it to another place. Gath is pitched upon, a
place famed for a race of giants, but their strength
and stature are no fence aga.nst the pestilence and
the emerods; the men of that city were smitten,
both small and great, (y. 9.), both dwarfs and giants;
all alike to God’s judgments; none so great as to
overtop them, none s ' small as to be overlooked
by them.
5. They were all, at last, weary of the ark, and
very willing to be rid of it. It was sent from Gath
to Ekron, and, coming by order of council, the
Ekromtes could not refuse it, but were much ex¬
asperated against their great men for sending them
such a fatal present; ( y . 10.) They have sent it to
us, to slay us and our people. The ark had the
tables of the law in it; and nothing more welcome
to faithful Israelites than the word of God; to them
it is a savour of life unto life: but to uncircumcised
Philistines, that persist in enmity to God, nothing
more dreadful or unwelcome; to them it is a savour
of death unto death. A general assembly is in¬
stantly called, to advise about sending the ark again
to its own place, v. 11. While they are consulting
about it, the hand of God is doing execution; and
their contrivances to evade the judgment, does but
spread it; many drop down dead among them,
many more are raging ill of the emerods, v. 12.
What shall they do? Their triumphs in the cap¬
tivity of the ark are soon turned into lamentations,
and they are hs eager to quit it as ever they had
been to seize it. Note, God can easily make Jeru¬
salem a burthensome stone to all that heave at it,
Zech. 12. 3. Those that fight against God, will
soon have enough of it, and, first or last, will be
made to know that none ever hardened their hearts
against him, and prospered. The wealth that is
got by fraud and injustice, especially by sacrilege,
that is, robbing God, though swallowed greedily,
and rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel,
must be vomited up again; for till it be, the sinner
shall not feel quietness in his belly, Job 20. 15 . . 20.
CHAP. VI
In this chapter we have the return ol‘ the ark to the land of
Israel, whither we are now gladly to attend it, and ob¬
serve, I. How the Philistines dismissed it, by the advice
of their priests, (v. 1 . . 11.) with rich presents, to the
God of Israel, to make an atonement for their sin (v.
3. . 5.) and yet with a project to bring it back, unless
Providence directed the kine, contrary to their inclina¬
tions, to go to the land of Israel, v. 8, 9. II. How the
Israelites entertained it. 1. With great joy, and sacri¬
fices of praise, v. 12. . 18. 2. With an over-bold curi¬
osity to look into it, for which many of them were struck
dead, the terror of which moved them to send it forward
to another city, v. 19. . 21.
1. A ND the ark of the Lord was in the
f\ . country of the Philistines seven
months. 2. And the Philistines called for
the priests and the diviners, saying, What
shall we do to the ark of the Lord ? tell us
wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3.
And they said, If ye send away the ark of
the God of Israel, send it not empty; but
in any wise return him a trespass-offering:
then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known
to you why his hand is not removed from
you. 4. Then said they, What shall he the
trespass-offering which we shall return to
him? They answered, Five golden erne-
J. SAMUEL. VI. 251
rods, and five golden mice, according to the
number of the lords of the Philistines : for
one plague was on you all, and on your
lords. 5. Wherefore ye shall make images
of your emerods, and images of your mice
that mar the land ; and ye shall give glory
unto the God of Israel ; peradventure he
will lighten his hand from off you, and from
off your gods, and from off your land. 6.
Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts,
as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened
their hearts ? When he had wrought won¬
derfully among them, did they not let the
people go, and they departed '? 7. Now
therefore make a new cart, and take two
milch kine on which there hath come no
yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring
their calves home from them : 8. And take
the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the
cart : and put the jewels of gold, which ve
return him for a trespass-offering, in a coffer
by the side thereof ; and send it away, that
it may go. 9. And see, if it goeth up bv the
way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then
he hath done us this great evil : but if not,
then we shall know that it is not his hand
that smote us ; it was a chance that hap¬
pened to us.
The first words of the chapter tell us how long
the captivity of the ark continued — it was in the
country of the Philistines seven months. In the
field, of the Philistines; so it is in the original; from
which some gather that, having tried it in all their
cities, and found it a plague to the inhabitants of
each, at length, they sent it into the open fields,
upon which, mice sprang up out of the ground in
great multitudes, and destroyed the corn which was
now nearly ripe, and marred the land. With
that judgment they were plagued, (v. 5.) and yet
it is not mentioned in the foregoing chapter; so God
let them know, that, wherever they carried the
ark, so long as they carried it captive, they should
find it a curse to them. Cursed shall thou be in
the city, and cursed in the field, Deut. 28. 16. But
most take it to signify, as we render it, The country
of the Philistines. Now, 1. Seven months Israel
was punished with the absence of the ark, that
special token of God’s presence. How bare did
the tabernacle look without it! How was the holy
city now a desolation, and the holy land a wilder¬
ness! A melancholy time, no doubt, it was, to the
good people among them, particularly Samuel; but
they had this to comfort themselves with, as we
have in the like distress, when we are deprived of
the comfort of ‘public ordinances, that, wherever
the ark is, the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's
throne is in heaven, and by faith and prayer we
may have access with boldness to him there. We
may have God nigh unto us, when the ark is at a
distance. 2. Seven months the Philistines were
punished with the presence of the ark; so long it
was a plague to them, because they would not send
it home sooner. Note, Sinners lengthen out their
own miseries, by obstinately refusing to part with
their sins. Egypt’s plagues had been fewer than
ten, if Pharaoh’s heart had not been hardened not
to let the people go.
But at length it is determined the ark must, be
sent back, there is no remedy, they are undone if
1 they detain it.
I. The priests and the diviners are consulted
about it, v. 2. They were supposed to be best ac¬
quainted both with the rules of wisdom, and with
the rites of worship and atonement. And the Is¬
raelites being their neighbours, and famed above all
people for the institutions of their religion, they had,
no doubt, the curiosity to acquaint themselves with
their laws and usages; and therefore it was proper
to ask them, What shall we do to the ark of Jeho ■
vah? All nations have had regard to their priests,
as the men whose lips keep knowledge. Had the
Philistines diviners? We have divines, cf whom we
should inquire, wherewith we shall come before the
Lord, and bow ourselves before the most high God.
II. They give their advice very fully, and seem
to be very unanimous in it. It was a wonder they
did not, as friends to their country, give it, ex
officio — officially, before they were asked.
1. They urge it upon them, that it was abso¬
lutely necessary to send the ark back, from the ex¬
ample of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, v. 6. Some,
it may be, were loath to yield, and were willing to
try it out with the ark a while longer, and to them
they apply themselves: Wherefore do ye harden
your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did?
It seems they were well acquainted with the Mosaic
history, and could cite precedents out of it. This
good use we should make of the remaining records
of God’s judgments upon obstinate sinners, we
should by them be warned, not to harden our hearts
as they did. It is much cheaper learning by other
people’s experience than by our own. The Egyp¬
tians were forced at last to let Israel go, theref ’ e
let the Philistines yield in time to let the ark gc.
2. They advise, that, when they sent it back,
they should send a trespass-offering with it, v. 3.
Whatever the gods of other nations were, they
knew that the God of Israel was a jealous God, and
how strict he was in his demands of sin-offerings, and
trespass-offerings, from his own people; and there¬
fore, since they found how highly he resented the
affront of holding his ark captive, they with whom
he had such a quarrel, must in anywise return him
a trespass-offering ; and they could not expect to be
healed upon any other terms. Injured justice de¬
mands satisfaction; so far natural light instructed
men; but when they began to contrive what that
satisfaction should be, they became wretchedly vain
in their imaginations. But those, who, by wilful
sin, have imprisoned the truth in unrighteousness,
(as the Philistines did the ark,) Rom. 1. 18. may
conclude that there is no making of their peace with
him whom they have thus injured, but by a sin-of¬
fering; and we know but one that can take away sin.
9. They direct, that this trespass-offering should
be an acknowledgment of the punishment of their
iniquity; by which they might take shame to them¬
selves as conquered and yielding, and guilty before
God, and might give glory to the God of Israel, as
their mighty Conqueror; and most just Avenger, i
5. They must make images of the emerods, that
is, of the swellings and sores with which they had
been afflicted; so making the reproach of that
shameful disease perpetual by their own act and
deed; (Ps. 78. 66.) also images of the mice that had
marred the land, owning thereby the almighty power
of the God of Israel, who could chastise and humble
them, even in the day of their triumph, by such
small and despicable animals. These images must
be made of gold, the most precious metal, to inti¬
mate that they would gladly purchase their peace
with the God of Israel at any rate, and would not
think it bought too dear with gold, with much fine
gold. The golden emerods must be, in number,
five, according to the number of the lords, who, it
26 2
I. SAMUEL, VI.
is likely, were all afflicted with them, and were
content thus to own it: it was advised, that the gold¬
en mice should be five too; but because the whole
country was infested with them, it should seem,
upon second thoughts, they sent more of them, ac¬
cording to the number both of the fenced cities and
of country villages, v. 18. Their priests remind
them, that one plague was on them all; they could
not blame one another, for they were all guilty,
which they were plainly told, by being all plagued.
Their proposal to offer a trespass-offering for their
offence, was conformable enough to divine revela¬
tion at that time; but to send such things as these
for trespass-offerings, was very foreign, and showed
them grossly ignorant of the methods of reconcilia¬
tion appointed by the law of Moses; for there it
appears all along, that it is blood, and not gold,
that makes atonement for the soul.
4. They encourage them to hope that thereby
they would take an effectual course to get rid of the
plague, Ye shall be healed, v. 3. For, it seems, the
disease obstinately resisted all the methods of cure
their physicians had prescribed; “ Let them there¬
fore send back the ark, and then,” say they, “ it
shall be known to you, why his hand is not removed
from you ; that is, by this it will appear, whether
it is for your detaining of the ark, that you are thus
plagued'; for, if it be, upon your delivering of it up,
the plague will cease.” God has sometimes put his
people upon making such a trial, whether their
reformation would not be their relief; Prove me
now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, Mai. 3. 10.
Hag. 2. 19. Yet they speak doubtfully, (v. 5.)
Peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you;
as if now they began to think, that the judgment
might come from God’s hand, and yet not be re¬
moved immediately upon the restitution of the ark;
however, that was the likeliest way to obtain mer¬
cy. Take away the cause, and the effect will cease.
5. Yet they put them in a way to make a further
trial, whether it was the hand of the God of Israel
that had smitten them with these plagues or no. They
must, in honour of the ark, put it on a new cart or
carriage, to be drawn by two milch-cows, that had
calves daily sucking them, (v. 7.) unused to draw,
and inclined to home, both for the sake of the crib
where thev were fed, and of the calves thev nou¬
rished, and, besides, altogether unacquainted with
the road that led toward the land of Israel; they
must have no one to lead or drive them, but must
take their own way, which, in all reason, one might
expect, would be home again; and yet, unless the
God of Israel, after all the other miracles he has
wrought, will work one more, and by an invisible
power lead these cows, contrary to their natural in¬
stinct and inclination, to the land of Israel, and par¬
ticularly to Beth-shemesh, thev will retract their
former opinion, and will believe it was not the hand
of God that smote them, but it was a chance that
happened to them, v. 8, 9. Thus did God suffer
himself to be tempted and prescribed to, after he
had been otherwise affronted, bv these uncircum¬
cised Philistines. Would they have been content
that the honour of Dagon, their god, should have
been put upon such an issue as this? See how will¬
ing bad men are to shift off their convictions of the
hand of God upon them, and to believe, when they
ate in trouble, it is a chance that happens to them;
and if so, the rod has no voice which they are con¬
cerned to hear or heed.
10. And the men did so; and took two
milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and
shut up their calves at home. 1 1. And they
laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and
the coffer with the mice of gold and the
images of their emerods. 1 2. And the kine
took the straight way to the way of Beth-
shemesh, and, went along the highway, low¬
ing as they went, and turned not aside to
the right hand or to the left; and the. lords
of the Philistines went after them unto the
border of Beth-shemesh. 13. And they of
Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat-har¬
vest in the valley: and they lifted up their
eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to set*
it. 1 4. And the cart came into the field of
Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there,
where there was a great stone : . and they
clave the wood of the cart, and offered the
kine a burnt-offering unto the Lord. 1 5.
And the Levites took down the ark of the
Lord, and the coffer that was with it,
wherein the jewels of gold were , and
put them on the great stone : and the men
of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings, and
sacrificed sacrifices, the same day unto the
Lord. 16. And when the five lords of the
Philistines had seen it, they returned to
Ekron the same day. 17. And these are
the golden emerods which the Philistines
returned for a trespass-offering unto the
Lord ; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for
Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one:
18. And the golden mice, a recording to the
number of all the cities of the Philistines
belonging to the five lords, both of fenced
cities and of country villages, even unto the
great stone of Abel, whereon they set down
the ark of the Lord ; which stone remaineth
unto this day in the field of Joshua the
Beth-shemite.
We are here told,
I. How the Philistines dismissed the ark; (i>. 10,
11.) they were made as glad to part with it, as ever
they had been to take it; as God had fetched Israel
out of the house of bondage, so now he fetched the
ark out of its captivity, in such a manner, as that
Egypt war glad when they departed, Ps. 105. 38.
1. They received no money or price for the ransom
of it, as they hoped to have done, even beyond
a king’s ransom. Thus it is prophesied of Cyrus,
Isa. 45. 13, He shall let go my captives, not for
price, nor reward. Nay, 2. They gave jewels rf
gold, as the Egyptians did to the Israelites, to be
rid of it. Thus the ark that was carried into the
land of the Philistines, a trophy of their victory,
carried back with it trophies of its own, and last¬
ing monuments of the disgrace of the Philistines.
Note, God will be no loser in his glory, at last, by
the successes of the church’s enemies against the
ark, but will get him honour from thosethat seek
to do dishonour to him.
II. How the kine brought it to the land of Israel,
v. 12. They took the straight way to Beth-shemesh,
the next city of the land of Israel, and a priest’s
city, and turned not aside. This was a wonderful
instance of the power of God over the brute crea¬
tures, and, all things considered, no less than a mi¬
racle. That cattle unaccustomed to the yoke should
draw so even, so orderly, and still go forward; that
without any driver, they should go from home, to
I. SAMUEL, VI.
2 53
which all tame creatures have a natural inclination,
and from their own calves, to which they had a na¬
tural affection; that, without any director, they
should go the straight road to Beth-shemesh, a city
eight or ten miles off, never miss the way, never
turn aside into the fields to feed themselves, nor
turn back home to feed their calves; they went on
lowing for their young ones, by which it appeared
that they had not forgotten them, but that nature
was sensible of the grievance of going from them;
the power of the God of nature therefore appeared
so much the greater, in overruling one of the
strongest instincts of nature. These two kine, says
Dr. Lightfoot, knew their Owner, their great
Owner, (Isa. 1. 3.) whom Hophni and Phinehas
knew not; to which I may add, they brought home
the ark, to shame the stupidity of Israel that made
no attempt to fetch it home. ' God’s providence is
conversant about the motions even of brute crea¬
tures, and serve its own purposes by them. The
lords of the Philistines, with a suitable retinue, no
doubt, went after them, wondering at the power of
the God of Israel; and thus they who thought to
triumph over the ark, were made to go like menial
servants after it.
III. How it was welcomed to the land of Israel.
The men of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat-
harvest , v. 13. They were going on with their
worldly business, and were in no care about the
ark, made no inquiries what was become of it; if
they had, it is likely they might have had private
intelligence beforehand of its coming, and would
have gone to meet it, and conduct it into their own
border. But they were as careless as the people
that ceiled their own houses, and let God’s house lie
waste. Note, God will in his own time, effect the
deliverance of his church, not only though it be
fought against by its enemies, but though it be neg¬
lected by its friends. Some observe, that the re¬
turning ark found the men of Beth-shemesh not
idling or sporting in the streets of the city, but busy,
reaping their corn in the fields, and well employed:
thus the tidings of the birth of Christ were brought
to the shepherds, when they were keeping their
flock by night. The Devil visits idle men with his
temptations; God visits industrious men with his
favours.
The same invisible hand that directed the kine to
the land of Israel, brought them into the Seld of
Joshua, and in that field they stood; some think, for
the owner’s sake, on whom, being a very good man,
they supposed God designed to put this honour. I
rather think it was for the sake of the great stone
in that field, which was convenient to put the ark
upon, and which is spoken of, v. 14, 15, 18.
Now, 1. When the reapers saw the ark, they re¬
joiced ; (y. 13.) their joy for that, was greater than
the joy of harvest, and therefore they left their
work to bid it welcome. When the Lord turned
again the captivity of his ark, they were like men
that dream, then was their mouth filled with laugh¬
ter, Ps. 126. 1, 2. Though they had not zeal and
courage enough to attempt the rescue or ransom of
it, yet, when it did come, they bid it heartily wel¬
come. Note, The return of the ark, and the revival
of holy ordinances, after days of restraint and trou¬
ble, cannot but be matter of great joy to every faith¬
ful Israelite.
2. They offered up the kine for a burnt-offering,
to the honour of God, and made use of the wood of
the cart for fuel; (v. 14.) probably, the Philistines
intended these, when they sent them, to be a part
of their trespass-offering, to make atonement, v. 3,
7. However, the men of Beth-shemesh looked
upon it as proper to make this use of them, because
it was by no means fit that ever they should be put
to any other use; never shall that cart carry any
common thing, that has once carried that sacred
symbol of the divine presence: and the kine had
been under such an immediate guidance of heaven,
that God had, as it were, already laid claim to
them; they were servants to him, and therefore
must be sacrifices to him; and, no doubt, were
accepted, though females, whereas, in strictness,
every burnt-offering was to be male.
3. They deposited the ark, with the chest of
jewels that the Philistines presented, upon the
great stone in the open field; a cold lodging for the
ark of the Lord, and a very mean one; yet better so
than in Dagon’s temple, or in the hands of the Phi¬
listines. It is desirable to see the ark in its habita¬
tion in all the circumstances of solemnity and splen
dor, but better ha\ e it upon a great stone, and in
the fields of the wood, than be without it. The in¬
trinsic grandeur of instituted ordinances ought not
to be diminished in our eyes by the meanness and
poverty of the place where they are administered.
As the burning of the cart and cows that brought
home the ark, might be construed to signify their
hopes that it should never be carr ed away again
out of the land of Israel, so the setting it upon a
great stone might signify their hopes that it should
be established again upon a firm foundation. The
church is built upon a Rock.
4. They offered the sacrifices of thanksgiving to
God, some think, upon the great stone, more pro¬
bably, upon an altar of earth made for the purpose,
v. 15. And the case being extraordinary, the law
1 for offering at the altar in the court of the taberna¬
cle was dispensed with, and the more easily, be¬
cause Shiloh was now dismantled; God himself
had forsaken it, and the ark, which was its chief
glory, they had with them here. Beth-shemesh,
though it lay within the lot of the tribe of Dan, yet
belonged to Judah, so that this accidental bringing
of the ark hither, was an indication of its designed
settlement there, in process of time; for when God
refused the tabernacle of Joseph, he chose the tribe
of Judah, Ps. 78. 67, 68. It was one of those cities
which were assigned out of the lot of Judah to the
sons of Aaron, Josh. 21. 16. Whither should the
ark go, but to a priest’s city? And it was well they
had those of that sacred order ready, (for though
they are here called Levites, ( v . 15. ) yet it should
seem they were priests,) both to take down the ark,
and to offer the sacrifices.
5. The lords of the Philistines returned to Ekron,
much affected, we may suppose, with what they
had seen of the glory of God, and the zeal of the
Israelites, and yet not reclaimed from the worship
of Dagon; for how seldom has a nation changed
their gods, though they were no gods'/ Jer. 2. 11.
Though they cannot but think the God of Israel
glorious in holiness, and fearful in praises, yet they
are resolved they will think Baal-zebub, the god of
Ekron, at least as good as he, and to him they will
cleave, however, because he is their’s.
Lastly, Notice is taken of the continuance of the
great stone in the same place; there it is unto this
day; (v. 18.) because it remained a lasting memo¬
rial of this great event, and served to support the
traditional history, by which it was transmitted to
posterity. The f ithers would say to the children,
“ This is the stone upon which the ark of God was
set, when it came out of the Philistines’ hands; a
thing never to be forgotten.”
1 9. And he smote the men of Beth-she¬
mesh, because they had looked into the ark
of the Lord, even he smote of the people
fifty thousand and threescore and ten men.
And the people lamented, because the
Lord had smitten many of the people with
254
1. SAMUEL, VI.
a great slaughter. 20. And the men of
Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand
before this holy Lord God ? and to whom
shall he go up from us? 21. And they sent
messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-
jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought
again the ark of the Lord ; come ye down,
and, fetch it up to you.
Here is, 1. The sin of the men of Beth-shemesh.
They looked into the ark of the Lord , v. 19. Every
Israelite had heard great talk of the ark, and had
been possessed with a profound veneration for it,
but they had been told, that it was lodged within a
vail, and even the High Priest himself might not
look upon it but once a year, and then through a
cloud of incense. Perhaps, this made many say,
(as we are apt to covet that which is forbidden,)
what a great deal they would give for a sight of it.
Some of these Beth-shemites, we may suppose, for
that reason rejoiced to see the ark, ( v . 13.) more
than for the sake of the public. Yet this did not
content them, they might see it, but they would go
further, they would take off the covering, which, it
is likely, was nailed or screwed on, and look into it;
under pretence of seeing whether the Philistines
had not taken the two tables out of it, or some way
damaged them; but really to gratify a sinful curi¬
osity of their own, which intruded into those tilings
that God had thought fit to conceal from them.
Note, It is a great affront to God, for vain men to
pry into, and meddle with, the secret things which
belong not to them, Deut. 29. 29. Col. 2. IS. We
were all ruined by an ambition of forbidden know¬
ledge. That which made this looking into the ark a
great sin, was, that it proceeded from a very low
and mean opinion of the ark. The familiarity they
had with it upon this occasion, bred contempt and
irreverence. Perhaps, they presumed upon their
being priests, but the dignity of the ministerial office
will be so far from excusing, that it will aggravate,
a careless and irreverent treatment of holv things.
They should, by their example, have taught others
to keep their distance, and look upon the ark with
a holy awe. Perhaps they presumed upon the kind
entertainment they had given the ark, and the sa¬
crifices they had now offered to welcome it home
with; for this, they thought the ark was indebted to
them, and they might be allowed to repay them¬
selves with the satisfaction of looking into it. But
let no man think that his service done for God, will
justify him in any instance of disrespect or irrever¬
ence toward the things of God. Or, it may be, they
presumed upon the present mean. circumstances the
ark was in, newly come out of captivity, and unset¬
tled; now that it stood upon a cold stone, they
thought they might make free with it; they should
never have such another opportunity of being fa¬
miliar with it. It is an offence to God, if we think
meanly of his ordinances, because of the meanness
of the manner of their administration. Had they
looked with an understanding eye upon the ark,
and not judged purely by outward appearance,
they would have thought that the ark never shone
with greater majesty than it did now; it had tri¬
umphed over tne Philistines, and come out of its
house of bondage (like Christ out of the grave) by
its own power; had they considered this, they
would not have looked into it thus, as a common
rhest.
2. Their punishment for this sin; He smote the
men of Beth-shemesh, many of them, with a great
slaughter. How jealous is God for the honour of
his ark! He will not suffer it to be profaned; be
not deceived , God is not mocked. They that will
I not fear his goodness, and reverently use the tokens
of his grace, shall be made to feel his justice, and
sink under the tokens of his displeasure. They
that pry into what is forbidden, and come too near
to holy fire, will find it is at their peril. He smote
fifty thousand and seventy men. This account of
their numbers smitten, is expressed in a very unu¬
sual manner in the original, which, beside the im¬
probability that there should be so many guilty, and
so many slain, occasions many learned men to ques¬
tion, whether we take the matter right. In the
original it is, He smote in (or among) the fieofile,
threescore and ten men; fifty thousand men. The
Syriac and Arabic read it ,five thousand and seven¬
ty men. The Chaldee reads it, seventy men of the
elders, and fifty thousand of the common people.
Seventy men as valuable as fifty thousand, so some,
because they were priests. Some think the seventy
men were the Beth-shemites that were slain for
looking into the ark, and the fifty thousand were
those that were slain by the ark, in the land of the
Philistines. He smote seventy men, that is, fifty
out of a thousand; which was one in twenty, a half
decimation; so some understand it. The Septua-
gint read it much as we do, he smote seventy men,
and fifty thousand men. Josephus says only seven¬
ty were smitten.
3. The terror that was struck upon the men of
Beth-shemesh, by this severe stroke. They said,
as well they might, Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? v. 20. Some think, it bespeaks
their murmuring against God, as if he had dealt
hardly and unjustly with them. Instead of quar¬
relling with themselves and their own sins, they
quarrelled with God and his judgments; as David
was displeased, in a case not much unlike, 2 Sam. 6.
8, 9. I rather think it bespeaks their awful and
reverent adoration of God, as the Lord God, as a
holy Lord God, and as a God before whom none is
able to stand. Thus they infer from the tremen¬
dous judgment, “Who is" able to stand before the
God of the ark?” To stand before God to worship
him, blessed be his name, is not impossible; we are
through Christ invited, encouraged, and enabled to
do it, but to stand before God, to contend with him,
we are not able. Who is able to stand before the
throne of his immediate glory, and look full upon
it? 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who is able to stand before the
tribunal of his inflexible justice, and make his part
good there? Ps. 130. 3. — 143. 2. Who is able to
stand before the arm of his provoked power, and
either resist or bear the strokes of it? Ps. 76. 7.
4. Their desire, hereupon, to be rid of the ark;
they asked, To whom shall he go up from us? v.
20. They should rather have asked, “How may
we make our peace with him, and recover his fa¬
vour?” Mic. 6. 6, 7. But they begin to be as weary
of the ark as the Philistines had been, whereas, if
they had treated it with due reverence, who knows,
but it might have taken up its residence among
them, and they had all been blessed for the ark’s
sake? But thus, when the word of God works with
terror on sinners’ consciences, they, instead of tak¬
ing the blame and shame to themselves, quarrel
with the word, and put that from them, .Ter. 6. 10.
They sent messengers to the elders of Kirjath-
jearim, a strong city further up in the country, and
begged of them to come and fetch the ark up
thither, v. 21. They durst not touch it, to bring it
thither themselves, but stood aloof from it ns a
dangerous thing. Thus do foolish men run from
one extreme to the other, from presumptuous bold¬
ness to slavish shiness. Kirjath-jearim, that is, the
city of woods, belonging to Judah; (Josh. 15. 9. 60.)
it lay in the way from Beth-shemesh to Shiloh ; so
that when they sent to them to fetch it, we may
suppose they intended that from thence the elders
255
I. SAMUEL, VII.
of Shiloh should fetch it, but God intended other¬
wise. Thus was it sent from, town to town, and no
care taken of it by the public; a sign that there
was no king in Israel.
CHAP. VII.
In this chapter, we have; I. The eclipsing of the glory of
the ark, by its privacy in Kirjath-jearim for many years,
v. 1, 2. II. The appearing of the glory of Samuel, in
his public services for the good of Israel, to whom he
was raised up to be a judge, and he was the last that
bore that character. This chapter gives us all the ac¬
count we have of him, when he was in the prime of his
time ; for what we had before, was in his childhood, (ch.
2. and 3.) what we have of him after, was in his old age,
ch. 8. 1. We have him here active, 1. In the reformation
of Israel from their idolatry, v. 3, 4. 2. In the reviving
of religion among them, v. 5, 6. 3. In praying for them
against the invading Philistines, (v. 7.. 9.) over whom,
God, in answer to his prayer, gave them a glorious vic¬
tory, v. 10, 11. 4. In erecting a thankful memorial of
that victory, v. 12. 5. In the improvement of that vic¬
tory, v. 13, 14. 6. In the administration of justice, v.
15.. 17. And these were the things for which God was
preparing and designing him, in the early vouchsafement
of his grace to him.
1. AND the men of Kirjath-jearim came,
TJL and fetched up the ark of the Lord,
and brought it into the house of Abinadab,
in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to
keep the ark of the Lord. 2. And it came |
to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jea¬
rim, that the time was long; for it was
twenty years : and all the house of Israel
lamented after the Lord.
Here we must attend the ark to Kirjath-jearim,
and then leave it there, to hear not a word more of
it, till David fetched it thence, above forty years
after, (1 Chron. 13. 6.) except once.
1. We are very willing to attend it thither, for
the men of Beth-shemesh have by their own folly
made that a burthen, which might have been a
blessing; and gladly would we see it among those to
whom it will be a savour of life unto life, for in
every place where it has been of late, it has been a
savour of death unto death.
Now, 1. The men of Kirjath-jearim cheerfully
bring it among them; (v. 1.) They came, at the
first word, and fetched ufi the ark of the Lord.
Their neighbours, the Beth-shemites, were no bet-
ter pleased to be rid of it, than they were to re¬
ceive it, knowing very well that what slaughter the
ark had made at Beth-shemesh, was not an act of
arbitrary power, but necessary justice, and they
that suffered by it, must blame themselves, not the
ark; we may depend upon the word which God
hath said, (Jer. 25. 6.) Provoke me not, and I will
do you no hurt. Note, The judgments of God on
those who profane his ordinances, should not make
us afraid of the ordinances, but of profaning them,
and making an ill use of them.
2. They carefully provide for its decent enter¬
tainment among them; as a welcome guest, with
true affection, and as an honourable guest, with
respect and reverence. (1.) They provide a pro¬
per place to receive it. They had no public build¬
ing to adorn with it, but they lodged it in the house
of Abinadab, which stood upon the highest ground,
and, probably, was the best house in their city; or,
perhaps, the master of it was the most eminent man
they had for piety, and best affected to the ark. The
men of Beth-shemeth left it exposed upon a stone in
the open field, and though it was a city of priests, none
of them received it into his house; but the men of
Kirjath-jearim, though common Israelites, gave it
house-room, and, no doubt, the best furnished room
in the house to which it was brought. Note, [1.]
God will find out a resting place for his ark; if some
thrust it from them, yet the hearts of others shall
be inclined to receive it. [2. ] It is no new thing for
God’s ark to be thrust into a private house. Christ
and his apostles preached from house to house,
when they could not have public places at com¬
mand. [3. ] Sometimes priests are ashamed and
outdone in religion by common Israelites. (2.)
They provide a proper person to attend it; They
sanctified Eleazar his son to keefi it; not the father,
either because he was aged and infirm, or because
he had the affairs of his house and family to attend,
from which they would not t ike him off; but the
son, who, it is probable, was a very pious devout
young man, and zealously affected toward the best
things; his business was to keep the ark, not only
from being seized by malicious Philistines, but
from being touched or looked into by too curious
Israelites. He was to keep the room clean and de¬
cent, in which the ark was, that, though it was in
an obscure place, it might not look like a neglected
thing, which no man looked after. It does not ap¬
pear that this Eleazar was of the tribe of Levi,
much less of the house of Aaron, nor was it need-
j ful that he should, for there was no altar either for
sacrifice or incense, only we may suppose that some
devout Israelites would come and pray before the
ark, and those that did so, he was there ready to
attend and assist. For this purpose, they sanctified
him, that is, by his own consent, they obliged him
to make this his business, and to give a constant at¬
tend tnce to it; they set him apart for it in the name
of all their citizens. This was irregular, but it was
dispensed with, by reason of the present distress.
W lien the ark is but newly come out of captivity, we
cannot expect it to be of a sudden in its usual so¬
lemnity, but must take things as they are, and make
the best of them.
II. Yet we are very loath to leave it here, wish¬
ing it well at Shiloh again, but that is made deso¬
late, (Jer. 7. 14.) however, wishing it at Nob, or
Gibeon, or wherever the tabernacle and the altars
are; but, it seems, it must lie by the way, for want
of some public-spirited men, to bring it to its pro¬
per place.
1. The time of its continuance here was long,
very long; above forty years it lay in these fields of
the wood, a remote obscure private place, unfre¬
quented and almost unregarded; (v. 2.) The time
that the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim was long, even
till David fetched it thence. It was verv strange,
that, all the time that Samuel governed, the ark
was never brought to its place in the holy of holies,
an evidence of the decay of holy zeal among
them. God suffered it to be so, to punish them for
their neglect of the ark when it was in its place;
and to show that the great stress which the institu¬
tion laid upon the ark, was but typical of Christ,
and those good things to come, which cannot be
moved, Heb. 9. 23.— 12. 27. It was a just re¬
proach to the priests, that not one of their order
was sanctified to keep the ark.
2. Twenty years of this time were passed, before
the house of Israel was sensible of the want of the
ark. The Septuagint read it, somewhat more
clearly than we do; And it was twenty years, and
(that is, when) the whole house of Israel looked ufi
again after the Lord. So long the ark remained in
obscurity, and the Israelites were not sensible of the
inconvenience, nor ever made an inquiry after it,
what was become of it; though, while it was absent
from the tabernacle, the token of God’s special
presence was wanting, nor could they keep the dav
of atonement, as it should be kept. They were
content with the altars without the ark; so easily
256
I. SAMUEL, VII.
can formal professors rest satisfied in a road of ex¬
ternal performances, without any tokens of God’s
presence or acceptance. But at length they be¬
thought themselves, and began to lament after the
Lord, stirred up to it, it is probable, by the preach¬
ing of Samuel, with which an extraordinary work¬
ing of the Spirit of God set in. A general dispo¬
sition to repentance and reformation now appears
throughout all Israel, and they began to look unto
him whom they had slighted, and to mourn, Zech.
12. 10. Dr. Lightfoot thinks this was a matter and
time as remarkable as almost any we read of in
scripture; and that that great conversion. Acts 2.
and 3. is the only parallel to it. Note, (1.) Those
that know how to value God’s ordinances, cannot
but reckon it a very lamentable thing to want them.
(2.) True repentance and conversion begin in la¬
menting after the Lord; we must be sensible that
by sin we have provoked him to withdraw, and are
undone if we continue in a state of distance from
him: and be restless till we have recovered his fa¬
vour, and obtained his gracious returns. It was
better with the Israelites, when they wanted the
ark, and were lamenting after it, than when they
had the ark, and were prying into it, or priding
themselves in it. Better see people longing in the
scarcity of the means of grace, than loathing in the
abundance of them.
3. And Samuel spake unto all the house
of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the
Lord with all your hearts, then put away
the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among
you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord,
and serve him only ; and he will deliver you
out of the hand of the Philistines. 4. Then
the children of Israel did put away Baalim
and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.
5. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to
Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the
Lord. 6. And they gathered together to
Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out
before the Lord, and fasted on that day,
and said there, We have sinned against the
Lord. And Samuel judged the children
of Israel in Mizpeh.
We may well wonder where Samuel was, and
what he was doing, all this while, for we have not
had him so much as named till now, since ch. 4. 1.
Not as if he were unconcerned, but his labours
among his people are not mentioned, till there ap¬
pear the fruit of them. When he perceived that
they began to lament after the Lord, he struck
while the iron was hot, and two things he endea¬
voured to do for them, as a faithful servant of God,
and a faithful friend to the Israel of God.
I. He endeavoured to separate between them and
their idols, for there reformation must begin. He
spake to all the house of Israel, {y. 3.) going, as it
should seem, from place to place, an itinerant
preacher; (for we find not that they were gathered
together till v. 5.) and wherever became, this was
his exhortation, “ If you do indeed return to the
Lord, as you seem inclined to do, by your lamenta¬
tions for your departure from him, and his from
you, then know,” 1. “That you must renounce and
abandon your idols, put away the strange gods, for
your God will admit no rival; put them away from
you, each one for himself, nay, and put them from
among you, do what you can, in your places, to rid
them out of the country. Put away Baalim, the
strange gods, and Ashtaroth the strange goddesses,”
[ for they had of them too. Or, Ashtaroth is par
ticularly named, because it was the best beloved
idol, and that which they were most wedded to.
Note, T rue repentance strikes at the darling sin,
and will, with a peculiar zeal and resolution, put
away that; the sin which most easily besets us. 2.
“That you must make a solemn business of return¬
ing to God, and do it with a serious consideration
and a steadfast resolution, for both are included in
preparing the heart, directing, disposing, establish¬
ing, the heart unto the Lord.” 3. “That you
must be entire for God, for him and no other, serx’e
him only, else you do not serve him at all, so as to
please him.” 4. “That this is the only way, and
a sure way, to prosperity and deliverance. Take
this course, and he will deliver you out of the hands
of the Philistines ; for it was because you forsook
him and served other gods, that he delivered you
into their hands. ” This was the purport of Samu¬
el’s preaching, and it had a wonderfully good
effect; ( v . 4.) They put away Balaam and. Ashta¬
roth; not only quitted the worship of them, but
destroyed their images, demolished their altars, and
quite abandoned them; What have we to do any
more with idols? Hos. 13. 8. Isa. 30. 22.
II. He endeavoured to engage them for ever to
God and his service. Now that he had them in a
good mind, he did all he could to keep them in it.
1. He summons all Israel, at least by their elders,
as their representatives, to meet him at Mizpeh,
(y. 5.) and there he promised to pray for them.
And it was worth while for them to come from the
remotest part of the country, to join with Samuel in
seeking God’s favour. Note, Ministers should pray
for those to whom they preach, that God by his
grace would make the preaching effectual. And
when we come together in religious assemblies, we
must remember, that it is as much our business
there to join in public prayers, as it is to hear a
sermon. He would pray for them, that, by the
grace of God, they might be parted from their
idols, and that then, by the providence of God,
they might be delivered from the Philistines. Mi¬
nisters would profit their people more, if they did
but pray more for them.
2. They obey his summons, and not only come to
the meeting, but conform to the intentions of it,
and appear there very well disposed, v. 6. (1.)
They drew water, and poured it out before the
Lord’, signifying, [1.] Their humiliation and con¬
trition for sin; owning themselves as water spilt
upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up
again; (2 Sam. 14. 14.) so mean, so miserable, be¬
fore God, Ps. 22. 14. The Chaldee reads it, They
poured out their hearts in repentance before the
Lord. They wept rivers of tears, and sorrowed
after a godly sort; for it was before the Lord, and
with an eye to him. [2.1 Their earnest prayers
and supplications to God, for mercy. The soul is,
in prayer, poured out before God, Ps. 62. 8. [3. ]
Their universal reformation; they thus expressed
their willingness to part with all their sins, and to
retain no more of the relish or savour of them than
the vessel does of the water that is poured out of it.
They were free and full in their confession, and
fixed in their resolution to cast away from them
all their transgressions. Israel is now baptized
from their idols: so Dr. Lightfoot. [4.] Some
think it signifies their joy in the hope of God’s
mercy, which Samuel had assured them of. This
ceremony was used with that signification at the
feast of tabernacles, John 7. 37, 38. and see Isa. 12.
3. Taking it in this sense, it must be read, They
drew water a fter they had fasted. In the close of
their humiliation they thus expressed their hope of
pardon and reconciliation. (2.) They fasted, ab
stained from food, afflicted their souls; so express
257
I. SAMUEL, VII.
ing repentance, and exciting devotion. (3.) They
made a public confession, I behave sinned against
the Lord; so giving glory to God, and taking shame
to themselves. And if we thus confess our sins, we
shall find our God faithful and just to forgive us
our sins.
3. Samuel judged them at that time in Mizpeh;
that is, he assured them, in God’s name, of the par¬
don of their sins, upon their repentance, and that
God was reconciled to them. It was a judgment of
absolution. Or, he received informations against
those that did not leave their idols, and proceeded
against them according to law. Those that would
not judge themselves, he judged. Or, now he
settled courts of justice among them, and appointed
the terms and circuits which he observed afterward,
v. 16. Now he set those wheels a-going; and
whereas, before, he acted only as a prophet, now,
he began to act as a magistrate; to prevent their
relapsing to those sins which now they seemed to
have renounced.
7. And when the Philistines heard that
the children of Israel were gathered together
to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went
up against Israel. And when the children
of Israel heard it , they were afraid of the
Philistines. 8. And the children of Israel
said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the
Lord our God for us, that he will save us
out of the hand of the Philistines. 9. And
Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it
for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord:
and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel ;
and the Lord heard him. 10. And as
Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering,
the Philistines drew near to battle against
Israel: but the Lord thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philis-
iines, and discomfited them ; and they were
smitten before Israel. 1 1. And the men of
Tsrael went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the
Philistines, and smote them, until they came
under Beth-car. 12. Then Samuel took a
stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen,
and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying,
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Here,
I. The Philistines invaded Israel, (v. 7.) taking
ambrage from that general meeting for repentance
and prayer, as if it had been a rendezvous for war,
and if so, they thought it prudence to keep the war
out of their own country. They had no just cause
for this suspicion; but those that seek to do mischief
to others, will be forward to imagine that others
design mischief to them. Now see here, 1. How
evil sometimes seems to come out of good. The
religious meeting of the Israelites at Mizpeh brought
trouble upon them from the Philistines, which, per¬
haps, tempted them to wish they had staid at
home, and to blame Samuel for calling them to¬
gether. But we may be in God’s way, and yet
meet with distress; nay, when sinners begin to re¬
pent and reform, they must expect that Satan will
muster all his force against them, and set his in¬
struments on work to the utmost, to oppose and
discourage them. But, 2. How good is, at length,
brought out of that evil. Israel could never be
threatened more seasonably than at this time, when
Vol. ii.— 2 K
they were repenting and praying, nor could thev
have been better prepared to receive the enemy;
nor could the Philistines have acted more impo¬
liticly for themselves, than to make war upon Israel
at this time, when they were making their peace
with God: but God permitted them to do it, that
he might have an opportunity immediately of
crowning his people’s reformation with tokens of
his favour, and of confirming the words of his mes
senger, who had assured them that, if they repent¬
ed, God would deliver them out of the hand of the
Philistines. Thus he makes man’s wrath to praise
him, and serves the purposes of his grace to his
people, even by the malicious designs of their ene¬
mies against them, Mic. 4. 11, 12.
II. Israel cleaves close to Samuel, as their best
friend, under God, in this distress, though he was no
military man, nor ever celebrated as a mighty man
of valour; yet, being afraid of the Philistines, for
whom they thought themselves an unequal match,
they engaged Samuel’s prayers for them; (i\ 8.)
Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us.
They were here unarmed, unprepared for war,
come together to fast and pray, not to fight;
prayers and tears therefore being all the weapons
many of them are now furnished with, to these they
have recourse. And knowing Samuel to have a
great interest in heaven, they earnestly beg of him
to improve it for them. They had reason to expect
it, because he had promised to fray for them , (y. 5. )
had promised them deliverance from the Philis¬
tines; (v. 3.) and they had been observant of him, in
all that which he had spoken to them from the
Lord. Thus they who sincerely submit to Christ,
as their Lawgiver and Judge, need not doubt of
their interest in his intercession. They were very
solicitous that Samuel should not cease to pray for
them: what military preparations were to be made,
they would undertake them, but let him continue
instant in prayer; perhaps remembering, that when
Moses did but let down his hand ever so little,
Amalek prevailed. O what a comfort it is to al!
believers, that our great Intercessor above never
ceases, is never silent, for he always appears in the
presence of God for us!
III. Samuel intercedes with God for them, and
does it by sacrifice, v. 9. He took a sucking lamb,
and offered it tor a burnt-offering, a whole burnt -
offering, to the Lord, and while the sacrifice was
in burning, with the smoke of it his prayers ascend¬
ed up to heaven for Israel. Observe, 1. He made-
intercession with a sacrifice. Christ intercedes in>
the virtue of his s t'sfaction, and in all our prayers
we must have an eve to his great oblation, depend¬
ing upon that for audience and acceptance. Samuel’’s
sacrifice without h s prayer had been an empty
shadow, his prayer without the sacrifice had not
been so prevalent, but both together teach us, what
great things we may expect from God, in answer to*
those prayers which are made with faith in Christ’s
sacrifice. 2. It was a burnt-offering, which was
offered purely for the glory of God, so intimating,
that the great plea he relied on in this prayer, was
taken from the honour of God. “ Lord, help thy
people now, for thy name’s sake.” When we en¬
deavour to give glory to God, we may hope he will,
in answer to our prayers, work for his own glory.
3. It was but one sucking lamb that he offered; for
it is the integrity and intention of the heart that God
looks at, more than the bulk or number of the offer¬
ings. The one lamb (typifying the Lamb of God)
was more acceptable than thousands of rams ot
bullocks would have been without faith and prayer.
Samuel was no priest, but he was a Levite and a
prophet: the case was extraordinary, and what he
did was by special direction, and therefore was ac
cepted of God. And justly was this reproach put
‘253
I. SAMUEL, VII.
upon the priests, because they had corrupted them¬
selves.
IV. God gave a gracious answer to Samuel’s
prayer; (v. 9.) The Lord heard him. He was him¬
self a Samuel, asked of God, and many a Samuel,
many a mercy in answer to prayer, God gave him.
Sons of prayer should.be famous for praying, as
Samuel was among them that call upon his na me,
Ps. 99. 6. The answer was a real answer. The
Philistines were discomfited, (r. 10, 11.) totally
routed, and that in such a manner as highly magni¬
fied the prayer of Samuel, the power of God, and
the valour of Israel. 1. The prayer of Samuel was
honoured, for at the very time when he was offer¬
ing up his sacrifice, and his prayer with it, the bat¬
tle began, and turned immediately against the
Philistines. Thus while he was yet speaking God
heard , and answered in thunder, Isa. 65. 24. God
showed that it was Samuel’s prayer and sacrifice
that he had respect to, and hereby let Israel know
that as in a former engagement with the Philistines
he had justly chastised their presumptuous confi¬
dence in the presence of the ark, on the shoulders
of two profane priests, so now he graciously accept¬
ed their humble dependence upon the prayer of
faith, from the mouth and heart of a pious prophet.
2. The power of God was greatly honoured; for he
took the work into his own hand, and discomfited
them, not with great hail-stones, which would kill
them, (as Josh. 10. 11.) but with a great thunder
which frightened them, and put them into such
terror and consternation that they fainted away, and
became a very easy prey to the sword of Israel, be¬
fore whom, being thus confounded, they were smit¬
ten. Josephus adds, that the earth quaked under
them when first they made the onset, and in many
laces, opened and swallowed them up; and that,
eside the terror of the thunder, their faces and
hands were burnt with lightning, which obliged
them to shift for themselves by flight. _ And being
thus driven to their heels by the immediate hand of
God, (whom they feared not so much as they had
feared his ark, ch. 4. 7.) then, 3. Honour was put
upon the hosts of Israel; they were made use of for
the completing of the victory, ;.nd had the pleasure
of triumphing over their oppressors; they pursued
the Philistines, and smote them. How soon did
they find the benefit of their repentance, and refor¬
mation, and return to God! Now that they have
thus engaged him for them, none of their enemies
can stand before them.
V. Samuel erected a thankful memorial of this
\ ictory, to the glory of God, and for the encourage¬
ment of Israel; (v.'l2.) he set up an Eben-ezer, the
stone of help. If ever the people’s hard hearts
should lose the impressions of this providence, this
stone would either revive the remembrance of it, and
make them thankful, or remain a standing witness
against them for their unthankfulness. 1. The
place where this memorial was set up, was the same,
where twenty vears before, the Israelites were smit¬
ten before the 'Philistines, for that was beside Eben-
ezer, ch. 4. 1. The sin which procured that defeat
formerly, being pardoned upon their repentance,
the pardon was sealed by this glorious victory in the
very same place where they then suffered loss; see
Hos. 1. 10. 2. Samuel himself took care to set up
this monument; he had been instrumental by prayer
to obtain the mercy, and therefore he thought him¬
self in a special manner obliged to make this grate¬
ful acknowledgment of it. 3. The reason he gives
for the name is, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us:
in which he speaks thankfully of what was past,
giving the glory of the victory to God only, who had
added this to all his former favours; and yet he
speaks somewhat doubtfully for the future: “Hith¬
erto things have done well, but what God may yet
do with us, we know not, that we refer to him; but
let us praise him for what he has done.” Note,
The beginnings of mercy and deliverance are to be
acknowledged by us with thankfulness so far as they
go, though they be not completely finished; nay
though trie issue seem uncertain. Having obtained
help from God, I continue hitherto, says blessed
Paul. Act 26. 22.
13. So the Philistines were subdued, and
they came no more into the coast of Israel
and the hand of the Lord was against the
Philistines all the days of Samuel. 1 4. And
the cities which the Philistines had taken
from Israel were restored to Israel, from
Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts
thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands
of the Philistines. And there was peace
between Israel and the Amorites. 15. And
Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
16. And he went from year to year in cir¬
cuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh,
and judged Israel, in all those places. 17.
And his return teas to Ramah ; for there
was his house : and there he judged Israel ;
and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
We have here a short account of the further good
services that Samuel did to Israel. Having parted
them from their idols, and brought them home to
their God, he had put them into a capae;ty <4 re¬
ceiving further benefits by his ministry. II iving
prevailed in that, he becomes, in other unlam cs, ?
great blessing to them; yet writing it himself, he is
brief in the relation. We are not told here, but it
appears, 2 Chron. 35. 18, that in the days of Samuel
the prophet, the people of Israel kept the ordinance,
of the passover with more than ordinary devnti in,
notwithstanding the distance of the ark and the
desolations of Shiloh. Many good offices, no d uibt,
he did for Israel; but here we are only told how in
strum ental he was,
1. In securing the public peace; (x>. 13.) In his
days the Philistines came no more into the coast of
Israel, made no inroads or incursions upon them,
perceiving that God now fought for Israel, and that
his hand was against the Philistines; this kept them
in awe, and restrained the remainder of their wrath.
Samuel was a protector and deliverer to Israel, not
by dint of sword, as Gideon, nor by atrength of
arm, as Samson, but by the power of prayer to God,
and carrying on a work of reformation among the
people. Religion and piety are the best securities
of a nation.
2. In recovering the public rights, v. 14. By his
influence, Israel had the courage to demand the
cities which the Philistines had unjustly taken from
them, and had long detained; and the Philistines
not daring to contend with one that had so great an
interest in heaven, tamely yielded to the demand,
and restored (some think) even Ekron and Gath,
two of their capital cities, though afterward they
retook them; others think, some small towns that
lay between Ekron and Gath, which were forced
out of the Philistines’ hands. This they got by their
reformation and religion; they got ground of their
enemies, and got forward in their affairs. It is
added, There was peace between Israel and the
Amorites, that is, the Canaanites, the remains of
the natives. Not that Israel made any league with
them, bu that they were quiet; and not so mis¬
chievous to Israel as they had sometimes been
259
I. SAMUEL. VIII.
Th us when a man's ways please the Lord, he ma-
keth even his enemies to be at peace with him, and
give him no disturbance, Prov. 16. 7.
3. In administering public justice; {y. 15, 16. ) He
judged Isi-ael: us a prophet, lie taught them their
duty, and reproved them for their sins, for that is
called judging, Ezek. 20. 4. — 22. 2. Moses judged
Israel, when he made them know the statutes of God,
and his laws; (Exod. 18. 16.) and thus Samuel
judged them to the last, even after Saul was made
king: so he promised them then, when Saul was
inaugurated, eh. 12. 23, I will not cease to teach
you the good and right way. As a magistrate, he
received appeals from the inferior courts, and gave
judgment upon them; tried causes, and determined
them, tried prisoners, and acquitted or condemned
them, according to the law. This he did all his
days, till he grew old and past service, and resigned
to Saul; and afterward he exercised authority, when
application was made to him; nay he judged even
Agag, and Saul himself. But when he was in his
prime, he rode the circuit, for the convenience of
the country, at least of that part of it which lay
most under his influence. He kept courts at Beth-el,
Gilgal, and Mizpeh, all in the tribe of Benjamin;
but his constant residence was at Hamah, his fa¬
ther’s city, and there he judged Israel, whither
they resorted to him from all parts with their com¬
plaints, t>. 17.
4. In keeping up the public exercises of religion;
for there, where he lived, he built an altar to the
Lord, not in contempt of the altar that was at Nob,
or Gibeon, or wherever the tabernacle was; but
divine justice having laid Shiloh waste, and no other
place being yet chosen for them to bring their offer¬
ings to, (Dent. 12. 11.) he looked upon the law
which confined them to one place, to be for the
present suspended, and therefore, being a prophet,
and under divine direction, he did as the patriarchs
did, he built an altar where he lived, both for the
use of his own family, and for the good of the
country that resorted to it. Great men should use
their wealth, power, and interest, for the keeping
up of religion in the places where they live.
CHAP. VIII.
Things went so very well with Israel, in the chapter be¬
fore, under Samuel’s administration, that, methinks, it
is pity to find him so quickly, as we do in this chapter,
old, and going off, and things working towards a revolu¬
tion. But so it is; Israel’s good days seldom continue
long. We have here, I. Samuel decaying, v. 1. II. His
sons degenerating, v. 2, 3. III. Israel discontented with
the present government, and anxious to see a change.
For, 1. Thev petition Samuel to set a king over them,
v. 4, 5. 2. Samuel brings the matter to God, v. 6. 3.
God directs him what answer to give them, by way of re¬
proof, (v. 7, 8.) and by way of remonstrance, setting forth
the consequences of a change of the government, and how
uneasy they would soon be under it, v. 9. . 18. 4. They
insist upon their petition, v. 19, 20. 5. Samuel promises
them, from God, that they shall shortly be gratified, v.
21, 22. Thus hard is it for people to know when they
are well off.
1. A ND it came to pass, when Samuel
lm. was old, that he made his sons
judges over Israel. 2. Now the name of his
first-born was Joel, and the name of his se¬
cond Abiah: they were, judges in Beer-sheba.
3. And his sons walked not in his ways,
but turned aside after lucre, and look bribes,
and perverted judgment.
Two sad things we find here, but not strange
things
1. A good and useful man growing old and unfit
for service, v. 1, Samuel was old, and could not
judge Israel as he had done. He is not reckoned
to be past sixty years of age now, perhaps not so
much; but he was a man betimes, was full of
thoughts and cares when he was a child, wh.ch,
perhaps, hastened the infirmities of age upon him:
the Iruits that are first ripe, keep the worst. Hr
had spent his strength and spirits in the fatigue < f
public business, and now, if he think to shake him¬
self as at other times, lie finds he is mistaken, old
age has cut his hair. Those that are in the prime
of their time, ought to be busy in doing the woi k of
life; for as they go into years, they will find them¬
selves less disposed to it, and less able for it.
2. The children of a good man going to naught,
and not treading in his steps. Samuel had given his
sons so good an education, and they had given him
such good hopes of their doing well, and gained
such a reputation in Israel, that he made them
judges, assistants to him awhile, and afterward
deputies under him at Beer-sheba, which lay re¬
mote from Hamah, v. 2. Probably, the southern
counties petitioned for their residenc e there, that
they might not be necessitated to travel far with
their causes: we have reason to think that Samuel
gave them their commissions, not because they
were his sons, (he had no ambition to entail the
government upon his family, any more than Gideon
had,) but because, for aught that yet appeared,
they were men very fit for the trust; and none so
proper to ease the aged judge, and take some of the
burthen off him, as ( cseteris paribus — other things
being equal ) his own sons, who, no doubt, were re¬
spected tor their good father’s sake, and, having
such an advantage at setting out, might soon have
been great, if they had been but good. But, alas!
his sons walked not in his ways; (i\ 3.) and when
their character was the reverse of his, their rela¬
tion to so good a man, which otherwise had been
their honour, was really their disgrace. Degene-
ranti genus opprobrium — A good extraction is a
reproach to him that degenerates from it. Note,
Those that have the most grace themselves, cannot
give grace to their children. It has often been the
grief of good men, to see their posterity, instead of
treading in their steps, trampling upon them, and,
as Job speaks, marring their path. Nay, many that
have begun well, promised fair, and set out in the
right paths, so that their parents and friends have
had great hopes of them, yet afterward have turned
aside to by-paths, and been the grief of those of
whom they should have been the joy. When
Samuel’s sons were made judges, and settled at a
distance from him, then they discovered them¬
selves. Thus, (1.) Many that have been well edu¬
cated, and have conducted themselves well while
they were under their parents’ eye, when they
have gone abroad into the world, and set up for
themselves, have proved bad. Let none therefore
be secure, either of themselves or their’s, but de¬
pend on divine grace. (2. ) Many that have done
well in a state of meanness and subjection, have
been spoiled by preferment and power. Honours
change men’s minds, and, too often, for the worse.
It does not appear that Samuel’s sons were so pro¬
fane and vicious as Eli’s sons; but, whatever they
were in other respects, they were corrupt judges,
they turned aside after lucre, after the mammon of
unrighteousness, so the Chaldee reads it. Note,
The love of money is the root of all evil. It is per¬
nicious in any, but especially in judges. Samuel had
taken no bribes, ( ch . 12. 3.) but his sons did,
though, no doubt, he warned them against it when
he made them judges; and then they perverted
judgment, in determining controversies, had an eye
to the bribe, not to the law, and inquired who bid
2bO 1. SAMUEL, Vin.
highest, not who had right on his side. It is sad
with a people, when the public justice that should
do them right, being perverted, does them the
greatest wrong.
4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered
themselves together, and came to Samuel
unto Hamah, 5. And said unto him, Be¬
hold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in
thy ways: now make us a king to judge us
like all the nations. 6. But the thing dis¬
pleased Samuel, when they said, Give us a
king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto
the Lord. 7. And the Lord said unto
Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the peo¬
ple in all that they say unto thee : for they
liave not rejected thee, hut they have reject¬
ed me, that I should not reign over them.
8. According to all the works which they
have done, since the day that I brought
them up out of Egypt even unto this day,
wherewith they have forsaken me, and
served other gods ; so do they also unto thee.
9. Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice:
howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them,
and show them the manner of the king that
shall reign over them. 10. And Samuel
told all the words of the Lord unto the
people that asked of him a king. 11. And
he said, This will be the manner of the king
that shall reign over you •, He will take your
sons, and appoint them for himself, for his
chariots, and to he his horsemen ; and some
shall run before his chariots. 12. xAnd he
will appoint him captains over thousands,
and captains over fifties, and will set them
to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest,
and to make his instruments of war, and in¬
struments of his chariots. 13. And he will
take your daughters to he confectionaries,
and to he cooks, and to he bakers. 14. And
he will take your fields, and your vineyards,
and your oliveyards, even the best of them ,
and give them to his servants. 1 5. And he
will take the tenth of your seed, and of your
vineyards, and give to his officers, and to
his servants. 16. And he will 'ake your
men-servants, and your maid-sm , ants, and
your goodliest young men, and your asses,
and put them to his work. 17. He will
take the tenth of your sheep : and ye shall
be his servants. 18. And ye shall cry out
in that day, because of your king which ye
shall have chosen you ; and the Lord will
not hear you in that day. 1 9. Nevertheless,
the people refused to obey the voice of
Samuel: and they said, Nay ; but we will
have a king over us ; 20. That we also
may be like all the nations ; and that our
king may judge us, and go out before us,
and fight our battles. 21. And Samuel
I heard all the words of the people, and he
rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
22. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken
unto their voice, and make them a king.
And Samuel said unto the men of Israel,
Go ye every man unto his city.
We have here the starting of a matter perfectly
new and surprising, which was, the setting up of
kingly government in Israel. Perhaps the thing
had been often talked of among them by these that
were given to change, and affected that which look¬
ed great: but we do not find that it was ever till
now publicly proposed and debated. Abimelech
was little better than a titular king, though he is
said to reign over Israel; (Judges 9. 22.) and per¬
haps his fall had for a great while rendered the title
of king odious in Israel, as that of Tarquinius did
among the Romans; but if it had, by this time the
odium was worn off, and some bold steps are here
taken toward so great a revolution as that amount¬
ed to.
Here is,
I. The address of the elders of Samuel in this
matter, v. 4, 5. They gathered themselves together,
by common consent, and not in a riotous tumultuous
manner, but with respect due to his character:
they came to him to his house at Ramah with their
address, which contained,
1. x\ remonstrance of their grievances; in short,
Thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.
Many a fairer occasion that people had had to ask
a king, when they were oppressed by their neigh¬
bours, or embroiled at home, for want of a king in
Israel; a small thing will serve factious spirits for a
colour to desire a change. (1.) It was true that
Samuel was old; but if that made him less able to
ride the circuit, and sit long on the bench, yet it
made him the more wise and experienced, and,
upon that account, the fitter to rule. If he was old,
was he not grown old in their service? And it was
very unkind, ungrateful, nay, unjust, to cast him off
when he was old, who had spent his days in doing
them good. God had saved his youth from being
despicable, ( ch . 3. 20.) yet they make his old age
so, which should have been counted worthy of
double honour. If old people be upbraided with
their infirmities, and laid aside for them, let them
not think it strange; Samuel himself was so. (2.)
It was true that his sons did not walk in his ways;
the mnre was his grief, but they could not say it was
his fault; he had not, like Eli, indulged them in
their badness, but was ready to receive complaints
against them. And if that had been the thing
desired, we may well suppose, upon the making out
of the charge of bribery against them, he would
have superseded their commissions and punished
them. But this would not content the elders of
Israel, they had another project in their head.
2. A petition for the redress of these grievances,
by setting a king over them: Make us a king tc-
judge us like all the nations. Thus far it was well,
that they did not rise up in rebellion against
Samuel and set up a king for themselves, vi et
armis — by force; but they applied themselves to
Samuel, God’s prophet, and humbly begged of him
to do it. But it appears by what follows, that it was
a bad motion, and ill made, and was displeasing to
God. God designed them a king, a man after his
own heart, when Samuel was dead; but they would
anticipate God’s counsel, and would have one now
that Samuel was old. They had a prophet to judge
them, that had immediate correspondence with
heaven, and therein they were great and happy
above any nation, none having God so nigh unto
261
1. SAMUEL, VIII.
them as they had, Deut. 4. 7. But this would not
serve, they must have a king to judge them with
external pomp and power, like all the nations. A
poor prophet in a mantle, though conversant in the
visions ot the Almighty, looked mean in their eyes,
who judged by outward appearance: but a king in
a purple robe, with his guards and officers of state,
would look great; and such a one they must have.
They knew it was in vain to court Samuel to take
upon him the title and dignity of a king, but he
must appoint them one. They do not say, “ (live
us a king that is wise and good, and will judge bet¬
ter than thy sons do,” but, “ Give us a king,” any
body that will but make a figure. Thus foolishly
did they forsake their own mercies, and, under pre¬
tence of advancing the dignity of their nation to that
of their neighbours, did really thrust themselves
down from their own excellency, and profane their
crown by casting it to the ground.
II. Samuel’s resentment of this address, v. 6.
Let us see how he took it: 1. It cut him to the
heart. Probably, it was a surprise to him, and he
had not any intimation before of their design, which
made it the more grievous. The thing displeased
Samuel; not when they upbraided him with his own
infirmities, and his children’s irregularities; he could
patiently bear what reflected on himself and his
own family, but it displeased him when they said,
Give us a king to judge us, because that reflected
upon God and his honour. 2. It drove him to his
knees; he gave them no answer, for the present,
but he took some time to consider of what they pro¬
posed, and prayed unto the Lord for direction what
to do, spreading the case before him, and leaving
it with him, and so making himself easy. Samuel
was a man much in prayer, and we are encouraged
in every thing to make our requests known to God,
Phil. 4. 6. When any thing disturbs us, it is our
interest, as well as our duty, to show God our trou¬
ble, and he gives us leave to be humbly free with
him.
III. The instruction God gave him concerning
this matter. They that in straits seek to God, shall
find him nigh unto them, and ready to direct them.
He tells him,
1. That which would be an allay to his displea¬
sure. Samuel was much disturbed at the motion, it
troubled him greatly to see his prophetical office
thus slighted, and all the good turns he had done to
Israel, thus ungratefully returned; but God tells
him, he must not think it either hard or strange.
(1.) He must not think it hard, that they had put
this slight upon him, for they had herein put a
slight upon God himself; “ They have not rejected
thee only, but they have rejected me; I share with
thee in the affront,” v. 7. Note, If God interest
himself in the indignities that are done us, and the
contempts that are put upon us, we may well afford
to bear them patiently; nor need we think the worse
of ourselves, if for his sake we bear refiroach, (Ps.
69. 7. ) but rather rejoice, and count it an honour,
Col. 1. 24. Samuel must not complain that they
were weary of his government, though just and
gentle, for really they were weary of God’s govern¬
ment, that was it they disliked; They have rejected
me, that I should not reign over them. God reigns
over the heathen, (Ps. 47. 8.) over all the world,
but the government of Israel had hitherto been, in
a more peculiar manner than ever any government
was, a Theocracy, a divine government, their judges
had their call and commission immediately from
God, the affairs of their nation were under his pe¬
culiar conduct. As the constitution, so the admin¬
istration, of their government, was bv. Thus saith
the Lord; this method they were weary of, though
it was their honour and safety, above any thing, so
long as they kept in with God; they were indeed so
much the more exposed to calamities, if they pro¬
voked God to anger by sin, and found they could
not transgress at so cheap a rate as other nations
could, which, perhaps, was the true reason why
they desired to stand upon tne same terms with
God that other nations did. (2. ) He must not think
it strange, nor marvel at the matter, for they do as
they always have done, (y. 8. ) According to all the
works which they have done, since the day that. 1
brought them out of Egy/it, so do they unto thee.
They had at first been so very respectful and
obsequious to Samuel, that he began to hope they
were cured of their old stubborn disposition; but
now he found himself deceived in them, and must
not be surprised at it. They had always been rude
to their governors, witness Moses and Aaron; nay,
They have forsaken me, and served other gods; the
greatness of their crime, in affecting new gods, may
make this crime, of affecting new governors, seem
little. Samuel might expect they would deal
treacherously, for they were called transgressors
from the womb, Isa. 48. 8. This had been their
mariner from their youth ufi, Jer. 22. 21.
2. He tells him that which would be an answer
to their demand. Samuel would not have known
what to say, if God had not instructed him. Should
he oppose the motion, it would bespeak a greater
fondness of power and dominion than did become a
prophet, and an indulgence of his sons. Should he
yield to the motion, it would look like the betray¬
ing of his trust, and he would become accessary to
all the bad consequences of a change. Aaron sin¬
ned in gratifying the people, when they said, Make
us gods; he dares not therefore comply with them,
when they say, Make us a king, but he gives them,
with assurance, the answer God sent them.
(1.) He must tell them, that they shall have a
king. Hearken to the voice of the people, v. 7. and
again, v. 9. Not that God was pleased with their
request, but as sometimes he crosses us, in love, so
at other times he gratifies us, in wrath; he did so
here. When they said. Give us a king, and
princes, he gave them a king in his anger. See
Hos. 13. 10, 11. as he gave quails, Ps. 106. 15. — 78.
29. God bade Samuel humour them in this matter,
[1.] That they might be beaten with their own
rod, and might feel, to their cost, the difference
between his government, and the government of a
king; see 2 Chron. 12. 8. It soon appeared, how
much worse their condition was, in ail respects,
under Saul, than it had been under Samuel. [2.]
To prevent something worse. If they were not
gratified, they would either rise in rebellion against
Samuel, or universally revolt from their religion,
and admit the gods of the nations, that they might
have kings like them. Rather than so, let them
have a king. [3.] God knows how to bring glory
to himself, out of it, and serve his own wise pur¬
poses, even by their foolish counsels.
(2.) But he must tell them withal, that when
they have a king, they will soon have enough of
him, and will, when it is too late, repent of their
choice. This he must protest solemnly to them;
(x>. 9.) that, if they would have a king to rule them,
as the eastern kings ruled their subjects, they would
find the yoke exceedingly heavy. They looked only
at the pomp and magnificence of a king, and
thought that would make their nation great and
considerable among its neighbours, and would strike
a terror upon their enemies; but he must bid them
consider, how they would like to bear the charges
of that pomp, and how they would endure that
arbitrary power, which the neighbouring kings as¬
sumed. Note, Those that set their hearts inordi-
natelv upon any thing in this world, for the moderat¬
ing of their desires, ought to consider the inconve¬
niences, as well as conveniences, that will attend it,
262
1. SAMUEL, Vllf.
and to set the one over against the other in their I
thoughts. Those that submit themselves to the
government of the world and the flesh, are told
plainly, what hard masters they are, and what a
tyranny the dominion of sin is; and yet they will ex¬
change God’s government for it.
IV. Samuel’s faithful delivery of God’s mind to i
them; (v. 10.) He told them all the words of the
Lord , how ill he resented it; that he construed it :
into a rejecting of him, and compared it with their
serving other gods. That he would grant their re¬
quest, if they insisted on it; but withal had ordered
him to represent to them the certain consequences
of their choice, that they would be such as, if they
had any reason left them, and would allow them¬
selves to consult their own interest, would make
them withdraw their petition, and beg to continue as
they were. Accordingly, he lays before them,
very particularly, what would be, not the right of a
king in general, but the manner of the king that
should reign over them, according to the pattern of
the nations, v. 11. Samuel does not speak (as
Bishop Patrick expounds it) of a just and honest
right of a king to do these things, for his right is
quite otherwise described in that part of Moses’s
law which concerns the king’s duty, but such a
right as the kings of the nations had then acquired.
This shall be the manner of the king, that is, 1.
“ Thus he must support his dignity, at the expense
of that which is dearest to you.” 2. “ Thus he will
abuse his power, as those that have power are apt
to do; and naving the militia in his hand, you will
be under the necessity of submitting to him.”
If they will have such a king as the nations have,
let them consider,
(1.) That a king must have a great retinue,
abundance of servants to wait on him, grooms to
look after his chariots and horses, gentlemen to
ride about with him, and footmen to run before his
chariots. This is the chief grandeur of princes, and
the imaginary glory of great men, to have a multi¬
tude of attendants. And whence must he have
those? “ Why, he will take your sons, who are
free bora, have a liberal education, and whom you
now have at your own disposal, and will appoint
them for himself v. 11. They must wait upon him,
and be at his beck; they that used to work for their
parents and themselves, must work for him, ear his
ground, and reap, his harvest, (y. 12.) and count it
their preferment too,” v. 16. This would be a
great change. .
(2.) “ He must keep a great table; he will not be
content to dine with his neighbours upon a sacrifice,
as Samuel used to do, (c/n 9. 13.) but he must have
variety of dainty dishes, forced-meats, and sweet¬
meats, and delicate sauces; and who must prepare
him these? Why, he will take your daughters, the
most ingenious and handy of them, whom you
hoped to prefer to houses and tables of their own,
and, whether you be willing or no, they must be
his confectionaries, and cooks, and bakers, and the i
like.”
(3.) “ He must needs have a standing army, for ,
guards and garrisons; and your sons, instead of be¬
ing elders of your cities, and living in quiet and
honour at home, must be captains over thousands,
and captains over fifties, and must be disposed of at
the pleasure of the sovereign.”
(4.) “You may expect that he will have great
favourites, whom, having dignified and ennobled,
he must enrich, and give them estates suitable to
their honour; and which way can he do that, but
out of your inheritances? v. i 4, He will take your
fields and vineyards, which descended to you from
your ancestors, and which you hoped to have left to
your posterity after you, even the best of them; and
will not only take them to himself, (you could bear
|| that the better,) but he will gh<e them to his ser¬
vants, who will be your masters, and bear rule osrer
that for which you have laboured. How will you
like that?”
(5.) “ He must have great revenues to maintain his
grandeur and power with ; and whence must he have
them but from you? He will take the tenth of the
fruits of your ground, (x». 15.) and your cattle, v.
17. You think the tenths, the double’ tenths, which
the law of God has appointed for the support of the
church, grievous enough, and grudge the payment
of them; but, if you have a king, there must issue
another tenth out of your estates, which will be
levied with more rigour, for the support of the
royal dignity. Consider the expense with the mag¬
nificence, and whether it will quit cost.”
These would be their grievances; and, [1.] They
would have none but God to complain to. Once
they complained to the prince himself, and were
answered, according to the manner of the king,
Your yoke is heavy, and I will add to it, 1 Kings
12. 11. [2.] When they complained to God, he
would not hear them; (i>. 18.) nor could they ex¬
pect that he should, both because they had been
deaf to his calls and admonitions, and this trouble,
in particular, they had brought upon themselves,
by rejecting him, and would not believe, when he
told them what would come of it. Note, When we
bring ourselves into distress by our own irregular
desires and projects, we justly forfeit the comfort
of prayer, and the benefit of divine aids, and, if God
be not better to us than we deserve, must have our
relief-in our own hands, and then it is bad with us.
V. The people’s obstinacy in their demand, v.
19, 20 One would think such a representation of
the consequences, as this was, coming from God
himself, who can neither deceive by his word, noi
be deceived in his knowledge, should have prevail¬
ed with them to wave their request: but their
hearts were upon it, right or wrong, good or e\ il ;
“ We will have a king over us, whatever God or
Samuel say to the contrary; we will have a king,
whatever it costs us, and whatever inconvenience
we bring upon ourselves or our posterity by it.”
See their folly. 1. They were quite deaf to reason,
and blind to their own interest. They could not an¬
swer Samuel’s arguments against it, nor deny the
force of them, and yet they grow more violent in their
request, and more insolent. Before, it was, “Pray,
make us a king;” now it is, “ Aray, but we will have
a king; yea, that we will, because we will; nor will
we bear to have any thing said against it.” See the
absurdity of inordinate desires, and how they rob
men of their reason. They could not stay God’s
time. God had intimated to them in the law, that,
in due time, Israel should have a king, (Deut. 17.
14, 15.) and, perhaps, they had some intimation
that the time was at hand; but they are all in haste,
“We, in our day, will have this king over us ”
Could they but have waited ten or twelve years
longer, they had had David, a king of God’s giving
in mercy, and all the calamities that attended the
setting up of Saul had been prevented. Sudden re
solves and hasty desires make work for a long and
leisurely repentance. 3. That which they aimed at
in desiring a king, was, not only as before, that they
might be like the nations, and levelled with them,
above whom God had so far advanced them; but
that they might have one to judge them, and to go
out before them when they took the field, and to
fight their battles. Foolish people, and unwise!
Could they ever desire a battle better fought for
them than the last was, bv Samuel’s prayer, and
God’s thunder? ch. 7. 10. Was victory hereby too
sure to them? And were they fond of trying the
chance of war at the same uncertainty that others
d ^ ? So sick, it seems, were they of their privileges,
2o3
I. SAMUEL, IX.
and what was the issue? Their first king was slain
in battle, which none of their judges ever were; so
was Jcsiah, one of the last and best.
VI. The dismissing of them, with an intimation
that very shortly they should have what they asked.
1. Samuel rehearsed all their words in the ears of
the Lord, v. 21. Not but that God perfectly knew
it, without Samuel’s report; but thus he dealt faith¬
fully between God and Israel, as a prophet, return¬
ing the answer to him that sent him; and thus he
waited on God for further direction. God is fully
acquainted with the state of the case we are in care
and doubt about, but he will know it from us. His
rehearsing it in the ears of the Lord, intimates that
it was done in private; for the people were not dis¬
posed to join with him in prayer to God for direc¬
tion in this matter; also it bespeaks a holy familiarity,
to which God graciously admits his people; they
speak in the ears of the Lord, as one friend whis¬
pers with another; their communion with God is
meat they have to eat, which the world knows not of,
John 4. 32. 2. God gave direction that they should
have a king since they were so inordinately set
upon it; (v. 22.) “ Make them a king, and let them
make the best of him, and thank themselves, if
that very pomp and power which they are so eager
to see their sovereign in, be their plague and bur-
tnen. So he gave them ufi to their own hearts' lust.
Samuel told them this, but sent them home for the
present, every man to his city; for the designation
of the person must be left to God, they had now no
more to do. When God saw fit to notify the choice
to Samuel, they should hear further from him; in
the mean time let them keep the peace, and expect
the issue.
CHAP. IX.
Samuel had promised Israel, from God, that they should
have a king; it is strange that the next news is not of
candidates setting up for the government, making an in¬
terest in the people, or recommending themselves to
Samuel, and, by him, to God, to be put in nomination.
Why does not the prince of the tribe of Judah, whoever
he is, look about him now, remembering Jacob’s entail
of the sceptre on that tribe? Is there never a bold aspir¬
ing man in Israel, to say, “ I will be king, if God will
choose me?” No, none appears; whether it is owing to
a culpable mean spiritedness, or a laudable humility, j
I know not; but sure it is what can scarcely be parallel¬
ed in the history of any kingdom; a crown, such a
crown, set up, and nobody bids for it. Most govern¬
ments began in the ambition of the prince to rule, but
Israel’s in the ambition of the people to be ruled. Had
any of those elders which petitioned for a king, afterward
petitioned to be a king, I should have suspected that per¬
son’s ambition to have been at the bottom of the motion;
but now, (let them have the praise of what was good in
them,) it was not so, God having in the law undertaken
to choose their king, (Deut. 17. 15.) they all sit still, till
they hear from heaven, and that they do in this chapter,
which begins the story of Saul, their first king, and, by
strange steps of Providence, brings him to Samuel to be
anointed privately, and so to be prepared for an election
by lot, and a public commendation to the people; which
follows in the next chapter. Here is, I. A short account
of Saul’s parentage and person, v. 1, 2. II. A large and
particular account of the bringing of him to Samuel, to
whom he had been before altogether a stranger. 1. God,
by revelation, had bid Samuel expect him, v. 15, lfi. 2.
God, by providence, led him to Samuel. (1.) Being
sent to seek his father’s asses, he was at a loss, v. 3 . . 5.
(2.) By the advice of his servant, he determined to con¬
sult Samuel, v. 6 . . 10. (3.) By the direction of the I
young maidens, he found him out, v. 11 . . 14. (4.)
Samuel, being informed of God concerning him, (v. 17.)
treated him with respect in the gate, (v. 18 . . 21. ) in the
dining room, ( v. 22 . . 24.) and, at length in private, where
he prepared him to hear the surprising news, that, he
must be king, v. 25 . . 27. And these beginnings had
been very hopeful and promising, if it had not been
that the sin of the people was the spring of this o-reat
affair.
L 1WTOW there was a man of Benjamin
An whose name was Kish, the son ul
Abiel, the son of Zeror, the «on of Becho
rath, the son of'Aphiah, a Benjamite, a
mighty man of power. 2. And he had a son
j whose name was Saul, a choice young man,
I and a goodly ; and there urns not among the
| children of Israel a goodlier person than he r
from his shoulders and upward he teas high¬
er than any of the people.
We are here told,
1. What a good family Saul was of, v. 1. He
was of the tribe of Benjamin; so was the New Tes¬
tament Saul, who also was called Paul, and he
mentions it as his honour, for Benjamin was a fa¬
vourite, Rom. 11. 1. Phil. 3. 5. That tribe had
been reduced to a very small number by the fatal
war with Gibeah, and much ado there was to pro
vide wives for those six hundred men that were the
poor remains of it out of that diminished tribe,
which is here called, with good reason, the smallest
of the tribes of Israel, v. 21. Saul sprang as a root
out of a dry ground. That tribe, though fewest in
number, was first in dignity, God giving more
abundant honour to that part which lacked, 1 Co-.
12. 24. His father was Kish, a mighty man of
power, or, as the margin reads it, in substance; in
spirit stout, in body strong, in estate wealthy. The
whole lot of the tribe of Benjamin coming to be dis¬
tributed among six hundred men, we may suppose
their inheritances were much larger than their’s
who were of other tribes; an advantage which
somewhat helped to balance the disadvantage of the
smallness of their number.
2. What a good figure Saul made, v. 2. No
mention is here made of his wisdom or virtue, his
learning or piety, or any of the accomplishments
of his mind, but that he was a tall, proper, hand¬
some man, that had a good face, a good shape, and
a good presence, graceful and well proportioned;
among all the children of Israel, there was not a
goodlier person than he; and, as if nature had
marked him for pre-eminence and superiority, he
was taller, by the head and shoulders, than any of
the people, the fitter to be a match for the giants
of Gath, the champions of the Philistines. When
God chose a king after his own heart, he pitched
upon one that was not at all remarkable for the
height of his stature, or any thing in his counte¬
nance, but the innocency and sweetness that ap¬
peared there, ch. 16. 7, 12. But when he chose a
king after the people’s heart, who aimed at nothing
so much as stateliness and grandeur, he pitched
upon this huge tall man, who, if he had no other
good qualities, yet would look great. It does not
appear that he excelled in strength, so much as he
did in stature; Samson did, and him they slighted,
bound, and betrayed into the hands of the Philis¬
tines; justly therefore are they now put off with one,
who, though of uncommon height, is weak as other
men. They would have a king like the nations,
and the nations commonly chose portly men for
their kings.
3. And the asses of Kish, Saul’s father,
were lost : and Kish said to Saul his son,
Take now one of the servants with thee,
and arise, go seek the asses. 4. And he
passed through mount Ephraim, and passed
through the land of Shalisha, hut they found
them not: then they passed through the
land of Shalim, and there they were not ;
264
I. SAMUEL, IX.
and he passed through the land of the Ben-
jamites, but they found them not. 5. And
when they were come to the land of
Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was
with him, Come, and let us return ; lest my
father leave caring for the asses, and take
1 bought for us. 6. And he said unto him,
Behold now, there is in this city a man of
God, and he is an honourable man ; all that
he saith cometh surely to pass : now, let us
go thither; peradventure he can show us
our way that we should go. 7. Then said
Saul to his servant. But, behold, if we go,
what shall we bring the man ? for the
bread is spent in our vessels, and there is
not a present to bring to the man ol God :
what have we ? 8. And the servant an¬
swered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have
here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of
silver ; that will I give to the man of God,
to tell us our way. 9. (Beforetime in Is¬
rael, when a man went to inquire of God,
thus he spake, Come, and let us go to
the seer : for he that is now called a Pro¬
phet, was beforetime called a Seer.) 10.
Then said Saul to his servant, Well said ;
come, let us go. So they went unto the
city where the man of God was.
Here is,
I. A great man rising from small beginnings. It
does not appear that Saul had any preferment at all,
or was in any post of honour or trust, till he was
chosen king of Israel. Most that are advanced,
rise gradually; but Saul, from the level with his
neighbours, stepped at once into the throne, accord¬
ing to that of Hannah. He raiseth up. the poor out
of the dust, to set them among princes, ch. 2. 8.
Saul, it should seem, though he was himself mar¬
ried, and had children grown up, yet lived in his
father’s house, and was subject to him. Promotion
comes not by chance or human probabilities, but
God is the Judge.
II. A great event rising from small occurrences.
How low does the history begin! Begin to trace
Saul to the crown, we find him first employed as
meanly as any we meet with called out to prefer¬
ment.
1. Saul’s father sends him with one of his ser¬
vants, to seek some asses that he had lost. It may
be, they had no way then to give public notice of
such a number of asses strayed or stolen out of the
grounds of Kish the Benjamite. A very good law
they had to oblige men to bring back an ox or an
ass that went astray, but it is to be feared that was,
as other good laws, neglected and forgotten. It is
easy to observe here, that they who have, must ex¬
pect to lose; that it is wisdom to look after what is
lost; that no man should think it below him to know
he state of his flocks; that children should be for¬
ward to serve their parents’ interests; Saul readily
went to seek- his father's asses, v. 3, 4. His taking
care of the asses is to be ascribed, not so much to
the humility of his spirit, as to the plainness and
simplicity of those times. But his obedience to his
father in it, was very commendable. Seest thou
a man diligent in his business, and dutiful to his su¬
periors, willing to stoop, and willing to take pains?
He does, as Saul, stand fair for preferment. The
servant of Kish would be faithful only as a servant,
but Saul as a son, in his own business, and therefore
he sent him with him. Saul and his servant tra
veiled far on foot, it is likely, in quest of the asses,
but in vain, they found them not. He missed of
what he sought, but had no reason to complain of
the disappointment, for he met with the kingdom,
which he never dreamed of.
2. When he could not find them, he determined
to return to his father, (x». 5. ) in consideration cf
his father’s tender concern for him; being appre¬
hensive, that if they stayed out any longer, his aged
father would begin to fear, as Jacob concerning Jo¬
seph, that an evil beast had devoured them, or
some mischief had befallen them; “He will leave
caring for the asses, as much as he was iir care
about them, and will take thought for usd’ Chil¬
dren should take care that they do nothing to
grieve or frighten their parents, but be tender of
their tenderness.
3. His servant moved, (for it should seem he had
more religion in him than his master,) that since
they were now at Ramah, they should call on Sa¬
muel, and take his advice in this important affair.
Observe here,
(1.) They were close by the city where Samuel
lived, and that put it into their "heads to consult
him; (to 6.) There is in this city a ma?i of God.
Note, Wherever we are, we should improve our
opportunities of acquainting ourselves with those
that are wise and good. But there are many that
will consult a man of God, if he comes in their way,
that would not go a step out of their way to get
wisdom.
(2.) The servant spoke very respectfully con¬
cerning Samuel, though he had no personal know¬
ledge of him, but by common fame only; He is a
man of God, and an honourable man. Note, Men
of God are honourable men, and should be so in our
eyes. Acquaintance with the things of God, and
serviceableness to the kingdom ol God, put true
honour upon men, and make them great. This
was the honour of Samuel, as a man ol God, that
all he saith, coines surely to pass. This was observ¬
ed concerning him, when he was a young prophet
(ch. 3. 19.) God did let none of his words fall to the
ground; and still it held true.
(3.) They agreed to advise with him concerning
the way that they should go, Peradventure he can
show us. All the use they would make of the m n
of God, was, to be advised by him, whether they
should return home, or, if there was yet any hopes
of finding the asses, which way they must go next;
a poor business to employ a prophet about! Had
they said, “Let us give up the asses for lost, and
now that we are so near the man of God, let us go
and learn from him the good knowledge of God, let
us consult him how we may order our conversati' ns
aright, and inquire the law at his mouth, since we
mav not have such another opportunity, and then
we shall not lose our journey” — the piopcsal had
been such as became Israelites; but, to make pro-
pheev, that glory of Israel, serve so mean a turn as
this, discovered too much what manner of spirit
they were of. Note, Most people would rather be
told their fortune, than told their duty; how to be
rich, than how to be saved. If it were the business
of the men of God to direct for the recovery of lost
asses, they would be consulted much more than
they are now that it is their business to direct for
the recovery of lost souls; so preposterous is the
care of most men!
(4.) Saul was thoughtful, what present they
should bring to the man of God, what fee they
should give him for his advice; (z<. 7.) 11 hat shall
we bring the man? Thev could not present him, as
Jeroboam’s wife did Abijah, with loaves and cakes.
265
i. SAMUEL, IX.
(1 Kings 14. 3.) for their bread was spent, but the
servant bethought himself, that he had in his
pocket the fourth part of a shekel, about seven-
pence half-penny in value, and that he would give
to the man of God, to direct them, v. 8. “That
will do,” says Saul, let us go, v. 10. Some think
that when Saul talked of giving Samuel a fee, he
measured him by himself, or by his sons, as if he
must be hired to do an honest Israelite a kindness,
and were like the false prophets, that divined for
money, Mic. 3. 11. He came to him as a fortune¬
teller, rather than as a prophet, and therefore
thought the fourth part of a shekel was enough to
give him. But it rather seems to be agreeable to
the general usage of these times, as it is to natural
equity, that those who sowed spiritual things,
should reap not only eternal things, from Him that
employs them, but temporal things, from those for
whom they are employed. Samuel needed not
their money, nor would he have denied them his
advice, if they had not brought it; (it is probable,
when he had it, he gave it to the poor;) but they
brought it to him as a token of their respect, and
the value they put upon his office; nor did he refuse
it, for they were able to give it, and, though it was
but little, it was the widow’s mite. But Saul, as he
never thought of going to the man of God till the
servant proposed it, so it should seem, he mention¬
ed the want of a present, as an objection against
their going; he would not own that he had money
in his pocket, but when the servant generously
offered to be at the charge, then, “Well said,”
says Saul, “come, let us go.” Most people love a
cheap religion, and like it best, when they can de¬
volve the expense of it on others.
(5.) The historian here takes notice of the name
then given to the prophets, they called them Seers,
or seeing men; (v. 9. ) not but that the name pro¬
phet was then used, and applied to such -persons,
but that of seers was more in use. Note, Those
that are prophets, must first be seers; they who un¬
dertake to speak to others of the things of God,
must have an insight into those things them¬
selves.
1 1. And as they went up the hill to the
city, they found young maidens going out
to draw water, and said unto them, Is the
seer here? 1*2. And they answered them,
and said, He is; behold, he is before you:
make haste now, for he came to-day to the
city; for there is a sacrifice of the people
to-day in the high place: 13. As soon as
ye be come into the city ye shall straight¬
way find him, before he go up to the high
place to eat: for the people will not eat
until he come, because he doth bless the
sacrifice ; and afterwards they eat that be
bidden. Now therefore get you up; for
about this time ye shall find him. 1 4. And
they went up into the city ; and when they
were come into the city, behold, Samuel
came out against them, for to go up tb the
high place. 15. Now the Lord had told
Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came,
saying, 16. To-morrow, about this time, I
will send thee a man out of the land of
Benjamin ; and thou shalt anoint him to be
captain over my people Israel, that he may
save my people out of the hand of the Phi-
Vol. ii.— 2 L
listines : for I have looked upon my people,
because their cry is come unto me. 1 7.
And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord
said unto him, Behold the man whom I
spakeTo thee of: this same shall reign over
my people.
Here,
I. Saul, by an ordinary inquiry, is directed to
Samuel, v. 11, 14. Gibeali of Saul was not twenty
miles from Hamah where Samuel dwelt, and was
near to Mizpeh where he often judged Israel; and
yet, it seems, S ml had lived so very privately, and
had taken so little notice of public affairs, that he
had never seen Samuel; for when he met him, (i\
18.) he did not know him, so that there was no
cause to suspect any secret compact or collusion
between them in this matter. I knew him not, says
John Baptist concerning Christ, John 1. 31. Yet I
do not think it any commendation to Saul, that he
was a stranger to Samuel. However, the maid¬
servants of Ramah, whom they met with at the
places of drawing water, could give him and his
servant intelligence concerning Samuel; and very
particular they were in their directions, v. 12, 13,
We should always be ready to give what assistance
we can to those that are inquiring after God’s pro¬
phets, and further them in their inquiries.
Even the maid-servants could tell them, 1. That
there was a sacrifice that day in the high place, it
being either an ordinary festival, or an extraordi¬
nary day of prayer and thanksgiving, with which
sacrifices were joined. The tabernacle being de¬
prived of the ark, the altar there had not now the
reputation it formerly had, nor were they tied to it,
as they would be when God had again chosen a
place to put his name in; and therefore now other
S’aces were allowed. Samuel had built an altar at
amah, {ch. 7. 17.) and here we have him making
use of that altar. 2. That S imuel came that day
to the city, either from his circuit, or from his
country-seat. He was such a public person, that
his motions were generally known. 3. That this
was just the time of tlieir meeting to feast before the
Lord upon the sacrifice; “About this time you will
find him in the street going up to the high place.”
They knew the hour of the solemn feast. 4. That
the people would not eat till Samuel came, not only
because he was the worthiest person, and they
ought, in good manners, to stay for him, and he
was, as some think, the maker of the feast, the sa¬
crifice being offered at his charge, and upon his ac¬
count; but because, as a man of God, whoever made
the feast, he must bless the sacrifice, that is, those
parts of the sacrifice which they feasted upon;
which may be considered, (1.) As a common meal;
and so this is an instance of that great duty of crav¬
ing a blessing upon our me.it before we partake of
it. We cannot expect benefit from our food with¬
out that blessing, and we have no reason to expect
that blessing if we do not pray for it. Thus we
must give glory to God as our Benefact r. ni d own
our dependence upon him, and our obligations to
him. Or, (2.) As a religious assembly. When
the sacrifice was offered, which was the ceremony,
Samuel blessed it; that is, he prayed o\er it, and
offered up spiritual sacrifices with it, which were
the substance; and afterward, when the holy duties
were performed, they did eat. Let the soul first
be served. The feast upon the sacrifice being a
sacred rite, it was requisite that it should in a par¬
ticular manner be blessed, as is the Christian eu-
charist. They feasted, in token of their reconcilia¬
tion to God by virtue of the sacrifice, nnd their par¬
ticipation of the benefits of it; and Samuel blessed
it, that is, he prayed to God to grace the solemnity
266
r. SAMUKL, IX.
with his special presence, that it might answer
»hose great ends.
Bishop Hall observ es, what a particular account
these maid servants could gi e of the usages of
those sacred feasts, and infers from it, 'Hi at “where
there is practice and example of piety in tfie better
sort there will be a reflection of it upon the mean¬
est. It is no small ad antage to live in religious
places; for we sh all be much to blame if all good¬
ness fall beside us. ”
Sa.l and his servant followed the directions
given t ern, and very opportunely met Samuel
going to the high-pl ce, the synagogue of the city, j
v. 14. Tr.is seemed purely accidental, but the Di¬
vine Providence ordered it for the forwarding of
this great ev ent. The wise God serves very great
and certain p lrposes, by very small and casual oc¬
currences. A sparrow falls not to the ground with¬
out cur Father
II. Samuel, by an extraordinary revelation, is in¬
formed concerning Saul. He was a seer, and
therefore must see this in a way peculiar to him¬
self
1. God has told him, the day before, that he
would, at this time, send him the man that should
serve the people of Israel for such a king as thev
wished to have, like all the nation*., v. 15, 16. He
told him b. hi s ear; that is, privately, by a secret
whisper to his mind; or, perhaps, by a still small
voice, some soft and gentle sounds conveyed to his
ear, probably, when he was praying in secret for
direction in th -t and other affairs of the nation. He
had spo ken in the earn of the Lord, rch. 8. 21.) and
now, God spake in hvs ear , in token or friendship and
familiarity; for he revealeth hvs secret to hi* servants
the prophet*, as secrets in their ear, Amos 3. 7.
Goxi told him before, that he might not be a sur¬
prise to him; and, perhaps, it w as in expectation
of it, that he appointed the feast and the sacrifice,
for the imploring o,f God’s blessing upon this great
and important affair, though he might keep the |
particular occasion in his own bre st, God having
only told it him in his ear. The Hebrew phrase is,
He uncovereth the ear of Samuel; to which some
allude, f r the explication of the way of God’s re¬
vealing himself to us; he not only speaks, but un¬
covers our ear. We ha e naturally a covering on
our ears, so that we perceive not what God says;
(Job. 33. 14.) but when God will manifest himself
to a sou!, he unco- ers the ear, says Ephphatha,
opened; he takes the vail from off the heart , 2 !
Cor. 3. 16.
Though God had, in displeasure, granted their
request for a king, yet here he speaks tenderly of
Israel; for even in wrath he remembers mercy. (1.)
He calls them again and agam hie people; though a
Buevish and prov' king people, yet mine still. (2.)
e sends them a man to be captain ov er them, that
they might not be a body without a head, and to
save them out of the hands of the Phi is fines, which,
perhaps, was more than many of them aimed at in
desiring a king. (3.) He does it with a gracious
respect to them and to their cry. I have looked
upon my people, and their cry is come unto me. He
gratified them with what thev cried for, as the ten¬
der mother humours the froward child, lest it
should bFeak its heart. And (as Bish'p Patrick
observes) though he would not hear their cry to re¬
lieve them against the oppression of their kings,
( ch . 8. 18.) yet he was v, gracious as to make those
kings instruments of their deliverance from the op¬
pression < f their neighbours; which was more than
they had reason to expect
2. When Saul came up toward him in the street,
God again whispered Samuel in the ear; (v. 17.)
P.rhola the man whom J spake to thee ofi Saul
being a man of unusual stature, it is natural to
thir.k that Samuel fixed his eyes upon him at a dis
‘ tance, and perhaps, looked the m- re w.st:u.]y t -
ward him, because the hour was now come, wi.tn
God wouid send him the m<-.n that shrulii be king
of Israel, and he fancied this might be he; but,
that he might be fully satisfied, Goc told him ex
pressly, 7 hat is the man that shall restrain, 'for
magistrates are heirs of restraint,) m my people
Israel.
18. Then Saul drew near to Samuel in
the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee,
where the seer's house is. 19. And Samuel
answered Saul, and said, 1 am the seer : go
up before me unto the high place; for ye
shall eat with me to-day ; and to-morrow 1
will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is
in thine heart. 20. And as for thine asses
that were lost three days ago, set not thy
mind on them : for they are found. And on
whom is all the desire of Israel : is it not on
thee, and on all thy father’s house? 21.
And Saul answered and said, Am not J a
Benjarnite, of the smallest of the tribes of
Israel ? and my family the least of all the
families of the tribe of Benjamin ? where¬
fore then speakest thou so to me ? 22. And
Samuel took Saul and his servant, and
brought them into the parlour, and made
them sit in the chiefest place among them
that were bidden, w hich were about thirty
persons. 23. And Samuel said unto the
cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee,
of which 1 said unto thee, Set it by thee.
24. And the cook took up the shoulder, and
that which was upon it, and set it before
Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that which
is left ! set it before thee, and eat: for unto
this time hath it been kept for thee, since J
said, I have invited the people. So Saul
did eat with Samuel that day. 2 b. And when
they were come down from the bi"h place
into the city, Samuel communed with Saul
upon the top of the house. 26. And they
arose early : and it came to pass, about the
spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul
to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I
may send thee away. And Saul arose,
and they went out both of them, he and
Samuel, abroad. 27. And as they were
jroing down to the end of the city, Samuel
said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before
us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still
a while, that I may show thee the word of
God.
Providence having at length brought Samuel and
Saul together, we have here an account of what
passed between them in the g -te, at the feast, and
in private.
I. In the gate of the city; passing through that,
Saul found him, (in 18.) and, little thinking that he
was Samuel himself, asked him the way to Samu¬
el’s house; Tell me where the seer's he>use is; for
there he expected to find him. Sec how mean a
I. SAMUEL, X.
figure Si.miel made, though so great a man: he
t' wk not any state, had no attendants, no ensigns of
honour carried before him, nor any distinguishing
habit, no not when he went to church, but appear¬
ed, in all respects, so much a common person, that
Saul, though he was told he should meet him, never
suspected that it was he; but, as if he looked more
like a porter than a prophet, asked him the way to
the seer’s house. Thus is great worth oftentimes
hid under a very despicable appearance. Samuel
knew that it was n t the house, but the man, that
ne wanted, and therefore answered him, “ I am
the seer, the person you inquire for,” v. 19. Sa¬
muel knew him before he knew Samuel: thus,
though all that are called to the kingdom of glory,
are brought to know God, yet first they were
known of him, Gal. 4. 9.
Now, 1. Samuel obliges him to stay with him till
the next day; the greatest part of this day had been
spent in sacrificing, and the rest of it was to be
spent in holy feasting, and therefore, “ To-morrow
I will let thee go, and no sooner; now go up before
me to the high place; let us pray together, and then
we will talk together.” Saul had nothing in his
mind but to find his asses; but Samuel would take
him off from that care, and dispose him to the ex¬
ercises of piety ; and therefore bids him go to the
high place, and go before* him, because, it may be,
some business obliged Samuel to call by the wav.
2. He satisfies him about his asses; (x>. 20.) “Set
not thy mind on them, be not in further care about
them, they are found. By this, Saul might per¬
ceive that he was a prophet, that he could give him
an answer to the inquiry which he had not yet
made, and tell him what he thought; and from
thence might infer, If a man of God could do this,
much more doth God himself understand our
thoughts afar of. 3. He surprises him with an in¬
timation of preferment before him, “ On whom is
all the desire of Israel ? Is it not a king that they
are set upon? and there is never a man in Israel
that will suit them so as thou wilt.” It does n t
appear that the country had as yet any eye upon
him for the government, because they had left it
wholly to God to choose for them: but such a one
as he they wished for; and his advancement would
be the advancement of his family and relations, as
Abner, and others.
To this strange intimation Saul returns a very
modest answer, r. 21. Samuel, he thought, did
but banter him, because he was a tall man, but
a very unlikely m \n to be a king; for though the
historian says (r. 1.1 lvs f ither was a mighty man
of power, yet he himself speaks diminishinglv of
his tribe and family. “ Benjamin, the youngest of
Jacob’s sons, when grown up to be a man, was call¬
ed a little one . (Gen. 44. 20.) that tribe diminished
bv the war of Gibeah, and I am a Benjamite ; mu
family the least; probably, a younger house: not in
anv place of honour or trust, no not jn their own
tribe.” Gideon had expressed himself thus, Judg.
6. 15. An humble disposition is a good presage of
preferment.
II. At the public feast; thither Samuel took him
and his servant. Though the advancing of Saul
would be the deposing of Samuel, yet that good
prophet was so far from envying him. or bearing
him anv ill-will for it, that he was the first and for-
wanlest man to do him honour, in compliance with
the will of God. If this be the man whom God
has chosen, though he be none of Samuel’s particu¬
lar friends or confidants, yet he is heartily welcome
to his table, nay to his bosom. We may suppose
it was no unseasonable kindness to Saul, to give him
a meal’s meat, for it seems, by what he said, (r.
7. ) that all their meat and money were spent. But
this was not all, Samuel treats him not as a common
person, but a person of quality and distinction, to
prepare both him and the people for what was tc
follow. l\vo marks of honour he put upon him.
1. He set him in the best place, as more honoura¬
ble than any other of the guests, to whom he said,
Gree this man place, Luke 14. 9. Though we may
suppose the magistrates were there, who in their
own city would claim precedency, yet the master
of the feast made Saul and his servant too (who, if
he were a king, must be respected as his prime
minister of state) sit in the chiefest place, v. 22.
Note, Civil respects must be paid to those, who, in
civil things, ha\ e the precedency given them by the
Divine Providence.
2. He presented him with the best dish; which,
having had notice from heaven the day before of
his coming, (r. 16.) he had designed for him, and
ordered the cook to secure for him, when he gave
orders for inviting the guests, and making prepara-
ti *n for them. And what should this precious dish
be. which was so very carefully reserved for the
king-elect? One would expect it should be some¬
thing very nice and delicate; no, it was a plain
shoulder of mutton: (r. 23, 24.' the right shoulder
of the peace-offering was to be given to the priests,
who were God’s receivers: (Lev. 7. 52.) the next
in honour to that, was the left shoulder, which,
probably, was always allotted to those that sat at
the upper end of the table, and was wont to be Sa¬
muel's mess at other times; so that his giving it to
Saul now. was an implicit resignation of his place
t * lrm. Some observe a significance in this dish;
the shoulder denotes strength, and the breast,
which, some think, went with it, denotes affection:
he that w s king, had the government upon his
shoulder, for he must bear the weight of it: and the
people :n his bosom, fin- they must be dear to him.
III. What passed between them in private; txth
that evening and early the next morning, Samuel
communed with Saul upon the flat roof cf the
house, v. 25, 26. Wo may suppose Samuel now
told him the whole story of the people’s desire of a
king, the grounds of their desire, and God’s grant
of i‘ ; to all which, Saul, living very private, was
perhaps a stranger; he satisfied him that he was the
person God had pitched upon for the government;
and whereas Saul would object, that S .muel was in
possession, and he would not for all the world take
it out of his hands. Samuel, we may supp> se. gave
him all the assurance he could desire, of his wil¬
lingness to resign. Early in the morning, he sent
him toward home, brought him a part of the way,
bade him send his servant before, that they might be
private, (r. 2 7.) and there, as we find in the begin¬
ning of the next chapter, he anointed him. and there¬
in showed him the wot~d of the I ord; that is. gave
him full satisfaction that he was the person chosen
to be king, for he would not jest with that sacred
rite. It is by the unction of the H ly Ghost, that
Christ, the great Prophet, shows us the word of the
Lord; (1 John 2. 27.) the same anointing teacheth
you of all things.
CHAP. X.
We left Samuel and Saul Malkins together, probably some
private way over the fields down from Rantah, perhaps
in the paths ofthe vinevards, and Saul expecting to hear
(Vom Samuel the word of God. Now here we have, I.
The anointing of Saul, then and there, v. 1. The signs
Samuel gave him. (v. £..6.1 and instructions, v. 7. 5.
II. The accomplishment of those signs to the satisfaction
of Saul, v. 9. .IS. 111. His return to his father's house,
v. 14.. 16. IV. His public election by lot, and solemn
inauguration, v. 17..2.S. V. His return again to his
own city, t. £6, £7. It is a great w o k that is hen* a
doing, the setting up not onlv of a monarch, but of a
monarch' itself, in Israel : and therefore in all the
adrances towatds it, much of God is seen.
268
I. SAMUEL, X.
1. njpHEN Samuel took a vial of oil, and
JL poured it upon his head, and kissed
him, and said, Is it not because the Lord
hath anointed thee to be captain over his
inheritance? 2. When thou art departed
from me to-day, then thou shalt find two
men by Rachel’s sepulchre, in the border
ol Benjamin, at Zelzah ; and they will say
unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to
st*ek are found : and, lo, thy father hath left
the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you,
saying, What shall I do for my son ? 3.
Then shalt thou go on forward from t hence,
and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor,
and there shall meet thee three men going
up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three
kids, and another carrying three loaves of
bread, and another carrying a bottle of
wine : 4. And they will salute thee, and
give thee two loaves of bread, which thou
sfialt receive of their hands. 5. After that
thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is
the garrison of the Philistines : and it shall
come to pass, when thou art come thither
to the city, that thou shalt meet a company
of prophets coming down from the high
place, with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a
pipe, and a harp, before them ; and they
shall prophesy : 6. And the Spirit of the
Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt
prophesy with them, and shalt be turned
into another man. 7. And let it be, when
these signs are come unto thee, that thou
do as occasion serve thee; for God is with
thee. 8. And thou shalt go down before
me to Gilgal ; and, behold, I will come
flown unto thee, to offer burnt-offerings, and
to sacrifice sacrifices of peace-offerings :
seven days shalt thou tarry, till T come to
thee, and show thee what thou shalt do.
Samuel is here executing the office of a prophet,
giving Saul full assurance from God that he should
be king, as he was afterward, according to these
prophecies which went before of him.
I. He anointed him and kissed him, v. 1. This
was not done in a solemn assembly, but being done
by divine appointment, that made tip the want of
ail external solemnities, nor was it ever the less
valid for its being done in private, under a hedge,
or, as the Jews say, bv a fountain. God’s institu¬
tions are great and honourable, though the circum¬
stances of their administration be ever so mean and
despicable. 1. Samuel, by anointing Saul, assured
him that it was God’s act to make liim a king, Is it
not because the Lord hath anointed thee? And in
token of that, the High Priest was anointed to his
office, which signified the conferring of those gifts
upon him, that were requisite for the discharge of
his office; and the same was intimated in the anoint¬
ing of kings; for, whom God calls, he qualifies, and
that is a good proof of a commission. These sacred
unctions, then used, pointed at the great Messiah,
or anointed One, the King of the church, and High
Priest of our profession, who was anointed with the
oil of the Spirit, not by measure, but without
measure, and above all the priests and princes of
the Jewish church. It was common oil, no doubt,
which Samuel used, and we read not of his blessing
it, or praying over it. But it was only a vial of oil
that he anointed him with; the vessel brittle, be¬
cause his kingdom would soon be cracked and
broken; and the quantity small, because he had but
little of the Spirit conferred upon him, to what
David had, who was therefore anointed with a horn
of oil, and so were Solomon and Jehu with a box of
oil. 2. By kissing him, he assured him of his own
approbation of the choice; not only his consent to it,
but his complacency in it, though it abridged his
power and eclipsed his glory, and the glory of his
family. “ God has anointed thee,” says Samuel,
“ to be king, and I am satisfied and very well pleas¬
ed, in pledge of which, take this kiss.” It was
likewise a kiss of homage and allegiance; hereby he
not only owns him to be king, but his king; and in
this sense we are commanded to kiss the Son, Ps. 2.
12. God has anointed him, and therefore we must
thus acknowledge him, and do homage to him.
In Samuel’s explication of the ceremony, he re¬
minds him, (l.)Of the nature of the government
to which he is called; he was anointed to be captain,
a commander indeed, which bespeaks honour and
power, but a commander in war, which bespeaks
tare, and toil, and danger. (2.) The original of it;
The Lord hath anointed thee. By him he ruled,
and therefore must rule for him, in dependence on
him, and with an eye to his glory. (3. ) Of the end
of it; it is over his inheritance, to take care of that,
protect it, and order all the affairs of it for the best,
as a steward whom a great man sets over his estate,
to manage it for his service, and give an account of
it to him.
II. For his further satisfaction, he gives him
some signs, which should come to pass immediate¬
ly, this very day; and they were such as would net
only confirm the word of Samuel in general, and
prove him a true prophet, but would confirm this
word to Saul in particular, that he should be king.
1. He should presently meet with some that
would bring him intelligence from home, of the
care his father’s house was in concerning him; (v.
2.) these he would meet hard by Rachel’s sepul¬
chre. The first place he directed him to, was a
sepulchre, the sepulchre of one of his ancestors, for
Rachel died in travail with Benjamin; there he
must read a lecture of his own mortality, and now
that he had a crown in his eye, must think of his
grave, in which all his honour would be laid in the
dust. Here two men would meet him, perhaps
sent on purpose to look after him, and would tell
him the asses were found, and his father was in
pain concerning him, saving, What shall I do for
my son? He would reckon it happened well that
he met with these messengers; and it is good to eye
Providence in favourable conjunctures, (though the
matter be minute,) and to be encouraged to trust in
greater matters.
2. He should next meet with others going to
Beth-el, where, it should seem, there was a high
place for religious worship, and these men were
bringing their sacrifices thither, v. 3, 4. It was a
token for good to one that was designed for the
government of Israel, where' er he came, to meet
with people going to worship God. It is supposed
that those kids and loaves, and the bottle of wine,
which the three men had with them, were design¬
ed for sacrifice, with the meat-offerings and drink
offerings that were to attend the sacrifice; yet
Samuel tells Saul they would give him two of their
loaves, and he must take them. This would look
to us now like the relieving of a beggar. Saul must
hereafter remember the time when he received
I. SAMUEL, X.
alms, and must therefore be humble and charitable
to the poor. But, perhaps, it would then be con¬
strued, a fit present for a prince; and as such, Saul
must receive it, the first present that was brought
him, by such as knew not what they did, nor why
they did it, but God put it into their hearts, which
made it the more fit to be a sign to him. These
two loaves which were the first tribute paid to this
new-anointed king, might serve for an admonition
to him, not to spend the wealth of his crown in lux¬
ury, but still to be content with plain food. Bread
is the staff of life.
3. The most remarkable sign of all would be his
joining with a comp my of prophets that he should
meet with, under the influence of a spirit of pro¬
phecy which should at that time come upon him.
What God works in us by his Spirit serves much
more for the confirming of faith, than any thing
wrought for us by his providence. Here he tells
him, v. 5, 6. (1.) Where this would happen; at
the hill of God, where there was a garrison o f the
Philistines; which is supposed to be near Gibeah,
his own city, for there was the Philistines’ garrison,
ch. 13. 3. Perhaps, it was one of the articles of Sam¬
uel’s agreement with them, that they should have a
garrison there, or rather, after they were subdued
in the beginning of his time, they got ground again,
so far as to force this garrison into that place, and
thence God raised up the man that should chastise
them. There was a place that was called the hill
of God, because one of the schools of the prophets
was built upon it; and such respect did even Philis¬
tines themselves pay to religion, that a garrison of
their soldiers suffered a school of God’s prophets to
live peaceably by them, and did not only not dis¬
lodge them, but not restrain or disturb the public
exercises of their devotion. (2. ) Upon what occa¬
sion; he should meet a company of prophets with
music before them, prophesying, and with them he
should join himself. These prophets were not (as
it should seem) divinely inspired to foretell things
to come, nor did God reveal himself to them by
dreams and visions, but they employed themselves
in the study of the law, in instructing their neigh¬
bours, and in the acts of piety, especially in praising
God, wherein they were wonderfully assisted and
enlarged by the Spirit of God. It was happy for
Israel, that they had not only prophets, but compa¬
nions of prophets, who gave them good instruc¬
tions, and set them good examples, and helped
very much to keep up religion among them. Now
the word of the Lord was not so precious, as it had
been when Samuel was first raised up, who had
been instrumental in founding these colleges, or re¬
ligious houses, whence, it is probable, the syna¬
gogues took their rise. What a pity was it that
Israel should be weary of the government of such a
man, who, though he had not, as a man of war, ex¬
pelled the Philistines, yet (which was a greater
kindness to Israel) had, as a man of God, settled
the schools of the prophets ! Music was then used
as a proper means to dispose the mind to receive
the impressions of the good Spirit, as it did Elisha’s;
(2 Kings 3. 15.) but we have no reason to look for
the same benefit by it now, unless we saw it as ef¬
fectual as it was then in Saul’s case, to drive away
the evil spirit. These prophets had been at the
high-place, probably, offering sacrifice, and now
they came back singing psalms. We should come
from holy ordinances with our hearts greatly en¬
larged in holy joy and praise. See Ps. 138 5.
Saul should find himself strongly moved to join
with them, and should be turned thereby into
another man from what he had been while he
lived in a private capacity. The Spirit of God, by
his ordinances, changes men, wonderfully trans¬
forms them; Saul, by praising God in the commu¬
260
nion of saints, became another man, but whether a
new man or no, may be questione .
III. He directs him to proceed in the administra
tion of his government, as Providence should lead
him, and as Samuel should ad\ise him. 1. He
must follow Providence in ordinary cases; (v. 7.)
“ Do as occasion shall serz'e thee. Take such
measures as thine own prudence shall direct thee.”
But, 2. In an extraordinary strait that would here¬
after befall him at G;lgal, and would be the most
critical juncture of all other, when he would have
special need of divine aids, he must wait for Samuel
to come to him, and must tarry seven days in ex¬
pectation of him, v. 8. How his failing in this mat¬
ter proved his fall, we find afterwards, ch. 13. 11.
It was a plain intimati n to him, that he was upon
his good beha\ iour, and, though a king, must act
under the direction of Samuel, and do as he should
order him. The greatest of men must own them¬
selves in subjection to God and his word.
9. And it was so , that when he had turn¬
ed his back to go from Samuel, God gave
him another heart : and all those signs
came to pass that day. 10. And when they
came thither to the hill, behold, a company
of prophets met him ; and the Spirit of God
came upon him, and he prophesied among
them. 11. Audit came to pass, when all
that knew him beforetime saw that, behold,
he prophesied among the prophets, then the
people said one to another, What is this
that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul
also among the prophets? 12. And one of
the same place answered, and said, But
who is their father ? Therefore it became a
proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets ?
13. And when he had made an end of pro¬
phesying, he came to the high place. 1 4.
And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to
his servant, Whither went ye? And he
said, To seek the asses: and when we saw
that they were no where, we came to Sam¬
uel. 15. And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me,
I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you.
1G. And Saul said unto his uncle, He told
us plainly that the asses were found. But
of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Sam¬
uel spake, he told him not.
Saul has now taken bis leave of Samuel, much
amazed, we may well suppose, at what had been
done to him, almost ready to question whether he
was awake or no, and whether it be not all a dream.
Now here we are told,
I. What occurred by the way, v. 9. Those
signs which Samuel had given him, came to pass
very punctually; but that which gave him the
greatest satisfaction of all, was this, he found imme¬
diately that God had given him another heart. A
new fire was kindled in his breast, such as he had
never before been acquainted with: seeking his
asses is quite out of his mind, and he thinks of no¬
thing but fighting the Philistines, redressing the
grievances of Israel, making laws, administering
justice, and providing for the public safety: these
are the things that now fill his head. He finds
himself raised to such a pitch of boldness and brave¬
ry, as he never thought he should have been con-
270
I. SAMUEL, X.
scious of. He has no longer the heart of a hus¬
bandman, that is, low and mean, and narrow, and
concerned only about his corn and cattle; but the
heart of a statesman, a general, a prince. Whom
God calls to service he will make fit for it. If he
advance to another station, he will give another
heart, to those who sincerely desire to serve him
with their power.
II. What occurred when he came near home.
They came to the hill, {y. 10.) that is, to Gibe ah, or
Geba, which signifies a hill; and so the Chaldee
here takes it as a proper name; he met with the
prophets as Samuel had told him, and the Spirit of
God came upon him; strongly and suddenly, so the
word signifies; but not so as to rest and abide upon
him. It came on, so as to go off quickly: however,
for the present, it had a strange effect upon him;
for he immediately joined with the prophets in
their devotion, and that with as much decorum,
and as great a transport of affection, as any of them.
He prophesied among them.
Now, 1. His prophesying was publicly taken no¬
tice of, v. 11, 12. He was now among his acquaint¬
ance, who, when they saw him among the prophets,
called one to another to come and see a strange
sight. This would prepare them to accept of him
as a king, though one of themselves, when they
had seen how God had advanced him to the honour
of a prophet. The seventy elders prophesied be¬
fore they were made judges, Numb. 11. 25. Now,
(1.) They all wondered to see Saul among the
prophets, What is this that is come to the son of
Kish? Though this school of the prophets was
near his father’s house, yet he had never associated
with them, nor showed them any respect, perhaps
had sometimes spoken slightly of them; and now to
see him prophesying among them, was a surprise to
them, as it was long after, when his namesake, in
the New Testament, preached that gospel which
he had before persecuted, Acts 9. 21. Where
God gives another heart, it will soon show itself.
(2.) One of them, that was wiser than the rest,
asked, “ Who is their father, or instructor? Is it
not God? Are they not all taught of him? Do thev
not all owe their gifts to him? And is he limited?
Cannot he make Saul a prophet, as well as any of
them, if he pleases?” Or, “Is not Samuel their
father?” Under God, he was so; and Saul had now
lately been with him, which, by his servant, he
might know. No marvel for him to prophesy,
who lay, last night, under Samuel’s roof. (3.) It
became a proverb commonly used in Israel, when
they would express their wonder at a bad man’s
either becoming good, or, at least, being found in
good company, Is Saul among the prophets? Note,
Saul among the prophets, is a wonder to a proverb.
Let not the worst be despaired of, yet let not an
external show of devotion, and a sudden change for
the present, be too much relied on; for Saul among
the prophets, was Saul still.
But, 2. His being anointed was kept private.
When he had done prophesying, (1.) It should
seem he uttered all his words before the Lord, and
recommended the affair to his favour, for he went
straight to the high place, (x>. 13.) to give God
thanks for his mercies to him, and to pray for a
continuance of those mercies. But, (2.) He indus¬
triously concealed it from his relations. His uncle,
who met with him either at the high place, or as
soon as he came home, examined him, v. 14. Saul
owned, for his servant knew it, that they had been
with Samuel, and that he told them the asses were
found, but said not a word of the kingdom, v. 14,
15. This was an instance, [1.] Of his humility;
many a one would have been so elevated with this
surprising elevation, as to proclaim it upon the
house-top. But Saul, though he might please him¬
self with it, in his own breast, did net pride himself
in it among his neighbours. The heirs of the king¬
dom of glory are well enough pleased that the world
knows them not, 1 John 3. 1. [2.] Of his pru¬
dence. Had he been forward to proclaim it, he
would have been envied, and he knew not whatdif
ficulty that might have created him. Samuel had
communicated it to him as a secret, and he knows
not how to keep counsel. Thus it appears, that he
had another heart, a heart fit for government. [3.]
Of his dependence upon God. He does not go
about to make an interest for himself, but leaves it
to God to carry on his own work by Samuel, and,
for his own part, sits still, to see how the matter
will fall.
17. And Samuel called the people to¬
gether unto the Lord to Mizpeh ; 18. And
said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Is¬
rael out of Egypt, and delivered you out of
the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the
hand of all kingdoms, and of them that op¬
pressed you : 1 9. And ye have this day
rejected your God, who himself saved you
out of all your adversities and your tribula¬
tions ; and ye have said unto him, Nat/, but
set a king over us. Now therefore present
yourselves before the Lord by your tribes,
and by your thousands. 20. And when
Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel
to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was
taken. 21. When he had caused the tribe
of Benjamin to come near by their families,
the family of Matri wTas taken, and Saul,
the son of Kish, was taken : and when they
sought him, he could not be found. 22.
Therefore they inquired of the Lord fur¬
ther, if the man should yet come thither.
And the Lord answered. Behold, he hath
hid himself among the stuff. 23. And they
ran and fetched him thence: and when he
stood among the people, he was higher than
any of the people, from his shoulders and
upward. 24. And Samuel said to all the
people, See ye him whom the Lord hath
chosen, that there is none like him among
all the people ? And all the people shouted,
and said, God save the king ! 25. Then
Samuel told the people the manner of the
kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid
it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent
all the people away, every man to his house.
26. And Saul also went home to Gibeah ;
and there went with him a band of men,
whose hearts God had touched. 27. But
the children of Belial said, How shall this
man save us ? And they despised him, and
brought him no presents: but he held his
peace.
Saul’s nomination to the throne is here n ufie pub¬
lic, in a general assembly of the elder® ef Israel,
the representatives of their respective trines at Miz¬
peh. It is probable that this ccnvention of the
271
J. SAMUEL, X.
states was called as soon as conveniently it might,
j.fter Saul was anointed, for if there must be a
change in their government, the sooner the better:
it might be of bad consequence to be long in the do¬
ing. The people being met in a solemn assembly,
in which God was, in a peculiar manner, present,
(and therefore it is said, they were called together
unto the Lord , v. 17. ) Samuel acts for God among
them.
I. He reproves them for casting off the govern¬
ment of a prophet, and desiring that of a captain.
He shows them (i\ 18.) how happy they had been
under the divine government; when God ruled them
he delivered them out of the hand of them that o/i-
firessed them , and what would they desire more?
Could the mightiest man of valour do that for them,
which the Almighty God had done? He likewise
shows them {v. 19. ) what an affront they had put
upon God, (who had himself saved them out of all
their tribulations, by his own power, and by such as
he had immediately called and qualified,) in de¬
siring a king to save them. He tells them, in plain
terms, " Ye have this day rejected your God, ye
have, in effect, done it, so he construes it, and he
might justly, for your so doing, reject you.” They
that can live better by sense than by faith, that stay
themselves upon an arm of flesh rather than upon
the Almighty arm, forsake a Fountain of living
waters for broken cisterns. And some make their
obstinacy in this matter, to he a presage of their re¬
jecting Christ, in casting off whom, they cast off
God, that he should not reign over them.
II. He puts them upon choosing their king by
lot: he knew whom God had chosen, and had al¬
ready anointed him, but he knew also the peevish¬
ness of that people, and that there were those
among them who would not acquiesce in the choice,
if it depended upon his single testimony; and there¬
fore that every tribe, and every family of the cho¬
sen tribe, might please themselves with having a
chance for it, he calls them to the lot, v. 19. Ben¬
jamin is taken out of all the tribes, (v. 20.) and out
of that tribe Saul the son of Kish, v. 21. By this
method it would appear to the people, as it already
appeared to Samuel, that Saul was appointed of God
to be king, for the disposal of the lot is of the Lord.
It would also prevent all disputes and exceptions,
for the lot causeth contention to cease, and parteth
between the mighty. When the tribe of Benjamin
was taken, they might easily foresee that they were
setting up a family that would soon be put down
again, for dying Jacob had, by the spirit of pro¬
phecy, entailed the dominion upon Judah; that is
the tribe that must rule as a lion. Benjamin shall
only ravin as a wolf, Gen. 49. 10, 27. Those there¬
fore that knew the scriptures, could not be very
fond of doing that which they foresaw must, ere
long, be undone again.
III. It is with much ado, and not without further
inquiries of the Lord, that Saul is at length pro¬
duced. When the lot fell upon him, every one ex¬
pected he should answer to his name at the first
call; but, instead of that, none of his friends could
find him, (7:. 21.) he had hid himself among the
stuff, v. 22. So little fond was he now of that
power, which yet, when he was in possession of, he
could not without the utmost indignation think of
parting with. He withdrew, in hopes that, upon
his not appearing, they would proceed to another
choice, or thus to express his modesty; for, by what
had already passed, he knew he must be the man.
We may suppose he was at this time really averse
to, take upon him the government, 1. Because he
was conscious to himself of unfitness for so great a
trust. He had not been bred up to books, or arms,
or courts, and feared he should be guilty of some
fatal blunder. 2. Because it would expose him to
the envy of his neighbours that were ill affected to¬
ward him. 3. Because he understood by what Sa¬
muel had said, that the people sinned in asking a
king, and it was in anger that God granted their re¬
quest. 4. Because the affairs of Israel wei e at this
time in a bad posture: the Philistines were strong,
the Ammonites threatening, and he must be bold
indeed, that will set sail in a storm.
But the congregation, believing that choice well
made, which God himself made, would leave no
way untried to find him out, on whom the lot fell.
They inquired of the Lord, either by the High
Priest, and his breast-plate of judgment, or by Sa¬
muel, and his spirit of prophecy; and the Lord di¬
rected them where they should find him, hid among
the carriages, and thence they fetched him, v. 23.
Note, None will be losers at last by their humility
and modesty. Honour, like the shadow, follows
those that flee from it, but flees from these that
pursue it.
IV. Samuel presents him to the people, and they
accept of him. He needed not mount the bench or
scaffold, to be seen ; when he stood upon even ground
with the rest, he topped them all, was seen above
them all, for he was taller than any of them by head
and shoulders, v. 23. “Look you,” said Samuel,
“ what a king God has chosen for you, just such a
one as you wished for; there is none like him among
all the people, that has so much majesty in his coun¬
tenance, and such a graceful stateliness in his mien;
he is in the crowd like the cedar among the shrubs.
Let your own eyes be judges, is he not a brave and
gallant man?” The people hereupon signified their
approbation of the choice, and their acceptance of
him; they shouted and said, Let the king live; that
is, let him long reign over us, in health and pros¬
perity. ” Subjects were wont to testify their affec¬
tion and allegiance to their prince, by their good
wishes, and those turned (as our translation does
this) into addresses to God, Ps. 72. 15. Prayer
shall be made for him continually , Ps. 20. 1. Sa
muel had told them, they would soon be weary of
their king, but in the mind they are now in, they
will never be so; Let him live.
V. Samuel settles the original contract between
them, and leaves it upon record, v. 25. He had
before told them the manner of the king, ( ch . 8. 11. )
how he Avould abuse his power; now he tells them
the manner of the kingdom, or leather, the law, or
judgment, or constitution, of it; what power the
prince might challenge, and the utmost of the pro-
Sthe subject might claim. He fixed the land-
between them, that neither might encroach
upon the other; let them rightly understand one
another at first, and let the agreement remain in
black and white, and that will preserve a good un¬
derstanding between them ever after. The learned
Bishop Patrick thinks he now repeated and regis¬
tered what he had told them, ( ch . 8. 11.) of the ar¬
bitrary power their kings would assume, that it
might hereafter be a witness against them, that
they had drawn the calamity upon themselves, for
they were warned what it would come to, and yet
they would have a king.
Vl. The convention was dissolved when the so¬
lemnity was over; Samuel sent every man to his
house. Here were no votes past, nor, for aught
that appears, so much as a motion made, for the
raising of money to support the dignity of their new
elected king; if therefore he afterward think fit to
take what they do not think fit to give, (which it
was necessary that he should have,) they must
thank themselves. They went every man to his
house, pleased with the name of a king over them,
and Saul went home to Gibeah, to his father’s house,
not puffed up with the name of a kingdom under
him. At Gibeah, he had no palace, no throne, n<~
272
I. SAMUEL, XI.
court, yet thither he goes. If he must be a king,
as one mindful of the rock out of which he was
hewn, he will make his own city the royal city, nor
will he be ashamed (as too many are, when they are
preferred) of his mean relations. Such a humble
spirit as this, puts a beauty and lustre upon great
advancements. The condition rising, and the mind
not rising with it, behold, how good and pleasant
it is!
But how did the people stand affected to their
new king? The generality of them, it should seem,
did not show themselves much concerned, they
went every man to his own house, their own domes¬
tic afFairs lay nearer their hearts than any interests
of the public; this was the general temper. But,
1. There were some so faithful as to attend him,
(iu 26.) a band of men whose hearts God had touch¬
ed. Not the body of the people, but a small com¬
pany, who, either because they were fond of their
own choice of a king, or because they were pleased
with God’s choice of this king, or because they had
so much more sense than their neighbours, as to
conclude, that if he were a king, he ought to be re¬
spected accordingly, went with him to Gibeah, as
his life-guard. They were those whose hearts God
had touched, in this instance, to do their duty.
Note, Whatever good there is in us, or is done by
us, at any time, it must be ascribed to the grace of
God. If the heart bend at any time the right way,
it is because he has touched it. One touch is enough,
when it is divine. 2. There were others so spiteful
as to affront him; children of Belial, men that would
endure no yoke, that would be pleased with nothing
that either God or Samuel did; they despised him,
(v. 27.) for the meanness of his tribe and family,
the smallness of his estate, and privacy of his edu¬
cation; and they said, How shall this man save us?
Yet they did not propose any man more likely; nor,
whomsoever they had, must their salvation come
from the man, but from God. They would not join
with their neighbours in testifying an affection to
him and his government, by bringing him presents,
or addressing him upon his accession to the crown.
Perhaps those discontented spirits were most earnest
for a king, and yet now that they had one, they
quarrelled with him, because he was not altogether
such a one as themselves. It was reason enough
for them not to like him, because others did. Thus
differently are men affected to our exalted Re¬
deemer. God hath set him king upon the holy hill
of Zion. There is a remnant that submit to him,
rejoice in him, bring him presents, and follow him
wherever he goes; and they are such whose hearts
God has touched, whom he has made willing in the
day of his power. But there are others who despise
him, who ask, How shall this man save us? They
are offended in him, stumble at his external mean¬
ness, and they will be broken by it.
Lastly, How did Saul resent the bad conduct of
those that were disaffected to his government? He
held his fieace ; margin. He was as though he had
been deaf. He was so far from resenting it, that he
seemed not to take notice of it. Which was an evi¬
dence both of his humility and modesty, and the
mercifulness of his disposition, and also, that he was
well satisfied with his title to the crown; for those
are commonly most jealous of their honour, and
most revengeful of affronts, that gain their power
by improper means. Christ held his peace, when
he was affronted, for it was the day of his patience;
but there is a day of recompense coming.
CHAP. XI.
In this chapter, we have the first-fruits of Saul’s govern¬
ment, in the glorious rescue of Jabesh-gilead out of the
hands of the Ammonites. Let not Israel thence infer
that therefore they did well to ask a king, God could and
would have saved them without one; but let them ad¬
mire God’s goodness, that he did not reject them, when
they rejected him, and acknowledge his wisdom in the
choice of the person, w hom, if he did not find fit, yet he
made fit, for the great trust he called him to, and ena¬
bled, in some measure, to merit the crown by his public
services, before it is fixed on his head by the public ap¬
probation. Here is, I. The great extremity to which the
city of Jabesh-gilead was reduced, on the other side
Jordan, by the Ammonites, v. 1 . . 3. II. Saul’s great
readiness to come to their relief, whereby he signalized
himself, v. 4- . 10. III. The good success of his attempt,
by which God signalized him, v. 11. IV. Saul’s tender¬
ness, notwithstanding this, toward those that had op¬
posed him, v. 12, 13. V. The public confirmation and
recognition of his election to the government, v. 14, 15.
1. npHEN Nahash the Ammonite came
JL up, and encamped against Jabesh-
gilead : and all the men of Jabesh said unto
Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we
will serve thee. 2. And Nahash the Am¬
monite answered them, On this condition
will I make a covenant with you, that I may
thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for
a reproach upon all Israel. 3. And the el¬
ders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven
days1 respite, that we may send messengers
unto all the coasts of Israel : and then, if
there he no man to save us, we will come
out to thee. 4. Then came the messengers
to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in
the ears of the people : and all the people
lifted up their voices, and wept.
The Ammonites were bad neighbours to those
tribes of Israel that lay next them, though descend¬
ants from just Lot, and, for that reason, dealt civilly
with by Israel. See Deut. 2. 19. Jephthah, in his
time, had humbled them, but now the sin of Israel
had put them into a capacity to make head again,
and avenge that quarrel. The city of Jabesh-gilead
had been, some ages ago, destroyed by Israel’s
sword of justice, for not appearing against the
wickedness of Gibeah; (Judg. 21. 10.) and now be¬
ing replenished again, probably, by the posterity of
those that then escaped the sword, it is in danger
of being destroyed by the Ammonites, as if some
bad fate attended the place. Nahash, king of Am¬
mon, (1 Chron. 19. 1.) laid siege to it. Now here,
1. The besieged beat a parley; (x>. 1.) “ Make
a covenant with us, and we will surrender upon
terms, and serve thee.” They had lost the virtues
of Israelites, else they had not thus lost the valour
of Israelites, nor tamely yielded to serve an Am¬
monite, without one bold struggle for themselves.
Had they not broken their covenant with God, and
forsaken his service, they needed not thus to have
courted a covenant with a Gentile nation, and offer¬
ed themselves to serve them.
2. The besiegers offer them base and barbarous
conditions; they will spare their lives, and take
them to be their servants, upon condition that they
shall put out their right eyes, v. 2. The Gilead¬
ites were content to part with their liberty and
estates, for the ransom of their blood; and had the
Ammonites taken them at their word, the matter
had been so settled immediately, and the Gilead¬
ites would not have sent out for relief: but their ab¬
ject concessions make the Ammonites more insolent
in their demands, and they cannot be content to
have them their servants, but, (1.) They must tor¬
ment them, and put them to pain, exquisite pain,
for so the thrusting out of an eye would be. (2.)
They must disable them for war, and render them
273
1. SAMUEL, XI.
incapable, though not of labour, that would have
been a loss to their lords, yet of bearing arms; for
in those times they fought with shields in their left
hands, which covered their left eye, so that a sol¬
dier without his right eye, was, in effect, blind.
(3.) They must put a reproach upon all Israel, as
weak and co wardly, that would suffer the inhabit¬
ants of one of their chief cities be thus miserably
used, and not offer to rescue them.
3. The besieged desire, and obtain seven days’
time to consider of this proposal, .!;. 3. If Nahash
had not granted them this respite, we may suppose
the horror of the proposal would have made them
desperate, and they would rather have died with
their swords in their hands, than have surrendered
to such merciless enemies, therefore Nahash, not
imagining it possible that, in so short a time, they
should have relief, and being very secure of the
advantages he thought he had against them, in a
bravado, gave them seven days, that the reproach
upon Israel, for not rescuing them, might be the
greater, and his triumphs the more illustrious.
But there was a providence in it, that his security
might be his infatuation and ruin.
4. Notice is sent of this to Gibeah. They said
they would send messengers to all the coasts of
Israel, (t;. 3.) which made Nahash the more se¬
cure, for that, he thought, would be a work of
time, and noae would be forward to appear, if they
had not one common head; and, perhaps, Nahash
had not yet heard of the new elected king; but the
messengers, either of their own accord, or by order
from their masters, went straight to Gibeah, and
not finding Saul within, told their news to the peo¬
ple, who fell a weeping upon it, v. 4. They would
sooner lament their brethren’s misery and danger,
than think of helping them, shed their tears for
them, than shed their blood. They wept, as de¬
spairing to help the men of Jabesh-gilead, and fear¬
ing, lest, if that frontier city were lost, the enemy
would penetrate into the very bowels of their coun¬
try, which now appeared in great hazard.
5. And, behold, Saul came after the
herd out of the field; and Saul said, What
aileth the people that they weep ? And they
told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.
6. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul
when he heard those tidings, and his anger
was kindled greatly. 7. And he took a
yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces,
and sent them throughout all the coasts
of Israel by the hands of messengers, say¬
ing, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul
and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto
his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell
on the people, and they came out with one
consent. 8. And when he numbered them
in Bezek, the children of Israel were three
hundred thousand, and the men of Judah
thirty thousand. 9. And they said unto
the messengers that came, Thus shall ye
say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, To¬
morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye
shall have help. And the messengers came
and showed it to the men of Jabesh; and
they were glad. 10. Therefore the men
of Jabesh said, To-morrow we will come
out unto you, and ye shall do with us all
that seemeth good unto you. 11. And it
Vol. ii.— 2 M
was so on the morrow, that Saul put the
people in three companies ; and they came
into the midst ol the host in the morning
watch, and slew the Ammonites until the
heat of the day : and it came to pass, that
they which remained were scattered, so
that two of them were not left together.
What is here related, turns very much to the
honour of Saul, and shows the happy fruits of that
other spirit with which he was endued. Observe
here,
I. His humility. Though he was anointed king,
and accepted by the people, yet he did not think it
below him to know the state of his own flocks, but
went himself to see them, and came in the evening
with his servants, after the herd out of the field, v.
5. This was an evidence that he was not puffed
up with his advancement, as those are most apt to
be, that are raised from a mean estate. Provi¬
dence had not yet found him business as a king, he
left all to Samuel; and therefore, rather than be
idle, he would, for the present, apply himself to
his country-business again; though the sons of Beli¬
al would, perhaps, despise him the more for it;
such as were virtuous and wise, and loved business’
themselves, would think never the worse of him.
He had no revenues settled upon him for the sup¬
port of his dignity, and he was desirous not to
be burthensome to the people; for which reason,
like Paul, he worked with his hands; for if he neg¬
lect his domestic affairs, how must he maintain
himself and his family? Solomon gives it as a rea¬
son why men should look well to their herds,
because the crown doth not endure to every vene¬
ration, Prov. 27. 23, 24. Saul’s did not, he 'must
therefore provide something surer.
II. His concern for his neighbours. When he
perceived them in tears, he asked, “ What ails the
people that they weep? Let me know, that, if it is a
grievance which can be redressed, I may help
them, and that, if not, I may weep with them/’
Good magistrates are in pain, if their subjects be in
tears.
HI. His zeal for the safety and honour of Israel.
When he heard of the insolence of the Ammon¬
ites, and the distress of a city, a mother in Israel,
the Spirit of God came upon him, and put great
thoughts into his mind, and his anger was kindled
greatly, v. 6. He was angry at the insolence of
the Ammonites, angry at the mean and sneaking
spirit of the men of Jabesh-gilead, angry that they
had not sent him notice sooner of the Ammonites’
descent, and the extremity they were likely to be
reduced to He was angry to see his neighbours
weeping, when it had been fitter for them to have
prepared for war. It was a brave and generous
fire that was now kindled in the breast of Saul,
and such as became his high station.
IV. The authority and power he exerted, upon
this important occasion; he soon let Israel know,
that, though he was retired to his privacy, he had
a care for the public, and knew how to command
men into the field, as well as how to drive cattle
out of the field, t >.5,7. He sent a summons to all
the coasts of Israel, to show the extent of his
power beyond his own tribe, even to all the tribes,
and ordered all the military men forthwith to ap¬
pear in arms at a general rendezvous in Bezek.
Observe, 1. His modesty, in joining Samuel in
commission with himself; he would not execute the
office of a king, without a due regard to that of a
prophet. 2. His mildness, in the penalty threaten
ed against those that should disobey his orders.
He hews a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sends the
27 4
I. SAMUEL, XI.
pieces to the several cities of Israel, threatening,
With respect to him who should decline the public
service, not, “ Thus shall it be done to /iim,” but,
“Thus shall it be done to his oxen.” God had
threatened it as a great judgment, (Deut. 28. 31.)
Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes , and thou
shall not eat thereof. It was necessary that the
command should be enforced with some penalty,
but this was not near so severe as that which was
affixed to the like order by the whole congrega¬
tion, Judg. 21. 5. Saul wished to show that his gov¬
ernment was more gentle than that which they had
been under. The effect of this summons was,
that the militia, or trained-bands, of the nation,
came out as one man, and the reason given is, be¬
cause the fear of the Lord fell upon them. Saul
did not affect to make them fear him, but they
were influenced to observe his orders by the fear of
God, and a regard to him who had made Saul their
king, and them members one of another. Note,
Religion and the fear of God will make men good
subjects, good soldiers, and good friends to the pub¬
lic interests of their country. They that fear God,
will make conscience of their duty to all men, par¬
ticularly to their rulers.
V. His conduct and prudent proceedings in this
great affair, v. 8. He numbered those that came
unto him, that he might know his own strength,
and how to distribute his forces in the best manner
their numbers would allow. It is the honour of
princes to know the numbers of their men, but it is
the honour of the King of kings that there is not
any number of his armies, Job 25. 3. In this mus¬
ter, it seems, Judah, though numbered by itself,
made no great figure, for as it was one tribe of
twelve, so it was but an eleventh part of the whole
number, thirty thousand three hundred and thirty;
though the rendezvous was at Bezek, in that tribe,
they wanted either the numbers, or the courage, or
the zeal, that that tribe used to be famous for; so
low was it, just before the sceptre was brought into
it in David.
VI. His faith and confidence, and (grounded on
that) his courage and resolution, in this enterprise.
It should seem that those very messengers which
brought the tidings from Jabeth-gileacI, S ml sent
into the country to raise the militia, who would be
sure to be faithful and careful in them own business,
and them he now sends back to their distressed
countrymen, with this assurance, (in which, it is
mibable, Samuel encouraged him,) “ To-morrow,
>y such an hour, before the enemy can pretend that
the seven days are expired, you shall have deliver¬
ance, ( v . 9.) Be you ready to do your part, and we
will not fail to do our’s. Do you sally out upon
the besiegers, while we surround them.” Saul
knew he had a just cause, a clear call, and God on
his side, and therefore doubted not of success. This
was good news to the besieged Gileadites, whose
right eyes had wept themselves dry for their ca¬
lamities, and now began to fail with looking for re¬
lief, and to ache in expectation of the doom of the
ensuing day, when they must look their last; the
greater the exigence, the more welcome the deliv¬
erance. When they heard it, they were glad, re¬
lying on the assurances that were sent them. And
they sent into the enemies’ camp, (v. 10.) to tell
them, that next day they would be ready to meet
them, which the enemies unde’ stood as an intima¬
tion that they despaired of relief, and so were made
the more secure by it; if they took not care, by
sending out scouts, to rectify their own mistake,
they must thank themselves if they were surprised,
the besieged were under no obligation to give them
notice of the help they were assured of.
'VII. His. industry an^l close application to this
business. If he had been bred up to war firm h's
| youth, and had led regiments as often as he had fol-
I lowed droves, he could not have gone about an af-
I fair of this nature more dexterously, or more dili¬
gently. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon
men, it will make them expert, even without ex¬
perience. A vast army (especially in comparison
with the present usage) Saul had* now at his foot,
and a long march before him, near sixty miles, and
over Jordan too. No cavalry in his army, but all
infantry, which he divides into three battalions, v.
11. And observe, 1. With what incredible swift¬
ness he flew to the enemy; in a day and a night,
he came to the place of action, where his own fate,
and that of Israel, must be determined. He had
passed his word, and would not break it: nay, he
was better than his word, for he promised help
next day, by that time the sun was hot, {y. 9. ) but
brought it before day, in the morning watch, v. 11.
Whom God helps he helps right early, Ps. 46. 5.
2. With what incredible bra\ ery he flew upon the
enemy; betimes in the morning, when they lay
dreaming of the triumphs they expected that day
over the miserable inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, be¬
fore they were aware, he was in the midst of their
host; and his men, being marched against them
in three columns, surrounded them on each side,
so that they could have neither heart, nor time, to
make head against him.
Lastly, To complete his honour, God crowned
all these virtues with success. Jabesh-gile. d was
rescued, and the Ammonites totally routed; he K id
now the day before him to complete his victory in;
and so complete a victory it was, that they which
remained, after a great slaughter, were scattered
so that two of them were not left together, to
encourage or help one another, v. 11. We may sup¬
pose that Saul was the more vigorous in this mat¬
ter, 1. Because there was some alliance between
the tribe of Benjamin and the city of Jabesh-gilead.
That city had declined joining with the rest of the
Israelites to destroy Gibeah, which was then pun¬
ished as their crime, but, perhaps, was now re¬
membered as their kiiftlness, when Saul of Gibeah
came with so much readiness and resolution to re¬
lieve Jabesh-gilead. Yet that was not all; two
thirds of the Benjamites that then remained, were
provided with wives from that citv, (Judges 21.
14.) so that most of the mothers of Benjamin were
daughters of Jabesh-gilead, for which city Saul,
being a Benjamite, had therefore a particular kind¬
ness; and we find they returned his kindness, ch.
31. 11, 12. 2. Because it was the Ammonites’ in¬
vasion that induced the people to desire a king, (so
Samuel says, ch. 12. 12.) so that if he had not
done his part in this expedition, he had disappoint¬
ed their expectations, and had for ever forfeited
their respect.
12. And the people said unto Samuel,
Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over
us? bring the men, that vve may put them
to death. 13. And Saul said, There shall
not a man be put to death this day : for to¬
day the Lord hath wrought salvation in
Israel. 14. Then said Samuel to the peo¬
ple, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and re-
new the kingdom there. 15. And all the
people went to Gilgal ; and there they made
Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal ; and
there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace-
offerings before the Lord ; and there Saul
and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
We have here the improvement cf that glorious
I. SAMUEL, XII.
victory which Saul had obtained, not the improve¬
ment of it abroad, (though we take it for granted
that the men of Jabesh-gilead, having so narrowly
saved their right eyes, would with them now dis¬
cern the opportunity they had of avenging them¬
selves upon these cruel enemies, and disabling
them ever to straiten them in like manner again;
now shall they be avenged on the Ammonites, for
their right eyes condemned, as Samson on the
Philistines, for his two eyes put out , Judg. 16. 28.
(but the account here given, is of the improvement
of it at home. )
I. The people took this occasion to show their
jealousy of the honour of Saul, and their resent¬
ment of the indignities done him. Samuel, it
seems, was present, if not in the action, (it was too
far for him to march,) yet to meet them when they
retuined victorious; and to him as judge, the mo¬
tion was made, (for they knew Saul would not be
judge in his own cause,) that the sons of Belial that
would not have him to reign over them , should be
brought forth and slain, v. 12. Saul’s good for¬
tune (as foolish men commonly call it) went further
with them to confirm his title, than either his choice
by lot, or Samuel’s anointing of him. They had
not courage thus to move for the persecution of
those that opposed him, when he himself looked
mean, but now that his victory made him look great,
now nothing will serve but’ they must be put to
death.
II. Saul took this occasion to give further proofs
of his clemency, for, without waiting for Samuel’s
answer, he himself quashed the motion; (r>. 13.)
There shall not a man be put to death this day, no,
not those men, those bad men, that had abused him,
and therein reflected on God himself: 1. Because it
was a day of joy and triumph; “ To day the Lord
has wrought salvation in Israel; and since God has
been so good to us all, let us not be harsh one to
another. Now that Gcd has made the heart of Is¬
rael in general so glad, let us not make sad the
hearts of any particular Israelites. ” 2. Because he
hoped they were by this day’s work brought to a
temper, were now convinced that this man, under
God, could save them: now honoured him whpm
before they had despised; and, if they be but re¬
claimed, he is secured from receix ing any distur¬
bance by them, and therefore his point is gained; if
an enemy be made a friend, that is more to our
advantage than to have him slain. And all good
princes consider that their power is for edification,
not for destruction.
III. Samuel took this occasion to call the people
together before the Lord in Gilgal, v. 14, 15. 1.
That they might publicly give God thanks for their
late victory. There they rejoiced greatly, and,
that God might have the praise of that which they
had the comfort of, they sacrificed to him, as the
Giver of all their successes, sacrifices of peace-offer¬
ings. 2. That they might confirm Saul in the go¬
vernment, more solemnly than it had been yet done,
that he might not retire again to his obscurity.
Samuel would have the kingdom renewed; he would
renew his resignation, and the people should renew
their approbation, and so, in concurrence with, or
rather in attendance upon, the divine nomination,
they made Saul king, making it their own act and
deed to submit to him.
CHAR XII.
We left the general assembly of the states together, in the
close of the foregoing chapter; in this chapter, we have
Samuel’s speech to them, when he resigned the aovern-
ment into the hands of Saul. In which, I. He clears
himself from all suspicion or imputation of mismanage¬
ment, while the administration was in his hands, v. 1 . . 5.
U. He reminds them of the great things God had done
for them, and for their fathers, v. 6 . . 13. III. He sets
before them |;ood and evil, the blessings and the c urse,
v. 14, 15. IV. He awakens them to regard what he said
to them, by calling to God for thunder, v. 16 . . 19. V. He
encourages them with hopes that all should be well, v.
20. . 25. This is his farewell sermon to that august as
sembly, and Saul’s coronation sermon.
L A ND Samuel said unto all Israel, Be-
-TA. hold, I have hearkened unto your
voice in all that ye said unto me, and have
made a king over you. 2. And now, be¬
hold, the king walketh before you : and I am
old and gray-headed ; and, behold, my sons
are with you ; and I have walked before
you from my childhood unto this day. 3.
Behold, here I am : witness against me
before the Lord, and before his anointed ;
whose ox have I taken ? or whose ass have
I taken ? or whom have I defrauded ? whom
have I oppressed ? or of whose hand have I
received any bribe to blind mine eyes there¬
with ? and I will restore it you. 4. And
they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor
oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught
of any man’s hand. 5. And he said unto
them, The Lord is witness against you, and
his anointed is witness this day, that ye have
not found aught in my hand. And they an¬
swered, He is witness.
Here,
I. Samuel gives them a short account of the late
revolution, and of the present posture of their go¬
vernment, by way of preface to what he had further
to say to them, v. 1, 2. 1. For his own part, he
had spent his days in their service; he began be¬
times to be useful among them, and had continued
long so. “ I have walked before you, as a guide to
direct you, as a shepherd that leads his fock, (Ps.
80. 1.) from my childhood unto this day:” (as soon
as he was illuminated with the light of prophecy in
his early days, he began to be a burning and shining
light to Israel:) “ and now my best days are done;
I am old and gray-headed therefore they were
the more unkind to cast him off; yet therefore he
was the more willing to resign, finding the weight
of government heavy upon his stooping shoulders.
Old, and therefore the more able to advise them;
and the more observant they should be of what he
said, for days shall speak, and the multitude of years
shall teach wisdom; and there is a particular reve¬
rence owing to the aged, especially aged magis¬
trates, and aged ministers. “Old, and therefore
not likely to live long; perhaps, may never have an
opportunity of speaking to you again, and therefore
take notice of what I say.” 2. As for his sons:
“Behold,” (says he,) “they are with you; you
may, if you please, call them to an account for any
thing they have done amiss. They are present with
you, and have not, upon this revolution, run their
country; they are upon a level with you, subjects to
the new king as well as you; if you can prove them
guilty of any wrong, you may prosecute them now
by a due course of law, punish them, and oblige
them to make restitution.” 3. As for their new
king, Samuel had gratified them in setting him o\ er
them; (x\ 1.) “ / have hearkened to vour voice in
all that ye said to me, being desirous to please you,
if it were possible, and make you easy, though to
the diseasing of myself and family; and now’ will
you hearken to me, and take my advice?” The
C27C>
J. SAMUEL, Xll.
change was now perfected; “ Behold, the king walk-
eth before you; ( v . 2. ) he appears in public, ready
to serve you in public business. Now that you have
made yourselves like the nations in your civil go¬
vernment, and have cast off the divine administra¬
tion in that, now take heed lest you make yourselves
like the nations in religion, and cast off the worship
of God.”
II. He solemnly appeals to them concerning his
own integrity in the administration of the govern¬
ment >SV-3- ) Witness against me, whose ox have I
taken? By this he intended, 1. To convince them
of the injury they had done him, in setting him
aside, when they had nothing amiss to charge him
with; his government h id no fault, but that it was
too cheap, too easy, too gentle. Also of the injury
they had done themselves, in turning off one that did
not so much as take'an ox or an ass from them, to
put themselves under the power of one that would
take from them their fields and vineyards, nay, and
their very sons and daughters; ( ch . 8. 11.) so unlike
would the manner of the king be F om his manners.
2. To preserve his own reputation: they that heard
of Samuel’s being rejected as he was, would be rea¬
dy to suspect, that certainly he had done some bad
thing, or he had never been so ill treated; so that it
was necessary for him to make this challenge, that
it might appear upon record, that it was not for any
iniquity in his hands that he was laid aside, but to
gratify the humour of a giddy people, who owned
they could not have a better man to rule them, only
they desired a bigger man. There is a just debt
which every man owes to his own good name, espe¬
cially men in public stations, which is, to guard
against unjust aspersions and suspicions, that we
may finish our course with honour, as well as joy.
8. As he designed hereby to leave a good name be¬
hind him, so he designed to leave his successor a
good example before him; let him write after his
copy, and he will write fair. 4. Samuel designed,
in the close of his discourse, to reprove the people,
and therefore he begins with a vindication of him¬
self: for he that will, with confidence, tell another
of his sin, must see to it, that he himself be clear.
Now observe, (1.) What it is that Samuel here
acquits himself from. [1.] He had never, under
any pretence whatsoever, taken that which was not
his own, ox nor ass; had never distrained their cat¬
tle for tribute, fines, or forfeitures, nor used their
service without paying for it. [2.] He had never
defrauded those with whom he dealt, nor oppressed
those that were under his power. [3.] He had
never taken bribes to pervert justice, nor was ever
biassed by favour or affection, to give judgment in a
cause against his conscience. (2.) How he appeals
to those that had slighted him concerning it; “ Here
I am; witness against me, if you have any thing to
lay to my charge; do it now 'before the Lord, and
the king, the proper judges.”" He puts honour
upon Saul, by owning himself accountable to him,
if he had been guilty of any wrong.
III. Upon this appeal, he is honourably acquitted;
he did not expect that they should do him honour at
parting, though he well deserved it, and therefore
mentioned not any of the good serv ices he had done
for them, for which they ought to have applauded
him, and returned him the thanks of the house; all
he desired was, that they should do him justice,
and that they did, ( v . 4.) readily owning, 1. That
he had not made his government oppressive to them,
nor used his power to their wrong. 2. That he had
not made it expensive to tfiem; “ J\reither hast thou <
taken aught of any man's hand, for the support of
thy dignity.” Like Nehemiah, he did not require
the bread of the governor; (Neh. 5. 18.) had not
only been righteous, but generous; had coveted no
man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Acts 20. 33.
IV. This honourable testimony borne to Samuel’s
integrity, is left upon record to his honour; {y. 5 .)
The Lord is Witness, who searcheth the heart, and
his anointed is witness, who trieth overt acts; and
the people agree to it, He is witness. Note, The tes¬
timony of our neighbours, and especially the testi¬
mony of our own consciences for us, that we ha e
in our places lived honestly, will be our comfort,
under the slights and contempts that are put upon
us. Demetrius is a happy man, that has a good re¬
port of all men, and oj the truth itself, 3 John 12.
6. And Samuel said unto the people, It is
the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron,
and that brought your fathers up out of the
land of Egypt. 7. Now therefore stand
still, that I may reason with you before the
Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord,
which he did to you and to your fathers. 8.
When Jacob was come intp Egypt, and
your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the
Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought
forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made
them dwell in this place. 9. And when
they forgat the Lord their God, he sold
them into the hand of Sisera, captain of
the host of Hazor, and into the hand of
the Philistines, and into the hand of the king
of Moab ; and they fought against them. 10.
And they cried unto the Lord, and said,
We have sinned, because we have forsaken
the Lord, and have served Baalim and
Ashtaroth : but now deliver us out of the
hand of our enemies, and we will serve
thee. I t. And the Lord sent Jerubbaal,
and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and
delivered you out of the hand of your ene¬
mies on every side, and ye dwelled safe. 1 2.
And when ve saw that Nahasli, the king of
the children of Ammon, came against you,
ye said unto me, Nay ; but a king shall
reign over us; when the Lord your God
wcis your king. 13. Now therefore behold
the king whom ye have chosen, and whom
ye have desired ! and, behold, the Lord
hath set a king over you. 14. If ye will
fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his
voice, and not rebel against the command¬
ment of the Lord, then shall both ye and
also the king that reigneth over you, continue
following the Lord your God : 15. But
if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord,
but rebel against the commandment of the
Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be
against you, as it was against your fathers.
Samuel, having sufficiently secured his own repu
tation, instead of upbraiding the people upon it with
their unkindness to him, sets himself to instruct
them, and keep them in the way of their duty, and
then the change of the government would be the
less damage to them.
I. He reminds them of the great goodness of God
to them, and to their fathers; gives them an abstract
of the history of their nation, that, bv the consider
277
I. SAMUEL, XII.
ation of the great things God had done for them,
they might be for ever engaged to love him and
serve him. “Come,” says he, v. 7. “standstill,
in token of reverence, when God is speaking to
you; stand still in token of attention and compo ed-
ness of mind, and give me leave to reason with you.”
Religion has reason on its side, Isa. 1. 18. The
work of ministers is to reason with people; not only
to exhort and direct, but to persuade; to convince
men’s judgments, and so to gain their wills and af¬
fections. Let reason rule men, arid they will be
good. He reasons of the righteous acts of the Lord;
that is, “ both the benefits he has bestowed upon
you, in performance of his promises, and the pun¬
ishments he has inflicted on you for your sins. ” His
favours are called his righteous acts , (Judg. 5. 11.)
because in them he is just to his own honour. He
not only puts them in mind of what God had done
for them in their days, but of what he had done of
old, in the days of their fathers, because the present
age had the benefit of God’s former favours. We
may suppose that his discourse was much larger
than as here related.
1. He reminds them of their deliverance out of
Egypt; into that house of bondage Jacob and his
family came down poor and little; when they were
oppressed, they cried unto God, who advanced Mo¬
ses and Aaron, from mean beginnings, to be their
deliverers, and the founders of their state and set¬
tlement in Canaan, v. 6, 8.
2. He reminds them of the miseries and c tlami-
ties which their fathers brought themselves into, by
forgetting God, and serving other gods; (x». 9.) they
enslaved themselves, for they were sold as crimi¬
nals and captives into the hands of oppressors: they
exposed themselves to the desolation of war, their
neighbours fought against them.
3. He reminds them of their fathers’ repentance
and humiliation before God for their idolatries.
They said, We have sinned, v. 10. Let not them
imitate the sins of their fathers, for, what they had
done amiss they had many a time wished undone
again; in the day of their distress they had sought
unto God, and had promised to serve him, let their
children then reckon that good at all times, which
they found good in bad times.
4. He reminds them of the glorious deliverances
God had wrought for them, the victories he had
blessed them with, and their happy settlements,
many a time, after days of trouble and distress, v.
11. He specifies some of their judges. Gideon and
Jephthah, great conquerors in their time; among
the rest he mentions Bedan, whom we read not o£
any where else: he might be some eminent person,
that was instrumental of salvation to them, though
not recorded in the book of Judges; such a one as
Shamgar, of whom it is said, that he delivered Is¬
rael, but not that he judged them, Judg. 3. 31. Per¬
haps, this Bedan guarded and delivered them on one
side, at the same time when some other of the judges
appeared and acted for them on the other side.
Some think it was the same with Jair, so the learn¬
ed Mr. Poole; others, the same with Samson, who
was Ben Dan, a son of Dan, of that tribe, and the
Spirit of the Lord came upon him, Be-Dan, in Dan,
in the camp of Dan. Samuel mentions himself, not
to his own praise, but to the honour of God, who
had made him an instrument of subduing the Philis¬
tines.
5. At last, he puts them in mind of God’s late
favour to the present generation, in gratifying them
with a king, when they would prescribe to God, by
such a one, to save them out of the hand of Nahash
king of Ammon, v. 12, 13. Now it appears that
that was the immediate occasion of their desiring a
king: Nahash threatened them: they moved Samuel
to nominate a general: he told them God was Com¬
mander-in chief in all their wars, and they needed
no other; what was wanting in them, should be
made up by his power; The Lord is your King;
but they insisted on it, JVay, but a king shall reign
over us. “ And now,” said he, “ you have a king:
a king of your own asking, let that be spoken to your
shame; but a king of God’s making, let that be
spoken to his honour, and the glory of his grace. ”
God did not cast them off then, when they, in ef¬
fect, cast him off.
II. He shows them that they were now upon
their good behaviour, they and their king; let them
not think that they had now cut themselves off from
all dependence upon God, and that now, having a
king of their own, the making of their own fortunes
(as men foolishly call it) was in their own hands;
no, still their judgment must proceed from the Lord.
He tells them plainly,
1. That their obedience to God would certainly
be their happiness; ( v . 14.) if they would not revolt
from God to idols, nor rebel against him, by break¬
ing his commandments, but would persevere in
their allegiance to him, would fear his wrath,
serve his interests, and obey his will, then they and
their king should certainly be happy : but observe
how the promise is expressed, Then ye shall con
tinue following the Lord your God; that is, (1.)
“Ye shall continue in the way of your duty to God,
which will be your honour and comfort.” Note,
To those that are sincere in their religion, God will
give grace to persevere in it, those that follow God
faithfully, God will enable to continue following
him. And observe, Following God is a work that
is its own wages. It is the matter of a promise as
well as of a precept. (2.) “ Ye shall continue un¬
der the divine guidance and protection. Ye shall be
after the Lord, so it is in the original; that is, “ He
will go before you to lead and prosper you, and
make your way plain; The Lord is with you, while
you are with him.”
2. That their disobedience would as certainly be
their ruin; (t>. 15.) “ If ye rebel, think not that
your having a king will secure you against God’s
judgments, and that now having in this instance
made yourselves like the nations, you may sin at as
cheap a rate as they can. No, the hand of the Lord
will be against you, as it was against your fathers
when they offended him, in the days of the Judges. ”
We mistake if we think that we can evade God’s
justice by shaking off his dominion. If God shall
not rule us, yet he will judge us.
16. Now therefore stand and see this
great thing, which the Lord will do before
your eyes. 17. Is it not wheat-harvest to¬
day? I will call unto the Lord, and he
shall send thunder and rain ; that ye may
perceive and see that your wickedness is
great, which ye have done in the sight of
the Lord, in asking you a king. 18. So
Samuel called unto the Lord ; and the
Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and
all the people greatly feared the Lord and
Samuel. 19. And all the people said unto
Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the
Lord thy God, that we die not : for we
have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask
us a king. 20. And Samuel said ufito the
people, Fear not: (ye have done all this
wickedness •, yet turn not aside from follow¬
ing the Lord, but serve the Lord with all
your heart ; 21. And turn ye not aside : foi
278
I. SAMUEL, XII.
then should ye* go after vain things , which
cannot profit nor deliver ; for they are vain :)
22. For the Lord will not forsake his people
for his great name’s sake ; because it hath
pleased the Lord to make you his people.
23. Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I
should sin against the Lord in ceasing to
pray for you : but I will teach you the good
and the right way : 24. Only fear the Lord,
and serve him in truth with all your heart :
for consider how great things he hath done,
for you. 25. But if ye shall still do wick¬
edly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and
your king.
Two things Samuel here aims at:
1. To convince the people of their sin in desiring
a king. They were now rejoicing before God, in
and with their king, (ch. 11. 15.) and offering to
God the sacrifices of praise, which they hoped God
would accept of; and this perhaps made them think
that there was no harm in their asking a king, but
really they had done well in it; therefore Samuel
here charges it upon them as their sin, as wicked¬
ness, great wickedness in the sight of the Lord,
Note, Though we meet with prosperity and success
in a way of sin, yet we must not therefore think the
more favourably of it. They have a king, and if
they conduct themselves well, their king may be a
very great blessing to them, and yet Samuel will
have them perceive and see that their wickedness is
great in asking a king. We must never think well
of that which God in his law frowns upon, though
in his providence he seems to smile upon it.
Observe, 1. The expressions of God’s displeasure
against them for asking a king. At Samuel’s word,
God sent prodigious thunder and rain upon them, at
a season of the year when, in that country, the like
was never seen or known before, v. 16* - i8. Thun¬
der and r in have natural causes, and sometimes
terrible effects. But Samuel made it appear that
this was designed by the almighty power of God, on
purpose to convince them that they had done very
wickedly in asking a king, not only by its coming in
an unusual time, in wheat harvest, and this on a fair
e'ear day, when there appeared not to the eye any
signs of a storm, but by his giving notice of it before.
Had there happened to be thunder and rain at the
time when he was speaking to them, he might have
improved it for their awakening and conviction, as
we may in a like case; but to make it no less than a
miracle, before it came, (1.) He spoke to them of
it; (v. 16, 17.) Stand and see this great thing. He
had bidden them stand and hear, (v. 7. ) but be¬
cause he did not see that his reasoning with them
affected them, (so stupid were they and unthinking,)
now he bids them stand and see. If what he said in
a still small voice did not reach their hearts, nor his
doctrine which dropped as the dew, they shall hear
God speaking to them in dreadful claps of thunder,
and the great rain of his strength. He appealed to
this as a s;gn, “ I will call u/ion the Lord, he shall
send thunder; shall send it just now, to confirm the
word of his servant, and to make you see that I said
true, when I told you that God was angry with you
for asking a king.” And the event proved him a
true prophet, the sign and wonder came to pass.
2. ) He*spoke to God for it. Samuel called unto the
jord, and, in answer to his prayer, even while he
was yet speaking, the Lord sent thunder and rain.
By this Samuel made it appear, not only what a
powerful influence God has upon this earth, that
lie could, of a sudden, when natural causes did not
work towards it, produce this dreadful rain and
thunder, and bring them cut of his treasures, (Ps.
135. 7.) but also what a powerful interest he had in
heaven, that God would thus hearken to the voice
of a man, (Josh. 10. 14.) and answer him in the se¬
cret place of thunder, Ps. 81. 7. Samuel, that son
of prayer, was still famous for success in praver.
Now by this extraordinary thunder and rain sent
on this occasion, [1.] God testified his displeasure
against them in the same way in which he had
formerly testified it, and at the prayer of Samuel
too, against the Philistines; (ch. 7. 10.) The Lord
discomfited them with a great thunder. Now that
Israel rebelled, and v exed his holy Spirit, he turned
to be their Enemy, and fought against them with
the same weapons which, not long before, had been
employed against their adversaries, Isa. 63. 10.
[2.] He showed them their folly in desiring a king
to save them, rather than God, or Samuel, promis¬
ing themselves more from an arm of flesh, than
from the arm of God, or from the power of prayer.
Could their king thunder with a voice like God?
Job 40. 9. Could their prince command such
forces as the prophet could by his prayers? [3.1
He intimated to them, that how serene and prosper¬
ous soever their condition seemed to be now that
they had a king, like the weather in wheat-harvest,
yet if God pleased, he could soon change the face
of the heavens, and persecute them with his tem¬
pest, as the psalmist speaks.
2. The impressions which this made upon the
people. It startled them very much, as well it
might. (1.) They greatly feared the Lord and
Samuel. Though when they had a king, they were
ready to think they must fear him only, God made
them know that he is greatly to be feared, and his
prophets for his sake. Now they were rejoicing in
their king, God taught them to rejoice with trem¬
bling. (2.) They own their sin and folly in desiring
a king; (z;. 19.) We have added to all our sins this
evil. Some people will not be brought to a sight of
their sins by any gentler methods than storms and
thunders. Samuel did not extort this confession
from them till the matter was settled and the king
confirmed, lest it should look as if he designed bv it
rather to establish himself in the government, than
to bring them to repentance. Now that they were
flattering themselves in their own eyes, their iniqui¬
ty was found to be hateful, Ps. 36. 2. (3.) Thev
earnestly begged Samuel’s prayers; (v. 19.) Tray
for thy servants, that we die not. They were ap¬
prehensive of their danger from the wrath of God,
and could not expect that he should hear their
prayers for themselves, and therefore they entreat
Samuel to pray for them. Now they see their need
of him whom a while ago they slighted. Thus
many that will not have Christ to reign over them,
would yet be glad to have him to intercede for them,
to turn away the wrath of God. And the time mav
come, when those that have despised and ridiculed
praying people, will value their prayers, and desire
a share in them. “ Pray” (said they) “ to the
Lord thy God; we know not how to call him cur’s,
but if thou have? any interest in him, improve it foi
us.”
II. He aims to confirm the people in their re¬
ligion, and engage them for ever to cleave unto the
Lord. The design of his discourse is much the
same with Joshua’s, ch. 23. and 24.
1. He would not that the terrors of the Lord
should frighten them from him, for they were in¬
tended to frighten them to him; (v. 20.) “ Fear not,
though ye have done all this wickedness; and though
God is angry with you for it, get do not therefore
abandon his service, nor turn from following hi •••.”
Tear not; that is, “Despair not, fear net with
amazement; the weather will clear up after tae
279
I. SAMUEL, Xill.
storm. Fear not; though God will frown upon his
people, yet he will not forsake them, ( v . 22.) for
his great name's sake; do not you forsake him
then.” Every transgression in the covenant, though
it displease the Lord, yet does not throw us out of
covenant, and therefore God’s just rebukes must
not drive us from our hopes in his mercy. The fix¬
edness of God’s choice is owing to the freeness of it;
we may therefore hope he will not forsake his peo¬
ple, because it has fileased him to make them his
fieo/ile. Had he chosen them for their good merits,
we might fear he would cast them off for their bad
merits: but, choosing them for his name's sake, for
his name’s sake he will not leave them.
2. He cautions them against idolatry; “ Turn
not aside from God and the worship of him,” v. 20.
and again, v. 21. “for if ye turn aside from God,
whatever ye turn aside to,’ you will find it is a vain
thing, that can never answer your expectations, but
will certainly deceive you if you trust to it; it is a
broken reed, a broken cistern.” Idols are so, they
are vanity and a lie: whatever we make a god of,
we shall find it so. Creatures in their own place
are good things, but when put in God’s place, they
are vain things. Idols could not profit those that
sought to them in their wants, nor deliver those
that sought to them in their straits, for they were
vain, and not what they pretended to be. An idol is
nothing in the world, 1. Cor. 8. 4.
3. He comforts them with an assurance that he
would continue his care and concern for them, v.
23. They desired him to pray for them ; (u. 19.)
he might have said, “ Go to Saul and get him to
pray for you, the king that you have put in my
room;” but so far is he from upbraiding them with
their disrespect to him, that he promises them
much more than they asked. (1.) They asked it
of him as a favour; he promised it as a duty, and
startles at the thought of neglecting it. Pray for
you ! says he, God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord in not doing it. Note, It is a sin against
God, not to pray for the Israel of God, especially
for those of them that are under our charge: and
good men are afraid of the guilt of omissions. (2.)
They asked him to pray for them at this time, and
upon this occasion, but he promises to continue his
prayers for them, and not to cease as long as he
lived. Our rule is, to fi ray without ceasing; we sin
if we restrain prayer in general, and in particular
if we cease praying for the church. (3.) They
asked him only to pray for them, but he promises to
do more for them, not only to pray for them, but to
teach them; though they were not willing to be un¬
der his government as a judge, he would not there¬
fore deny them his instructions as a prophet. And
they may be sure he would teach them no other
than the good and the right way: and the right way
is certainly the good way; the way of duty, the way
of pleasure and profit.
4. He concludes with an earnest exhortation to
practical religion and serious godliness, v. 24, 25.
The great duty here pressed upon us, is, to fear the
Lord. He had said, (t>. 20.) “ Fear not with a
slavish fear,” but here, “Fear the Lord with a
filial fear. As the fruit and evidence of this, serve
him in the duties of religious worship, and of a
godly conversation; in truth and sincerity, and not
in show and profession only, but with your heart,
and with all your heart, not dissembling, not divid¬
ing.” And two things he urges by way of motive;
(1.) That they were bound in gratitude to serve
God, considering what great things he had done for
them, to engage them for ever to his service. (2.)
That thev were bound in interest to serve him, con¬
sidering what great things he would do against
them, if thev should still do wickedly; “ Ye shall be
destroyed by the judgments of God, both ye and
your king that you are so proud of, and expect so
much from; and that will bt a blessing to you if you
keep in with God.” Thus, as a faithful watchman,
he gave them warning, and so delivered his own
soul.
CHAP. XIII.
They that desired a king like all the nations, fancied that,
when they had one, they should look very great and con-
- siderable; hut in this chapter we find it proved much
otherwise. While Samuel was joined in commission
with Saul, things went well; (ch. 11.7.) but now that
Saul began to reign alone, all went to decay, and Sa¬
muel’s words began to be fulfilled. Ye shall be consumed,
both you and your king; for never was the state of Israel
further gone in a consumption than in this chapter. I.
Saul appears here a very silly prince; 1. Infatuated in his
councils, v. 1 • .3. 2. Invaded by his neighbours, v. 4, 5.
3. Deserted by his soldiers, v. 6, 7. 4. Disordered in his
own spirit, and sacrificing in confusion, v. 8.. 10. 5.
Chidden by Samuel, v. 11 . . 13. 6. Rejected of God from
being a king, v. 14. II. The people appear here a very
miserable people; 1. Disheartened and dispersed, v. 6, 7.
2. Diminished, v. 15, 16. 3. Plundered, v. 17, 18. 4.
Disarmed, v. 19 . . 23. This they got by casting off God’s
government, and making themselves like the nations; ail
their glory departed from them.
1. QAUL reigned one year; and when he
had reigned two years over Israel,
2. Saul chose him three thousand men of
Israel ; whereof two thousand were with
Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el,
and a thousand were with Jonathan in
Gibeah of Benjamin : and the rest of the
people he sent every man to his tent. 3.
And Jonathan smote the garrison of the
Philistines that was in Geba ; and the Phi¬
listines heard of it. And Saul blew the
trumpet throughout all the land, saying,
Let the Hebrews hear. 4. And all Israel
heard say, that Saul had smitten a garrison
of the Philistines, and that Israel also was
had in abomination with the Philistines.
And the people were called together after
Saul to Gilgal. 5. And the Philistines
gathered themselves together to fight with
Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six
thousand horsemen, and people as the sand
which is on the sea-shore in multitude : and
they came up and pitched in Michmash,
eastward from Beth-aven. 6. When the
men of Israel saw that they were in a strait,
(for the people were distressed,) then the
people did hide themselves in caves, and in
thickets, and in rocks, and in high places,
and in pits. 7. And some of the Hebrews
went over Jordan to the land of Gad and
Gilead. As for Saul, he teas yet in Gilgal ;
and all the people followed him trembling.
We are not told wherein it was that the people
of Israel offended God, so as to forfeit his presence,
and turn his hand against them, as Samuel had
threatened; (cA. 12. 15.) but doubtless they left
God, else he had not left them, as here it appears
he did ; for,
I. Saul was very weak and impolitic, and Aid not
order his affairs with discretion. Saul teas the son
of one year, so the first words are in the original; a
phrase which we make to signify the date of his
280
I. SAMUEL, XIII.
reign, but ordinarily i‘ signifies the date of one’s
birth: and therefore soi le understand it figuratively,
he was as innocent and good as a child of a year old;
so the Chaldee paraphrase, he was without fault ,
like the son of a year. But if we admit of a figura¬
tive sense, it may as well intimate that he was igno¬
rant and imprudent, and as unfit for business as a
child of a year old: and the following particulars
make that more his character, than the former.
But we take it rather as our translation has it, Saul
reigned one year , and nothing happened that was
considerable; it was a year of no action; but in his
second year he did as follows:
1. He chose him a band ot three thousand men,
of which he himself commanded two thousand, and
his son Jonathan one thousand; ( v . 2. ) the rest of the
people he dismissed to their tents. If he intended
these only for the guard of his person, and his
honorary attendants, it was impolitic to have so
many; if for a standing army, in apprehension of
danger from the Philistines, it was no less impolitic
to have so few; and, perhaps, the confidence he put
in this select number, and his disbanding the rest
of that brave army with which he lately beat the
Ammonites, ( ch . 11. 8, 11.) was looked upon as an
affront to the kingdom, gave a general disgust, and
was the reason he had so few at his call when he
had occasion for them. The prince that relies on
a particular party, weakens his own interest in the
whole community.
2. He ordered his s^n Jonathan to surprise and
destroy the garrison of the Philistines that lay near
him in Geba, v. 3. I wish there were no ground
for supposing it to have been a violation or infrac¬
tion of some articles with the Philistines, and that it
was done treacherously and perfidiously; the reason
why I suspect it, is, because it is said, for doing it,
Israel was had in abomination, or, as the word is,
did stink with the Philistines, (v. 4.) as men void
of common honesty, and whose word could not be
relied on. If it was so, we will lay the blame, not
on Jonathan who did it, but on Saul, his prince and
father, who ordered him to do it, and, perhaps,
kept him in ignorance of the truth of the matter.
Nothing makes the name of Israel so odious to them
that are without, so much as the fraud and dis¬
honesty of those that are called by that worthy
name. If professors of religion cheat and over¬
reach, break their word, and betray their trust, re¬
ligion suffers by it, and is had in abomination with
the Philistines. Whom may one trust, if not an Is¬
raelite? one that, it is expected, should be without
guile.
3. When he had thus exasperated the Philistines,
then he began to raise forces, which, if he had act¬
ed wisely, he would have done before. When the
Philistines had a vast army ready to pour in upon
him, to avenge the wrong he had done them, then
was he blowing the trumpet through the land,
among a careless, if not a disaffected people, say¬
ing, Let the Hebrews hear; (v. 3.) and so, as many
as thought fit came to Saul to Gilgal, v. 4. But
now the generality, we may suppose, drew back,
either in dislike of Saul’s politics, or in dread of the
Philistines’ power, who, if he had summoned them
sooner, would have been as ready at his beck as they
were when he marched against the Ammonites.
We often find that after-wit would have done much
better before, and have prevented much inconve¬
nience.
II. Never did the Philistines appear in such a
formidable body as they did now, upon this provo¬
cation which Saul gave them; we may suppose they
had great assistance from their allies, for, (v. 5. )
beside six thousand horse, which, in those times,
when horses were not so much used in war as they
now are, was a great body, they had an incredible
number of chariots, thirty thousand in ail. most of
them, we may suppose, were carriages for the bag
and baggage of so vast an army, not chariots of war.
But their foot was innumerable as the sand of the
sea-shore; so jealous were they for the honour of
their nation, and so much enraged at the baseness
of the Israelites in destroying their garrison. It
Saul had asked counsel of God before he had give:
the Philistines this provocation, he and his peoph
might the better have borne this threatening trouble
which they had now brought on themselves by their
own folly.
III. Never were the people oi' Israel so faint¬
hearted, so sneaking, so very cowardly, as they
were now. Some considerable numbers, it may bi
came to Saul to Gilgal, but, hearing of the Philis
tines’ numbers and preparations, their spirits sunt
within them; some think, because they did not find
Samuel there with Saul. They that, a while ago,
were weary of him, and wished for a king, now had
small joy of their king, unless they could see him
under Samuel’s direction. Sooner or later, men
will be made to see that God and his prophets are
their best friends. Now that they saw the Philis¬
tines making war upon them, and Samuel not
coming in to help them, they know not what to do;
men's hearts failed them for fear. And, 1. Some
absconded. Rather than run upon death among
the Philistines, they buried themselves alive in
caves and thickets, v. 6. See what work sin makes;
it exposes men to perils, and then robs them of their
courage, and dispirits them. A single person, by
faith, can say, I will not be afraid of ten thousand;
(Ps. 3. 6.) but here, thousands of degenerate Israel¬
ites trembled at the approach of a great crowd of
Philistines. Guilt makes men cowards. 2. Others
fled, x'. 7. They went over Jordan to' the land of
Gilead, as far as they could from the danger, and
to a place where they had lately been victorious
over the Ammonites: where they had triumphed,
they had hoped to be sheltered. 3. Those that
stayed with Saul, followed him trembling, expect¬
ing no other than to be cut off, and having their
hands and hearts very much weakened by the de¬
sertion of so many of their troops. And, perhaps,
Saul himself, though he had so much honour as to
stand his ground, yet had no courage to spare,
wherewith to inspire his trembling soldiers.
8. And he tarried seven days, according
to the set time that Samuel had appointed :
but Samuel came not to Gilgal ; and the
people were scattered from him. 9. And
Saul said, Bring hither a burnl -offering to
me, and peace-offerings. And he offered
the burnt-offering. 10. And it came to
pass, that, as soon as he had made an end
of offering the burnt-offering, behold, Sa¬
muel came ; and Saul went out to meet
him, that he might salute him. 11. And
Samuel said, What hast thou done? And
Saul said, Because I saw that the people
were scattered from me, and that thou
earnest not within the days appointed, and
that the Philistines gathered themselves to¬
gether at Michmash ; 12. Therefore, said
I, the Philistines will come down now upon
me to Gilgal, and I have not made suppli¬
cation unto the Lord : I forced myself
therefore, and offered a burnt-offering. 13
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done
281
I. SAMUEL, XIII.
foolishly : thou hast not kept the command¬
ment of the Lord thy God, which he com¬
manded thee; for now would the Lord
have established thy kingdom upon Israel
for ever. 14. But now thy kingdom shall
not continue : the Lord hath sought him a
man after his own heart, and the Lord
hath commanded him to be captain over his
people, because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee.
Here is,
I. Saul’s offence in offering sacrifice before Sa¬
muel came. Samuel, when he anointed him, had
ordered him to tarry for him seven days in Gilgal,
romising that, at the end of those days, he would
e sure to come to him, and both offer sacrifices for
him, and direct him what he should do. This we
had, ch. 10. 8. Perhaps that order, though insert¬
ed there, was given him afterward; or wds given
him as a general rule to be observed in every pub¬
lic congress at Gilgal; or, as is most probable,
though not mentioned again, was lately repeated
with reference to this particular occasion; for, it is
plain that Saul himself understood it as obliging him
from God now to stay till Samuel came, else he
would not have made so many excuses as he did,
for not staying, v. 11. This order Saul broke; he
stayed till the seventh day, yet had not patience to
wait till the end of the seventh day; perhaps, he
began to reproach Samuel as false to his word, care¬
less of his country, and disrespectful to his prince;
and thought it more fit that Samuel should wait for
him, than he for Samuel. However, 1. He presum¬
ed to offer sacrifice without Samuel, and nothing
appears to the contrary but that he did it himself,
though he was neither priest nor prophet, as if, be¬
cause he was a king, he might do any thing; a piece
of presumption, which king Uzziah paid dear for,
2 Chron. 26. 16, &c. 2. He determined to engage
the Philistines without Samuel’s directions, though
he had promised to show him what he should do.
So self-sufficient Saul was, that he thought it not
worth while to stay for a prophet of the Lord,
either to pray for him, or advise him.
This was Saul’s offence, and that which aggra¬
vated it, was, (1.) That, for aught that appears, he
did not send any messenger to Samuel, to know his
mind, to represent the case to him, and to receive
fresh directions from him, though he had enough
about him that were swift enough of foot at this
time. (2.) That when Samuel came, he rather
seemed to boast of what he had done, than to re-
ent of it; for he went forth to salute him, as his
rother sacrificer, and seemed pleased with the op¬
portunity he had of letting Samuel know that he
needed him not, but could do well enough without
him. He went out to bless him, so the word is, as
if he now thought himself a complete priest, em¬
powered to bless as well as sacrifice, whereas he
should have gone out to be blessed by him. (3. ) That
he charged Samuel with breach of promise, Thou
earnest not within the days appointed; (r. 11.) and
therefore if any thing was amiss* Samuel must bear
the blame, who was God’s minister; whereas he
did come according to his word, before the seven
days were expired. Tlius the scoffers of the latter
days think the promise of Christ’s coming is broken,
because he does not come in their time, though it is
certain he will come at the set time. (4). That
when he was charged with disobedience, he justified
himself in what he had done, and gave no sign at all
of repentance for it. It is not sinning that ruins
men, but sinning and not repenting; falling and not
petting up again. See what excuses he made, v,
Vol. II.— 2 JN
11, 12. He would have this act of disobedience
pass, [1.] For an instance of his prudence; the peo¬
ple were most of them scattered from him, and he
had no other way than this, to keep those with him
that remained, and to prevent their deserting too.
If Samuel neglected the public concerns, he would
not. [2.] For an instance of his piety; he would
be thought very devout, and in great care not to en-
age the Philistines till he had by prayer and sacri-
ce engaged God on his side. “ The Philistines ,”
said he, “ will come down upon me, before I have
made my supplication to the Lord, and then I am
undone. What! goto war before I have said my
prayers!” Thus he covered his disobedience to
God’s command, with a pretence of concern for
God’s favour. Hypocrites lay a great stress upon
the external performances of religion, thinking
thereby to excuse their neglect of the weightier
matters of the law. And yet, lastly, He owns it
went against his conscience to do it; I forced my¬
self, and offered a burnt-offering ; perhaps boasting
that he had broken through his convictions, and got
the better of them; or, at least, thinking this ex¬
tenuated his fault, that he knew he should not have
done as he did, but did it with reluctancy. Foolish
man! to think that God would be well pleased with
sacrifices offered in direct opposition both to his
general and particular command.
II. The sentence passed upon Saul for this of¬
fence: Samuel found him standing by his burnt-
offering; but, instead of an answer of peace, was
sent to him with heavy tidings, and let him know
that the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the
Lord, much more when he brings it, as Saul did,
with a wicked mind. 1. He shows him the aggra¬
vations of his crime; and says to this king, Thou art
wicked; which it is not for any but a prophet of the
Lord to say, Job 34. 18. He charges him with be¬
ing an enemy to himself and his interest. Thou
hast done foolishly ; and a rebel to God and his go¬
vernment, “ Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, that command wherewith he
intended to try thy obedience.” Note, Those that
disobey the commandments of God, do foolishly for
themselves. Sin is folly, and sinners are the great¬
est fools. 2. He reads his doom; (y. 14.) “ Thy
kingdom shall not continue long to thee or thy fami¬
ly; God has his eye upon another, a man after his
own heart, and not like thee, that will have thy own
will and way.” The sentence is, in effect, the same
with Mene tekel. Only now there seems room left
for Saul’s repentance, upon which this sentence
should have been reversed; but, upon the next act
of disobedience, it was made irreversible, ch. 15. 29.
And now, better a thousand times he had continued
in obscurity tending his asses, than to be enthroned
and so soon dethroned.
But was not this hard, to pass so severe a sentence
upon him and his house for a single error, and that
seemed so small, and in excuse for which he had
so much to say? No, The Lord is righteous in all
his ways, and does no man any wrong; will be jus¬
tified when he speaks, and clear when he judges.
Bv this, (1.) He shows that there is no sin little, be¬
cause no little God to sin against; but that every sin
is a forfeiture of the heavenly kingdom, for which
we stood fair. (2.) He shows, that disobedience to
an express command, though in a small matter, is
a great provocation; as in the case of our first pa¬
rents. (3. ) He warns us to take heed of our spirits;
for that which to men may seem but a small offence,
yet to him that knows from what principle, and
with what disposition of mind it is done, may ap¬
pear a heinous crime. (4.) God, in rejecting Saul
for an error seemingly little, sets off, as by a foil,
the lustre of his mercy, in forgiving such great sins
as those of David, Manasseh, and others. (5.) We
232
1. SAMUEL, XTV.
are taught hereby, how necessary it is that we wait
an our God continually. Saul lost his kingdom for
want of two or three hours’ patience.
15. And Samuel arose, and gat him up
from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin.
And Sanl numbered the people that were
present with him, about six hundred men.
16. And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and
the people that were present with them,
abode in Gibeah of Benjamin : but the Phi¬
listines encamped in Michmash. 17. And
the spoilers came out of the camp of the
Philistines in three companies : one com¬
pany turned unto the way that leadeth to
Ophrah, unto the land of Shual : 1 8. And
another company turned the way to Betli-
horon ; and another company turned to the
way of the border that looketh to the val¬
ley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness. 19.
Now there was no smith found throughout
all the land of Israel ; (for the Philistines
said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords
or spears ;) 20. But all the Israelites went
down to the Philistines, to sharpen every
man his share, and his coulter, and his axe,
and his mattock. 21. Yet they had a file
for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and
for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharp¬
en the goads. 22. So it came to pass, in
the day of battle, that there was neither
sword nor spear found in the hand of any
of the people that icere with Saul and Jona¬
than: but with Saul, and with Jonathan his
son, was there found. 23. And the garri¬
son of the Philistines went out to the pas¬
sage of Michmash.
Here is,
1. S unuel gone in displeasure. Saul has set up
for himself, and now he is left to himself; Samuel
yat him from Gilgal, (v. 15.) and it does not ap-
jear that he either prayed with him, or directed
dm. Yet, in going up to Gibeah of Benjamin,
which was Saul’s city, he intimated that he had not
quite abandoned him, but waited there to do him a
kindness another time. Or, he went to the college
of the prophets, there to pray for Saul, when he
did not think fit to pray with him.
2. Saul g^es after him to Gibeah, and there
musters his army, and finds his whole number to be
but six hundred men, i>. 15, 16. Thus were they
for their sin diminished and brought low.
3. The Philistines ravaged the country, and put
all the adjacent parts under contribution. The
body of their army, or standing camp, as it is call¬
ed in the margin, (y. 23.) lay in an advantageous
pass at Michmash, but thence they sent out three
several parties or detachments that took several
ways, to plunder the country, and bring in provi¬
sions for the army, v. 17, 18. By these the land
of Israel was both terrified and impoverished, and
the Philistines animated and enriched. This the
sin of Israel brought upon them, Isa. 42. 24.
4. The Israelites that took the field with Saul
were unarmed, had only slings and clubs, but not
a sword or spetr among them all, except what
Saul and Jonathan themselves had, v. 19«*22. See
[ here, (_1.) How politic the Philistines were, when
they had power in their hands, and did what they
pleased in Israel; they put down all the smith's
shops, transplanted the smiths into their own coun¬
try, and forbade any Israelite, under severe penal¬
ties, to exercise the trade or mystery of working in
brass or iron, though they had rich "mines of both,
(Deut. 8. 9.) in such plenty, that it was said of
Asher, His shoes shall be iron and brass, Deut. 33.
25. This was subtlely done of the Philistines, fot
hereby they not only prevented the people of Israel
from making themselves weapons of war by which
they would be both disused to milita'y exercises,
and unfurnished when there was occasion, but
obliged them to a dependence upon them, even for
the instruments of husbandry; they must go to
them, that is, to some or other of their garrisons,
which were tbspersed in the country, to have all
their iron work done, and no more might an Israel¬
ite do than use a file; {y. 20, 21.) and no doubt the
Philistines’ smiths brought the Israelites long Sills
for work done. (2.) How impolitic Saul was, that
did not, in the beginning of his reign, set himself to
redress this grievance. Samuel’s not doing it, was
very excusable, he fought with other artillery;
thunder and lightning, in answer to his prayer,
were to him instead of sword or spear; but for Saul,
that pretended to be a king, like the kings of the
nations, to leave his soldiers without swords and
spears, and take no care to provide them, especially
when he might have done it out of the spoils of the
Ammonites whom he conquered in the beginning
of his reign, was such a piece of negligence, as
could by no means be excused. (3.) How slothful
and mean-spirited the Israelites were, that suffered
the Philistines thus to impose upon them, and had
no thought or spirit to help themselves. It was
reckoned very bad with them, when there was not
a shield or sfi ear found among forty thousand in
Israel; (Judg. 5. 8.) and it was no better now,
when there was never an Israelite with a sword by
his side, but the king and his son; never a soldier,
never a gentleman: surely they were reduced to
this, or began to be so, in Samson’s time, for we
never find him with a sword or spear in his hand.
If they had not been dispirited, they could not have
been disarmed, but it was sin that made them
naked to their shame.
CHAP. XIV.
We left the host of Israel in a very ill posture, in the close
of the foregoing- chapter ; we saw in them neither wis¬
dom, nor strength, nor goodness, to give us ground to
expect any other than that they should all be cut off by
the army of the Philistines; yet here we find that infi
nite power which works without means, and that infinite
goodness which gives without merit, glorified in a happy
turn to their affairs, that still Samuel’s words may be
made good. The Lord will not forsake his 'people for
his great name's sake, ch. 12. 22. In this chapter, we
have, 1. The host of the Philistines trampled upon, and
triumphed over, by the faith and courage of Jonathan,
who unknown to his father, (v. 1 . ..3.) with his armour-
bearer only, made a brave attack upon them, encourag¬
ing himself in the Lord his God, v. 4.. 7. He chal¬
lenged them, (v. 8. . 12.) and, upon their acceptance of
the challenge, charged them with such fury, or rather
such faith, that h« put them to flight, and set them one
against another, (v. 13.. 15.) which gave opportunity to
Saul and his forces, with other Israelites, to pursue the
blow, and gain a victory, v. 16 . . 23. II. The host of
Israel troubled and perplexed by the rashness and folly
of Saul, who adjured the people to eat no food till night;
which, 1. Brought Jonathan into a praemunire, v. 2£ . .
30. 2. Was a temptation to the people, when the time
of their fast was expired, to eat with the blood, v. 31 . .
35. 3. Jonathan’s error, through ignorance, had like to
have been his death, but the people rescued him, v.
36 . . 46. III. In the close, we have a general account
of Saul’s exnloits, (v. 47, 48.) and of his family, ?.
49 . . 52.
283
J. SAMUEL, XIV
..VOW it came to pass upon a day,
that Jonathan the son of Saul said
unto the young man that bare his armour,
Come, and let us go over to the Philistines1
garrison that is on the other side. But he
told not his father. 2. And Saul tarried
in the uttermost part of Gibeah, under a
pomegranate-tree, which is in Migron: and
the people that were with him were about
six hundred men; 3. And Ahiah, the son
of Ahitub, I-chabod’s brother, the son of
Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest
in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the
people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
4. And between the passages, by which
Jonathan sought to go over unto the Phi¬
listines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on
the one side, and a sharp rock on the other
side : and the name of the one was Bozez,
and the name of the other Seneh. 5. The
fore-front of the one was situate northward
over against Michmash, • and the other
southward over against Gibeah. 6. And
Jonathan said to the young man that bare
his armour, Come, and let us go over unto
the garrison of these uncircumcised : it may
be that the Lord will work for us : for there
is no restraint to the Lord to save by many
or by few. 7. And his armour-bearer said
unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn
thee ; behold, I am with thee according to
thy heart. 8. Then said Jonathan, Behold,
we will pass over unto these men, and we
will discover ourselves unto them. 9. If
they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come
to you; then we will stand still in our place,
and will not go up unto them. 10. But if
they say thus, Come up unto us ; then we will
go up : for the Lord hath delivered them
into our hand ; and this shall be a sign unto
us. 11. And both of them discovered
themselves unto the garrison of the Philis¬
tines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the
Hebrews come forth out of the holes where
they had hid themselves. 1 2. And the men
of the garrison answered Jonathan and his
armour-bearer, and said, Come up to us,
and we will shcyrv you a thing. And Jona¬
than said unto his armour-bearer, Come up
after me; for the Lord hath delivered them
into the hand of Israel. 13. And Jona¬
than climbed up upon his hands and upon
his feet, and his armour-bearer after him :
and they fell before Jonathan ; and his ar¬
mour-bearer slew after him. 14. And that
first slaughter, which Jonathan and his
armour-bearer made, was about twenty
men, within as it were a half-acre of land,
which a yoke of oxen might plough. 1 5. And
there was trembling in the host, in the field,
and among all the people ; the garrison, and
the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth
quaked : so it was a very great trembling.
W e must here take notice,
I. Of the goodness of God in restraining the Phi¬
listines, who had a vast army of stout men in the
field, from falling upon that little handful of timor*
ous trembling people that Saul had with him, whom
they would easily have swallowed up at once. It is
an invisible power that sets bounds to the malice of
the church’s enemies, and suffers them not to do
that which we should think there is nothing to hin¬
der them from.
II. Of the weakness of Saul, who seems here to
have been quite at a loss, and unable to help himself.
1. He pitched his tent under a tree, and had but
six hundred men with him, v. 2. Where were
now the three thousand men he had chosen, and
put such a confidence in? ch. 13. 2. Those whom
he trusted too much to, failed him when he most
needed them. He durst not stay at Gibeah, but
Sit into some obscure place, in the uttermost part
the city, under a pomegranate tree, under Fim-
mon, so the word is, Ha-Fimmon, that Rimmon
near Gibeah, in the caves of which these six hun¬
dred Benjamites that escaped, hid themselves,
Judg. 20. 47. Some think that Saul took shelter
there, so mean and abject was his spirit, now that
he was fallen under God’s displeasure, every hour
expecting the Philistines upon him, and, thereby,
the accomplishment of Samuel’s threatening, ch.
13. 14. Those can never think themselves safe,
that see themselves cast out of God’s protection.
2. Now he sent for a priest, and the ark; a priest
from Shiloh, and the ark from Kirjath-jearim, v.
3, 18. S ail had once offended by offering sacrifice
himself; (ch. 13. 9.) now he resolves never to fall
into that error again, and therefore sends for a
pr est, and hopes to compromise the matter with
God Almighty by a partial reformation, as many
do, whose healts are unhumbled and unchanged.
Samuel, the Lord’s prophet, had forsaken him, but
he thinks he can make up that loss, by commanding
Ahiah, the Lord’s priest, to attend him, and he will
not make him stay for him nor reprove him, as Sa¬
muel had done, but will do just as he bids him, v.
18, 19. Many love to have just such ministers as
will be what they would have them to be, and pro¬
phesy smooth things to them; and their caressing
of them because they are priests, they hope, will
atone for their enmity to those ministers that deal
faithfully and plainly with them. He will also
have the ark brought, perhaps, to upbraid Samuel,
who, in the days of his government, for aught that
appears, had not made any public use of it; or in
hopes that that would make up the deficiency of
his forces; one would have supposed, that they
would never have brought the ark into the camp
again, since the last time, when it not only did not
save them, but did itself fall into the Philistines’
hands. But it is common for those that have lost
the substance of religion, to be most fond of the
shadows of it, as here is a deserted prince courting
a deserted priest.
III. Of the bravery and piety of Jonathan, the
son of Saul, who was much fitter than the father to
wear the crown. “A sweet imp” (says Bishop
Hall) “out of a crab stock.”
1. He resolved to go incognito — unknown to any
one, into the camp of the Philistines; he did not ac¬
quaint his father with his design, for he knew he
would forbid him; nor the people, for he knew they
would all discourage him; and because he resolved
not to heed their objections, he resolved not to hear
them, nor ask their advice, v. 1, 3. Nor had he
so great an opinion of the priest, as to consult him.
234
I. SAMUEL, XIV.
but, being conscious of a divine impulse putting him
upon it, he threw himself into the mouth of danger,
in hopes of doing service to his country. The way
of access to the enemies’ camp is described ( v . 4,
5.) to be peculiarly difficult, and their natural in-
trenchments seemed impregnable; yet that does not
discourage him: the strength and sharpness of the
rocks do but harden and whet his resolutions.
Great and generous souls are animated by opposi¬
tion, and take pleasure in breaking through it.
2. He encouraged his armour-bearer, a young
man that attended him, to go alone with him in this
daring enterprise; (u. 6.) “ Come, and let us put
our lives in our hands, and go over to the enemies’
garrison, and try what we can do to put them into
confusion.” See whence he draws his encourage¬
ments. (1.) “They are uncircumcised, and have
not the seal of the covenant in their flesh, as we
h ve. Fear not, we shall do well enough with
them, for they are not under the protection of God’s
covenant, as we are, cannot call him their’s, as we
can, by the sign of circumcision.” If such as are
enemies to us, are also strangers to God, we need
not fear them. (2.) “ God is able to make us too
victorious over their unnumbered regiments. There
is no restraint to the^ Lord, no limitation to the
Holy One of Israel, but it is all one to him, to save
by many or by few.” This is a truth easily
granted in general, that it is all alike to Omnipo¬
tence, what the instruments are by which it works;
and yet it is not so easy to apply it to a particular
case: when we are but few and feeble, then to be¬
lieve that God can not only save us, but save by us,
this is an instance of faith, which, wherever it is,
shall obtain a good report. Let this strengthen the
weak and hearten the heartless; let it be pleaded
w th God for the enforcing of our petitions, and
with oursel es for the silencing of our fears, It is
nothing with God to help, whether with many, or
with them that have no power, 2 Chron. 14. 11.
(3.) “Who knows, but he that can use us for his
glory, will do it? It may be the Lord will work for us,
work with us, work a sign or miracle for us;” so the
Chaldee. We may encourage ourselves with hope,
that God will appear for us, though we have not
ground on which tobuild an assurance. An active faith
will venture far in God’s cause upon an, It may be.
His armour-bearer, or esquire, as if he had learned
to carry, not his arms only, but his heart, promised
to stand by him, and follow him wheresoever he
went, 7:. 7. We have reason to think that Jonathan
felt a divine impulse and impression, putting him
upon this bold adventure, in which he was en¬
couraged by his servant’s concurrence, else the
danger was so great which he ran upon, that he
had rather tempted God, than trusted him And
perhaps, he had an actual regard to that word of
Joshua, {ch. 23. 10.) One man of you shall chase a
thousand, borrowed from Moses, Ueut. 32. 30.
3. How bold soever his resolution was, he re¬
solved to follow Providence in the execution of it,
which, he believed, would guide him with its c e,
(Ps. 32. 8.) and which therefore he would carefully
attend, and take hints of direction from.
See, (1.) How he put himself upon Providence,
and resolved to be determined bv it. “Come,”
(says he to his confidant,) “ we will discover our¬
selves to the enemy, as those that are not afraid to
look them in the face, {v. 8.) and then, if they be
so cautious as to bid us stand, we will advance no
further, taking that for an intimation of Providence,
that God would have us act defensively; and we will
prepare, as well as we can, to give them a warm
reception: (x>. 9.) but if they be so presumptuous as
to challenge us, and the first sentinel we meet with
bids us march on, we will push forward, and make
as brisk an onset, assuredly gathering from thence
that it is the will of God we should act offensively,
and then, not doubting but he will stand by usf‘
(7'. 10. ) and upon this issue he puts it, firmly be¬
lieving, as we all should, {1.] That God has the
governing of the hearts and tongues of all men,
even of those that know him not, nor have any re¬
gard to him, and serves his own purposes by them,
though they mean not so, neither doth their heart
think so. Jonathan knew God could discover his
mind to him if he pleased, and would do it, since
he depended upon him, as surely by the mouth of a
Philistine, as by the mouth of a priest. [2.] That
God will, some way or other, direct the steps of
those that acknowledge him in all their ways, and
seek unto him for direction, with full purpose of
heart to follow his conduct. Sometimes we find
most comfort in that which is least our own doing,
and into which we have been led by the unexpect¬
ed, but well observed, turns of Providence.
(2.) Providence gave him the sign he expected,
and he answered the signal. He and his armour-
bearer did not surprise the Philistines when they
were asleep, but discovered themselves to them by
day -light, v. 11. The guards of the Philistines,
[1.] Disdained them, upbraided them with the
cowardice of many of their people, and looked upon
them to be of the regiment of the sneakers; Behold,
the Hebrews came forth out of their holes. If some
of Christ’s soldiers play the coward, others that
plav the man, may, perhaps, be upbraided with it.
[2.^] They defied them; (v. 12 Come, and we will
show you a thing; as if they came like children to
gaze about them; but meaning, as Goliath, {ch. 17.
44. ) that they would give them as meat to the fowls
of the air. They bantered them, not doubting but
to make a prey of them. This greatly imboldened
Jonathan. With it he encouraged his servant; he
had spoken with uncertainty, ( v . 6.) It may be the
Lord will work for us, but now with assurance, (7'.
12.) The Lord has delivered them, not into cur
hand, (he sought not his own glory,) but into the
hand of Israel; for he aimed at nothing but the ad¬
vantage of the public. His faith being thus strength¬
ened, no difficulty can stand before him; he climbs
up the rock upm all four, (r. 13.) though he had
nothing to cover him, nor any but his own servant to
second him, nor any human probability of any thing
but death before him.
4. The wonderful success of this daring enter¬
prise. The Philistines, instead of falling upon
Jonathan, to slay him, or take him prisoner, fell be¬
fore him, (7;. 13.) unaccountably, upon the first
blow he gave. They fell; that is,
(1.) They were many of them slain by him and
his armour-bearer; {v. 14. ) twenty Philistines fell
presently. It was not so much the name of Jona¬
than, that made them yield so tamely, though
some think that he was become terrible to them,
since he smote one of their garrisons, ( ch . 13. 3.) but
it was God’s right hand, and his arm, that got him
this victory.
(2.) The rest were put to flight, and fell foul upon
one another, (7’. 15.) There was a trembling in the
host. There was no visible cause for fear, they
were so numerous, bold, advantageously posted; the
Israelites had fled before them, not an enemy made
head against them, but one gentleman and his man,
and yet they shook like an aspen-leaf: the conster¬
nation was general, they all trembled, e' en the
spoilers; those that had been most bold and forward
shared in the common fright, the joints of their
loins were loosed, and their knees smote one against
another, and yet none of them could tell why, or
wherefore; it is called a trembling: of God, so the
original phrase is, signifying, not only, as v e render
it, a very great trembling which they cou'd not re¬
sist, nor reason themselves clear of, but that it was
285
I. SAMUEL, XIV.
supernatural, and came immediately from the hand
of God. He that made the heart, knows how to
make it tremble. To complete the confusion, e\ en
the earth quaked and made them ready to fear that
it would sink under them. Those that will not fear
the eternal God, he can make them afraid of a
shadow. See Prov. 28. 1. Isa. 33. 14.
16. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah
of Benjamin looked ; and, behold, the mul¬
titude melted away, and they went on beat¬
ing down one another. 1 7. Then said Saul
unto the people that were with him, Num¬
ber now, and see who is gone from us. And
when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan
and his armour-bearer were not there. 1 8.
And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the
ark of God : (for the ark of Gofl was at that
time with the children of Israel.) 19. And
it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the
priest, that the noise that was in the host of
the Philistines went on and increased ; and
Saul said unto the- priest, Withdraw thine
hand. 20. And Saul and all the people
that were with him assembled themselves,
and they came to the battle : and, behold,
every man’s sword was against his fellow,
and there was a very great discomfiture. 21.
Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the
Philistines before that time, which went up
with them into the camp from the country
round about, even they also turned to be
with the Israelites that were with Saul and
Jonathan. 22. Likewise all the men of Is¬
rael which had hid themselves in mount
Ephraim, when they heard that the Philis¬
tines fled, even they also followed hard af¬
ter them in the battle. 23. So the Lord
saved Israel that day : and the battle passed
over unto Beth-aven.
We have here the prosecution and improvement
of the wonderful advantages which Jonathan and
his armour-bearer gained against the Philistines.
I. The Philistines were, by the power of God,
set against one another. They melted away like
snow before the sun, and went on beating down one
another, v. 16. for every man’s sword was against
his fellow, v. 20. When they fled for fear, instead
of turning back upon those that chased them, they
reckoned those only their enemies that stood in their
way, and treated them accordingly. The Philis¬
tines were very secure, because all the swords and
spears were in their hands, Israel had none, except
what Saul and Jonathan had; but now God showed
them the folly of that confidence, by making their
own swords and spears the instruments of their de¬
struction, and more fatal in their own hands, than
if they had been in the hands of Israel. See the like
done, Judg. 7. 22. 2 Chron. 20. 23.
II. The Israelites were hereby animated against
them.
1. Notice was soon taken of it by the watchmen
of Saul, those that stood sentinel at Gibeah; (v. 16.)
they were aware that the host of the enemv was in
great confusion, and that a great slaughter was
made among them, and yet, upon search, they
found none of their own forces absent, but only
Jonathan and his servant, (t>. 17.) which, no doubt,
greatly animated them, and assured them that it
could be no other than the Lord’s doing, when
there was no more of man’s doing than what those
two could do against a great host.
2. Saul began to inquire of God, but soon desist¬
ed. His spirit was not come down so far as to
allow him to consult with Samuel, though, it is
probable, he was near him; for we read, (ch. 13.
15. ) that he was come to Gibeah of Benjamin; but he
called for the ark, (v. 18. ) desiring to know whethei
it would be safe for him to attack the Philistines,
upon the disorder they perceived them to be in. Ma¬
ny will consult God about their safety, that would
never consult him about their duty. But perceiving
by his scouts that the noise in the enemy’s camp in
creased, he commanded the priest that officiated,
to break off abruptly, “ Withdraw thine hand ,
(y. 19.) consult no more, wait no longer for an an¬
swer.” He was very unwise indeed, if (as some
think) he forbade him to lift up his hands inpraver;
for when Joshua was actually engaged with Ama'lek,
Moses continued still to lift up his hands. It is
rather a prohibition to his inquiring of the Lord,
either, (1.) Because now he thf ught he did not need
an answer, the case was plain enough. And yet the
more evident it was that God did all, the more rea¬
son he had to inquire whether he would give him
leave to do any thing. Or, (2.) Because now he
would not stay for it; he was in such haste to
fight a falling enemy, that he would not stay to
make an end of his devotions, nor hear what answer
God would give him. A little thing will divert a
vain and carnal mind from religious exercises. He
that believeth will not make such haste as this, nor
reckon any business so urgent, as not to allow time
to take God along with him.
3. He, and all the little force he had, made a
vigorous attack upon the enemy: and all the people
were cried together, so the word is, v. 20. for want
of the silver trumpets, wherewith God appointed
them to sound an alarm in the day of battle, Numb.
10. 9. They summoned them together by shouting,
and their number was not so great, but that they
might soon be got to gether. And now they seem
bold and brave, when the work is done to their
hands. Our Lord Jesus has conquered our spiritual
enemies, routed and dispersed them, so that we are
cowards indeed, if we will not stand to our arms,
when it is only to pursue the victory and divide the
spoil.
4. Every Hebrew, even those from whom one
would least have expected it, now turned his hand
against the Philistines. 1. Those that had deserted,
and gone over to the enemy, and were among them,
now fought against them; v. 21. some think, they
were such as had been taken prisoners by them,
and now they were as goads in their sides: it rather
seems, that they went in to them voluntarily, but,
now that they saw them falling, recovered the
hearts of Israelites, and did valiantly for their
country. 2. Those that had run their colours, and
hid themselves in the mountains, returned to their
posts, and joined in with the pursuers, v. 22. hop¬
ing, by their great zeal and officiousness now that
the danger was over and the victory sure, to atone
for their former cowardice. It was not much to
their praise to appear now, but it would have been
more to their reproach if they had not appeared.
Those are remiss and faint-hearted indeed, that
will not act in the cause of God, when they see it
victorious as well as righteous.
Thus all hands were at work against the Philis
tines, and every Israelite slew as many as he could;
without sword or spear; yet it is said, v. 23. it was
the Lord that saved Israel that day. He did it by
them, for without him they could do nothing. Sal
vation is of the Lord.
286
I. SAMUEL, XIV.
21 And the men of Israel were distressed
that day: for Saul had adjured the people,
saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any
food until evening, that I may be avenged
on mine enemies. So none of the people
tasted any food. 25. And all they of the
land came to a wood, and there was honey
upon the ground. 26. And when the peo¬
ple were come into the wood, behold, the
honey dropped ; but no man put his hand to
his mouth: for the people feared the oath.
27. But Jonathan heard not when his father
charged the people with the oath : where¬
fore he put forth the end of the rod that was
in his hand, and dipped it in a honey-comb,
and put his hand to his mouth ; and his eyes
were enlightened. 28. Then answered one
of the people, and said, Thy father straitly
charged the people with an oath, saying,
Cursed be the man that eateth any food this
day. And the people were faint. 29. Then
said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the
land : see, I pray you, how mine eyes have
been enlightened, because I tasted a little
of this honey ; 30. How much more, if hap¬
ly the people had eaten freely to-day of the
spoil of their enemies which they found ? for
had there not been now a much greater
slaughter among the Philistines ? 31. And
they smote the Philistines that day from
Michmash to Ajalon: and the people were
very faint. 32. And the people flew upon
the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and
calves, and slew them on the ground : and
the people did eat them with the blood. 33.
Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the
people sin against the Lord, in that they
eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have
transgressed : roll a great stone unto me this |
day. 34. And Saul said, Disperse your¬
selves among the people, and say unto
them, Bring me hither every man his ox, j
and every man his sheep, and slay them
here, and eat ; and sin not against the Lord
in eating with the blood. And all the peo¬
ple brought every man his ox with him that
night, and slew them there. 35. And Saul
built an altar unto the Lord : the same was
the first altar that he built unto the Lord.
We have here an account of the distress of the 1
children of Israel, even in the days of their triumphs.
Such allays are all present joys subject to! and such
obstructions does many a good cause meet with,
even then when it seems most prosperous, through j
the mismanagement of instruments.
I. Saul forbade the people, under the penalty of |
a curse, to taste any food that day, v. 24. Here we j
will suppose, 1. That as king he had power to put ,
his soldiers under this interdict, and to bind it on I
with a curse; and therefore they submitted to it, j
and God so far owned it, as to discover, by the lot,
that Jonathan was the delinquent that had meddled
with the accursed thing, (though ignorantly,) on I
! which account, God would not be at that time m
quirecl of by them. 2. That he did it with a good
intention, lest the people, who perhaps had been
kept for some time at short allowance, when they
found plenty of victuals in the deserted camp of the
Philistines, should fall greedily upon that, and so
lose time in pursuing the enemv, and some of them,
it may be, glut themselves to that degree, as not to
be fit for any more serv ice that day. To prevent
this, he forbade them to taste any food, and laid
himself, it is likely, under the same restraint. And
yet his making this severe order was, (1.) Impoli¬
tic, and very unwise; for if it gained time, it lost
strength for the pursuit. (2.) It was imperious,
and disobliging to the people, and worse than muz¬
zling the mouth of the ox, when he treads out the
corn. To forbid them to feast had been commend¬
able, but to forbid them so much as to taste, though
so hungry, was barbarous. (3.) It was impious to
enforce the prohibition with a curse and an oath.
Had he no penalty less than an anathema, where¬
with to support his military discipline? Death for
such a crime had been too much, but especially
death with a curse. Though superiors may chide
and correct, they may not curse their inferiors; our
rule is, Bless, and curse not. When David speaks
of an enemy he had that loved cursing, perhaps he
meant Saul, Ps. 109. 17, 18. #
II. The people observed his order, but it had
many inconv eniences attending it. 1. The soldiers
were tantalized: for in their pursuits of the enemy,
it happened that they went through a wood so full
of wild honey, that it dropped from the trees upon
the ground; the Philistines having perhaps, in their
flight, broken in upon the honey-combs, for their
own refreshment, and left them running. Canaan
flowed with honey, and here is an instance of it.
They sucked honey out of the rock, the flinty rock;
Deut. 32. 13. yet, for fear of the curse, they did not
so much as taste the honey, 25, 26. Those are
worthy the name of Israelites, that can deny them¬
selves and their own appetites, even when they are
most craving, and the delights of sense most tempt¬
ing, for fear of guilt and a curse, and the table be
coming a snare. Let us never feed ourselves, much
less feast ourselves, without fear. 2. Jonathan fell
under the curse through ignorance. He heard net
of the charge his father had given; for, having
bravely forced the lines, he was then following the
chase, and therefore might justly be looked upon as
exempted from the charge, and not intended in it.
But it seems it was taken for granted, and he him¬
self did not object against it afterward, that it ex¬
tended to him, though absent upon so good an
occasion. He, not knowing any peril in it, took up
a piece of a honey-comb, upon the end of his staff,
and sucked it, v. 27. and was sensibly refreshed by
it; his eyes were enlightened, which began to grow
dim through hunger and faintness; it made his
countenance look pleasant and cheerful, for it w'as
such as a stander-by might discern, v. 29, See how
mine eyes have been enlightened. He thought no
harm, nor feared any, till one of the people ac¬
quainted him with the order, and then he found
himself in a snare. Many a good son has been thus
entangled and distressed, more ways than one, by
the rashness of an inconsiderate father. Jonathan,
for his part, lost the crown he was heir to, by his
father’s folly, which, it may be, this was an ill
omen of. 3. The soldiers were faint, and grew
feeble in the pursuit of the Philistines. Jonathan
foresaw this would be the effect of it, their spirits
would flag, and their strength would fail, for want
of sustenance. Such is the nature of our bodies,
that they soon grow unfit for service, if they be not
supplied with fresh recruits. Daily work cannot
be done without daily bread, which therefore our
287
I. SAMUEL, XIV.
Father In heaven graciously gives us. It is bread
that strengthens maids heart; therefore Jonathan
reas ned very well, If the people had eaten freely,
there nad been a much greater slaughter, {y. 30.)
but, as it was, they were very faint, too much fa¬
tigued, so the Chaldee, and began to think more of
their meat than of their work. 4. The worst effect
of all, was, that, at evening, when the restraint was
taken off, and they returned to their food again,
they were so greedy and eager upon it, that they
ate the flesh with the blood, expressly contrary to
the law of God, v. 32. Two hungry meals, we
say, make the third a glutton; it was so here.
They would not stay to have their meat either duly
killed, for they slew them upon the ground, and did
not hang them up, as they used to do, that the
blood might all run out of them, or duly dressed,
but fell greedily upon it, before it was half boiled,
or half roasted, v. 32. Saul, being informed of it,
reproved them for the sin, v. 33, Ye have trans¬
gressed; but did not, as he should have done, re¬
flect upon himself as having been accessary to it,
and having made the Lord’s people to transgress.
To put a stop to this irregularity, Saul ordered
them to set up a great stone before him, and let all
that had cattle to kill, for their present use, bring
them thither, and kill them under his eye upon that
stone, v. 33. and the pe pie did so, v. 34. so easily
were they restrained and reformed when their
prince took care to do his part. If magistrates
would but use their power as they might, people
would be made better than they are, with more
ease than is imagined.
Lastly, On this occasion Saul built an altar, v.
35. that he might offer sacrifice, either by way of
acknowledgment of the victory they had obtained,
or by way of atonement for the sin they had been
uilty of. The same was the first altar that he
uilt, and perhaps the rolling of the great stone to
kill the beasts on, reminded him of converting it
into an altar, else he had not thought of it. Saul
was turning aside from God, and yet now he begins
to build altars, being most zealous (as many are)
for the form of godliness then when he was deny¬
ing the power of it. See Hos. 8. 14, Israel has for¬
gotten his Maker, and buildeth temples. Some read
it, He began to build that altar; he laid the first
stone, but was so hasty to pursue his victory, that
he could not stay to finish it.
36. And Saul said, Let us go down after
the Philistines by night, and spoil them un¬
til the morning light, and let us not leave a
man of them. And they said, Do whatso¬
ever seemeth good unto thee. . Then said
the priest, Let us draw near hither unto
God. 37. And Saul asked counsel of God,
Shall I go down after the Philistines ? wilt
thou deliver them into the hand of Israel?
But he answered him not that day. 38.
And Saul said, Draw ye near hither all the
chief of the people; and know and see
wherein this sin hath been this day : 39.
For, as the Lord liveth, which saveth Is¬
rael, though it be in Jonathan my son, he
shall surely die. But there was not a man
among all the people that answered him.
40. Then said he unto all Israel, Be ye on
one side, and 1 and Jonathan my son will
be on the other side. And the people said
unto Saul, Do what seemeth good unto
thee. 41. Therefore Saul said unto the
Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And
Saul and Jonathan were taken : but the
people escaped. 42. And Saul said, Cast
lots between me and Jonathan my son.
And Jonathan was taken. 43. Then Saul
said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast
done. And Jonathan told him, and said, l
did but taste a little honey with the end of
the rod that was in mine hand, and , lo, 1
must die. 44. And Saul answered, God do
so, and more also : for thou shalt surely die,
Jonathan. 45. And the people said unto
Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought
this great salvation in Israel ? God forbid :
as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair
of his head fall to the ground ; for he hath
wrought with God this day. So the people
rescued Jonathan, that he died not. 46.
Then Saul went up from following the
Philistines: and the Philistines went to
their own place.
Here is,
I. Saul’s boasting against the Philistine^; he pro¬
posed, as soon as his soldiers had got their suppers,
to pursue them all night, and not leave a man op
them, v. 36. Here he showed much zeal, but little
discretion; for his army, thus fatigued, could as ill
spare a night’s sleep, as a meal’s meat. But it is
common for rash and foolish men, to consider no
body but themselves, and, so they may but have
their humour, not to care what hardships they put
upon those that are under them. However, his
people were so obsequious to their king, that they
would by no means oppose the motion, but resolved
to make the best of it, and, if he will go on, they
will follow him. Do whatsoever seemeth good to
thee. Only the priest thought it convenient to go
on with the devotions that were broken off abrupt¬
ly, ( v . 19.) and to consult the oracle, Let us draw
hither unto God. Princes and great men have
need of such about them, as will thus be their re¬
membrancers, wherever they go, to take God along
with them. And when the priest proposed it, Saul
could not, for shame, reject the motion, but asked
counsel of God, (v. 37.) “Shall I go down after
the Philistines? And shall I speed?’
II. His falling foul on his son Jonathan : and the
rest of this paragraph is wholly concerning him;
for while he is prosecuted, the Philistines made
their escape. We know not what mischief may
ensue upon one rash resolve.
1. God, by giving an intimation of his displeasure,
put Saul upon searching for an accursed thing.
vVhen, by the priest, he consulted the oracle, God
ansvjered him not, v. 37. Note, When God denies
our prayers, it concerns us to inquire what the sin
is that has provoked him to do so. Let us see
where the sin is, {y. 38.) for God’s ear is not heavy
that it cannot hear, but it is sin that separates be¬
tween us and him. If God turns away cur prayer,
we have reason to suspect it is for some iniquity re¬
garded in our hearts, which we are concerned to
find out, that we may put it away, may mortify it,
and put it to death. Saul swears by his Maker,
that whoever was the Achan that troubled tne
camp, by eating the forbidden fruit, should certain¬
ly die, though it were Jonathan himself; that is,
though ever so dear to himself and the peopic, ^lit¬
tle thinking that Jonathan was the man; {v. o9.)
288
I. SAMUEL, XIV.
“ He shall surely die; the curse shall be executed
upon him.” But none of the people answered him;
that is, none of those who knew Jonathan had
broken the order, would inform against him.
2. Jonathan was discovered by lot to be the of¬
fender. Saul would have cast lots between himself
and Jonathan on the one side, and' the people on
the other, perhaps, because he was as confident of
Jonathan’s innocency in this matter, as of his own,
v. 40. The people, seeing him in a heat, durst
not gainsay any thing he proposed, but acquiesced.
“ Do as seemeth good unto thee” Before he cast
lots, he prayed that God would give a perfect lot;
(u. 41.) that is, make a full discovery of this mat¬
ter, or, as it is in the margin, that he would show
the innocent. This was with an air of impartial
justice. Judges should desire that truth may come
out, whoever may suffer by it. Lots should be cast
with prayer, because they are a solemn appeal to
Providence, and by them we beg of God to direct
and determine us; (Acts 1. 24.) for which reason
some have condemned games, that depend purely
upon lot or chance, as making too bold with a
sacred thing. Jonathan at length was taken; ( v .
42.) Providence designing hereby to countenance
and support a lawful authority, and to put an hon¬
our upon the administration of public justice in
general, reserving another way to bring off one that
had done nothing worthy of death.
3. Jonathan ingenuously confesses the fact, and
Saul, with an angry curse, passes sentence upon
him. Jonathan denies not the truth, nor goes
about to conceal it, only he thinks it hard that he
must die for it, v. 43. He might very fairly have
pleaded his invincible ignorance of the law, or have
insisted upon his merit, but he submitted to the ne¬
cessity with a great and generous mind, “ God’s
and my father’s will be done:” thus he showed as
much valour in receiving the messengers of death
himself, as in sending them among the Philistines.
It is as brave to yield in some cases, as it is in other
cases to fight. Saul is not mollified by his filial
submission, nor the hardness of his case; but as one
that affected to be thought firm to his word, and
much more to his oath, even then when it bound
him hardest, with another imprecation he gives
judgment upon Jonathan; ( v . 44.) God do so, and
more also to me, if I do not execute the law upon
thee, for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan .” (1.)
He passed this sentence too hastily, without con¬
sulting the oracle; Jonathan had a very good plea in
arrest of the judgment; what he had done was not
malum in se — bad in itself; and as for the prohibi¬
tion of it, he was ignorant of that, so that he could
not be charged with rebellion or disobedience. (2. )
He did it in fury. Had Jonathan been worthy to
die, yet it had become a judge, much more a father,
to pass sentence with tenderness and compassion,
ana not with such an air of triumph, like a man
perfectly divested of all humanity and natural affec¬
tion. Justice is debased, when it is administered
with wrath and bitterness. (3.) He backed it with
a curse upon himself, if he did not see the sentence
executed; and this curse did return upon his own
head; Jonathan escaped, but God did so to Saul,
and more also; for he was rejected of God, and
made an anathema. Let none upon any occasion
dare to use such imprecations as these, lest God
say Amen to them, and make their own tongues to
fall upon them, Ps. 64. 8. He that rolleth this
stone, it will return upon him. Yet we have rea¬
son to think that Saul’s bowels yearned toward Jon¬
athan, so that he really punished himself, and very
justly, when he seemed so severe upon Jonathan.
God made him feel the smart of his own rash edict,
which might make him fear being again guilty of
the like. By all these vexatious accidents, God
did likewise correct him for his presumption, in of¬
fering sacrifice without Samuel. An exped.tion so
ill begun, could not end without some rebukes.
4. The people rescued Jonathan out of his father’s
hands, v. 45. Hitherto they had expressed them¬
selves very observant of Saul, what seemed good tn
him they acquiesced in; (r. 36, 40.) but when Jon
athan is in danger, Saul’s word is no longer a law to
them, but with the utmost zeal they oppose the ex •
ecution of his sentence, “Shall Jonathan die? That
blessing, that darling, of his country? Shall that
life be sacrificed to a punctilio of law and honour,
which was so bravely exposed for the public ser¬
vice, and to which we owe our lives and triumphs?
No, we will never stand by, and see him thus
treated, whom God delights to honour.” It is good
to see Israelites zealous for the protection of those
whom God has made instruments of public good.
Saul had sworn that Jonathan should die, but they
oppose their oath to his, and swear he shall not die;
As the Lord liveth, there shall not only not his head,
but not a hair of his head full to the ground: they
did not rescue him by violence, but bv reason and
resolution ; and Josephus says, they made their pray¬
er to God, that he might be loosed from the curse.
They plead for him, that he has wrought with God
this day; that is, “ he has owned God’s cause, and
God has owned his endeavours, and therefore his
life is too precious to be thrown away upon a nicety.”
We may suppose, Saul had not so perfectly forgot¬
ten the relation of a father, but that he was willing
enough to have Jonathan rescued, and well pleased
to have that done, which yet he would not do him¬
self: and he that knows the heart of a father, knows
not how to blame him.
Lastly, The design against the Philistines is
quashed by this incident; (x\ 46.) Saul went up
from following them, and so an opportunity was
lost of completing the victory. When Israel’s
shields are clashing together, the public safety and
service suffer by it.
47. So Saul took the kingdom over Israel,
and fought against all his enemies on every
side, against Moab, and against the chil¬
dren of Ammon, and against Edom, and
against the kings of Zobah, and against the
Philistines : and whithersoever he turned him¬
self, he vexed them. 48. And he gathered a
host, and smote the Amalekites, and de¬
livered Israel out of the hands of them that
spoiled them. 49. Now the sons of Saul
were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melehi-slnia :
and the names of his two daughters were
these ; the name of the first-born Merab, and
the name of the younger Michal : 50. And
the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the
daughter of Ahimaaz : and the name of the
captain of his host was Abner, the son of
Ner, Saul’s uncle : 51. And Kish was the
father of Saul ; and Ner, the father of Abner,
was the son of Abicl. 52. And there was
sore war against the Philistines all the days
of Saul : and when Saul saw any strong
man, or any valiant man, he took him unto
him.
Here is a general account of Saul’s court anc1
camp.
1. Of his court and family. The names of his
sons and daughters, v. 49. and of his wife, and his
289
1. SAMUEL, XV.
cousin-german that was general of his army, v. 50.
There is mention of another wife of Saul’s, 2 Sam.
21. 8. Rizpah, a secondary wife, and of the chil¬
dren he had by her.
2. Of his camp and military actions. (1.) How
he levied his army: when he saw any strong valiant
man, that was remarkably fit for service, he took
him unto him, v. 52. as Samuel had told them the
manner of the king w.ould be; (c/t. 8. 11.) and if he
must have a standing army, it was his prudence to
fill it up with the ablest men he could make choice
of. (2.) How he employed his army; he guarded
his country against the insults of its enemies on
every side, and prevented their incursions, v. 47, 48.
It is supposed that he acted only defensively against
those that used to invade the borders of Israel, and
whithersoever he turned himself, as there was occa¬
sion, he vexed the?n, by checking and disappointing
them. But the enemies he struggled most with,
were the Philistines, with them he had sore war
all his days, v. 52. He had little reason to be
proud of his royal dignity, nor had any of his neigh¬
bours cause to envy him, for he had little enjoyment
of himself after he took the kingdom. He could
not vex his enemies without some vexation to him¬
self, such thorns are crowns quilted with.
CHAP. XV.
In this chapter, we have the final rejection of Saul from
being king, for his disobedience to God’s command, in
not utterly destroying the Amalekites. By his wars and
victories, he hoped to magnify and perpetuate his own
name and honour, but, by his mismanagement of them,
he ruined himself, aud laid his honour in the dust. Here
The commission God gave him to destroy the
Amalekites, with a command to do it utterly, v. 1 . . 3.
II. Saul’s preparation for this expedition, v. 4 . . 6. III!
His success, and partial execution of this commission, v.
7 . . 9. IV. His examination before Samuel, and sen¬
tence past upon him, notwithstanding the many frivolous
pleas he made to excuse himself, v. 10.. 31. V. The
slaying of Agag, v. 32, 33. VI. Samuel’s final farewell
to Saul, v. 34, 35.
V Q AMUEL also said unto Saul, The
^ Lord sent me to anoint thee to be
king over his people, over Israel : now there¬
fore hearken thou unto the voice of the
words of the Lord. 2. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, I remember that which
Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for
him in the way when he came up from
Egypt. 3. Now go, and smite Amalek,
and utterly destroy all that they have, and
spare them not ; but slay both man and wo¬
man, infant and suckling, ox and sheep,
camel and ass. 4. And Saul gathered the
people together, and numbered them in Te-
laim, two hundred thousand footmen, and
ten thousand men of Judah. 5. And Saul
came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in
the valley. 6. And Saul said unto the
Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from
among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you
vvith them : for ye showed kindness to' all
the children of Tsrnel when they came up
out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed
irom among the Amalekites. 7. And Saul
smote the Amalekites from Havilah until
thou comest to Shur, that is over against
Egypt. 8. And he took Agag the king of
Vol. ii.— 2 0 6
! the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed
all the people with the edge of the sword.
9. But Saul and the people spared Agag,
and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and of the fadings, and the lambs, and all
that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them : but every thing that teas vile and
refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Here,
I. Samuel, in God s name, solemnly requires
Sau1 to be obedient to the command of God, and
plainly intimates that he was now about to put him
upon a ti ial, in one particular instance, whether he
would be obedient or no, u. 1. And the making of
this so expressly the trial of his obedience, did very
much aggravate his disobedience. 1. He reminds
him of what God had done for him. “ The Lord
sent me to anoint thee . to be a king. God gave thee
the power, and therefore he expects thou shouldest
use thy power for him. He put honour upon thee,
and now thou must study how to do him honour.
He made thee king over Israel, and now thou must
plead Israel’s cause, and avenge their quarrels.
Thou art advanced to command Israel, but know
that thou art a subject to the God of Israel, and
must be commanded by him.” Men’s preferment,
instead of discharging them from their obedience
to God, obliges them so much the more to it.
Samuel had himself been employed to anoint Saul,
and therefore was the fitter to be sent with these
orders to him. 2. He tells him, in general, that, in
consideration of this, what ever God commanded him
to do, he was bound to do it. JVow therefore hearken
to the voice of the Lord. Note, God’s favours to us
lay strong obligations upon us, to be obedient to him.
1 his we must render, Ps. 116. 12.
. II- .He appoints him a particular piece of service,
m which he must now show his obedience to God
more than in any thing he had done yet. Samuel
promises God’s authority to the command, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the Lord of all hosts, of
Israel s hosts : he also gives him a reason for the
command, that the severity he must use might not
seem hard, I remember that which Amalek did to
Israel, v. 2. God had an ancient quarrel with the
Amalekites, for the injuries they did to his people
Israel, when he brought them out of Egypt; we
have the story, Exod. 17. 8, &c.. and the crime is ag¬
gravated, Deut. 25. 18. he basely smote the hindmost
of them, and feared not God; God then swore that
he would have war with Amalek from generation to
generation, and that, in process’ of time, he would
utterly fiut out the remembrance of Amalek; that is
the work that Saul is now appointed to do, v. 3,
“ Go, and smite Amalek. Israel is now strong, and
the measure of the iniquity of Amalek is now fu’l-
now go ^ and make a full riddance of that devoted
nation.” He is expressly commanded to kill and
slay all before him, both man and woman, infant
and suckling, and not spare them out of pity; ox
and sheefi, camel and ass, and not spare them out
of covetousness. Note, 1. Injuries done to God’s
Israel, will certainly be reckoned for sooner or later,
especially the opposition giv en them, when thev are
coming out of Egypt. 2. God often bears long With
those that are marked for ruin. The sentence past
is not executed speedily. 3. Though he bear long,
he will not bear always. The year of recompense
lor the controversy of Israel, will come at last.
Though divine justice strikes slow, it strikes sure.
4. The longer judgment is delayed, many times the
more severe it is when it comes. 5. God chooses
out instruments to do his work, that are fittest for
it. This was bloody work, and therefore Saul must
do it, that was a rough and severe man.
I. SAMUEL, XV.
III. S iul hereupon musters his forces, and makes
a descent upon the country of Amalek; it was an im¬
mense army that he brought into the field, (t>. 4.)
two hundred thousand footmen. When he was to
engage the Philistines and the success was hazard¬
ous, he had but six hundred attending him; (c/;. 13.
15.) but now that he was to attack the Amalekites,
by express order from heaven, in which he was sure
of victory, he had thousands at his call. But what¬
ever it was at other times, it was not now for the
mnour of Judah, that their forces were numbered
by themselves, for their quota was scandalously
short, (whatever was the reason,) but a twentieth
part of the whole, for they were but ten thousand,
when the other ten tribes (for I except Levi)
brought into the field two hundred thousand. The
day of Judah’s honour drew near, but was not yet
come. Saul numbered them in Telaim, which sig¬
nifies lambs. He numbered them like lambs, so
the vulgar Latin; numbered them by the paschal
lambs, so the Chaldee, allowing ten to a lamb, a
way of numbering used by the Jews in the latter
times of their nation. Saul drew all his forces to
the city of Amalek, that city was their metropolis,
(v. 5) that he might provoke them to give him
battle.
IV. He gave friendly advice to the Kenites, to
separate themselves from the Amalekites, among
whom the)' dwelt, while this execution was in do¬
ing, v. 6. Herein he did prudently and piously,
and, it is probable, according to the direction
Samuel gave him. The Kenites were of the family
and kindred of Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, a
people that dwelt in tents, which made it easy to
them, upon every occasion, to remove to other
lands not appropriated; many of them, at this time,
dwelt among the Amalekites, where, though they
dwelt in tents, they were fortified by nature, for
they fiut their nest in a rock; hardy people that
could live any where, and affected fastnesses, Numb.
24. 21. Balaam had there foretold, that they
should be wasted; (-u. 22.) however, Saul must not
waste them. But, 1. He acknowledges the kind¬
ness of their ancestors to Israel, when they came
out of Egvpt. Jethro and his f unily had been very
helpful and serviceable to them in their passage
through the wilderness, had been to them instead
of eyes, and this is remembered to their posterity
many ages after. Thus a good man leaves the
divine blessing fir an inheritance to his children’s
children; those that come after us, may be reaping
the benefit of our good works, when we are in our
graves. God is not unrighteous to forget the kind¬
ness shown to his people; but they shall be remem¬
bered another day, at furthest in the great day, and
recompensed in the resurrection of the just: I was
an hungered, and ye gave me meat. God’s remem¬
bering the kindness of the Kenites* ancestors, in
favour to them, at the same time when he was
punishing the injuries done by the ancestors of the
Amalekites, helped to clear the righteousness of
God in that dispensation. If he entail favours, why
may he not entail frowns? He espouses his people’s
cause, so as to bless those that bless them; and there¬
fore so as to curse those that curse them. Numb. 24.
9. Gen. 12. 3. They cannot requite the kindness,
nor avenge the injuries, done them, themselves, but
God will do both. 2. He desires them to remove
their tents from among the Amalekites; Go, depart,
get you down from among them. When destroy¬
ing judgments are abroad, God will take care to
separate between the precious and the vile, and to
hide the meek of the earth in the day of his anger.
It is dangerous being found in the company of God’s
enemies, and it is our duty and interest to come out
from among them, lest we share in their sins and
•plagues, Rev, 28. 4. The Jews have a saying,
Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neigh¬
bour.
V. Saul prevailed against the Amalekites, for it
was rather an execution of condemned malefactors,
than a war with contending enemies; the issue
could not be dubious when the c use was just, and
the call so clear; He smote them, {y. 7.) utterly cte
strayed them, v. 8. Now they paid dear for the
sin of their ancestors; God sometimes lays up ini¬
quity for the chddren. They were idolaters, and
were guilty t.f many other sins, for which they de
served to fall under the wrath of God; yet when
God would reckon with them, he fastened upon the
sin of their ancestois in abusing his Israel, as the
ground of his quarrel. Lord, how unsearchable are
thy judgments, yet how incontestable is thy righte¬
ousness!
VI. Yet he did his work by halves, v. 9. 1. He
spared Agag, because he was a king like himself,
and, perhaps, in hope to get a great ransom for him.
2. He spared the best of the cattle, and destroyed
only the refuse, that was good for little. Many of
the people, we may suppose, made their escape,
and took their effects with them into other countries,
and therefore we read of Amalekites after this, but
that could not be helped; it was Saul’s fault, that he
did not destroy such as came to his hands, and were
in his power. That which was now destroyed, was,
in effect, sacrificed to the justice of God, as the Gcd
to whom vengeance belongeth; and for Saul to
think the torn and the sick, the lame and the lean,
good enough for that, while he reserved for his own
fields, and his own table, the firstlings and the fat,
was really to honour himself more than Gcd.
10. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Samuel, saying, 11. It repenteth me
that I have set up Saul to be king : for he is
turned back from following me, and hath
not performed my commandments. And it
grieved Samuel ; and he cried unto the
Lord all night. 12. And when Samuel
rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it
was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to
Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place,
and is gone about, and passed on, and gone
down to Gilgal. 13. And Samuel came to
Saul : and Saul said unto him, Blessed be
thouof theLoRD: I have performed the com¬
mandment of the Lord. 14. And Samuel
said, What meaneth then this bleating of the
sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the
oxen which I hear? 15. And Saul said,
They have brought them from the Amale¬
kites : for the people spared the best of the
sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the
Lord thy God; and the rest we have
utterly destroyed. 16. Then Samuel said
unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what
the Lord hath said to me this night. And
he said unto him, Say on. 17. And Sam¬
uel said, When thou wast little in thine
own sight, least thou not made the head of
the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed
thee king over Israel ? 18. And the Lord
sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and
utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites,
and flight against them until they be con-
291
1. SAMUEL, XV.
slimed. 19. Wherefore then didst thou
not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst
fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight
of the Lord J 20. And Saul said unto
Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of
the Lord, and have gone the way which
the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag
the king of Amalek, and have utterly de¬
stroyed the A malekites. 21. But the peo¬
ple took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the
chief of the things which should have been
utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the
Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22. And Sam¬
uel said, Hath the Lord as great delight
in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obey¬
ing the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to heark¬
en, than the fat of rams. 23. For rebel¬
lion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stub¬
bornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,
he hath also rejected thee from being king.
Saul is here called to account by Samuel, con¬
cerning the execution of his commission against the
Amalekites; and remarkable instances we are here
furnished with of the strictness of the justice of
God, and the treachery and deceitfulness of the
heart of man. We are here told,
I. What p issed between God and Samuel in se¬
cret, upon this occasion, v. 10, 11. 1. God deter¬
mines Saul’s rejection, and acquaints Samuel with
it. It repen teth me that I have set u/i Saul to be
king. Repentance in God is not, as it is in us, a
change of his mind, but a change of his method or
dispensation. He does not alter his will, but wills
an alteration. The change was in Saul, he is turn¬
ed back from following me; this construction God
put upon the partiality of his obedience, and the
prevalency of his covetousness. And hereby he
did himself make God his enemy. God repented
that he had given Saul the kingdom, and the hon¬
our and power that belonged to it; but he never re¬
pented that he had given any man wisdom and
grace, and his fear and love; those gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. 2. Samuel la¬
ments and deprecate-s it. It grieved Samuel that
Saul had forfeited God’s favour, and that God had
resolved to cast him off; and he cried unto the Lord
all night, spent a whole night in interceding for
him that this decree might not go forth against
him. When others were in their beds sleeping,
he was upon his knees praying and wrestling with
God. He did not thus deprecate his own exclusion
from the government; nor was he secretly pleased,
as many a one would have been that Saul, who suc¬
ceeded him, was so soon laid aside, but, on the con¬
trary, prayed earnestly for his establishment; so
far was he from desiring that woeful day. The
rejection of sinners is the grief of good people.
God delights not in their death, nor should we.
II. What passed between Samuel and Saul in
public. Samuel being sent of God to him with
these heavy tidings, went, as Ezekiel, in bitterness
of soul, to meet him; perhaps, according to an >p-
pointment, when Saul went forth on this expedition,
for Saul was come to Gilgal, ( v . 12.) the place
where he was made king, ( ch . 11. 15.) and where
now he would have been confirmed, if he had ap-
S roved himself well in this trial of his obedience,
ut Samuel was informed that Saul had, 1. Set
him up a triumphal arch, or some monument of his
victory, at Carmel, a city in the mountains of Judah,
seeking hisown honour more than the honourof God,
for he set up this place (or hand, as the word is
for himself: he had more need to have been repent
ing of his sin and making his peace with God, than
boasting of his victory. 2. That he had marched
in great state to Gilgal, for that seems to be intima¬
ted in the manner of expression, he is gone about
and passed on, and gone down, with a great deal if
pomp and parade. There Samuel gave him the
meeting.
(1.) Saul makes his boast to Samuel of his obe¬
dience, because that was the thing bv which he was
now to signalize himself; {y. 13.) “ Blessed be thou
op' the Lord, for thou sentest me upon a good er¬
rand, in which I have had great success, and 1 have
performed the commandment of the Iwrd.” It is
very likely, if his conscience had not flown in his
face at this time, and charged him with disobe¬
dience, he would not have been so forward to pro-
c.ann his obedience; for by this he hoped to pre¬
vent Samuel’s reproving him. Thus sinners think,
by justifying themselves, to escape being judged
of the Lord; whereas the only way to do that, is, by
judging ourselves. They that boast most of their
religion, may justly be suspected of partiality and
hypocrisy in it.
(2.) Samuel convicts him by a plain demonstra¬
tion of his disobedience. “ Hast thou performed
the commandment of the Lord? IVhat means then
the bleating of the sheep,” v. 14. Saul would needs
have it thought that God Almighty was wonderful¬
ly beholden to him for the good service he had
done; but Samuel shows him that God was so far
from being a debtor to him, that he had just cause
of action against him, and produces for evidence
the bleating up' the sheep and the lowing of the oxen,
which, perhaps, Saul appointed to bring up the rear
of his triumph, but Samuel appeals to them as wit¬
nesses against him; he need not go far to disprove
him. The noise the cattle made, like the rust of
the silver, (Jam. 5. 3.) would be a witness against
him. Note, It is no new thing for the plausible
professions and piotestations of hypocrites to be
contradicted and disproved by the most plain and
undeniable evidence. Many boast of their obedi¬
ence to the command of God; but what mean then
their indulgence of the flesh, their love of the
world, their passion and uncharitableness, and their
neglect of holy duties, which witness against them?
(3.) Saul insists upon his own justification against
this charge, t>. 15. The fact he cannot deny, the
sheep and oxen were brought from the Amalekites.
But, [1.] It was not his fault, for the people spared
them; as if they durst have done it without the ex¬
press orders of Saul, when they knew it was against
the express orders of Samuel. "Note, Those that are
willing to justify themselves, are commonly verv
forward to condemn others, and to lay the blame
upon any rather than take it to themselves. Sin is
a brat that nobody cares to have laid at their doors.
It is a sorry subterfuge of an impenitent heart that
will not confess its guilt, to lay the blame on those
that were either tempters, or partners, or only fol¬
lowers in it. [2.] It was with a good intention:
“ It was to sacrifice to the Lord thy God: he is thy
God, and thou wilt not be against any thing that is
done, as this is, for his honour.” This was a false
plea, for both Saul and the people designed their
own profit in sparing the cattle: but if it had been
true, it had been frivolous, for God hates robbery
for burnt-offering; God appointed these cattle to be
sacrificed to him in the field, and therefore wili
give to those no thanks that bring them to be sa¬
crificed at his altar; for he will be served in his own
way, and according to the rule he himself has pre-
<292
1. SAMUEL, XV.
scribed. Nor will a good intention justify a bad ac¬
tion.
(4.) Samuel overrules, or rather overlooks, his
plea, and proceeds, in God’s name, to give judg¬
ment against him. He premises his authority;
what he was about to say was, what the Lord hail
said to him; (v. 16.) otherw:se he would have been
far from passing so severe a censure upon him.
Those who complain that their ministers are too
harsh with them, should remember that while
they keep to the word of God, they are but mes¬
sengers, and must say as they are bidden; and there¬
fore be willing, as Saul himself here was, that they
should .s ay on; he delivers his message faithfully.
[1.] He reminds him of the honour God had done
him in making him king; (y. 17.) when he was lit¬
tle in his own sight, God regarded the lowness of
his state, and rewarded the lowliness of his spirit
Note, Those that are advanced to honour and
wealth, ought often to remember their mean be¬
ginnings, that they may never think highly of them¬
selves, but always study to do great things for
the God that has advanced them. [2.] He lays be¬
fore him the plainness of the orders he was to exe¬
cute, v. 18, The Lord sent thee on a journey ; so
easy was the service, and so certain the success,
that it was rather to be called a journey , than a
war; the work was honourable, to destroy the
sworn enemies of God and Israel; and had he denied
himself, and set aside the consideration of his own
profit, so far as to have destroyed all that belonged
to Amalek, he would have been no loser by it at
last, nor have gone this warfare on his own charges;
God would, no doubt, have made it up to him, so
that he should have no need of spoil. And there¬
fore, [3.] He shows him how inexcusable he was,
in aiming to make a handle of this expedition, and
to enrich himself by it; v. 19, “ Wherefore then
didst thou fly ujion the spoil, and convert that to
thine own use, which was to have been destroyed
for God’s honour?” See what evil the love of
money is the root of; but see what is the sinfulness
of sin, and that in it which above any thing else
makes it evil in the sight of the Lord: it is disobe¬
dience; thou didst not obey the voice of the Lord.
(5.) Saul repeats his vindication of himself, as
that which, in defiance of conviction, he resolved
to abide by, v. 20, 21. He denies the charge, v.
20. “ Yea, I have obeyed, I have done all I should
do;” for he had done all which he thought he need¬
ed to do, so much wiser was he in his own eyes than
God himself; God bade him kill all, and yet he
puts in among the instances of his obedience, that
he had brought Agag alive, which he thought was
as good as if he had killed him. Thus carnal de¬
ceitful hearts think to excuse themselves from
God’s commandments with their own equivalents.
He insists upon it, that he has utterly destroyed the
Amalekites themselves, wliicli was the main thing
intended: but as to the spoil, he owns it should have
been utterly destroyed; so that he knew his Lord's
will, and was under no mistake about the command:
but he thought that would be wilful waste; the cat¬
tle of the Midianites was taken for a prey in Mo¬
ses’s time, Numb. 31. 22, &c. and why not the cat¬
tle of the Amalekites now? Better it should be a
prey to the Israelites, than to the fowls of the air
and the wild beasts; and therefore he connived at
the people in carrying it away; but it was their do¬
ing, and not his; and besides, it was for sacrifice to
the Ijord here at Gilgal, whither they were now
bringing them. See what a hard thing it is to con¬
vince the children of disobedience to their sin, and
to strip them of their fig-leaves.
(6.) Samuel gives a full answer to his apology,
since he did insist upon it, v. 22, 23. He appeals
to his own conscience, Has the Lord as great de¬
light in sacrifices as in obedience? Though Saul was
not a man of any great acquaintance with religion,
yet he could not but know this; [1.] that nothing is
so pleasing to God as obedience, no, not sacrifice
and offering, and the fat of rams. See here what
we should aim at and endeavour in all the exer¬
cises of religion, even acceptance with God, that he
may delight in what we do. If God be well pleas¬
ed with us and our sendees we are happy, we have
gained our point; but otherwise, to what purpose
is it? Isa. 1. 11. Now, here we are plainly told,
that humble, sincere, and conscientious obedience
to the will of God, is more pleasing and accepta¬
ble to him than all burnt-offering and sacrifices. A
careful conformity to moral precepts recco'mmends
us to God more than' all ceremonial observances,
Mic. 6. 6*«8. Hos. 6. 6. Obedience is enjoined
by the eternal law of nature, but sacrifice only by a
positive law: obedience was the law of innocency,
but sacrifice supposes sin come into the world, and is
but a feeble attempt to take that away which obe¬
dience would have prevented. God is more glori¬
fied, and self more denied, by obedience than by
sacrifice. It is much easier to bring a bullock or
lamb to be burnt upon the altar, than to bring
every high thought into obedience to God, and the
will subject to his will. Obedience is the glory of
angels, Ps. 103. 20. and it will be our’s. [2.] That
nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, set¬
ting up our wills in competition with his. This is
here called rebellion and stubbornness, and is said
to be as bad as witchcraft and idolatry, v. 23. It is as
bad to set up other gods, as to live in disobedience to
the true God. They that are governed by their
own corrupt inclinations, in opposition to the com¬
mand of God, do, in effect, consult the Teraphim,
as the word here is for idolatry,) or the diviners,
t was disobedience that made us all sinners; Rom.
5.19. and this is the malignity of sin, that it is the
transgression of the law, and consequently it is en¬
mity to God, Rom. 8. 7. Saul was a king, but if he
disobey the command of God, his royal dignity and
power will not excuse him from the guilt of rebel¬
lion and stubbornness. It is not the rebellion of
the people against their prince, but of a prince
against God, that this text speaks of.
Lastly , He reads his doom, in short, “ Because
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, hast de¬
spised it, so the Chaldee, hast made nothing of it, so
the Seventy, hast cast off the government of it;
therefore he has rejected thee, despised and made
nothing of thee, but cast thee off from being king.
He that made thee king has determined to unmake
thee again.” Those are unfit and unworthy to rule
over men, who are not willing that God should rule
over them.
24. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have
sinned : for I have transgressed the com¬
mandment of the Lord, and thy words ;
because I feared the people, and obeyed
their voice. 25. Now, therefore, I pray
thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with
me, that I may worship the Lord. 26.
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not
return with thee: for thou hast rejected
the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath
rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27. And as Samuel turned about to go
away, he laid hold upon the. skirt of his
mantle, and it rent. 28. And Samuel said
unto him, The Lord hath rent the king¬
dom of Israel from thee this day, and hath
293
I. SAMUEL, XV.
given it to a neighbour of thine, that is bet¬
ter than thou. 29. And also the Strength
of Israel will not lie, nor repent : for he
is not a man, that he should repent. 30.
Then he said, I have sinned yet honour
rne now, 1 pray thee, before the elders ol
my people, and before Israel, and turn
again with me, that 1 may worship the
Lord thy God. 31. So Samuel turned
again after Saul : and Saul worshipped
the Lord.
Saul is at length brought to put himself into the
dress of a penitent; but it is too evident, that he
only acts the part of a penitent, and is not one in¬
deed. Observe,
1. How poorly he expresses his repentance. It
was with much ado that he was made sensible of
his fault, and not till he was threatened with being
deposed; that touched him in a tender part, then
he began to relent, and not till then; when Samuel
told him he was rejected, from being king, then he
said, I have sinned, v. 24. His confession was not
free nor ingenuous, but extorted by the rack, and
forced from him.
We observe here, several bad signs of the hypo¬
crisy of his repentance, and that it came short even
of Allah’s.
1. He made his application to Samuel only, and
seemed most solicitous to stand right in his opinion,
and to gain his favour. He makes a little god of
him, only to preserve his reputation with the peo¬
ple, because they all knew Samuel to be a prophet,
and the man that had been the instrument of his
preferment. Thinking it would please Samuel,
and be a sort of bribe to him, he puts it into his
confession, I have transgressed the commandjnents
of the Lord, and thy word; as if he had been in
God’s stead, v. 24. David, though convinced by
the ministry of Nathan, yet in his confession, has
his eye to God alone, not to Nathan; (Ps. 51. 4.)
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned : but Saul, ig¬
norantly enough, confesses his sin as a transgression
of Samuel’s word; whereas his word was no other
than a declaration of the commandment of the
Lord. He also applies to Samuel for forgiveness.
(v. 25. ) I/iray thee, pardon my sin; as if any could
forgive sin but God only. Those wretchedly de¬
ceive themselves, who when they are fallen into
scandalous sin, think it enough to make their peace
with the church and their ministers, by the show
and plausible profession of repentance, without
taking care to make their peace with God by the
sincerity of it. The most charitable construction
we can put upon this of Saul here, is, to suppose
that he looked upon Samuel as a sort of mediator
between him and God, and intended an address to
God in his application to him: however it was very
weak.
2. He excused his fault even in the confession of
it, and that is never the fashion of a true penitent; ( v .
24.) “ 1 did it, because I feared the people, and
obeyed their voice.” We have reason enough to
think that it was purely his own doing, and not the
people’s ; however, if they were forward to do it, it
is plain, by what we have read before, that he knew
how to keep up his authority among them, and did not
stand in awe of them. So that the excuse was false
and frivolous; whatever he pretended, he did not
really fear the people: but it is common for sinners,
in excusing their faults, to plead the thoughts and
workings of their own minds, because those are
ihings, which, how groundless soever, no man
can disprove; but they forget that God searcheth
the heart.
3. All his care was to save his credit, and pre¬
serve his interest in the people, lest they should re¬
volt from him, or at least despise him; therefore he
courts Samuel with so much earnestness (y. 25. ) to
turn again with him, and assist in a public thanks¬
giving for the victory: very importunate he was in
this matter, when he laid hold on the skirts of his
mantle to detain hijn; (v. 27.) not that he cared for
Samuel, but he feared if Samuel forsook him, the
people would do so too. Many seem zealously af¬
fected to good ministers and good people, only for
the sake of their own interest and reputation, while
in heart they hate them. But his expression was
very gross when he said, (v. 30.) I have sinned, yet
honour me, 1 pray thee, before my people. Is this
the language of a penitent.'1 No, but the contrary;
“ I have sinned, shame me now, for to me belongs
shame, and no man can loathe me so much as I
loathe myself.” Yet how often do we meet with
the copies of this hypocrisy of Saul! It is very
common for those who are convinced of sin, to show
themselves very solicitous to be honoured before the
people. Whereas he that has lost the honour of an
innocent, can pretend to no other than that of a
penitent, and it is the honour of a penitent to take
shame to himself.
II. How little lie got by these thin shows of re¬
pentance. What point did he gain by them?
1. Samuel repeated the sentence passed upon
him, so far was he from giving him any hopes of the
repeal of it, v. 26. the same with v. 23. He that
covers his sins, shall never prosper, Prov. 28. 13.
Samuel refused to turn back with him, but turned
about to go away, v. 27. As the thing appeared to
him upon the first view, he thought it altogether
unfit for him so far to countenance one whom God
had rejected, as to join with him in giving thanks to
God for a victory, which he was made to serve ra¬
ther Saul’s covetousness than God’s glory. Yet af¬
terward he did turn again with him, (z>. 31.) upon
further thoughts, and, probably, by divine direction,
either to prevent a mutiny among the people, or
perhaps, not to do honour to Saul, (for though Saul
worshipped the Lord, ( v . 31.) it is not said Samuel
presided in that worship,) but to do justice on Agag,
v. 32.
2. He illustrated the sentence by a sign, which
Saul himself, by his rudeness, gave occasion for.
When Samuel was turning from him, he tore his
clothes to detain him, (v. 27.) so loath was he to
part with the prophet: out Samuel put a constmc-
tion upon this accident, which none but a prophet
could do; he made it to signify the rending of the
kingdom from him; (x>. 28. ) and that, like this, was
his own doing. “ He hath rent it from thee, and
given it to a neighbour better than thou,” namely,
to David, who afterward, upon an occasion, cut off
the skirt of Saul’s robe, (c/i. 24. 4.) upon which
Saul said, ( v . 20.) I know that thou shalt surely be
king: perhaps remembering this sign, the tearing
of the skirt of Samuel’s mantle.
3. He ratified it by a solemn declaration of its
being irreversible: v. 29, The Strength of Israel
will not lie: The Eternity, or Victory of Israel, so
some read it: The Holy One, so the Arabic: The
most noble One, so the Syriac: the triumphant King
of Israel, so Bishop Patrick: “ He is determined to
depose thee, and he will not change his purpose:
He is not a man, that he should repent.” Men are
fickle and alter their minds, feeble and cannot effect
their purposes; something happens which they could
not foresee, by which their measures are broken;
but with God it is not so. God has sometimes re¬
pented of the evil which he thought to have done,
i upon the sinner’s repenting; but here repentance
294
I. SAMUEL, XVI.
was hidden from Saul, and therefore hidden from
God’s eyes.
32. Then said Samuel, Bring you hither
to me Agag the king of the Amalekites :
and Agag came unto him delicately. And
Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is
past. 33. And Samuel said, As thy sword
hath made women childless, so shall thy
mother be childless among women. And
Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the
Lord in Gilgal. 34. Then Samuel went
to Hamah ; and Saul went up to his house
to Gibeah of Saul. 35. And Samuel came
no more to see Saul until the day of his
death : nevertheless Samuel mourned for
Saul : and the Lord repented that he had
made Saul king over Israel.
Samuel, as a prophet, is here set over kings, Jer.
1. 10.
I. He destroys king Agag, doubtless, by such
special direction from heaven, as none now can pre¬
tend to. He hewed Agag in pieces: some think he
only ordered it to be done; or, perhaps he did it
with his own hands, -as a sacrifice to God’s injured
justice; v. 33. and sacrifices used to be cut in pieces.
Now observe in this,
1. How Agag’s present vain hopes were frustra¬
ted. He came delicately , in a stately manner, to
show that he was a king, and therefore to be treated
with respect; or, in a soft effeminate manner, as one
never used to hardship, that could not set the sole of
his foot to the ground for tenderness and delicacy,
Deut. 28. 56. to move compassion: and he said,
“ Surely, now that the heat of the battle is over,
the bitterness of death is past,” v. 32. Having es¬
caped the sword of Saul, that man of war, he thought
he was in no danger from Samuel, an old prophet,
a man of peace. Note, (1.) There is bitterness in
death, it is terrible to nature. Surely death is bit¬
ter, so divers versions read those words of Agag;
as the Seventy read the former clause. He came
trembling: death will dismay the stoutest heart.
(2.) Many think the bitterness of death is past,
when it is not so; they put that evil day far from
them, which is very near. True believers may,
through grace, say this, upon good grounds, though
death be not past, the bitterness of it is, 0 death,
where is thy sting!
2. How his former wicked practices were now
punished. Samuel calls him to account, not only
for the sins of his ancestors, but his own sins, Thy
sword hath made women childless, v. 33. He trod
in the steps of his ancestor’s cruelty, and those un¬
der him, it is likely, did the same; justly therefore
is all the righteous blood shed by Amalek, required
of this generation, Matth. 23. 36. Agag, that was
delicate and luxurious himself, was cruel and bar¬
barous to others: we commonly see that those who
are indulgent of their appetites, are not less indul¬
gent of their passions. Rut blood will be reckoned
for; even kings must account to the King of kings
for the guiltless blood they shed, or cause to be
shed. It was that crime of king Manasseh, which
the Lord would not pardon, 2 Kings 24. 4. See
Rev. 13. 10.
II. He deserts king Saul; takes leave of him, v.
34. and newer came any more to see him, v. 35. to
advise or assist him in any of his affairs, because
Saul did not desire his company, nor would he be
advised by him. He looked upon him as rejected
of God, and therefore he forsook him: though he
might sometimes see him accidentally, as ch. 19. 24
yet he never came to see him cut "of kindness or
respect. Yet he mourned for Saul, thinking it a
very lamentable thing, that a man who stood so fail
for great things, should ruin himself so foolishlj.
He mourned for the bad state of the country, to
which Saul was l.kely to h ivebeen so great a bless¬
ing, but now would prove a curse and a plague
He mourned for his everlasting state, having no
hopes of bringing him to repentance: when he wept
for him, it is likely he made supplication, but the
Lord had repented that he had made Saul king, and
resolved to undo that work of his, so that Samuel’s
prayers prevailed not for him. Observe, We must
mourn for the rejection of sinners, 1. Though we
withdraw from them, and dare not converse fami
liarly with them. Thus the prophet determines to
leave his people and go from them, and yet to weep
day and night for them, Jer. 9. 1, 2. 2. Though
they do not mourn for themselves. Saul seems un¬
concerned at the tokens of God’s displeasure which
he lay under, and yet Samuel mourns day and night
for him. Jerusalem was secure when Christ wept
over it.
CHAP. XVI.
At this chapter begins the story of David, one that makes
as great a figure in the sacred story, as almost any of the
worthies of the Old Testament; one that bolh with his
sword and with his pen served the honour of God and
the interests of Israel, as much as most ever did, and
was as illustrious a type of Christ. Here, I. Samuel is
appointed and commissioned to anoint a king among the
sons of Jesse at Beth-lehem, v. 1 . . 5. II . All his cider
sons are passed by, and David the youngest is pitched
upon and anointed, v. 6 . . 13. III. Saui growing me¬
lancholy, David is pitched upon to relieve him by music,
v. 14. .23. Thus small are the beginnings of that great
man.
1. 4 ND the Lord said unto Samuel,
i\ Plow long wilt thou mourn for Saul,
seeing I have rejected him from reigning
over Israel ? fill thine horn with oil, and go;
I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite :
for I have provided me a king among his
sons. 2. And Samuel said, How can I go ?
if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the
Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say,
I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3.
And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will
show thee what thou shalt do : and thou
shalt anoint unto me him whom I name
unto thee. 4. And Samuel did that which
the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem :
and the elders of the town trembled at his
coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably ?
5. And he said, Peaceably : I am come to
sacrifice unto the Lord ; sanctify yourselves,
and come with me to the sacrifice. And he
sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called
them to the sacrifice.
Samuel was retired to his own house in Raniah,
with a resolution not to appear any more in public
business, but to addict himself wholly to the instruct¬
ing and training up the sens of the prophets, o\ er
whom he presided, as we find, ch. 19. 20. He pro
mised himself more satisfaction in young pr< pl ots
than in young princes; and we do not find that, to
his dying day, God called him out to any public ac¬
tion relating to the state, but only here to anoint
David.
295
I. SAMUEL, XVI.
I. God reproves him for continuing so long to
mourn for the rejection of Saul. He does not blame
him for mourning on that occasion, but for exceed¬
ing in his sorrow, How long wilt thou mourn for
Haul? v. 1. We do not find that he mourned at all
for the setting aside of his own family, and the de¬
posing of his own sons; but for the rejecting of Saul
and his seed he mourns without measure, for the
former was done by the people’s foolish discontent,
this by the righteous wrath of God. Yet he must
find time to recover himself, and not go mourning
to his grave. 1. Because God has rejected him,
and he ought to acquiesce in the divine justice, and
forget his affection to Saul; if God will be glorified
in his ruin, Samuel ought to be satisfied. Besides,
to what purpose should he weep? The decree is
gone forth, and all his prayers and tears cannot pre¬
vail for the reversing of it, 2 Sam. 12. 22, 23. 2.
Because Israel shall be no loser by i-t, and Samuel
must prefer the public welfare before his own pri¬
vate affection to his friend. “ Mourn not for Saul,
for I have provided me a king. The people provi¬
ded them a king and he proved bad, now 1 will pro¬
vide me one, a man after my own heart.” See Ps.
89. 20. Acts 13. 22. “If Saul be rejected, yet
Israel shall not be as sheep having no shepherd; I
have another in store for them, let thy joy of him
swallow up thy grief for the rejected prince.”
II. He sends him to Beth-lehem, to anoint one of
the sons of Jesse, a person, probably, not unknown
to Samuel. Fill thine horn with oil. Saul was
anointed with a glass vial of oil, scanty and brittle,
David with a horn of oil, which was more plentiful
and durable; hence we read of a horn of salvation
in the house of his servant David, Luke 1. 69.
III. Samuel objects the peril of going on this er¬
rand; {y. 2.) If Saul hear it he will kill me. By
this it appears, 1. That Saul was grown very wick¬
ed and outrageous since his rejection, else Samuel
would not have mentioned this. What impiety
would he not be guilty of, who durst kill Samuel?
2. That Samuel’s faith was not so strong as one
would have expected, else he had not thus feared
the rage of Saul. Would not he that sent him,
protect him and bear him out? But the best men
are not perfect in their faith, nor will fear be wholly
cast out any where on this side heaven. But this
may be understood as Samuel’s desire of direction
from heaven how to manage this matter prudently,
so as not to expose himself, or any other, more
than needed.
IV. God orders him to cover his design with a
sacrifice. Say, I am come to sacrifice; and it was
true he did, and it was proper that he should, when
he came to anoint a king, ch. 11. 15. As a prophet,
he might sacrifice when and where God appointed
him; and it was not at all inconsistent with the laws
of truth, to say, he came to sacrifice, when really
he did so, though he had also a further end, which
he thought fit to conceal. Let him give notice of a
sacrifice* and invite Jesse (who, it is probable, was
the principal man of the city) and his family to
come to the feast upon the sacrifice; and, says God,
I will show thee what thou shalt do. Those that go
about God’s work in God’s way, shall be directed
step by step, wherever they are at a loss, to do it
in the best manner.
V. Samuel went accordingly to Beth-lehem, not
in pomp, or with any retinue, only a servant to lead
the heifer, which he was to sacrifice; yet the elders
of Beth-lehem trembled at his coming, fearing it was
an indication of God’s displeasure against them, and
that he came to denounce judgment for the iniquities
of the place; guilt causes fear. Yet indeed it be¬
comes us to stand in awe of God’s messengers, and
to tremble at his word: or, they feared it might be
an occasion ot Saul’s d.spleasure against them, for,
probably, they knew how much he was exasperated
at Samuel, and feared he would pick a quarre,
with them for entertaining him. They asked him,
“ Comest thou peaceably? Ait thou in peace thy¬
self and not fiying from Saul? Art thcu at peace
with us, and not come with any message of wrath?”
We should all covet earnestly to stand upon good
terms with God’s prophets, and dread having the
word of God, or their prayers, against us. When
the Son of David was born King of the Jews, all
Jerusalem was troubled, Matth. 2. 3. Samuel kept
at home, and it was a strange thing to see him so
far from his own house; they therefore concluded
it must needs be some extraordinary occasion that
brought him, and feared the worst till he satisfied
them; (v. 5.) “ I come peaceably, for I come to sa¬
crifice, not with a message of wrath against you,
but with the methods of peace and reconciliation;
and therefore you may bid me welcome, and need
not fear my coming; therefore sanctify yourselves,
and prepare to join with me in the sacr'fice, that
you may have the benefit of it.” Note, Before so¬
lemn ordinances there must be a solemn prepara¬
tion. When we are to offer spiritual sacrifices, it
concerns us, by sequestering ourselves from the
world, and renewing the dedication of ourselves to
God, to sanctify ourselves. When our Loid Jesus
came into the world, though men had reason enough
to tremble, fearing that his errand was to condemn
the world, yet he gave full assurance that he came
peaceably, for he came to sacrifice, and he brought
his offering along with him.; a body hast thou pre¬
pared me; let us sanctify ourselves, that we may
have an interest in his sacrifice.” Samuel said, “I
come peaceably, fi r I come to sacrifice.” Note,
Those that come to sacrifice, should come peacea¬
bly; religious exercises must not be performed tu¬
multuously.
VI. He had a particular regard to Jesse and his
sons, for with them his private business lay, with
which, it is likely, he acquainted Jesse at his first
coming, and took up his lodging at his house. He
spoke to all the elders to sanctify themselves, but he.
sanctified Jesse, and his sons, by praying with them
and instructing them. Perhaps he had acquaint¬
ance with them before, and it appears, ch. 20. 29.
(where we read of the sacrifices that family had,)
that it was a devout religious family. Samuel as-'
sisted them in their family preparations for the pub¬
lic sacrifice, and, it is probable, chose out David,
and anointed him, at the family solemnities, before
the sacrifice was offered, or the holy feast solem¬
nized. Perhaps he offered private sacrifices, like
Job, according to the number of them all, (Job 1. 5.)
and under colour of that, called for them all to ap¬
pear before him. When signal blessings are com¬
ing into a family, they ought to sanctify themselves.
6. And it came to pass, when they were
come, that he looked on Eliab, and said,
Surely the Loud’s anointed is before him.
7. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look
not on his countenance, or on the height of
his stature ; because I have refused him :
for the LORD seeth not as man seeth ; for
man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. 8.
Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him
pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither
hath the Lord chosen this. 9. Then Jesse
made Shammah to pass by. And he said,
| Neither hath the Lord chosen this. 10.
i Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass
296
I. SAMUEL, XVI.
before Samuel. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these.
11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here
all thy children ? And he said, There re-
maineth vet the youngest, and, .behold, he
keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, Send and fetch him : for we will not
sit down till he come hither. 12. And he
sent and brought him in. Now he was
ruddy, and withal of a beautiful counte¬
nance, and goodly to look to. And the
Lord said, Arise, anoint him : for this is he.
13. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and
anointed him in the midst of his brethren :
and the Spirit of the Lord came upon Da¬
vid from that day forward. So Samuel
rose up, and went to Ramah.
If the sons of Jesse were told that God would pro¬
vide himself a king among them, as he had said,
( v . 1.) we may well suppose they all made the best
appearance they could, and each hoped he should
be the man; but here we are told,
I. How all the elder sons were passed by, who
stood fairest for the preferment. Eliab, the "eldest,
was privately presented first to Samuel, probably
none being present but Jesse only, and Samuel
thought he must needs be the man; ( v . 6.) Surety
this is the Lord’s anointed. The prophets them¬
selves, when they spake from under the divine di¬
rection, were as liable to mistake as other men;
as Nathan, 2 Sam. 7. 3. But God rectified the pro¬
phet’s mistake, by a secret whisper to his mind,
(u. 7.) Look not on his countenance. It was strange
that Samuel, who had been so wretchedly disap¬
pointed in Saul, whose countenance and stature re¬
commended him as much as any man’s could,
should be so forward to judge of a man by that rule.
When God would please the people with a king,
he chose a proper man, but when he would have
one after his own heart, he should not be chosen by
the outside; men judge by the sight of the eyes, but
God does not: (Isa. 11. 3.) The Lord looks on the
heart; that is, 1. He knows it. We can tell how
men look, but he can tell what they are. Man
looks on the eyes, so the original word is, and is
pleased with the liveliness and sprightliness that
appear in them ; but God looks on the heart, and
sees the thoughts and intents of that. 2. He judges
of men by it. The good disposition of the heart,
the holiness and goodness of that, recommend us to
God, and are in his sight of great fir ice, (1 Pet. 3.
4.) not the majesty of the look, or the strength
and stature of the body; let us reckon that to be
true beauty which is within, and judge of men, as
far as we are capable, by their minds, not their
mien.
When Eliab was set aside, Abinadab and Sham-
mah, and, after them, four more of the sons of Jesse,
seven in all, were presented to Samuel, as likely for
his purpose; but Samuel, who now attended more
carefully than he did at first to the divine direction,
laid them all by, The Lord hath not chosen these, v.
8*. 10. Men dispose of their honours and estates
to their sons, according to their seniority of age, and
priority of birth, but God does not. The elder shall
serve the younger. Had it been left to Samuel, or
Jesse, to make the choice, one of these had certainly
been chosen; but God will magnify his sovereignty
in passing by some that were most promising, as
well as in fastening on others that were less so.
II. How David at length was pitched upon. He
was the youngest of all the sons of Jesse; his name
signifies beloved, for he was a type of the beloved
Son. Observe,
1. How he was now employed. He was in the
fields, keeping the sheep, ( v . 11.) and was left there,
though there was^ a sacrifice and a feast at his
father’s house. The youngest are commonly the
fondlings of the family," but, it should seem, David
was least set by of all the sons of Jesse; either they
did not discern, or did n: t duly value, the excellent
spirit he was of. Many a great genius lies buried
in obscurity and contempt; and God often exalts
those whom men despise, and gives abundant ho¬
nour to that part which lacked. The son of David
was he whom men despised, the stone which the
builders refused, and yet has a name above every
name. David was taken from following the ewes,
to feed Jacob, (Ps. 78. 71.) as Moses from keeping
the flock of Jethro: an instance of his humility arid
industry, both which God delights to put honour
upon. We should think a military life, but God
saw a pastoral life, (which gi\ es ad', antsge for con¬
templation and communion with heaven,) the best
preparative for kingly power, at least for those
graces of the Spirit, which are necessary to the due
discharge of that trust which attends it. David was
keeping sheep, though it was a time of saciifice;
for there is mercy that takes place of sacrifice.
2. How earnest Samuel was to have him sent for.
“ We will not sit down to meat,” (perhaps it was
not the feast upon the sacrifice, but a common meal,)
“ till he come hither; for if all the rest be rejected,
this must be he.” He that was designed not to sit
at table at all, is now stayed for as the principal
guest. If God will exalt them of low degree, who
can hinder?
3. What appearance he made when he did come.
No notice is taken of his clothing; no doubt that was
according to his employment, mean and coarse, as
shepherds’ coats commonly are, and he did not
change his clothes as Joseph did; (Gen. 41. 14.) but
he had a very honest look, not stately, as Saul’s,
but sweet and lovely^Ae was ruddy, of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to, ( v . 12.) that is,
he had a clear complexion, a good eye, and a lovely
face; the features extraordinary, and something in
his looks that was very charming. Though he was
so far from using any art to help his beauty, that
his employment exposed it to the sun and wind, yet
nature kept its own, and, by the sweetness of his
aspect, gave manifest indications of an amiable tem¬
per and disposition of mind. Perhaps his modest
blush, when he was brought before Samuel, and re¬
ceived by him with surprising respect, made him
look much the handsomer.
4. The anointing of him. The Lord told Samuel
in his ear, (as he had done, ch. 9. 15.) that this was
he whom he must anoint, v. 12. Samuel objects
not to the meanness of his education, his youth, rr
the little respect he had in his own family, but, in
obedience to the divine command, took his horn of
oil, and anointed him, (e. 13.) signifying thereby,
(1.) A divine designation to the government, after
the death of Saul, of which hereby he gave him a
full assurance. Not that he was at present invested
with the royal power, but it was entailed upon him,
to come to him in due time. (2.) A divine com¬
munication of gifts and graces, to fit him for the go¬
vernment, and to make him a type of him who was
to be the Messiah, the anointed One, who received
the spirit, not by measure, but without measure.
He is said to be anointed in the midst of his brethren ,
who yet, possibly, did not understand it as a desig¬
nation to the government, and therefore did not
envy David, as Joseph’s brethren did him; because
they saw no further marks of dignity put upon him,
no, not so much as a coat of divers colours. But
Bishop Patrick reads it, He anointed him from the
297
1. SAMUEL, XVI.
midst of his brethren, that is, he singled him out
from the rest, and privately anointed him, but with
a charge to keep his own counsel, and not to let his
own brethren know it, as by what we find ( ch . 17.
28.) it should seem, Eliab did not. It is computed
that David was now about twenty years old; if so,
his troubles by Saul lasted ten years, for he was
thirty years old when Saul died. Dr. Lightfoot
reckons him to be about twenty-five, and that his
troubles lasted but five years.
5. The happy effects of this anointing, the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day for¬
ward, v. 13. The anointing him was not an empty
ceremony, but a divine power went along with that
instituted sign, and he found himself inwardly ad¬
vanced in wisdom and courage, and concern for the
public, with all the qualifications of a prince, though
not at all advanced in his outward circumstances.
This would abundantly satisfy him that his election
was of God. The best evidence of our being pre¬
destinated to the kingdom of glory, is, our being
sealed with the Spirit of promise, and our expe¬
rience of a work of grace in our hearts. Some
think that his courage, by which he slew the lion
and the bear, and his extraordinary skill in music,
were the effects and evidences of the Spirit’s coming
upon him. However, this made him the sweet
psalmist of Israel, 2 Samuel, 23. 1. Samuel, having
done this, went to Ramah in safety, and we never
read of him again but once, (ch. 19. 18.) till we read
of his death; now he retired to die in peace, since
his eyes had seen the salvation, even the sceptre
brought into the tribe of Judah.
14. But the Spirit of the Loud departed
from Saul, and an evil spirit l.oui the Lord
troubled him. 15. And Saul’s servants
said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit
from God troubleth thee. 16. Let our lord
now command thy servants, which are be¬
fore thee, to seek out a man who is a cun- |
ning player on a harp : and it shall come to
pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon
thee, that he shall play with his hand, and
thou shalt be well. 17. And Saul said unto
his servants, Provide me now a man that
can play well, and bring him to me. 18.
Then answered one of the servants, and
said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the
Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing,
and a mighty valiant man, and a man of
war, and prudent in matters, and a comely
person, and the Lord is with him. 19.
Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse,
and said, Send me David thy son, which is
with the sheep. 20. And Jesse took an ass
laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and
a kid, and sent them by David his son unto
Saul. 21. And David came to Saul, and
stood before him : and he loved him greatly ;
and he became his armour-bearer. 22.
And Saul sent to Jesse, saying. Let David,
I pray thee, stand, before me ; for he hath
found favour in my sight. 23. And it came
to pass, when the evil spirit from God was
upon Saul, that David took a harp, and
played with his hand : so Saul was refresh-
Vol. ii. — 2 P
ed, and was well, and the evil spirit depart¬
ed from him.
We have here Saul falling, and David rising.
I. Here is Saul made a terror to himself; (t>. 14. )
The Spirit of the Lord departed from him. He
having forsaken God and his duty, God, in a way
of righteous judgment, withdrew from him those
assistances of the good Spirit with which he was
directed, animated, and encouraged in his govern¬
ment and wars. He lost all his good qualities. This
was the effect of his rejecting God, and an evidence
of his being rejected by him. Now God took his
mercy from Saul, (as it is expressed, 2 Sam. 7. 15.)
for when the Spirit of the Lord departs from us, all
good goes. When men grieve and quench the Spi¬
rit, by wilful sin, he departs, and will not always
strive. The consequence of this was, that an evil
spirit from God troubled him. They that drive
the good Spirit away from them, do of course be¬
come a prey to the evil spirit. If God and his grace
do not rule us, sin and Satan will have possession of
us. The Devil, by the divine permission, troubled
and terrified Saul, by means of the corrupt humours
of his body, and passions of his mind. He grew
fretful, and” peevish, and discontented; timorous and
suspicious, ever and anon starting and trembling;
he was sometimes, says Josephus, as if he had been
choked or strangled, and a perfect demoniac by fits.
This made him unfit for business, precipitate in his
counsels, the contempt of his enemies, and a burthen
to all about him.
II. Here is David made a physician to Saul, and
bv that means brought to court; a physician that
helped him against the worst of diseases, when none
else could. David was newly anointed privately to
the kingdom; it would be of use to him to go to
court, and see the world: it is here brought about
for him, without any contrivance of his own or his
friends. Note, Those whom God designs for any
sen ice, his providence shall concur with his grace
to prepare and qualify them for it.
Saul is distempered; his servants have the ho¬
nesty and courage to tell him what his distemper
was; (v. 15.) yin evil spirit, not by chance, but from
God, and his providence, troubleth thee. Now,
1. The means they all advise him to for his re¬
lief, was, music; (v. i6.) “ Let us have a cunning
player on the harp to attend thee.” How much
better friends had they been to him, if they had ad¬
vised him, since the ev il spirit was from the Lord,
to give all diligence to make his peace with God by
true repentance, to send for Samuel to pray with
him, and to intercede with God for him; then might
he not only have had some present rel ef, but the
good spirit would have returned to him. But their
project is to make him merry, and so cure him.
Many whose consciences are convinced and startled,
are for ever ruined by such methods as these, which
drown all care of the soul in the delights of sense.
Yet Saul’s servants did not amiss to send for music,
as a help to cheer up the spirits, if they had but
withal sent for a prophet to give him good counsel.
And (as Bishop Hall observes) it was well they did
not send for a witch or diviner, by his enchantments
to cast out the evil spirit, which has been the abo¬
minable wicked practice of some that have worn
the Christian name, who consult the Devil in their
distresses, and make hell their refuge. It will be
no less than a miracle of divine, grace, if those who
thus agree with Satan, ever break off from him
again.
2. One of his servants recommended David to
him, as a fit person to be employed in the use of
these means, little imagining that he was the man
whom Samuel meant, when he told Saul, a neigh¬
bour of his, better than he, should have the king-
298
1. SAMUEL, XVII.
dom, ch. 15. 28. It is a very high character which
this servant of Saul here gives of David, (x>. 18. )
that he was not only fit for his purpose as a comely
person, and cunning in playing, but a man of cou¬
rage and conduct, a mighty valiant man, and pru¬
dent i i matters, fit to be further preferred, and
(which crowned his character) the Lord is with him.
By this it appears, that though David, after he was
anointed, returned to his country- business, and there
remained on his head no marks of the oil, so care¬
ful was he to keep that secret, yet the workings of
the Spir.t signified by the oil, could not be hid, but
made him shine in obscur.ty, so that all his neigh¬
bours observed with wonder the great improvements
of his mind on a sudden. David, even in his shep¬
herd’s garb, is become an oracle, a champion, and
every thing that is great. His fame reached the
court soon, for Saul was inquisitive after such young
men, rA. 14. 52. When the Spirit of God comes
upon a man, lie will make his face to shine.
3. David is hereupon sent for to court. And it
seems,
(1.) His father was very willing to part with him,
sent him very readily, and a present with him to
Saul; (n. 20.) the present was, according to the
usage of those times, bread and wine, (compare ch.
10. 3, 4.) therefore acceptable, because expressive
of the homage and allegiance of him that sent it.
Probably, Jesse, who knew what his son David was
designed for, was aware that Providence was here¬
in fitting him for it, and therefore he would not force
Providence by sending him to court uncalled, yet
he followed Providence very cheerfully, when he
saw it plainly putting him in the way of preferment.
Some suggest, that when Jesse received that mes¬
sage, Send me David thy son, he began to be afraid
that Saul had got s mae intimation of his being
anointed, and sent for him to do him a mischief, and
therefore Jesse sent a present to pacify him; but it
is probable, that the person, whoever he was, that
brought the message, gave him an account on what
design he was sent for.
(2.) Saul became very kind to him, ( v . 21.) loved
him greenly, and designed to make him his armour
bearer, and (contrary to the manner of the king,
ch. 8. 11.) asked his f ither’s leave to keep him in
his ser\ i e, ( v . 22.) Let David, I firay thee, stand
before me. And good reason he had to respect him,
for he did him a great deal of sen ice with his mu¬
sic, v. 23. His instrumental music with his harp is
the only kind mentioned, but it should seem by the
account Josephus gives of it, that he added vocal
music to it, and sung hymns, probably divine hymns,
songs of praise, to his harp. David’s music was
Saul’s physic. [1.] Music has a natural tendency
to compose and exhilarate the mind, when it is dis¬
turbed and saddened. Elisha used it for the calm¬
ing of his spirits, 2 Kings 3. 15. On some it has a
greater influence and effect than on others, and,
probably, Saul was one of those. Not that it charm¬
ed the evil spirit, but it made his spirit sedate, and
allayed those tumults of the animal spirits, by which
the Devil had advantage against him. The beams
of the sun (it is the learned Bochart’s comparison)
cannot be cut with a sword, quenched with water,
or blown out with wind, but, by closing the window-
shutters, they may be kept out of the chamber.
Music cannot work upon the Devil, but it may shut
up the passages by which he had access to the mind.
[2.] David’s music was extraordinary, and in mer¬
cy to him, that he might gain a reputation at court,
as one that had the Lord with him. God made his
performance in music more successful, in this case,
than that of others would have been. Saul found,
feven after he had conceived an enmity to David,
that no one else could do him the same service, ( ch .
19. 9, 10.) which was a great aggravation of his
| outrage against him. It is pity that music, which
! may be so serviceable to the good temper of the
I mind, should ever be abused by any to the support
of vanity and luxury, and made an occasion < f draw¬
ing the heart away from Gcd and serious things: if
that be to any the effect of it, it drives away the
good Spirit, not the evil Spirit.
CHAP. XVII.
David is the man whom God* now delights to honour, for he
is a man after his own heart. We read in the foregoing
chapter, how, after he was anointed, Providence made
him famous in the court; we read in this chapter, how
Providence made him much more famous in the camp,
and, by both, not only marked him for a great man, but
fitted him for the throne to which he was designated. In
the court he was only Saul’s physician, but in the camp,
Israel’s champion, there he fairly fought, and beat Goli¬
ath of Gath. In the story observe, I. What a figure Go¬
liath made, and how daringly he challenged the armies of
Israel, v. 1 . .11. II. What a mean figure David made,
when Providence brought him to the army, v. 12.. 30.
III. The unparalleled bravery wherewith David under¬
took to encounter this Philistine, v. 31.. 39. IV. The
i pious resolution with which he attacked him, v. 40.. 47.
V. The glorious victory he obtained over him with a
sling and a stone, and the advantage which the Israelites
thereby gained against the Philistines, v. 48. . 54. VI.
The great notice which was hereupon taken of David at
court, v. 55 . . 58.
1. 'TVJ OW the Philistines gathered together
jL^I their armies to battle, and were ga¬
thered together at Shochoh, which belongeth
to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and
Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 2. And Saul
and the men of Israel were gathered toge¬
ther, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and
set the battle in array against the Philistines
3. And the Philistines stood on a mountain
on the one side, and Israel stood on a moun¬
tain on the other side : and there was a val¬
ley between them. 4. And there went out
a champion out of the camp of the Philis¬
tines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height
was six cubits and a span. 5. And he had
a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was
armed with a coat of mail ; and the weight
of the coat was five thousand shekels of
brass. 6. And he had greaves of brass upon
his legs, and a target of brass between his
shoulders. 7. And the staff of his spear
was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s
head weighed six hundred shekels of iron :
and one bearing a shield went before him.
8. And he stood and cried unto the armies
of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye
come out to set your battle in array ? Am
not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul ?
choose you a man for you, and let him come
down to me. 9. If he be able to fight with
me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants : but if I prevail against him, and
kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and
serve us. 1 0. And the Philisti ne said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day : give me a man,
that we may fight together. 11. When
Saul and all Israel heard those, words of the
299
I. SAMUEL, XVII.
Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly
afraid.
It was not long ago that the Philistines were
soundly beaten, anti put to the worse, before Israel,
and would have been totally routed, if Saul’s rash¬
ness had not prevented; but here we have them
making head again. Observe,
I. How tl*ey defied Israel with their armies, v. 1.
They made a descent upon the Israelites’ country,
and possessed themselves, as it should seem, of some
part of it, for they encamped in a place which be-
longeth to Judah. Israel’s ground had never been
footing for Philistine armies, if Israel had been
faithful to their God. The Philistines (it is proba¬
ble) had heard that Samuel had fallen out with Saul,
and forsaken him, and no longer assisted and advi¬
sed him, and that Saul was grown melancholy, and
unfit for business, and this encouraged them to make
this attempt for the retrieving of the credit they
had lately lost. The enemies of the church are
watchful to take all advantages, and they never have
greater advantages, than when her protectors have
provoked God’s Spirit and prophets to leave them.
Saul mustered his forces, and faced them, v. 2, 3.
And here we must take notice, 1. That evil spirit,
for the present, had left Saul, ch. 16. 23. David’s
harp having given him some relief, perhaps, the
alarms and affairs of the war prevented the return
of the distemper. Business is a good antidote
against melancholy. Let the mind have something
without to fasten on, and employ itself about, and
it will be less in danger of preying upon itself. God,
in mercy to Israel, suspended the judgment fra
while; for how distracted must the affairs of the
Cublic have been, if, at this juncture, the prince had
een distracted? 2. That David, for the present,
was returned to Beth-lehem, and had left the court,
v. 15. When Saul had no further occasion to use
him for the relief of his distemper, though, being
anointed, he had a very good private reason, and,
having a grant of the place of Saul’s armour-bearer,
he had a \ ery plausible pretence to have continued
his attendance, as a retainer to the court, yet he
went home to Beth-lehem, and returned to keep his
father’s sheep; this was a rare instance, in a young
man that stood so fair for preferment, of humility,
and affection to his parents. He knew better than
most do, how to come down again after he had be¬
gun to rise, and strangely preferred the retirements
of a pastoral life before all the pleasures and gaieties
of the court. None more fit for honour than he,
nor that deserved it better, and yet none more dead
to it.
II. How they defied Israel with their champion
Goliath, whom they were almost as proud of, as he
was of himself, hoping by him to recover their re¬
putation and dominion. Perhaps the army of the
Israelites was superior in number and strength to
that of the Philistines, which made the Philistines
decline a battle, and stand at bay with them, desi¬
ring rather to put the issue upon a single combat, in
vhich, having such a champion, they hoped to gain
the victory. Now concerning this champion, ob¬
serve,
1. His prodigious size. He was of the sons of
Anak, who at Gath kept their ground in Joshua’s time,
(Josh. 1 1. 22. ) and kept up a race of giants there,
of which Goliath was one, and, it is probable, one
of the largest. He was in height sLc cubits and a
span, v. 4. The learned bishop Cumberland has
made it out, that the scripture cubit was above
twenty-one inches, (above three inches more than
our half-yard,) and a span was half a cubit, by
which computation, Goliath wanted but eight inch¬
es of four yards in height, eleven feet and four inch¬
es. A monstrous stature, and which made him
very form'dable, especially if he had strength and
spirit pre portionable. ,
2. His armour; art, as well as nature, made him
terrible. He was we'l furnished with defensive
armour, v. 5, 6. A helmet of brass on his head, a
coat of mail, made of brass plates laid over one ano¬
ther, like the scales of a fish; and because his legs
would lie most within the reach of an ordinary man,
he wore brass boots, and a large corselet of brass
about h:s neck. ' The coat is said to weigh five
thousand shekels, and a shekel was half an ounce
avoirdupois. A vast weight for a man to carry, all
the other parts of his armour being proportionable.
But some think it should be translated, not the
weight of the coat, but the value of it, was five
thousand sheckels ; so much it cost. His offen¬
sive weapons were extraordinary, of which the spear
only is here described, v. 7. It was like a weaver’s
beam; his arm could manage that, which an ordi¬
nary man could scarcely heave. His shield only,
which was the lightest of all his accoutrements, was
carried before him by his esquire, probably, for
state; for he that was clad in brass, little needed a
' shield.
3. His challenge. The Philistines having cho¬
sen him for their champ'on, to save themselves from
the hazard of a battle, he here throws down the
gauntlet, and bids defiance to the armies of Israel,
v. 8- -10. He came into the vallev that lay between
the camps, and his voice, probably, being as much
stronger than other people’s as his arm was, he cried
so as to make them all hear hin^, Give me a man,
thut we mau fight together. He looks upon him-
se’f witli admiration, because he was so much tall¬
er and stronger than all about him; his heart (says
Bishop Hall) nothing but a lump of proud flesh.
He looks upon Israel with disdain, because they had
none among them of such a monstrous bulk, and
defies them to find a m n among them, bold enough
to enter the lists with him. (1.) He upbraids them
with their folly in drawing an army together, “ Why
are i/e come to set the battle in array? How dare
you oppose the mighty Philistines?” Or, “Why
should the two armies engage, when the controver¬
sy mav be sooner decided, with only the expense of
one life, and the hazard of another?” (2.) He of¬
fers to put the war entirely upon the issue of the
duel he proposes; “ If your champion kills me, we
will be your servants; if I kill him, you shall be
our’s.” This (says Bishop Patrick) was only a bra¬
vado, for no nation would be willing thus to venture
its all upon the success of one man, nor is it justifia¬
ble; notwithstanding Goliath’s stipulation here,
when he was killed, the Philistines did not stand tc
his word, nor submit themselves servants to Israel.
When he boasts, I am a Philistine, and you ser¬
vants to Saul, he would have it thought a great piece
of condescension in him, who was a chief ruler, tc
enter the lists with an Israelite; for he looked on
them as no better than slaves. The Chaldee para¬
phrase brings him in, boasting that he was the man
that had killed Hophni and Phinehas, and taken
the ark prisoner; but that the Philistines had never
given him so much as the command of a regiment
in recompense of his services, whereas Saul had
been made king for his services: “Let him there¬
fore take up the challenge.”
4. The terror this struck upon Israel; (v. 11.)
Saul and all his army were greatly afraid. The
people would not have been dismayed, but that they
observed Saul’s courage failed him; and it is not to
be expected, that if the leader be a coward, the
followers should be bold. We found before, when
the spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, (cA. 11. 6 )
none could be more daring, more forward, to answer
the challenge of Nahash the Ammonite; but now
300
I. SAMUEL, XVII.
that the Sfiirit of the Lord was departed from him ,
even the big looks and big words of a single Philis¬
tine made him change colour. But where was Jon¬
athan all this while? Why did not he accept the
challenge, who, in the late war, had so bravely en¬
gaged a whole army of Philistines? Doubtless, he
felt not himself stirred up of God to it, as he did
then. As the best, so the bravest men, are no more
than what God makes them. Jonathan must now
sit still, because the honour of engaging Goliath is
reserved for David. In great and good actions, the
wind of the Spirit blows when and where he listeth.
Now the pious Israelites lament their king’s breach
with Samuel.
12. Now David was the son of that Eph-
rathite of Beth-lehem- Judah, whose name
was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the
man went among men for an old man in the
days of Saul. 13. And the three eldest
sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the
battle : and the names of his three sons that
went to the battle were Eliab the first-born ;
and next unto him, Abinadab ; and the
third, Shammah. 1 4. And David was the
youngest: and the three eldest followed
Saul. 15. But David went and returned
from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Beth¬
lehem. 16. Apd the Philistine drew near
morning and evening, and presented himself
forty days. 1 7. And Jesse said unto David
his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah
of this parched corn, and these ten loaves,
and run to the camp to thy brethren: 18.
And carry these ten cheeses unto the cap¬
tain of their thousand, and look how thy
brethren fare, and take their pledge. 19.
Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Is¬
rael, voere in the valley of Elah, fighting
with the Philistines. 20. And David rose
up early in the morning, and left the sheep
with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse
had commanded him : and he came to the
trench as the host was going forth to the
fight, and shouted for the battle. 21. For
Israel and the Philistines had put the battle
in array, army against army. 22. And Da¬
vid left his carriage in the hand of the keep¬
er of the carriage, and ran into the army,
and came and saluted his brethren. 23.
And as he talked with them, behold, there
came up the champion, (the Philistine of
Gath, Goliath by name,) out of the armies
of the Philistines, and spake according to
the same words : and David heard them.
24. And all the men of Israel, when they
saw the man, fled from him, and were sore
afraid. 25. And the men of Israel said,
Have ye seen this man that is come up ?
surely to defy Israel is he come up : and it
shall be, that the man who killeth him, the
king will enrich him with great riches, and
will give him his dajghter, and make his fa¬
ther’s house free in Israel. 26. And David
spake to the men that stood by him, saying,
W hat shall be done to the man that killeth
this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach
from Israel ? lor who is this uncircumcised
Philistine, that he should defy the armies of
the living God ? 27. And the people an¬
swered him after this manner, saying, So
shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
28. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when
he spake unto the men ; and Eliab’s anger
was kindled against David, and he said,
Why earnest thou down hither ? and with
whom hast thou left those few sheep in the
wilderness ? I know thy pride, and the
naughtiness of thine heart ; for thou art
come down that thou mightesl see the bat¬
tle. 29. And David said, What have I now
, done ? Is there not a cause ? 30. And he
turned from him toward another, and spake
after the same manner : and the people an¬
swered him again after the former manner.
Forty days the two armies lay encamped facing
one another, each advantageously posted; but nei¬
ther forward to engage. Either they were parley¬
ing, and treating of an accommodation, or waiting
for recruits; and perhaps there were frequent
skirmishes between small detached parties. All
this while, twice a day, morning and evening, did
the insulting champion appear in the field, and re¬
peat his challenge; his own heart growing more and
more proud for his not being answered, and the
i people of Israel more and more timorous; while
I God designed hereby to ripen him for destruction,
and to make Israel’s deliverance the more illus¬
trious. All this while, David is keeping his father’s
I sheep, but at the end of forty days, Providence
brings him to the field, to win and wear the laurel,
which no other Israelite dares venture for.
We have in these verses,
I. The present state of his family. His father
was old, v. 12, he went among men for an old man,
was taken notice of for his great age, above what
was usual at that time, and therefore was excused
from public services, and went not in person to the
wars, but sent his sons; he had the honours paid
him that were due to his age, his hoary head was a
crown of glory to him. David’s three elder breth¬
ren, who perhaps envied his place at the court, got
their father to send for him home, and let them go
to the camp, where they hoped to signalize them¬
selves, and eclipse him; (t. 13, 14.) while David
himself was so far from being proud of the services
he had done his prince, or ambitious of further
preferment, that he not only returned from court to
the obscurity of his father’s house, but to the care,
and toil, and (as it proved, v. 34.) the peril, of
keeping his father’s sheep. It was the praise of this
humility, that it came after he had the honour of a
courtier; and the reward of it, that it came before
the honour of a conqueror; before honour is humility.
Now he had that opportunity of meditation and
prayer, and other acts of devotion, which fitted him
for what he was destined to, more than all the mili¬
tary exercises of that inglorious camp could do.
II. The orders his father gave him to go visit his
brethren in the camp. He did ni t himself ask
leave to go, to satisfy his curiosity, or to gain ex ¬
perience and make observations; but his father sent
him on a mean and homely errand, which any of
301
1. SAMUEL, XVII.
his servants might have done. He must carry some
bread and cheese to his brethren, ten loaves with
some parched corn for themselves, (z>. 17. ) and ten
cheeses, which it seems, he thought too good for
them, but might be acceptable as a present to their
colonel, v. 18. David must still be the drudge of
the family, though he was to be the greatest orna¬
ment of it. He had not so much as an ass, at com¬
mand, to carry his load, but must take it on his
back, and yet run to the camp. Jesse, we thought,
was privy to his being anointed, and yet industri¬
ously kept him thus mean and obscure, probably,
to hide him from the eye of suspicion and envy,
knowing that he was anointed to a crown in rever¬
sion. He must observe how his brethren fared,
Whether they were not reduced to short allowance,
now that the encampment continued so long, that,
if need were, he might send them more provisions.
And he must take their pledge, that is, if they had
pawned any thing, he must redeem it; take notice
of their comfiany , so some observe, whom they as¬
sociate with, and what sort of life they lead; per¬
haps David, like Joseph, had formerly brought to
his father their evil report, and now he sends him
to inquire concerning their manners. See the care
of pious parents about their children when they are
abroad from them, especially in places of tempta¬
tion; they are solicitous how they conduct them¬
selves, and particularly what company they keep.
Let children think of this, and conduct themselves
accordingly, remembering, that, when they are
from under their parents’ eye, they are still under
God’s eye.
III. David’s dutiful obedience to his father’s
command. His prudence and care made him be
up early, v. 20. and yet not to leave his sheep
without a keeper, so faithful was he in a few things,
and therefore the fitter to be made ruler over many
things; and so well had he learnt to obey, before he
pretended to command. God’s providence brought
nim to the camp very seasonably, when both sides
had set the battle in array, and, as it should seem,
were more likely to come to an engagement
than they had yet been, all the forty days, v. 21.
Both sides were now preparing to fight. Jesse little
thought of sending his son to the army, just at that
critical juncture, but the wise God orders the time
and all the circumstances of actions and affairs, so
as to serve his designs of securing the interests of
Israel, and advancing the man after his own heart.
Now observe here,
1. How brisk and lively David was, v. 22. What
articles he brought, he honestly took care of, and
left them with those that had the charge of the bag
and baggage; but though he had come a long
journey with a great load, he ran into the army, to
see what was doing there, and to pay his respects
to his brethren. Seest thou a man thus diligent in
his business ? He is in the way of preferment, he
shall stand before kings.
2. How bold and daring the Philistine was, v. 23.
Now that the armies were drawn out into a line of
battle, he appeared first to renew his challenge,
vainly imagining that he was in the eager chase of
his own glory and triumph, whereas really he was
but courting his own destruction.
3. How timorous and faint-hearted the men of
Israel were. Though they had, for forty days to¬
gether, been used to his haughty looks and threat¬
ening language, and, having seen no execution done
by either, might have learned to despise both; yet,
upon his approach, they fed from him and were sore
afraid, v. 24. One Philistine could never thus
have chased a thousand Israelites, and put ten thou¬
sand to flight, unless their Rock, being treacherous¬
ly forsaken by them, had justly sold them and shut
f hem ti ft, Deut. 32. 30.
4. How high Saul bid for a champion. Though
he was the tallest of all the men of Israel, and, if he
had not been so, while he kept close to God, might
himself have safely taken up the gauntlet which
the insolent Philistine threw down, yet the Spirit
j of the Lord being departed from him, he durst not
do it, nor press Jonathan to do it: but whoever will
do it, shall have as good preferment as he can give
him, v. 25. It the hope of wealth and honour will
prevail with any man to expose himself so far, as it
is proclaimed, that the bold adventurer, if he come
.off, shall marry the king’s daughter, and have a
good portion with her: but, as it should seem,
whether lie come off or no, his father’s house shall
be free in Israel, from all toll, tribute, custom, and
services to the crown; or shall be ennobled, and ad¬
vanced to the peerage.
5. How much concerned David was to assert the
honour ot God and Israel against the impudent
challenges of this champion. He asked what re¬
ward was promised to him that should slay this
Philistine, v. 26. Though he knew already; not
because he was ambitious of the honours, but be¬
cause he would have it taken notice of, and report¬
ed to Saul, how much he resented the indignity
hereby done to Israel and Israel’s God. He might
have presumed so far upon his acquaintance and
interest at court, as to have gone himself to Saul to
offer his service; but his modesty would not let him
do that; it was one of his own rules, before it was
one of his son’s proverbs, Put not forth thyself in
the fircsence of the king, and stand not in the place
of great men; (Prov. 25. 6.) yet his zeal put him
upon that method which, he hoped, would bring
him into this great engagement. Two considerations,
it seems, fired David with a holy indignation. (1.)
That the challenger was one that was uncircum-
c.ised, a stranger to God, and out of covenant with
him. (2.) That the challenged were the armies of
the living God devoted to him, employed by him
and for him, so that the affronts done to them, re¬
flected upon the living God himself, and that he
cannot bear. When therefore some had told him,
what was the reward proposed for killing the Phi¬
listine, (i\ 27.) he asked others, (r. 30.) with the
same resentment, which he expected would at
length come to Saul’s ear.
6. How he was brow-beaten and discouraged by
his elder brother Eliab, who, taking notice of his
forwardness, fell into a passion upon it, and gave
David very abusive language, v. 28. Consider it,
(1.) As the fruit of Eliab’s jealousy. He was the
eldest brother and David the youngest, and, per¬
haps, it had been customary with him (as it is with
too many elder brothers) to trample upon him, and
take every occasion to chide him. But those who
thus exalt themselves over their juniors, may per¬
haps live to see themselves, by a righteous provi¬
dence, abased, and those whom they are abusive to,
exalted. Time mav come when the elder may
serve the younger. But Eliab was now vexed that
his younger brother should speak these bold words
against the Philistine which he himself durst not
say. He knew what honour David had had already
in the court, and if he should now get him honour
in the camp, (from which he thought he had found
means effectually to seclude him, v. 15.) the glory
of his elder brother would be eclipsed and stained;
and therefore, (such is the nature of jealousy,) he
would rather that Goliath should triumph over Is¬
rael, than that David should be the man that
should triumph over him. Wrath is cruel, and
anger is outrageous, but who can stand before envy,
especially the envy of a brother, which Jacob, and
Joseph, and David here, experienced the keenness
of? See Prov. 18. 19. It is very ill-favoured lan¬
guage that Eliab here gives him ; not onlv unjust
302
I. SAMUEL, XVII.
and unkind, but, at this time, basely ungrateful ; for
David was now sent by his father, as Joseph by his,
on a kind visit to his brethren. Eliab intended, in
what he said, not only to griev e and discourage
David himself, and quench that noble fire which he
erceived glowing in his breast, but to represent
im to those about him as an idle proud lad, not fit
to be taken notice of. He giyes them to understand
that his business was only to keep sheep, and falsely
insinuates that he was a careless, unfaithful, shep¬
herd; though he had left his charge in good hands,
v. 20. yet he must tauntingly be asked, With whom
hast thou left those few sheep? Though he came
down n nv to the camp in obedience to his father
and kindness to his brethren, and Eliab knew it,
yet this is turned to his reproach; “ Thou art come
down, not to do anv service, but to gratify thy own
curiosity, and only to look about thee;” and from
thence he will infer the pride and naughtiness of his
heart, and pretends to know it as certainly as if he
were in his bosom. David could appeal to God con¬
cerning his humility and sincerity, (Ps. 17. 3. — 131.
1.) and at this time gave proofs of both, and yet
could not escape this hard character from his own
brother. See the folly, absurdity, and wickedness,
of a proud and envious passion; how groundless its
jealousies are, how unjust its censures, how unfair
its representations, how bitter its invectives, and
how indecent its language. God, by his grace, keep
us from such a spirit !
(2.) As a trial of David’s meekness, patience,
and constancy; a short trial it was, and he approved
himself well in it: for, [1.] He bore the provocation
with admirable temper; v. 29. “ What have I now
done? What fault have I committed, for which I
should thus be chidden? Is there not a cause for my
coming to the camp, when my father sent me? Is
there not a cause, for mv resenting the injury done
to Israel’s honour by Goliath’s challenge?” He had
right and reason on his side, and knew it, and
therefore did net render railing for railing, but with
a soft answer turned away his brother’s wrath.
This conquest of his own passion was, in some re¬
spects, more honourable than that of Goliath. He
that hath rule over his own spirit, is better than the
mighty. It was no time for David to quarrel with
his brother, when the Philistines were upon them.
The more threatening the church’s enemies are,
the more forbearing her friends should be with one
another. [2.] He broke through the discourage¬
ment with admirable resolution. He would not be
driven off from his thoughts of engaging the Philis¬
tine, by the ill-will of his brother. Those that un¬
dertake great and public services, must not think it
strange if they be discountenanced and opposed by
those from whom they had reason to expect sup¬
port and assistance; but must humbly go on with
their work, in the face not only of their enemies’
threats, but of their friends’ slights and suspicions.
.31. And when the words were heard
which David spake, they rehearsed them be¬
fore Saul ; and he sent for him. 32. And
David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail
because of him : thy servant will go and
fight, with this Philistine. 33. And Saul
said to David, Thou art not able to go
against this Philistine to fight with him: for
thou art hut a youth, and he a man of war
from his youth. 34. And David said unto
Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep,
and there came a lion, and a bear, and took
a lamb out of the flock ; 35. And I went
out after him, and smote him, and delivered
it out of his mouth : and when he arose
against me, I caught him by his beard, and
smote him, and slew him. 36. Thy servant
slew both the lion and the bear ; and this
uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of
them, seeing he hath defied the armies of
the living God. 37. David said, moreover,
The Lord that delivered me out of the paw
of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear,
he will deliver me out of the hand of this
Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee. 38. And Saul
armed David with his armour, and he put a
helmet of brass upon his head ; also he arm¬
ed him with a coat of mail. 39. And Da¬
vid girded his sword upon his armour, and
he assayed to go; for he had not proved it.
And David said unto Saul, I cannot go
with these ; for I have not proved them.
And David put them off him.
David is at length presented to Saul for his
champion, (t>. 31.) and he bravely undertakes to
fight the Philistine; (v. 32.) Let no man's heart fail
because of him : it would have reflected too much
upon the valour of his prince, if he had said, Let
not thy heart fail -, therefore he speaks generally.
Let no man's heart fail. A little shepherd, come
but this morning from keeping sheep, has more
courage than all the mighty men of Israel, and en¬
courages them. Thus does God often send good
words to his Israel, and do great things for them,
by the weak and foolish things of the world. David
only desires a commission from Saul to go and fight
with the Philistine, but says nothing to him of the
reward he had proposed, because that was not the
thing he was ambitious of, but only the honour of
serving God and his country, nor would he seem to
question Saul’s generosity.
Two things David had to do with Saul;
I. To get clear of the objection Saul made against
his undertaking. “Alas,” says Saul, “thou hast a
good heart to it, but art by no means an equal match
for this Philistine: to engage with him is to throw
away a life which may better be reserved for more
agreeable services: thou art but a youth, rash and
inconsiderate, weak and unversed in arms; he is a
man that has the head and hand of a man, a man of
war, trained up and inured to it from his youth, (z\
33.) and how canst thou expect but that he will be
too hard for thee?”
David, as he had answered his brother’s passion
with meekness, so he answered Saul’s fear with
faith, and gives a reason of the hope which was in
him, that he should conquer the Philistine to the
satisfaction of Saul. We have reason to fear that
Saul had no great acquaintance with, or regard to,
the word of God, and therefore David, in reasoning
with him, fetched not his arguments and encourage¬
ments from thence, how much soever he had an
eye to that in his own mind: but he argues from ex¬
perience; though he was but a youth, and never in
the wars, yet perhaps he had done as much as the
killing of Goliath came to; for he had had, by divine
assistance, spirit enough to encounter, and strength
enough to subdue, a lion once, and another time a
bear, that robbed him of his lambs: (v. 34* -36.) to
these he compares this uncircumcis£d- Philistine,
looks upon him to be as much a ravenous beast as
either of them, and therefore doubts not but to deal
as easily with him ; and hereby gives Saul U under
303
1. SAMUEL, XVII.
stand, that he was not so unexj erienced in hazard¬
ous conflicts, as he took him to be.
1. He tells his story like a man of spirit; he is not
ashamed' to own that he kept his father’s sheep,
which his brother had just now upbraided him with;
so far is he from concealing it, that from his em¬
ployment as a shepherd, he fetches the experience
that now animated him. But he lets those about
him know that he was no ordinary shepherd.
Whatever our profession or calling is, be it ever so
mean, we should labour to excel in it, and do the
business of it in the best manner. When David
kept sheep, (1.) He approved himself very careful
and tender of his flock, though it was not his own,
but his father’s. He could not see a lamb in dis¬
tress but he would venture his life to rescue it.
This temper made him fit to be a king, to whom
the lives of his subjects should be dear, and their
blood precious, (Ps. 72. 14.) and fit to be a type of
Christ the good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs
in his arms, and carries them in his bosom, (Isa. 40.
11.) and who not only ventured, but laid down, his
life for the shee/i. 1 hus too was David fit to be an
example to ministers, with the utmost care and
diligence to watch for souls, that they be not a prey
to the roaring lion. (2.) He approved himself very
bold and brave in the defence of his flock. This
was that which he was now concerned to give
proof of, and better evidence could not be demand¬
ed than this! “Thy servant not only rescued the
lambs, but, to revenge the injury, slew both the
lion and the bear. ”
2. He applies his story like a man of faith. He
owns ( v . 37. ) it was the Lord that delivered him
from the lion and the bear; to him he gives the
jraise of that great achievement, and from thence
le infers, He will deliver me out of the hand of this
Philistine. “ The lion and the bear were enemies
only to me and mv sheep, and it was in defence of
my own interest that I attacked them; but this Phi
listine is an enemy to God and Israel, defies the ar¬
mies of the living God, and it is for their honour
that I attack him.” Note, (1.) Our experiences
ought to be approved by us, as our encouragements
to trust in God, and venture in the way of duty.
He that has delivered, does and will. (2. ) By the
care which common Providence takesof the inferior
creatures, and the protection they are under, we
may be encouraged to depend upon that special
Providence which surrounds the Israel of God. He
that sets bounds to the waves of the sea and the
rage of wild beasts, can and will restrain the wrath
of wicked men. St. Paul seems to allude to this of
David; (2 Tim. 4. 17, 18.) “I was delivered out of
the mouth of the lion, and therefore, I trust, the
Lord shall deliver me.” And perhaps David here
thought of the story of Samson, and encouraged
himself with it; for his slaying of a lion was a happy
presage of his many illustrious victories over the
Philistines in single combat.
Thus David took off Saul’s objection against his
undertaking, and gained a commission to fight the
Philistine, with which Saul gave him a hearty good
wish; since he would not venture himself, he pray¬
ed for him that would, Go, and the Lord be with
thee: a good word, if it was not spoken customa¬
rily, and in a formal manner, as too often it is.
II. But David has somewhat to do likewise, to get
clear of the armour wherewith Saul would, by all
means, have him dressed up, when he went upon
this great action; (v. 38.) He armed David with his
armour ; not that which he wore himself, the dis¬
proportion of his stature would not admit that, but
some that he kept in his armoury; little thinking
that he on whom he now put his helmet and coat of
mail must shortly inherit his crown and robe.
David being not yet resolved which way to attack
his enemy, girded on his sword, not knowing, as
yet, but he should have occasion to make use of it;
but he found the armour would but incumber him,
and would be rather his burthen than his defence,
and therefore he desires leave of Saul to put them
oft’ again; I cannot go with these, for 1 have not
firoved them, that is, “I have never been accus¬
tomed to such accoutrements as these.” We may
suppose Saul’s armour to be very fine and very firm;
but what good would it do David, if it were not fit,
or if he knew not how to manage himself in it?
Those that aim at things above their education and
usage, and covet the attire and armour of princes,
forget that that is the best for us, which we are fit
for and accustomed to; if we had our desire, we
should wish to be in our own coat again, and should
say, “ We cannot go with these;” we had therefoi e
better go without them.
40. And lie took his staff in his hand, and
chose him five smooth stones out of the
brook, and put them in a shepherd’s hag
which he had, even in a scrip ; and his sling
was in his hand : and he drew near to the
Philistine. 41. And the Philistine came on,
and drew near unto David ; and the man
that bare the shield went before him. 42.
And when the Philistine looked about and
saw David, he disdained him ; for he was
but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair coun¬
tenance. 43. And the Philistine said unto
David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me
with staves ? And the Philistine cursed
David by his gods. 44. And the Philistine
said to David, Come to me, and I will give
thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to
the beasts of the field. 45. Then said David
to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a
sword, and with a spear, and with a shield
but I come to thee in the name of the Lorl
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel,
whom thou hast defied. 46. This day will
the Lord deliver thee into mine hand ; and
I will smite thee, and take thine head from
thee ; and I will give the carcases of the
host of the Philistines this day unto the
fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts oi
the earth ; that all the earth may know that
there is a God in Israel. 47. And all this
assembly shall know that the Lord saveth
not with sword and spear : for the battle is
the Lord’s, and he will give you into our
hands.
We are now coming near this famous combat,
and have in these verses, the preparations and re¬
monstrances made on both sides.
I. The preparations made on both sides for the
encounter. The Philistine was already fixed, as
he had been daily for the last forty davs; well might
he go with his armour, for he had sufficiently prov¬
ed it. Only we are told, ( v . 41.) that he came on
and drew near ; a signal, it is likely, being given
that his challenge was accepted, and, as if he dis¬
trusted his helmet and coat of mail, a man went be¬
fore him, carrying his shield; for lr,s own hands aie
full with his sword and spear, v. 45. But what
304
J. SAMUEL, XVIL
arms and ammunition is David furnished with?
Truly none but what he brought with him as a
shepherd; no breast-plate, or corselet, but his plain
shepherd’s coat; no spear, but his staff; no sword or
bow, but his sling; no quiver, but his scrip; nor any
arrows, but, instead of them, five smooth stones pick¬
ed out of the brook, v. 40. By this it appeared
that his confidence was purely in the power of
God, and not in any sufficiency of his own, and that,
now at length, he who put it into his heart to fight
the Philistine, put it into his head with what wea¬
pons to do it.
II. The conference which precedes the encoun¬
ter. In which observe,
1. How very proud Goliath was. (1. )With what
scorn he looked upon his adversary, v. 42. He
looked about, expecting to meet some tall strong
man; but when he saw what a mean figure he made
with whom he was to engage, he disdained him,
thought it below him to enter the lists with him,
fearing that the contemptibleness of the champion
he contended with would lessen the glory of his
victory. He took notice of his person, that he was
but a youth, not come to his strength, ruddy and of
a fair countenance , fitter to accompany the virgins
of Israel in their dances, (if mixed dancing was
then in use,) than to lead on the men of Israel
in their battles. He took notice of his array with
great indignation; ( v . 43.) “ Am I a dog, that thou
comest to me with staves ? Dost thou think to beat
me as easily as thou dost thy shepherd’s dog?” (2.)
With what confidence he presumed upon his suc¬
cess. He cursed David by his gods, imprecating
the impotent vengeance of his idols against him,
thinking those fire-balls thrown about him would
secure him success: and therefore, in confidence of
that, he darts his menaces, as if threatening words
would kill; (i;. 44.) “ Come to me, and I will give
thy flesh, to the fowls of the air; it will be a tender
and delicate feast for them.” Thus the security
and presumption of fools destroy them.
2. How very pious David was. His speech sa¬
vours nothing of ostentation, but God is all in all in
it, v. 45* -47.
(L) He derives his authority from God. “/
come to thee, by warrant and commission from
heaven, in the name of the Cord, who has called
me to, and animated me for, this undertaking; who,
by his universal providence, is the Lord of hosts, of
all hosts; and therefore has power to do what
he pleases; and, by the special grace of his cove¬
nant, is the God of the armies of Israel, and there¬
fore has engaged, and will employ, his power for
their protection, and against thee who hast impious¬
ly defied them.” The name of God David relied
on, as Goliath did on his sword and spear. See Ps.
20. 7.— 118. 10, 11.
(2.) He depends for success upon God, v. 46.
David speaks with as much assurance as Goliath
had done, but upon better ground; it is his faith
that says, “ This day will the Lord deliver thee into
my hand; and not only thy carcase, but the carcases
of the host ot the Philistines, shall be given to the
birds and beasts of prey.”
(3.) He devotes the praise and glory of all to God.
He did not, like Goliath, seek his own honour, but
the honour of God; not doubting but by the success
of this action, [1.] All the world should be made to
know that there is a God, and that the God of
Israel is the one only living and true God, and all
other pretended deities are vanity and a lie. [2.]
All Israel (whom he calls not this army, but tins as¬
sembly, or church, because they were now reli¬
giously attending the goings of their God and King,
as they used to do in the sanctuary) all Israel shall
know that the Lord saveth not with sword and
efear, (t>. 47.) but can, when he pleases, save
without either and against both, Ps. 46. 9 Da*' d
addresses himself to this combat rather as a priest
that was going to offer a sacrifice to the justice of
God, than as a soldier that was going to engage an
enemy of his country.
48. And it came to pass, when the Philis¬
tine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet
David, that David hasted, and ran toward
the army to meet the Philistine. 49. And
David put his hand into his bag, and took
thence a stone, and slang it , and smote the
Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead ; and he fell upon his
face to the earth. 50. So David prevailed
over the Philistine with a sling and with a
stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew
him ; but there ivas no sword in the hand of
David. 51. Therefore David ran, and stood
upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and
drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew
him, and cut off his head therewith. And
when the Philistines saw their champion
was dead, they fled. 52. And the men of
Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and
pursued the Philistines, until thou come to
the valley, and to the gates of Ekron: and
the wounded of the Philistines fell down by
the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, .and
unto Ekron. 53. And the children of Israel
returned from chasing after the Philistines,
and they spoiled their tents. 54. And Da¬
vid took the head of the Philistine, and
brought it to Jerusalem : but he put his ar¬
mour in his tent. 55. And when Saul saw
David go forth against the Philistine, he
said unto Abner, the captain of the host,
Abner, whose son is this youth ? And Ab¬
ner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot
tell. 56. And the king said, Inquire thou
whose son the stripling is 57. And as
David returned from the slaughter of the
Philistine, Abner took him, and brought
him before Saul, with the head of the
Philistine in his hand. 58. And Saul said to
him, Whose son art thou, thou young man?
And David answered, I am the son of thy
servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.
Here is, 1. The engagement between the two
champions, v. 48. To this engagement, (1.) The
Philistine advanced with a great deal of state and
gravity: if he must encounter a pigmy, yet it shall
be with the magnificence of a giant and a grandee.
This is intimated in the manner of expression. He
arose, and came, and drew nigh, like a stalking
mountain, overlaid with brass and iron, to meet
David. (2.) David advanced with no less activity
and cheerfulness, as one that aimed more to do ex¬
ecution, than to make a figure; he hasted, and ran,
being lightly clad, to meet the Philistine. We may
imagine with what tenderness and compassion the
Israelites saw such a pleasing youth as this, throw¬
ing himself into the mouth of destruction; but
he knew whom he had believed, and for whom he
acted.
1. SAMUEL, XVIII.
2. The fall of Goliath in this engagement. He
was in no haste, because in no fear, but confident
that he should soon atone stroke clea.e his adver¬
sary’s head: but while he was prepaiingto do it so¬
lemnly, David did his business effectually, without
any parade; he slang a stone which hit in the
forehead, and, in the twinkling of an eye, fetched
him to the ground, v. 49. He knew there were fa¬
mous slingers in Israel, (Judg. 20. 16.) yet was
either so forgetful or presumptuous, as to go with
the beaver of his helmet open, and thither, to the
only part left exposed, not so much David’s art, as
God’s providence, directed the stone, and brought
it with such force that it sunk into his head, not¬
withstanding the impudence with which his fore¬
head was brazened. See how frail and uncertain
life is, even then when it thinks itself best fortified,
and how quickly, how easily, and with how small
a matter, the passage may be opened for life to go
out and death to enter. Goliath himself has not
flower over the s/iirit to retain the spirit, Eccl. 8. 8.
Let not the strong man glory in his strength, nor
the armed man in his armour. See how God re¬
sists the proud, and pours contempt upon those that
bid defiance to him and his people. None ever
hardened his heart against God, and prospered.
One of the rabbins thinks, that when Goliath said
to David, Come, and. I will give thy Jlesh to the
fowls of the air, he drew up his head so hastily, that
his helmet fell off, and so left his broad forehead a
fair mark for David. To complete the execution,
he drew Goliath’s own sword, a two-handed wea¬
pon for David, and with it cut off his head, v. 51.
What need had David to take a sword of his own?
His enemy’s sword shall serve his purpose, when
he has occasion for one. God is greatly glorified,
when his proud enemies are cut off with their own
sword, and he makes their own tongues to fall upon
them, Ps. 64. 8. David’s victory over Goliath
was typical of the triumphs of the Son of David
over Satan and all the powers of darkness, whom
he spoiled, and made a show of them openly; (Col.
2. 15.) and we through him are more than con¬
querors.
3. The defeat of the Philistines’ army hereupon,
They relied wholly upon the strength of their
champion, and therefore, when they saw him slain,
they did not, as Goliath had offered, throw down
their arms and surrender themselves servants to Is¬
rael, (v. 9. ) but took flight, being wholly dispirit¬
ed, and thinking it to no purpose to oppose one be¬
fore whom such a mighty man was fallen: they fed,
(v. 51.) *nd this put life into the Israelites; they
shouted and pursued them, v. 52. David, it is pro¬
bable, leading them on in the pursuit, even to the
gates of their own cities. In their return from the
chase, they seized all their baggage, plundered
their tents, (x». 53.) and enriched themselves with
the spoil.
4. David’s disposal of his trophies, v. 54. He
brought the head of the Philistine to Jerusalem, to
be a terror to the Jebusites, who held the strong¬
hold of Zion : it is probable that he carried it in tri¬
umph to other cities; his armour he laid up in his
tent; only the sword was preserved behind the
ephod in the tabernacle as consecrated to God, and
a memorial of the victory to his honour, ch. 21. 9.
5. The notice that was taken of David. Though
he had been at court formerly, yet, having been for
some time absent, ( v . 15.) Saul had forgotten him,
being mel mcholv and mindless, and little thinking
that his musician should have spirit enough to be his
champion; and therefore, as if he had never seen
him before, he asked whose son he was. Abner
was a stranger to him, but brought him to Saul
himself: (t>. 57.) and he gave a modest account of
himself, v. 58. And now he was introduced to the
Vol. ii. — 2 Q
30b
court with much greater advantages than before;
in which he owned God’s hand performing all
things for him.
CHAP. XVIII.
In the close of the foregoing chapter we left David in tri¬
umph; now in this chapter we have, I. The improve¬
ment of his triumphs; he soon became, 1. Saul’s con¬
stant attendant, v. 2. 2. Jonathan’s covenant friend, v.
1, 3, 4. 3. The darling of his country, v. 5, 7, 16. II.
The allays of his triumphs. This is the vanity that ac¬
companies even a right work, that for it a man is envied,
Eccl. 4. 4. So David was by Saul, 1. He hated him,
and sought to kill him himself, v. 8. . 11. 2. He feared
him, and contrived how he might have some mischief
done him, v. 12. . 17. Proposed to marry his daughter to
him; but, (1.) Cheated him of the eldest to provoke him,
(v. 19.) and, (2.) Gave him the younger, upon condi¬
tions which would endanger his life, v. 20.. 25. But
David performed his conditions bravely, (v. 26, 27.)
and grew to be more and more esteemed, v. 28. . 30.
Still David is rising, but (as all that aim at the crown of
life must expect) he had a great deal of difficulty and
opposition to grapple with.
1. A ND it came to pass, when he had
l\ made an end of speaking unto Saul,
that the soul of Jonathan was knit with
the soul of David; and Jonathan loved him
as his own soul. 2. And Saul took him that
day, and would let him go no more home
to his father’s house. 3. Then Jonathan
and David made a covenant, because he
loved him as his own soul. 4. And Jona¬
than stripped himself of the robe that was
upon him, and gave it to David, and his
garments, even to his sword, and to his
bow, and to his girdle. 5. And David
went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and
behaved himself wisely : and Saul set him
over the men of war ; and he was accept¬
ed in the sight of all the people, and
also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
David was anointed to the crown, to take it out
of Saul’s hand, and over Jonathan’s head; and yet
here we find,
I. That Saul, who was now in possession of the
crown, reposed a confidence in him, God so order¬
ing it, that he might by his preferment at court be
prepared for future service. Saul now took him
home with him, and would not suffer him to return
again to his retirement, v. 2. And David having
signalized himself above the men of war, in taking
up the challenge which they declined, Saul set
him over the men of war; (ta 5.) not that he made
him general, Abner was in that post, but perhaps
captain of the life-guard; or, though he was young¬
est, he ordered him to have the precedency, in re¬
compense of his great services. He employed him
in the affairs of government; and David went out
whithersoever Saul sent him, showing himself as du¬
tiful as he was bold and courageous. Those that
hope to rule, must first learn to obey. He had ap¬
proved himself a dutiful son to Jesse his father, and
now a dutiful servant to Saul his master; those that
are good in one relation, it is to be hoped will be so
in another.
II. That Jonathan, who was heir to the crown,
entered into covenant with him: God so ordering
it, that David’s way might be the clearer, when his.
rival was his friend.
I. Jonathan conceived an extraordinary kindness
and affection for him, v. 1. When he had made an
end of speaking to Saul , he fell perfectly in love
306
I. SAMUEL, XVIII.
with him. Whether it refers to his conference
with Saul before the battle, (ch. 17. 34* • 37.) or to j
that after, (v. 58. ) in which it is probable much
more was said than is there set down, is uncertain.
But in both David expressed himself with so much
prudence, modesty, and piety, such a felicity of ex¬
pression, with so much boldness and yet so much
sweetness, and all this so natural and unaffected,
and the more surprising because of the disadvanta¬
ges of his education and appearance, that the soul of
Jonathan tvas immediately knit unto the soul of
David. Jonathan had formerly set upon a Phi¬
listine army with the same faith and bravery that
David had now attacked a Philistine giant: so that
there was between them a very near resemblance
of affections, dispositions, and counsels, which
made their spirits unite so easily, so quickly, so
closely, that they seemed but as one soul in two
bodies. None had so much reason to dislike David
as Jonathan had, because he was to put him by the
crown, yet none regards him more. Those that
are governed in their love by principles of wisdom
and grace, will not suffer their affections to be alien¬
ated by any secular regards or considerations: the
greater thoughts will swallow up and overrule the
lesser.
2. He testified his love to David by a generous
present he made him, v. 4. He was concerned to
see so great a soul, though lodged in so fair a body,
yet disguised in the mean and despicable dress of a
poor shepherd, and therefore takes care to put him
speedily into the habit of a courtier, for he gave
him a robe, and of a soldier, for he gave him, in¬
stead of his staff and sling, a sword and bow, and,
instead of his shepherd’s scrip, a girdle, either a
belt or a sash; and, which made the present much
more obliging, they were the same th it he himself
had worn, and (as a presage of what would follow)
he stripped himself of them to dress David in
them. Saul’s would not fit him, but Jonathan’s
did; their bodies were of a size, a circumstance
which well agreed with the suitableness of their
minds. When Saul put these marks of honour on
David, he put them off again, because he would
first earn them, and then wear them; but now that
he had given proofs of the spirit of a prince and
soldier, he was not ashamed to wear the habits of a
prince and soldier. David is seen in Jonathan’s
clothes, that all may take notice he is Jonathan’s
second self. Our Lord Jesus had thus showed his
love to us, that he stripped' himself to clothe us,
emptied himself to enrich us; nay he did more than
lonathan, he clothed himself with our rags, where¬
as Jonathan did not put on D ivid’s.
3. He endeavoured the perpetuating of his friend¬
ship: so entirely satisfied were they in each other,
even at the first interview, that they made a cove¬
nant with each other, v. 3. Their mutual affection
was sincere; and he that bears an honest mind star¬
tles not at assurances. True love desires to be
constant. These who love Christ as their own
souls, will be willing to join themselves to him in an
everlasting covenant.
III. That both court and country agree to bless
him : it is but seldom that they agree in their fa¬
vourites; yet David was accefited in the sight of all
the fieo/ile, and also (which was strange) in the
sight of Saul's servants, v. 5. The former cor¬
dially loved him, the latter could not for shame
but caress and compliment him. And it was cer¬
tainly a great instance of the power of God’s grace
in David, that he was able to bear all this respect
and honour flowing in upon him of a sudden, with¬
out being lifted up above measure. Those that
climb so fast, have need of good heads and good
hearts: it is harder to know how to abound, than
how to be abased.
6. And it came to pass, as they came,
j when David was returned from the slaugh¬
ter of the Philistine, that the women came
j out ol all the cities of Israel, singing and
dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets,
with joy, and with instruments of music,
j 7. And the women answered one. another
as they played, and said, Saul hath slain
his thousands, and David his ten thou¬
sands. 8. And Saul was very wroth, and
the saying displeased him ; and he said,
They have ascribed unto David ten thou¬
sands, and to me they have ascribed but
thousands: and what can he have more
but the kingdom ? 9. And Saul eyed
David from that day and forward. 10.
And it came to pass, on the morrow, that
the evil spirit from God came upon Saul,
and he prophesied in the midst of the
house; and David played with his hand,
as at other times : and there teas a javelin
in Saul’s hand. 11. And Saul cast the
javelin; for he said, I will smite David
even to the wrall with it. And David avoid¬
ed out of his presence twice.
Now begin David’s troubles, and they not only
tread on the heels of his triumphs, but take rise
from them ; such is the vanity of that in this world
which seems greatest.
I. He was too much magnified by the common
people. Sometime after the victory, Saul went a
triumphant progress through the cities of Israel
that lay next him, to receive the congratulations
of the country. And when he made his public
entry into any place, the women were most for¬
ward to show him respect, as was usual then in
public triumphs, v. 6. and they had got a song, it
seems, which they sang in their dances, (made by
some poet or other, that was a great admirer of
David’s bravery, and was more just than wise, in
giving his achievements in the late action the pre¬
ference before Saul’s,) the burthen of which was,
Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands. Such a difference as this, Moses m de
between the numbers of Ephraim and Manasseh,
Deut. 33. 17.
II. This mightily displeased Saul, and made him
envy David, v. 3, 9. He ought to have considered
that they referred only to this late action, and in¬
tended not to diminish any of Saul’s former ex¬
ploits; and that in the action now celebrated, it was
undeniably true, that David, in killing Goliath, did,
in effect, slay all the Philistines that were slain that
day, and defeated the whole army; so that they did
but give David his due: it may be, he that compos¬
ed the song, only used a poetical liberty, and intend¬
ed not any invidious comparison between Saul and
David; or, if he did, it was below the great mind
of a prince to take notice of such a reflection upon
his personal honour, when it appeared that the
glory of the public was sincerely intended. But
Saul was very wroth, and presently suspected some
treasonable design at the Bottom of it: What can
he have more but the kingdom? This made him
eye David, as one he was jealous of, and sought ad¬
vantages against; ( v . 9.) his countenance was net.
toward him as it had been. Proud men cannot en¬
dure to hear any praised but themselves, and think
all the honour lost that goes by themselves. It is a
307
I. SAMUEL, XVIII.
sign that the Spirit of God is departed from men,
if they be peevish in their resentment of affronts,
envious and suspicious of all about them, and ill-
natured in their conduct; for the wisdom from above
makes us quite otherwise,
III. In his fury he aimed to kill David, v. 10, 11.
Jealousy is the rage of a man ; it made Saul outra¬
geous against David, and impatient to get him out
of the way.
1. His fits of phrensy returned upon him. The
very next day after he conceived malice against
David, the evil spirit from God, that had lormerly
naunted him, seized him again. Those that in¬
dulge themselves in envy and uncharitableness,
give filace to the Devil , and prepare for the re-en¬
try of the unclean spirit, with seven others more
wicked. Where envy is, there is confusion. Saul
pretended a religious ecstasy; he prophesied in the
midst of the house; that is, he had the gestures and
notions of a prophet, and humoured the thing well
enough to decoy David into a snare, and that he
might be fearless of any danger, and off his guard;
and, perhaps, designing, if he could but kill him,
to impute it to a divine impulse, and to charge it
upon the spirit of prophecy with which lie seemed to
be animated; but really it was a hellish fury that ac¬
tuated him.
2. David, though advanced to a much higher
post of honour, disdained not, for his master’s
service, to return to his harp; he played with
his hand, as at other times. Let not the highest
think any thing below them, whereby they may
do good, and be serviceable to those they are ob¬
liged to.
3. He took this opportunity to endeavour the
death of David. A sword in a madman’s hand is a
dangerous thing, especially such a madman as Saul
was, that was mad with malice. Yet he had a ja¬
velin or dart in his hand, with which he projected
and endeavoured to slay David; not in a sudden pas¬
sion, but deliberately: 1 will smite David to the wall
with it; with such a desperate force did he throw
it. Justly does David complain of his enemies, that
they hated him with a cruel hatred, Ps. 25. 19. No
life is thought too precious to be sacrificed to ma¬
lice. If a grateful sense of the great service David
had done to the public could not assuage Saul’s
fury, yet one would think he should have allowed
himself to consider the kindness he was now doing
to himself, relieving him, so as no one else could,
against the worst of troubles. Those are possessed
with a devilish spirit indeed, that render evil for
good. Compare David, with his harp in his hand,
aiming to serve Saul, and Saul, with his javelin in
his hand, aiming to slay David; and observe the
sweetness and usefulness of God’s persecuted peo¬
ple, and the brutishness and barbarity of their per¬
secutors. The blood-thirsty hate the upright, but
the just seek his soul, Prov. 29. 10.
4. David happily avoided the blow twice, name¬
ly, now, and afterwards, ch. 19. 10. He did not
throw the javelin at Saul again; he withdrew, not
fighting, but flying, for his own preservation.
Though he had both strength and courage enough,
and colour of right, to make resistance and revenge
the injury, yet he did no more than secure himself,
by getting out of the way of it. David, no doubt,
had a watchful eye upon Saul’s hand, and the jave¬
lin in it, and did as bravely in running from it, as he
did lately in running upon Goliath. Yet his safety
must be ascribed to the watchful eye rf God’s
providence upon him, saving his servant from the
hurtful sword; and by this narrow escape it seemed
he was designed for something extraordinary.
12. And Saul was afraid of David, be¬
cause the Lord was with him, and was
departed from Saul. 13. Therefore Saul
removed him from him, and made him his
captain over a thousand : and he went out
and came in before the people. 14. And
David behaved himself wisely in all his
ways; and the Lord was with him. 15.
Wherefore, when Saul saw that he be¬
haved himself very wisely, he was afraid
of him. 16. But all Israel and Judah
loved David, because he went out and
came in before them. 17. And Saul said
to David, Behold, my elder daughter Me¬
rab, her will I give thee to wife ; only be
thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord’s
battles : for Saul said, Let not mine band
be upon him, but let the hand of the Philis¬
tines be upon him. 18. And David said
unto Saul, Who am I ? and what is my
life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I
should be son-in-law to the king? 19. But
it came to pass, at the time when Merab,
Saul’s daughter, should have been given to
David, that she was given unto Adriel the
Meholathite to wife. 20. And Michal,
Saul’s daughter, loved David : and they
told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21.
And Saul said, I will give him her, that
she may be a snare to him, and that the
hand of the Philistines may be against
him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou
shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of
the twain. 22. And Saul commanded his
servants, saying , Commune with David
secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath
delight in thee, and all his servants love
thee : now, therefore, be the king’s son-in-
law. 23. And Saul’s servants spake those
words in the ears of David. And David
said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a
king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor
man, and lightly esteemed ? 24. And the
servants of Saul told him, saying, On this
manner spake David. 25. And Saul said,
Thus shall ye say to David, The king
desireth not any dowry, but a hundred fore¬
skins of the Philistines, to be avenged of
the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to
make David fall by the hand of the Philis¬
tines. 26. And when his servants told
David these words, it pleased David well
to be the king’s son-in-law’ : and the days
were not expired. 27. Wherefore David
arose, he and his men, and slew of the
Philistines two hundred men ; and David
brought their foreskins, and they gave them
in full tale to the king, that he might be the
king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him
Michal his daughter to wife. 28. And
Saul saw and knew that Ijie Lord was
with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daugh
308
I. SAMUEL, XVIII.
ter, loved him. 29. And Saul was yet the
more afraid of David ; and Saul became
David’s enemy continually. 30. Then the
princes of the Philistines went forth : and
it came to pass, after they went forth, that
David behaved himself more wisely than
all the servants of Saul ; so that his name
was much set by.
Saul had now, in effect, proclaimed war with
David; he beg in in open hostility, when he threw
the javelin at him; now we are here told, how his
enmity proceeded, and how David rec.ei\ ed the at¬
tack of it.
I. See how S ml expressed his malice against
David.
1. He was afraid of him, v. 12. Perhaps he pre¬
tended to be afraid that David would do him mis¬
chief, to force his way to the crown. Those that
design ill against others, are commonly willing to
have it thought that others design ill against them;
but David’s withdrawing, (y. 11.) was a plain evi¬
dence that he was far from such a thought. How¬
ever, he really stood in awe of him, as Herod fear¬
ed John, Mark 6. 20. Saul was sensible he had
lost the favourable presence of God himself, and
that David had it, and for this reason, lie feared
him. Note, Those are truly great and to be rever¬
enced, that have God with them. The more wise¬
ly David behaved himself, the m ire Saul feared
him, v. 15. and again, v. 29. Men think the way
to be feared, is, to hector and threaten, which
makes them feared by fools only, but despised by
the wise and good; whereas the way to be both
feared and loved, feared by those to whom we
would wish to be a terror, and loved by those to
whom we would wish to be a delight, is, to behave
ourselves wisely. Wisdom makes the face to shine,
and commands respect.
2. He removed him from court, and gave him a
regiment in the country, v. 13. He made him
captain over a thousand, that he might be from un¬
der his eve, because he hated the sight of him;
and that he might not secure the interest of the
courtiers. Yet herein he did impoliticly; for he
gave David an opportunity of ingratiating him¬
self with the people, who therefore loved him, ( v .
16.) because he went out and came in before the?n;
that is, he presided in the business of his country,
civil as well as military, and gave universal satis¬
faction.
3. He stirred him up to take all occasions of
quarrelling with the Philistines and engaging them,
(y. 17.) insinuating to him, that hereby he would
do good service to his prince, Be thou valiant for
me; and good service to his God, Fight the Lord's
battles; and a kindness to himself too, for hereby he
would qualify himself for the honour he designed I
him, which was to marry his eldest daughter to j
him. This he had merited by killing Goliath, for
it was promised by proclamation to him that should
do that exploit; ( ch . 17. 25.) but David was so
modest, as npt to demand it, and now, when Saul
proposed it, it was with design of mischief to him,
to make him venture upon hazardous attempts,
saying in his heart, Let the hand of the Philistines
be ufion him, hoping they would sometime or other
be the death of him, yet how could lie expect this,
when he saw that God was with him?
4. He did what he could to provoke him to dis¬
content and mutiny, by breaking his promise with
him, and giving his daughter to another, when the
time was come that she should have been given to
him, v. 19. This was as great an affront as he
could possibly put upon him, and touched him both
in his honour and in his love: he therefore thought
David’s resentments of it would break out in some
indecency or other, in word or deed, which might
give him an advantage against him to take him
off by course of law. Thus evil men seek mis¬
chief.
5. When he was disappointed in this, he proffer¬
ed him his other daughter, (who it seems had a se¬
cret kindness for David, v. 20. ) but with this de¬
sign, that she might be a snare to him, v. 21. (1.)
Perhaps he hoped that she would, even after her
marriage to David, take part with her father
against her husband, and give him an opportunity
of doing him an unkindness. However, (2.) The
condition of the marriage, he hoped, would be his
destruction; for (so zealous will Saul seem against
the Philistines) the conditions of the marriage must
be, that he killed a hundred Philistines, and, as
proofs that those he had slain were uncircumcised,
he must bring in their foreskins cut off; this would
be a just reproach upon the Philistines, who hated
circumcision, as it was an ordinance of God; and
perhaps David, in doing this, would the more exas¬
perate them against him, and make them seek to
be revenged on him, which was the thing that Saul
desired and designed, much more than to be aven¬
ged on the Philistines: For Saul thought to make
David fall by the hand of the Philistines, v. 25.
See here, [1.1 What cheats bad men put upon
themselves. Saul’s conscience would not suffer
him, except when the evil spirit was actually upon
him, to aim at David’s life himself, for even he
could not but conceive horror at the thought of
murdering such an innocent and excellent person;
but he thought that to expose him to the Philistines
had nothing bad in it; Let not my hand be upon
him, but the hand of the Philistines; whereas the
malicious design against him was as truly murder
before God, as if he had slain him with his own
hands. [2.] What cheats they put upon the world.
Saul pretended extraordinary kindness for David,
even then when he aimed at his ruin, and was ac¬
tually plotting it: Thou shalt be my Son-in-law,
says he, (y. 21.) notwithstanding he hated him im¬
placably. Perhaps David refers to this, when (Ps.
55. 21.) he speaks of his enemy, as one whose
words were smoother than butter, but war was in
his heart. It is probable that Saul’s employing his
servants to persuade David to enter into a treaty of
a match with his daughter Michal, (xa 22.) arose
from an apprehension that either his having cheat¬
ed him about his elder daughter, (i». 19.) or the
hardness of the terms he intended now to propose,
would make him decline it.
II. See how David conducted himself, when the
tide of Saul’s displeasure ran thus high against
him.
1. He behaved himself wisely in all his ways, v.
14. He perceived Saul’s jealousy of him, which
made him very cautious and circumspect in every
thing he said and did, and careful to give no offence.
He did not complain of hard measure, nor make
himself the head of a party, but managed all the
affairs he was intrusted with, as one that made it
his business to do real sen ice to his king and coun¬
try, looking upon that to be the end of his prefer¬
ment. And then the Lord was with him to give hint
success in all his undertakings. Though he con¬
tracted Saul’s ill-will by it, yet he obtained God’s
favour. Compare this with "Ps. 101. 2. where it is
David’s promise, I will behave myselj wisely ; and
that promise he here performed; and it is his pray
er, Ol when wilt thou come unto me? And that
prayer God here answered, the Lord was with him.
However blind Fortune may seem to favour fools.
God will own and bless those that behave them
selves wisely.
I. SAMUEL, XIX.
309
2. When it was proposed to him to be son-in-
law to the king, he once and again received the
propose with all possible modesty and humility.
When Saul proposed his eldest daughter to him,
(v. 18.) he said, Who am I, and what is my life?
When the courtiers proposed the younger, he took
no notice of the affront Saul had given him in dis¬
posing of the elder from him, but continued in the
same mind; {y. 23.) Heemeth it a light thing to you
to be a king's son-in-law , seeing that I am a floor
man and lightly esteemed? He knew Michal loved
him, and yet did not offer to improve his interest in
her affections, for the gaining of her without her
father’s consent, but waited till it was proposed to
him. And then see, (1.) How highly he speaks
of the honour offered him. To be son-in-law to the
king! Though the king was but an upstart, in his
original as mean as himself, in his management no
better than he should be, yet, being a crowned
head, he speaks of him and the royal family with
all due respect. Note, Religion is so far from teach¬
ing us, that it does not allow us to be rude and
unmannerly. We must render honour to whom
honour is due. (2.) How humbly he speaks of
himself. Who am I? This did not proceed from
a mean, abject, sneaking spirit, for when there was
occasion, he made it appear that he had as high a
sense of honour as most men; nor was it from his
jealousy of Saul, (though he had reason enough to
fear a snake under the green grass,) but from his
true and deep humility. U ho am I? A floor man
and lightly esteemed ! David had as much reason
as any man to value himself. He was of an ancient
and honourable family of Judah, a comely per¬
son, a great statesman and soldier; his achieve¬
ments were great, for he had won Goliath’s head
and Michal’s heart: he knew himself destined by
the divine counsels to the throne of Israel, and yet,
Who am I, and what is my life? Note, It well
becomes us, however God has advanced us, always
to have low thoughts of ourselves. He that hum-
bleth himself, shall be exalted. And if David thus
magnified the honour of being son-in-law to the
king, how should we magnify the honour of being
sons (not in law, but in gospel) to the King of kings !
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestow¬
ed ufion us! Who are we, that we should be thus
dignified?
3. When the slaying of a hundred Philistines
was made the condition of David’s marrying Saul’s
daughter, he readily closed with it; ( v . 26.) it
fileased David well to be the king's son-in-law upon
those terms; and before the time given him for the
action was expired, he doubled the demand, and
slew two hundred, v. 27. He would not seem to
suspect that Saul designed his hurt by it, (though
he had reason enough,) but rather, he would act as
if Saul had meant to consult his honour, and there¬
fore cheerfully undertook it, as became a brave
soldier and a true lover, though we may suppose it
uneasy to Michal. David hereby discovered like¬
wise, (1.) A great confidence in the divine protec¬
tion; he knew God vyas with him, and therefore,
whatever Saul hoped, David did not fear falling by
the Philistines, though he must needs expose him¬
self much by such an undertaking as this. (2. ) A
great zeal for the good of his country, which he
would not decline any occasion of doing service to,
though with the hazard of his life. (3.) A right
notion of honour, which consists not so much in
being preferred, as in deserving to be so. David
was then pleased with the thoughts of being the
king’s son-in-law, when he found the honour set at
this high price; being more solicitous how to merit
it, than how to obtain it; nor could he wear it with
satisfaction, till he had won it.
4. Even after he was married, he continued his
?ood services to Israel. When the princes of the
hilistines began to move towards another war,
David was ready to oppose them, and behaved
himself more wisely than all the servatits of Saul,
v. 30. The law dispensed with men from going to
war the first year after they were married, (Deut.
24. 5.) but David loved his country too well to
make use of that dispensation. Many that have
showed themselves forward to serve the public
when they have been in pursuit of preferment, have
declined it when they have gained their point; but
David acted from more generous principles.
Lastly, Observe how God brought good to Da¬
vid out of Saul’s projects against him. 1. Saul gave
him his daughter to be a snare to him, but, in this
respect, that marriage was a kindness to him, that
his being Saul’s son-in-law, made his succeeding
him much the less invidious, especially when so
many of his sons were slain with him, cli. 31. 2.
Saul thought, by putting him upon dangerous ser¬
vices, to have him taken off, but that very thing
confirmed his interest in the people; for the more
he did against the Philistines, the better they loved
him, so that his name was much set by, (t>. 30.)
which would make his coming to the crown the
more easy. Thus God makes even the wrath of
man to praise him, and serves his designs of kind¬
ness to his own people by it.
CHAP. XIX.
Immediately after David’s marriage, which should have
secured him Saul’s affection, we find his troubles com¬
ing upon him faster than ever, and Saul’s enmity to him
the cause of all. His death was vowed, and four fair
escapes of his from the hurtful sword of Saul, we have
an account of in this chapter. The first by the prudent
mediation of Jonathan, v. 1 . . 7. The second by his
own quickness, v. 8 . . 10. The third by Michal’s fi¬
delity, v. 11 . . 17. The fourth by Samuel’s protection,
and a change, for the present, wrought upon Saul, v.
18.-24. Thus God has many ways of preserving his
people. Providence is never at a loss.
1 . 4 ND Saul spake to Jonathan his son,
and to all his servants, that they
should kill David. 2. But Jonathan, Saul’s
son, delighted much in David : and Jona¬
than told David, saying, Saul my father
seeketh to kill thee. Now, therefore, I pray
thee, take heed to thyself until the morning,
and abide in a secret place , and hide thy¬
self: 3. And 1 will go out and stand be¬
side my father in the field where thou art,
and I will commune with my father of
thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.
4. And Jonathan spake good of David unto
Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not
the king sin against his servant, against
David; because he hath not sinned against
thee, and because his works have been to
thee-ward very good. 5. For he did put
his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine,
and the Lord wrought a great salvation for
all Israel : thou sawest it, and didst rejoice ;
wherefore then wilt thou sin against inno¬
cent blood, to slay David without a cause ?
6. And- Saul hearkened unto the voice of
Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the Lord
liveth, he shall not be slain. 7. And Jona¬
than called David, and Jonathan showed
310
L SAMUEL, XIX.
him ail those things: and Jonathan brought
David to Saul, and he was in his presence
as in times past.
Saul and Jonathan appear here in their different
characters, with reference to David.
I. Never was enemy so unreasonably cruel as
Saul. He spake to his son and all his servants,
that they should kill David, v. 1. His projects to
take him off, had failed, and therefore he proclaims
him an outlaw, and charges all about him, upon
their allegiance, to take the first opportunity to kill
David. It is strange that he was not ashamed thus
to avow his malice, when he could give no re's—
for it; and that, knowing that all his servants ho m
him, for so he had said himself, ( ch . 18. 22.) he
was not afraid of provoking them to rebel by this
bloody oi der. Either malice was not then so poli¬
tic, or justice was not so corrupted, as it has been
since, or else Saul would hare had him indicted,
and have suborned witnesses to swear treason
against him, and so have had him taken off, as Na¬
both was, by colour of law: but there is least dan¬
ger from this undesigned malice. It was strange
that he who knew how well Jonathan loved him,
should expect him to kill him; but he thought, be¬
cause he was heir to the crown, he must needs be
as envious at David as himself was. And Provi¬
dence ordered it thus, that he might befriend Da¬
vid’s safety.
II. Never was friend so surprisingly kind as Jona¬
than, A friend in need w a friend indeed: such a
one Jonathan was to David. He not only continued
to delight much in him, though David’s glory
eclipsed his, but bravely appeared for him now
that the stream ran so strong ag-unst him.
1. He took care for his present security, by
letting him know his danger; (?\ 2.) “ Take heed
to thyself, and keep out of harm’s way.” Jonathan
knew not but some of the sc-rvants might be either
so obsequious to Saul, or so envious at David, as to
put the orders into execution which Saul had given,
if they could light on David.
2. He took pains to pacify his father and recon¬
cile him to David. The next morning, he ventured
to commune with him concerning David; (v. 3.)
not that night, either because he observed Saul to
be drunk, and not fit to be spoken to, or because he
hoped that, when he had slept upon it, he would
himself revoke the order, or because he could not
have an opportunity of speaking to him till morn¬
ing. His intercession for David was, (1.) Very
prudent. It was managed with a great deal of the
meekness of wisdom; and he showed himself faith¬
ful to his friend by speaking good of him, though he
was in danger of incurring his father’s displeasure
by it. A rare instance of valuable friendship! He
pleads, [1.] The good serv ices David had done to
the public, and particularly to Saul; His work has
been to thee-ward very good, v. 4. Witness the
relief he had given him against his distemper with
his harp, and his bold encounter with Goliath, that
memorable action, which did, in effect, save Saul’s
life and kingdom; he appeals to himself concerning
that, Thou thyself sawest it, and didst rejoice. In
that, and other instances, it appeared that David
was a favourite of Heaven and a friend to Israel, as
well as a good servant to Saul, for by him the Lord
wrought a great salvation for all Israel; so that to
order him to be slain, was not only base ingratitude
to so good a servant, but a great affront to God, and
a great injury to the public. [2. ] He pleads his in-
noeency: though he had formerly done many good
offices, yet if ne had now been chargeable with any
crimes, it had been another matter, but he has not
shined against thee; (v. 4.) his blood is innocent,
I (t>. 5.) and if he be slain, it is without cause. And
Jonathan had therefore reason to protest against it,
because he could not entail any thing upon his fa¬
mily more pernicious than the guilt of innocent
blood. (2.) His intercession, being thus prudent,
was prevalent. God inclined the heart of Saul to
hearken to the voice of Jonathan. Note, We must
be willing to hear reason, and to take all reproof
and good advice even from our inferiors; parents
from their own children. How forcible are right
words! Saul was, for the present, so far convinced
of the unreasonableness of his enmity to David,
that, [1.] He recalled the bloody warrant for his
execution; ( v . 6.) As the Lord liveth, he shall not
! be slain. Whether Saul swore here with due
j solemnity or no, does not appear; perhaps he did,
and the matter was of such moment as to deserve
it, and of such uncertainty as to need it; but, at
other times, Saul swore rashly and profanely,
which made the sincerity of this oath justly ques¬
tionable: for it may be feared that those who can so
far jest with an oath as to make a by-word of it,
and prostitute it to a trifle, have not such a due sense
of the obligation of it, but that, to serve a turn,
they will prostitute it to a lie. Some suspect that
Saul said and swore this with a malicious design to
bring David within his reach again, intending to take
the first opportunity to slay him: but as bad as Saul
was, we can scarcely think so ill of him; and there¬
fore we suppose that he spake as he thought, for
the present, but the convictions soon wore off, and
his corruptions prevailed and triumphed over them.
[2.] He renewed the grant of his place at court.
Jonathan brought him to Saul, and he was in his
presence as in times f last , (y. 7. ) hoping that now
the storm was over, and that his friend Jonathan
would be instrumental to keep his father always in
this good mind.
8. And there was war again : and David
went out and fought with the Philistines,
and slew them with a great slaughter; and
they fled from him. 9. And the evil spirit
from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat
in his house with his javelin in his hand :
and David played with his hand. 10. And
Saul sought to smite David even to the
wall with the javelin; but he slipped away
out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the
javelin into the wall: and David fled, and
escaped that night.
Here,
I. David continues his good services to his king
and country. Though Saul had requited him evil
for good, and even his usefulness was the very thing
for which Saul envied him, yet he did not therefore
retire in sullenness, and decline public service.
Those that are ill paid for doing good, yet must not
be weary in wc//-doing, remembering what a boun¬
tiful Benefactor our heavenly Father is, even to the
froward and unthankful.
Notwithstanding the many affronts Saul had given
to David, yet we find him, (1.) As bold as ever in
using his sword for the service of his country, v. 8.
The war broke out again with the Philistines,
which gave David occasion again to signalize him
self: it was with a great deal of bravery that he
charged them; he came off victorious, slaying many,
and putting the rest to flight. (2.) As cheerful as
ever in using his harp for the service of his prince.
When Saul was disturbed with his former fits of me¬
lancholy, David flayed with his hand, v. 9. He
might have pleaded that that was a piece of ser
I. SAMUEL, XIX. 31!
vice now below him; but an humble good man will
think nothing below him by which he may do good.
He might have objected the danger he was in the
last time he did this office for Saul, ch. 18. 10. But
he had learned to render good for evil, and to trust
God with his safety in the way of his duty. See
how David was affected when h s enemy was sick;
(Ps. 35. 13, 14.) which, perhaps, refers to Saul’s
sickness.
2. Saul continues his malice against David. He
that but the other day had sworn by his Maker,
that he should not be slain, now endeavours to slay
him himself. So implacable, so incurable, is the
enmity of the seed of the serpent against that of
the woman; so deceitful and desperately wicked is
the heart of man without the grace of God, Jer.
17. 9. The fresh honours David had won in this
last war with the Philistines, instead of extinguish¬
ing Saul’s ill-will to him, and confirming his recon¬
ciliation, revived his envy and exasperated him yet
more. And when he indulged this wicked passion,
no mari el that the evils/iirit came upon him; (v. 9.)
for when we let the sun go down on our wrath, we
give place to the devil, (Eph. 4. 26, 27.) we make
room for him and invite him. Discomposure of
mind, though helped forward by the agency of Sa¬
tan, commonly owe their original to men’s own sins
and follies. Saul’s fear and jealousy made him a
torment to himself, so that he could not sit in his
house without a javelin in his hand, pretending it
was for his preservation, but designing it for Da- I
vid’s destruction; for he endeavoured to nail him to
the wall, running at him so violently, that he struck
the javelin into the wall, v. 10. So strong was the
devil in him, so strong his own rage and passion.
Perhaps he thought, if he had killed him now, he
had been excusable both before God and man, as
being non compos mentis — not right in his mind,
and that it would have been imputed to his distrac¬
tion. But God cannot be deceived by pretences,
whatever men may be.
3. God continues his care of David, and still 1
watches over him for good. Saul missed his blow;
David was too quick for him and fled, and by a kind
providence escaped that night . To these preser¬
vations, among others, David often refers in his
Psalms, when he speaks of God being his Shield
and Buckler, his Rock and Fortress, and delivering
his soul from death.
11. Saul also sent messengers unto Da¬
vid’s house, to watch him, and to slay him
in th1 morning : and Michal, David’s wife,
told him, saying, If thou save not thy life
to-night, to-morrow thou shalt be slain. 12.
So Michal let David down through a win¬
dow : and he went, and fled, and escaped.
13. And Michal took an image, and laid it
in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair
for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.
1 4. And when Saul sent messengers to take
David, she said, He is sick. 15. And Saul
sent the messengers again to see David,
saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that
I may slay him. 16. And when the mes¬
sengers were come in, behold, there teas an
image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’
hair for his bolster. 17. And Saul said
unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me
so, and sont away mine enemy, that he is
escaped ? And Michal answered Saul, ;
He said unto me, Let me go ; why should I
kill thee ?
Here is,
I. Saul’s further design of mischief to David.
When he had escaped the javelin, supposing he
went straight to his own house, as indeed he did, he
sent some of his guards after him to lay wait at the
door of his house, and to assassinate him in the
morning as soon as he stirred out, v. 11. Josephus
says, the design was to seize him, and to hurry him
before a court of justice that was ordered to con¬
demn him, and put him to death, as a traitor; but
we are here told, it was a shorter way they were to
take with him, they were ordered to slay him.
Well might David complain that his enemies were
bloody men, as he did in the Psalm which he pen¬
ned at this time, and upon this occasion, (Ps. 59.)
when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill
him. See v. 2, 3, and 7. He complains that
swords were in their lips.
II. David’s wonderful deliverance cut of this dan¬
ger; Michal was the instrument of it, whom Saul
gav e him to be a snare to him, but she proved his
protector and helper; often is the devil out-shot
with his own bow. How Michal came to know the
danger he was in, does not appear; perhaps she had
notice sent her from court, or, rather, was herself
aware of the soldiers about the house, when they
were going to bed, though they kept so still and si¬
lent, that chey said, Who does hear ? as Da\ id takes
notice of this in that Psalm, v. 7. She, knowing
her father’s great indignation at David, soon sus¬
pected the design, and bestirred herself for her
husband’s safety.
1. She got David out of the danger. She told
him how imminent the peril was, ( v . 11.) 7'o mor¬
row thou wilt be slain. She told him, as Josephus
paraphrases it, that if the sun saw him there next
morning it would never see him more; and then
put him in a way of escape. David himself was
better versed in the art of fighting than of flying,
and had it been lawful, it would have been easy for
him to have cleared his house, by dint of sword,
from those that haunted it, but Michal let him down
through a window, (v. 12.) all the doors being
guarded; and so he fled and escaped. And now it
was, that, either in his own closet before he went,
or in the hiding-place to which he fled, he penned
that fifty-ninth Psalm, which shows that, in his
fright and hurry, his mind was composed, and, in
this great danger, his faith was strong and fixed < n
God; and whereas the plot was to slay him in the
morning, he speaks there with the greatest assur¬
ance, (x\ 16.) I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the
morning.
2. She practised a deception upon Saul and those
whom he employed to be the instruments of his
cruelty. When the doors of the house were open¬
ed in the morning, and David did not appear, the
messengers would search the house for him; and
did so. But Michal told them he was sick in bed,
(y. 14.) and if they would not believe her, they
might see; for (v. 13.) she had put a wooden image
in the bed, and wrapt it up close and warm as if it
had been David asleep, and not in a condition to be
spoken to: the goat’s hair about the image was to
resemble David’s hair, the better to impose upon
them. Michal can by no means be justified in tell¬
ing a lie, and covering it thus with a cheat; God’s
truth needed not her lie: but she intended hereby
to keep Saul in suspense for a while, that David
might have time to secure himself, not doubt'ng but
those messengers would pursue him, if they found
he w 's gone. The messengers had so much huma¬
nity as not to offer him any disturbance, when they
heard he w^s sick; for to them that are in that
312
l. SAMUEL, XIX.
misery, pity should be shown; but Saul, when he
heard it, gave positive orders that he should be
brought to him, sick or well: (t>. 15.) Bring him to
me in the bed that I may slay him. It was base and
barbarous thus to triumph over a sick man; and to
vow the death of one who, for aught he knew, was
dying by the hand of nature. So earnestly did he
thirst after his blood, and so greedy was his revenge,
that he could not be pleased to see him dead, unless
he himself was the death of him; though a while
ago he said, Let not mine hand be upon him. Thus
when men lay the reins on the neck of their pas¬
sions, they grow more and more outrageous. When
the messengers were sent again, the cheat was dis¬
covered, v. 16. Rut by this time it was to be hoped
that David was safe, and therefore Michal was not
then much concerned at the discovery. Saul chid
her for helping David to escape; (v. 17.) Why hast
thou deceived me so? What a base spirit was Saul
of, to expect that, because Michal was his daugh¬
ter, she must therefore betray her own husband to
him unjustly! Ought she not to forsake and forget
her father and her father’s house, to cleave to her
husband! Those that themselves will beheld by
no bonds of reason or religion, are ready to think
that others should as easily break those bonds. In
answer to Saul’s chiding, Michal is not so careful of
her husband’s reputation as she had been of his per¬
son, when she makes this her excuse, He said, Let
me go; why should I kill thee? As her insinuating
that she should have hindered his flight, was false,
(it was she that put him upon it and furthered it,)
so it was an unjust unworthy reflection upon him, to
suggest that he threatened to kill her, if she would
not let him go, and might confirm Saul in his rage
against him. David was far from being so barba¬
rous a man and so imperious a husband, so brutish
in his resolves, and so haughty in his menaces, as
she here represented him. But David suffered both
from friends and foes, and so did the Son of David.
1 8. So David fled, and escaped, and came
to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that
Saul had done to him : and he and Samuel
went and dwelt in Naioth. 19. And it
was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at
Naioth in Ramah. 20. And Saul sent
messengers to take David : and when they
saw the company of the prophets prophesy¬
ing, and Samuel standing as appointed over
them, the Spirit of God was upon the mes¬
sengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
21. And when it was told Saul, he sent
other messengers, and they prophesied like¬
wise. And Saul sent messengers again the
third time, and they prophesied also. 22.
Then went he also to Ramah, and came to
a great well that is in Seclui : and he asked
and said, Where are Samuel and David ?
And one said, Behold, they he at Naioth in
Ramah. 23. And he went thither to Naioth
in Ramah : and the Spirit of God was upon
him also, and he went on and prophesied,
until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24.
And he stripped off his clothes also, and
prophesied before Samuel in like manner,
and lay down naked all that day, and all
that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul
also among the prophets !
Here is,
I. David’s place of refuge. Being got away m
the night from his own house, he fled not to Beth¬
lehem to his relations, or to any of the cities of Is¬
rael that had caressed and cried him up, to make
an interest in them for his own preservation; but he
ran straight to Samuel, and told him all that Saul
had done to him, v. 18. 1. Because Samuel was
the man that had given him assurance of the crown;
and his faith in that assurance now beginning to fail,
and he being ready to say in his haste, (or, in his
flight, as some read it, Ps. 116. 11.) jdll men are
liars, (“not only Saul that promised me my life,
but Samuel himself that promised me the throne,”)
whither should he go but to Samuel, for such en¬
couragements, in this day of distress, as would sup¬
port his faith? In flying to Samuel, he made God
his Refuge, trusting in the shadow of his wings;
where else can a good man think himself safe? 2.
Because Samuel, as a prophet, was best able to ad¬
vise him what to do in this day cf his distress. In
the Psalm he penned the night before, he had lifted
up his prayer to God; and now he takes the first
opportunity of waiting upon Samuel, to receive di¬
rection and instruction from God. If we expect
answers of peace to our prayers, we must have our
ears open to God’s Avoid, v. 3. Because Avitb
Samuel there Avas a college of prophets Avith Avhom
he might join in praising God, and the pleasure of
that would be the greatest relief imaginable to him
in his present distress, he met with little rest or
satisfaction in Saul’s court, and therefore Avent to
seek it in Samuel’s church. And, doubtless, Avhat
little pleasure is to be had in this world, they have
it, that live a life of communion with God; so that
David retired in the time of trouble, Ps. 27. 4. . 6.
II. David’s protection in this place. He and
Samuel went and dwelt (or lodged ) in JVaioth,
where the school of the prophets Avas, in Ramah,
’n a privileged place, for the Philistines them-
se would not disturb that meeting, ch. 10. 10.
But Oaul, having notice of it by some of his spies,
(v. 19.) set officers to seize David, v. 20. When
they did not bring him, he sent more; when they
returned not, he sent the third time; (v. 21.) and
hearing no tidings of these, he went himself, v. 22.
So impatient Avas he in his thirst after David’s
blood, so restless to compass his design against him,
though baffled by one providence after another,
that he could not perceive that David Avas under
the special protection of Heaven. It was below
the king, to go himself on such an errand as this;
but persecutors Avill stoop to any thing, and stick at
nothing, to gratify their malice. Saul lays aside all
public business to hunt David. Hoav was David
delivered, now that he was just ready to fall (like
his own lamb formerly) into the mouth cf the lion!
Not as he delivered his lamb, by slaying the lion,
or as Elijah was delivered, by consuming the mes¬
sengers Avith fire from heaven, but by turning the
lions for the present into lambs.
1. When the messengers came into the congre¬
gation where David Avas among the prophets, the
Spirit of God came upon them, and they prophe¬
sied; that is, they joined with the rest in praising
God. Instead of seizing David, they themselves
Avere seized. And thus, (l.)God secured David,
for either they Avere put into such an ecstasy by the
spirit of prophecy, that they could not think of any
thing else, and so forgot their errand, and never
minded David; or they were by it put, for the pre¬
sent, into so good a frame, that they could not en¬
tertain the thought of doing so bad a thing. (2. )
He put an honour upon the sons of the prophets, and
the communion of saints, and showed Iioav he can,
when he pleases, strike an awe upon the Avorst of
men, by the tokens of his presence in the assemblies
313
1. SAMUEL, XX.
of the faithful, and force them to acknowledge, that
Goa is with them of a truth, 1 Cor. 14. 24, 25. See
also the benefit of religious societies, and what good
impressions may be made by them on minds that
seemed unapt to receive such impressions. And
where may the influence of the Spirit be expected,
but in the congregations of the saints? (3.) He
magnified his power over the spirits of men. He
that made the heart and tongue, can manage both
to serve his own purposes. Balaam prophesied of
the happiness of Israel, whom he would have
cursed; and some of the Jewish writers think these
messengers prophesied of the advancement of Da¬
vid to the throne of Israel.
2. Saul himself was likewise seized with the spirit
of prophecy, before he came to the place. One
would have thought that so bad a man as he had
been in no danger of being turned into a prophet;
yet, when God will take this way of protecting Da¬
vid, even Saul is no sooner come (as Bishop Hall
expresses it) within smell of the smoke of Naioth,
but he prophesies, ^s his messengers did, v. 23.
He stripped off his royal robe and warlike habili¬
ments, because they were either too fine, or too
heavy, for this service, and fell into a trance, as it
should seem, or into a rapture, which continued all
that day and night. The saints at Damascus were
delivered from the rage of the New Testament
Saul, by a change wrought on his spirit, but of an¬
other nature from this. This was only amazing,
but that sanctifying. This for a day, that for ever.
Note, Many have great gifts, and yet no grace;
prophesy in Christ’s name, and yet are disowned by
him, Matth. 7. 22. Now the proverb recurs, Is
Saul among the fir o fihets? S tech. 10. 12. Then it
was different from what it had been, but now con¬
trary. He is rejected of God, and actuated by an
evil spirit, and yet among the firofihets.
CHAP. XX.
David, having several times narrowly escaped Saul’s fury,
begins to consider at last, whether it were not necessary
for him to retire into the country, and take up arms in his
own defence. But he will not do so daring a thing, with¬
out consulting his faithful friend Jonathan ; how that was
done, and what passed between them, we have an account
in this chapter, where we have as surprising instances of
supernatural love, as we had in the chapter before of un¬
natural hatred. I. David complains to Jonathan of his
present distress, and engaged him to be his friend, v. 1 . .8.
II. Jonathan faithfully promises to get and give him in¬
telligence how his father stood affected to him, and re¬
news the covenant of friendship with him, v. 9 . . 23.
III. Jonathan, upon trial, finds, to his grief, that his fa¬
ther was implacably enraged against David, v. 24.. 34.
IV. He gives David notice of this, according to the ap¬
pointment between them, v. 35.. 42.
1. A ND David fled from Naioth in Ra-
mah, and came and said before
Jonathan, What have I done ? what is mine
iniquity ? and what is my sin before thy fa¬
ther, that he seeketh my life ? 2. And he
said unto him, God forbid : thou shalt not
die : behold, my father will do nothing, either
great or small, but that he will show it me ;
and why should my father hide this thing
from me ? it is not so. 3. And David sware
moreover, and said, Thy father certainly
knoweth that I have found grace in thine
eyes ; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know
this, lest he be grieved : but truly, as the
Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is
but a step between me and death. 4. Then
Vol. ii. — 2 R
said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy
soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. 5.
And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to¬
morrow is the new moon, and I should not
fail to sit with the king at meat ; but let me
go, that I may hide myself in the field unto
the third day at even. 6. If thy father at all
miss me, then say, David earnestly asked
leave of me, that he might run to Beth-lehem
his city : for there is a yearly sacrifice there
for all the family. 7. If he say thus, It is
well ; thy servant shall have peace : but if
he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is
determined by him. 8. Therefore thou
shalt deal kindly with thy servant ; for thou
hast brought thy servant into a covenant of
the Lord with thee : notwithstanding, if
there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself ; for
why shouldest thou bring me to thy father ?
Here,
I. David makes a representation to Jonathan of
his present troubles. While Saul lay bound by his
trance at Naioth, David escaped to the court, and
got to speak with Jonathan. And it was happy for
him, that he had such a friend at court, when he
had such an enemy on the throne. If there be
those that hate and despise us, let us not be disturb¬
ed at that, for there are those also that love and
respect us; God hath set the one against the
other, and so must we. Jonathan was a friend that
loved at all times; loved David as well now in dis¬
tress, and bid him as welcome into his arms, as he
had done when he was in his triumph; (c/i. 18. 1.)
and he was a brother that was born for adversity,
Pi 'ov. 17. 17. Now, 1. David appeals to Jonathan
himself concerning his innocency, and he needed
not say much to him for the proof of that, only de •
sires him, that if he knew of any just offence he had
given his father, he would tell him, that he might
humble himself, and beg his pardon. What have
I done? v. 1. 2. He endeavours to convince him,
that, notwithstanding his innocency, Saul sought his
life. Jonathan, from a principle of filial respect to
his father, was very loath to believe that he de¬
signed, or would ever do, so wicked a .thing, v. 2.
He the rather hoped so, because he knew nothing
of any such design; and he had usually been made
privy to all his counsels. Jonathan, as became a
dutiful son, endeavoured to cover his father’s shame,
as far as was consistent with justice and fidelity to
David. Charity is not forward to think evil of any,
especially of a parent, 1 Cor. 13. 5. David there¬
fore gives him the assurance of an oath concerning
his own danger; swears the peace upon Saul, that
he was in fear of his life, by him; “ As the Lord
liveth, than which nothing more sure in itself; and
as thy soul liveth, than which nothing more certain
to thee; whatever thou thinkest, there is but a str/i
between me and death,” v. 3. And as for Saul’s c( n-
cealing it from Jonathan, it was easy to account for
that, he knew the friendship between him and Da¬
vid; and therefore, though in other things he advised
with him, yet not in that. None more fit than Jona¬
than to serve him in every design that was just and
honourable, but he knew him to be a man of more
virtue than to be his confidant in so base a design as
the murder of David.
II. Jonathan genel'ously offers him his service;
(v. 4.) Whatsoever thou desirest, he needed not in¬
sert the provision of lawful and honest, (for he knew
David too well to think he would ask any thing that
314
I. SAMUEL, XX.
was otherwise,) I will even do it for thee. This is
true friendship. Thus Christ testifies his love to us,
Ask , and it shall be done for you: and we must tes¬
tify our’s to him, by keeping his commandments.
III. David only desires him to satisfy himself, and
then to satisfy him, whether Saul did really design
his death or no. Perhaps David proposed this, more
for Jonathan’s conviction than his own, for he him¬
self was well satisfied.
1 The method of trial he proposes, was very na¬
tural, and would certainly discover how Saul stood
affected t < him. The two next days, Saul was to
dine publicly, upon occasion of the solemnities of
the new moon, when extraordinary sacrifices were
offered, and feasts made upon the sacrifices. Saul
was rejected of God, and the Spirit of the Lord was
departed from him, and vet he kept up his obser¬
vance of the holy feasts. There may be the remains
of external devotion, where there is nothing but the
ruins of real virtue. At these solemn feasts, Saul
had either all his children to sit with him, and Da¬
vid had a seat as one of them; or all his great offi¬
cers, and David had a seat as one of them. How¬
ever it was, David resolved his seat should be empty
(and that it never used to be at a sacred feast) those
two days, ( y . 5. ) and he would abscond till the so¬
lemnity was over, and put it upon this issue; If Saul
admitted an excuse for his absence, and dispensed
with it, he would conclude he had changed his mind,
and was reconciled to him; but if he resented it,
and was put into a passion by it, it was easy to con¬
clude he designed him a mischief, since it was cer¬
tain he did not love him so well as to desire his pre¬
sence for any other end, tha*n he might have an
opportunity to do him a mischief, v. 7.
2. The excuse he desires Jonathan to make for
his absence, we have reason to think, was true; that
he was invited by his elder brother to Beth-lehem,
his own city, to celebrate this new moon with his
relations there, because beside the monthly solem¬
nity, in which they held communion with all Israel,
they had now a yearly sacrifice, and a holy feast
upon it, for all the family, v. 6. They kept a day
of thanksgiving in their family for the comforts they
enjoyed, and a prayer, for the continuance of them.
By this it appeal s that the family David was of, was a
very religious family, a house that had a church in it.
3. The arguments he uses with Jonathan, to per¬
suade him to do this kindness for him, are very
pressing, v. 8. (1.) That he had entered into a
league of friendship with him, and it was Jonathan’s
own proposal. Thou hast brought thy servant into
a covenant of the Lord with thee. (2.) That he
would by no means urge him to espouse his cause,
if he was not sure that it was a righteous cause;
“ If there be iniquity in me, I am so far from desi¬
ring or expecting that the covenant between us
should bind thee to be a confederate with me in that
iniquity, that I freely release thee from it, and wish
that thy hand may be first upon me: slay me thy¬
self ” No honest man will urge his friend to do a
dishonest thing for his sake.
9. And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee:
for if I knew certainly that evil were deter¬
mined by my father to come upon thee, then
would not T tell it thee ? 1 0. Then said Da¬
vid to Jonathan, Who shall tell me ? or what
if thy father answer thee roughly ? 11. And
Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let
us go out into the field. And they went out
both of them into the field. 12. And Jona¬
than said unto David, O Loud God of Is¬
rael, when I have sounded my father about
to-morrow any time, or the third day, and
behold, if there he good towards David, and
I then send not unto thee, and show it thee,
13. The Lord do so and much more to
Jonathan : but if it please my father to do
thee evil, then I will show it thee, and send
thee away, that thou mayest go in peace :
and the Lord be with thee, as lie hath been
with my father. 14. And thou shalt not
only while yet 1 live show me the kindness
of the Lord, that I die not: 15. But also
thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from
my house for ever : no, not when the Lord
hath cut off the enemies of David every
one from the face of the earth. 16. So
Jonathan made a covenant with the house
of David, saying , Let the Lord even re¬
quire it at the hand of David’s enemies.
1 7. And Jonathan caused David to sw ear
again, because he loved him : for he loved .
him as he loved his own soul. 18. Then
Jonathan said to David, To-morrow is the
new' moon : and thou shalt be missed, be¬
cause thy seat will be empty. 1 9. And
when thou hast stayed three days, then thou
shalt go down quickly, and come to the place
where thou didst hide thyself w hen the bu¬
siness was in hand , and shalt remain by the
stone Ezel. 20. And I will shoot three ar¬
rows on the side thereof as though I shot at
a mark. 21. And behold, I w ill send a lad,
saying , Go, find out the arrows. If I ex¬
pressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows
are on this side of thee, take them ; then
come thou : for there is peace to thee, and
no hurt ; as the Lord liveth. 22. But if I
say thus unto the young man, Behold, the
arrow's are beyond thee ; go thy way : for
the Lord hath sent thee away. 23. And
as totiching the matter which thou and 1
have spoken of, behold, the Lord be be¬
tween thee and me for ever.
Here,
I. Jonathan protests his fidelity to David in his
distress. Notwithstanding the strong confidence
David had in Jonathan, yet, because he might have
some reason to fear that his father’s influence, and
his own interest, should make him warp, or grow
cool toward him, Jonathan thought it requisite so¬
lemnly to renew the professions of his friendship to
him; ( v . 9.) “ Far be it from thee to think that I
suspect thee of any crime, for which I should either
slay thee myself, or deliver thee to my father; no,
if thou hast any jealousy of that, come, let us go
into the field, v. 11. and talk it over more fully.”
He does not challenge him to the field to fight him
for an affront, but to fix him in his friendship. He
faithfully promises him that he would let him know
how, upon trial, he found his father affected toward
him, and would make the matter neither better nor
worse than it was. “ If there be good toward thee,
I will show it thee, that thou mayest be easy: (y. 12.)
it evil, I will send thee away, that thou mayest be
safe;” (v. 13.) and thus would help to deliver him
I. SAMUEL, XX.
315
from the evil, if it were real, and from the fear of
evil, if it were but imaginary. For the confirma¬
tion of his promise, he appeals to God, 1. Asa wit¬
ness; ( v . 12.) “ 0 Lord God of Israel, thou know-
est 1 mean sincerely, and think as I speak.” The
strength of his passion made the manner of his
speaking concise and abrupt. 2. As a judge; “ The
Lord du so, and much more , to Jonathan, v. 13. if
I speak deceitfully, or break my word with my
friend:” he expresses himself thus solemnly, that
David might be abundantly assured of his sincerity.
And thus God has confirmed his promises to us, that
we might have strong consolation, Heb. 6. 17, 18.
Jonathan adds to his protestations his hearty pray¬
ers, “ The Lord be with thee, to protect and pros¬
per thee, as he has been formerly with my father,
though now he be withdrawn.” This intimates his
belief that David would be in his father’s place, and
his good wishes that he might prosper in it better
than his father now did.
II. He provides for the entail of the covenant of
friendship with David upon his posterity; (v. 14*.
16. ) he engages David to be a friend to his family
when he was gone; ( v . 15.) “ Thou shalt promise
that thou wilt not cut off thy kindness from my
house for ever.” This he spoke from a natural
affection he had to his children, whom he desired it
might go well with when he was gone, and for his
future welfare he desired to improve his present in¬
terest. It also bespeaks his firm belief of David’s
advancement, and that it would be in the power of
his hand to do a kindness or unkindness to his seed;
for, in process of time, the Lord would cutoff his ene¬
mies, Saul himself not excepted: then “ Do not thou
cut off thy kindness from my house, nor revenge my
father’s wrongs upon my children.” The house of
David must likewise be bound to the house of Jona¬
than from generation to generation; he made a
covenant (y. 16.) with the house of David. Note,
True friends cannot but covet to transmit to their’s
after them their mutual affections. Thine own
friend, and thy father’s f riend, forsake not. This
kindness, 1. He calls the kindness of the Lord, be¬
cause it is such kindness as the Lord shows to those
whom he takes into covehant with himself; for he
is a God to them, and to their seed; they are be¬
loved for their father’s sake. 2. He secures it by
an imprecation, v. 16. The Lord requires it at the
hand of David’s seed, (for of David himself he had
no suspicion,) if they prove so far David’s enemies,
as to deal wrongfully with the posterity of Jonathan,
David’s friend. He feared lest Da\ id, or some of
his, should hereafter be tempted, for the clearing
and confirming of their title to the throne, to do by
his seed, as Abimelech had done by the sons of
Gideon; (Jud. 9. 5.) and this he would effectually
prevent: but the reason given (v. 17.) why Jona¬
than was so earnest to have the friendship entailed,
is purely generous, and has nothing of self in it; it
was because he loved him as he loved his own soul,
and therefore desired that he and his might be loved
by him. David, though now in disgrace at court,
and in distress, was as amiable in the eyes of Jona¬
than as ever he had been; so pure were the princi¬
ples on which his friendship was built. Having
himself sworn to David, he caused David to swear
to him, and (as we read it) to swear again, which
David consented to; (for he that bears an honest
mind, does not startle at assurances;) to swear by
his love to him, which he looked upon as a sacred
thing. Jonathan’s heart was so much upon it, that,
when they parted this time, he concludes with a
solemn appeal to God, The Lord be between thee
and me for ever ; (y. 23.) that is, “ God himself be
judge between us and our families for ever, if on
either side this league of friendship be violated.”
It. was in remembrance of this covenant, that David
was kind to Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 9. 7. — 21. 7. It
will be a kindness to ourselves and our’s, to secure
an interest in those whom God favours, and to make
his friends ours.
III. He settles the method of intelligence, and
by what signs and tokens he would give him notice
how his father stood affected toward him. He would
be missed the first day, or at least the second day,
of the new moon, and would be inquired after, v. 18.
On the third day, by which time he would be re¬
turned from Beth-lehem, he must be at such a place,
(i». 19.) and Jonathan would come toward that
place with his bow and arrows to shoot for diver¬
sion; (y. 20.) would send his lad to fetch his arrows,
and if they were shot short of the lad, David must
take it for a signal of safety, and not be afraid to
show his head; ( v . 21.) but if he shot beyond the
lad, it was a signal of danger, and he must shift for
his safety, v. 22. This expedient he fixed upon,
lest he should not have the opportunity, which yet
it proved he had, of talking with him, and making
the report by word of mouth.
24. So David hid himself in the field : and
when the new moon was come, the king sat
him down to eat meat. 25. And the king
sat upon his seat, as at other times, even up¬
on a seat by the wall : and Jonathan arose,
and Abner sat by Saul’s side, and David’s
place was empty. 26. Nevertheless Saul
spake not any thing that day : for he thought;
Something hath befallen him, he is not clean ;
surely lie is not clean. 27. And it came to
pass on the morrow, which was the second
day of the month, that David’s place was
empty : and Saul said unto Jonathan his
son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse
to meat, neither yesterday, nor to-day ? 28.
And Jonathan answered Saul, David ear¬
nestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem :
29. And he said, Let me go, I pray thee ;
for our family hath a sacrifice in the city ;
and my brother he hath commanded me to be
there : and now if I have found favour in thine
eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see
my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto
the king’s table. 30. Then Saul’s anger
was kindled against Jonathan, and he said
unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebel¬
lious woman , do not I know that thou hast
chosen the son of Jesse to thine own con¬
fusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s
nakedness ? 31. For as long as the son of
Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not
be established, nor thy kingdom. Where¬
fore now send and fetch him unto me, for he
shall surely die. 32. And Jonathan answer¬
ed Saul his father, and said unto him, Where¬
fore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
33. And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite
him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was
determined of his father to slay David. 34.
So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce
anger, and did eat no meat the second day
316
I. SAMUEL, XX.
of the month : for he was grieved for David,
because his father had done him shame.
Jonathan is here effectually convinced of that
which he was so loath to believe, that his father
had an implacable enmity to David, and would cer¬
tainly be the death of him if it were in his power;
and he had like to have paid very dear himself for
the conviction.
I. David is missed from the feast on the first day,
but nothing is said of him. The king sat ufion his
seat, to feast upon the peace-offerings, as at other
times, v. 25. and yet had his heart as full of envy
and malice against David as it would hold: he
should first have been reconciled to him, and then
come and offered his gift; but, instead of that, he
hoped, at this feast, to drink the blood of David.
What an abomination was that sacrifice, which was
brought with such a wicked mind as this! Prov. 21.
27. When the king came to take his seat, Jonathan
arose, in reverence to him, both as his father and as
his sovereign; everyone knew his place, but Da¬
vid’s was empty. It did not use to be so. None
more constant than he in attending holy duties; nor
had he been absent now, but that he must have
come at the peril of his life, self-preservation ob¬
liged him to withdraw. In imminent peril present
opportunities may be waved, nay, we ought not to
throw ourselves into the mouth of danger. Christ
himself absconded often, till he knew that his hour
was come. But that day Saul took no notice that he
missed David, but said within himself, Surely he is
not clean, v. 26. Some ceremonial pollution has
befallen him, which forbids him to eat of the holy
things, till he has washed his clothes, and bathed his
flesh in water, and been unclean until the eve?i. Saul
knew what conscience David made of the law, and
that he would rather keep away from the holy feast,
than come in his uncleanness. Blessed be God, no j
u ' -airiness is now a restraint upon us, but what we I
may bv faith and repentance be washed from in the
fountain opened, Ps. 26. 6.
II. He is inquired for the second day, v. 27. Saul
asked Jonathan, who he knew was his confidant,
Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat ? He
was his own son by marriage, but he calls him in
disdain, the son of Jesse. He asks for him, as if he
were not pleased that he should be absent from a
religious feast: and so it should be an example to
masters of families to see to it, that those under their
charge be not absent from the worship of God, either
in public or in the family. It is a bad thing for us,
except in case of necessitv, to omit any opportunity
of statedly attending on God in solemn ordinances.
Thomas lost a sight of Christ by being once absent
from a meeting of the disciples. But that which
displeased Saul, was, that hereby he missed the op¬
portunity he expected, of doing David a mischief.
III. Jonathan makes his excuse, v. 28, 29. 1.
That he was absent upon a good occasion; keeping
the feast in another place, though not here; sent
for by his elder brother, who was now more re¬
spectful to him than he had been, ( ch . 17. 28.) and
that he was gone to pay his respects to his rela¬
tions, for the keeping up of brotherly love; and no
master would denv a servant liberty to do that at
proper times. He pleads, 2. That he did not go
without leave, humbly asked and obtained from
Jonathan, who, as his superior officer, was proper
to be applied to for it. Thus he represents David,
as not wanting in any instance of respect and duty
to the government.
IV. Saul, hereupon, breaks out into a most ex¬
travagant passion, and rages like a lion disappointed
of his prey. David y/as out of his reach, but he
falls foul upon Jonathan for his sake; (v. 30, 31.)
gave him base language, not fit for a gentleman, a
prince, to give to any man, especially to his own
son, heir apparent to his crown, a son that served
him, the greatest stay and ornament of his family,
before a deal of company, at a feast, when all should
be in good humour, at a sacred feast, by which all
irregular passions should be mortified and subdued;
yet he does in effect call him, 1. A bastard: Thou
son of the fierverse rebellious woman; that is, ac¬
cording to the foolish and filthy language of men’s
brutish passion now-a-day, Thou son of a whore.
He tells him he was born to the confusion of his
mother; that is, he had given the world cause to
suspect that he was not the legitimate son of Saul,
because he loved him whom Saul hated, and sup¬
ported him who would be the destruction of their
family. 2. A traitor: Thou son of fierverse rebel¬
lion, so the word is; that is, “Thou perverse
rebel.” At other times, he reckoned no counsellor
or commander that he had, more trusty and well-
beloved than Jonathan; yet now, in his passion, he
represents him as dangerous to his crown and life.
3. A fool: Thou hast chosen the son of Jesse for thy
friend, to thine own confusion, for while he li\es,
thou shalt never be established. Jonathan indeed
did wisely and well for himself and family, to
secure an interest in David, whom Heaven had des¬
tined to the throne; yet, for this he is branded as
most impolitic. It is good taking God’s people for
our people, and going with those that have him
with them ; it will prove to our advantage at last,
however for the present it may be thought a dis¬
paragement, and a prejudice to our secular interest
It is probable that Saul knew that David was
anointed to the kingdom, by the same hand that
anointed him, and then, not Jonathan, but himself,
was the fool, to think to defeat the counsels of God.
Yet nothing will serve him but David must die, and
Jonathan must fetch him to execution. See how ill
Saul’s passion looks, and let it warn us against the
indulgence of any thing like it in ourselves. Anger is
madness, and he that hates his brother, is a murderer.
V. Jonathan is sorely giieved, and put into disor¬
der, by his father’s barbarous passion; and the
more, because he had hoped better things, v. 2.
He was troubled for his father, that he should be
such a brute; troubled for his friend, whom he
knew to be a friend of God, that he should be so
basely abused: he was grieved for David, v. 34.
and troubled for himself too, because his father had
done him shame; and though most unjustly, yet he
must submit to it. One would pity Jonathan, to see
how he was put, 1. Into the peril of sin. Much ado
that wise and good man had to keep his temper,
upon such a provocation as this. His father’s re¬
flections upon himself he made no return to; it be¬
comes inferiors to bear with meekness and silence
the contempts put upon them in wrath and passion.
When thou art the anvil, lie thou still. But his
dooming David to die, he could not bear; to that he
replied with some heat, (x'. 32.) Wherefore shall he
be slain 7 What has he done ? Generous spirits can
much more easily bear to be abused themselves,
than to hear their friends abused. 2. Into the peril
of death. Saul was now so outrageous, that he
threw a javelin at Jonathan, x>. 33. He seemed to
be in great care (v. 31.) that Jonathan should be
established in his kingdom, and yet now he himself
aims at his life. What fools, what savage beasts,
and worse, does anger make men! How necessary
is it to put a hook in its jaws! Jonathan was fully
satisfied that evil was determined against David,
which put him out of frame exceedingly: he rose
from table, thinking it high time, when his life
was struck at, and would eat no meat; for they
were not to eat of the holy things in their mourning.
All the guests, we may suppose, were discomposed,
317
I. SAMUEL, XXL
and the mirth of the feast spoiled. He that is cruel,
troubles his own flesh, Prov. 11. 17.
35. And it came to pass in the morning,
that Jonathan went out into the field at the
time appointed with David, and a little lad
vvith him. 36. And he said unto his lad,
Run, find out now the arrows which J shoot.
And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow be¬
yond him. 37. And when the lad was
come to the place of the arrow which Jona¬
than had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad,
and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
38. And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make
speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan’s lad
gathered up the arrows, and came to his
master. 39. But the lad knew not any
thing: only Jonathan and David knew the
matter. 40. And Jonathan gave his artillery
unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry
them to the city. 41. And as soon as the
lad was gone, David arose out of a place to¬
ward the south, and fell on his face to the
ground, and bowed himself three times : and
they kissed one another, and wept one with
another, until David exceeded. 42. And
Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, foras¬
much as we have sworn both of us in the
name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be
between me and thee, and between my seed
and thy seed for ever. And he arose and
departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
Here is,
1. Jonathan’s faithful performance of his promise
to give David notice of the success of his dangerous
experiment. He went at the time and to the place
appointed, ( v . 35.) within sight of which he knew
David lay hid; sent his foot-boy to fetch his arrows,
which he would shoot at random; ( v . 36.) gave
David the fatal signal, by shooting an arrow beyond
the lad; (y. 37.) Is not the arrow beyond thee?
That word [ beyond] David knew the meaning of
better than the lad. Jonathan dismissed the lad,
who knew nothing of the matter, and finding the
coast clear, and no danger of a discovery, he pre¬
sumed upon one minute’s personal conversation
with David after he had bid him flee for his life.
2. The mbst sorrowful parting of these two
triends, who, for aught that appears, never came
together again but once, and that was by stealth in
a wood, ch. 23. 16. (1.) David addressed himself
to Jonathan with the reverence of a servant rather
tnan the freedom of a friend; h efell on his face to
the ground, and bowed himself three times, as one
deeply sensible of his obligations to him for the good
services he had done him. (2. ) They took leave of
each other with the greatest affection imaginable,
with kisses and tears; they wept on each other’s
neck till David exceeded, v. 41. The separation
of two such faithful friends was equally grievous to
them both, but David’s case was the more deplora¬
ble: for when Jonathan was returning to his family
and friends, David was leaving all his comforts,
even those of God’s sanctuary, and therefore his
grief exceeded Jonathan’s; or,’ perhaps, it was be¬
cause his temper was more tender, and his passions
. stronger. (3. ) They referred themselves to the
covenant of friendship that was between them, both
of them comforting themselves with that in this
mournful separation. “ we have sworn both of us
in the name of the Lord, for ourselves and our
heirs, that we and they will be faithful and kind to
each other from generation to generation.” Thus
while we are at home in the body and absent from
the Lord, this is our comfort, that he has made
with us an everlasting covenant.
CHAP. XXI.
David has now quite taken leave, both of Saul’s court, and
of his camp; has bid farewell to his alter idem — his other
self, the beloved Jonathan; and from henceforward to the
end of this book, he is looked upon and treated as an
outlaw, and proclaimed a traitor; we still find him shift¬
ing from place to place for his own safety, and Saul pur¬
suing him. His troubles are very particularly related in
this and the following chapters, not only to be a key to
the Psalms, but that he might be, as other prophets, an
example to the saints, in all ages, of suffering affliction,
and of patience-, and, especially, that he might be a type
of Christ, who, being anointed to the kingdom, humbled
himself, and was therefore highly exalted. But the ex¬
ample of the suffering Jesus was a copy without a blot,
that of David was not so; witness the records of this
chapter, where we find David in his flight. I. Im¬
posing upon Ahimelech the priest, to get from him both
victuals and arms, v. 1..9. II. Imposing upon Achish,
king of Gath, by feigning himself mad, v. 10- -15. Just¬
ly are troubles called temptations, for many are by them
drawn into sin.
1. riAHEN came David to Nob to Ahime-
1 lech the priest: and Ahimelech was
afraid at the meeting of David, and said un¬
to him, Why art thou alone, and no man
with thee ? 2. And David said unto Ahime¬
lech the priest, The king hath commanded
me a business, and hath said unto me. Let
no man know any thing of the business
whereabout I send thee, and what I have
commanded thee : and I have appointed my
servants to such and such a place. 3. Now
therefore what is under thine hand ? give
me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or
what there is present. 4. And the priest
answered David, and said, There is no com¬
mon bread under mine hand, but there is
hallowed bread ; if the young men have
kept themselves at least from women. 5.
And David answered the priest, and said
unto him, Of a truth women have been kept
from us about these three days, since I came
out, and the vessels of the young men are
holy, and the bread is in a manner common,
yea, though it were sanctified this day in
the vessel. 6. So the priest gave him hal¬
lowed bread : for there was no bread there
but the show-bread, that was taken from
before the Lord, to put hot bread in the
day when it was taken away. 7. Now a
certain man of the servants of Saul teas
there that day, detained before the Lord ;
and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the
chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to
Saul. 8. And David said unto Ahimelech,
And is there not here under thine hand
spear or sword ? for 1 have neither brought
my sword nor my weapons with me, be
318
I. SAM URL, XXL
cause the king’s business required haste.
9. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath
the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the val¬
ley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a
cloth behind the ephod : if thou wilt take
that, take it: for there is no other save that
here. And David said, There is none like
that ; give it me.
Here,
I. David, in distress, flies to the tabernacle of
God, now pitched at Nob, supposed to be a city in
the tribe of Benjamin. Since Shiloh was forsaken,
the tabernacle often removed, though the ark still
remained at Kirjath-jearim. Hither David came
in his flight from Saul’s fury, ( v . 1.) and applied
himself to Ahimelech the priest. Samuel the pro¬
phet could not protect him, Jonathan the prince
could not; he therefore has recourse next to Ahim¬
elech the priest. He foresees he must now be an
exile, and therefore comes to the tabernacle, 1. To
t ike an affecting leave of it, for he knows not when
he shall see it again, and nothing will be more
afflictive to him in his banishment than his distance
from the house of God, and his restraint from pub¬
lic ordinances, as appears by many of his Psalms.
He had given an affectionate farewell to his friend
Jonathan, and cannot go till he has given the like to
the tabernacle. 2. To inquire of the Lord there,
and to beg direction from him in the way of duty
and safety; his case being difficult and dangerous.
That this was his business, appears ch. 22. 10.
where it is said that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord
for him , as he had done formerly, v. 15. It is
a great comfort to us in a day of trouble, that we
have a God to go to, to whom we may open our
case, and from whom we may ask and expect di¬
rection.
II. Ahimelech the priest is surprised to see him
in so poor an equipage; having heard that he was
fallen into disgrace at court he looked shy upon
him, as most are apt to do upon their friends when
the world frowns upon them. He was afraid of in¬
curring Saul’s displeasure by entertaining him, and
took notice how mean a figure he now made to what
he used to m ike. Why art thou alone? He had
some with him, (as appears, Mark 2. 26.) but they ,
were only his own servants; he had none of the
courtiers, no persons of quality with him, as he
used to have at other times, when he came to in¬
quire of the Lord. He says, (Ps. 42. 4.) he was
wont to go with a multitude to the house of God;
and, having now but two or three with him, Ahim¬
elech might well ask, Why art thou alone? He
that was suddenly advanced from the solitude of a
shepherd’s life to the crowds and hurries of the
camp, is now as soon reduced to the desolate con¬
dition of an exile, and is alone like a sfiarrow on the
house-top. Such changes are there in this world,
and so uncertain are its smiles! Those that are
courted to-day, may be deserted to-morrow.
III. David, under pretence of being sent bv Saul
upon public services, solicits Ahimelech to supply
his present wants, v. 2, 3. Here David did not be¬
have like himself; he told Ahimelech a gross un¬
truth, that Saul had ordered him business to de¬
spatch; that his attendants were dismissed to such a
place, that he was charged to observe secrecy, and
therefore durst not communicate it, no not to the
priest himself. It was all false. What shall we
say to this? The scripture does not conceal it, and
we dare not justify it: it was ill done, and proved of
bad consequence, for it occasioned the death of the
priests of the Lord, as David reflected upon'it af¬
terward with regret, ch. 22. 22. It was needless for
him thus to dissemble with the priest, for we may
suppose, that if he had told him the truth he would
have sheltered and relieved him as read.ly .is
Samuel did, and would have known the better'how
to advise him, and inquire of God for him. People
should be free with their faithful ministers. Da¬
vid was a man of great faith and courage, and yet
now both failed him, and he fell thus foully through
fear and cowardice, and both owing to the weak¬
ness of his faith. Had he trusted God aright, he
would not have used such a sorry sinful shift as thn
for his own preservation. It is written not for our
imitation, no, not in the greatest straits, but for our
admonition. Let him that thinks he stands, take
heed lest he fall; and let us all pray daily, Lord,
lead us not into temptation. Let us all take occa¬
sion from this to lament, 1. The weakness and in
firmity of good men; the best are not perfect on thi.»
side of heaven. There may be true grace, where
et there are many failings. 2. The wickedness of
ad times, which forces good men into such straits
as prove temptations too strong for them. Oppres¬
sion makes a wise man do foolishly.
Two things David begged of Ahimelech, bread
and a sword.
(1.) He wanted bread, five loaves, v. 3. Tra¬
velling was then troublesome, when men generally
carried their provisions with them, having little
money, and no public houses, else David had not
now been to seek for bread. It seems David had
known the seed of the righteous begging bread, oc¬
casionally, but not constantly, Ps. 37. 25.
Now, [1.] The priest objected that he had nont
but hallowed bread, show-bread, which had stood a
week on the golden table in the sanctuary, and was
taken thence for the use of the priests and their
families, v. 4. It seems the priests kept no good
house, but wanted either a heart to be hospitable,
or rather provisions wherewithal. Ahimelech
thinks that the young men that attended David
might not eat of this bread, unless they had for
some time abstained from women, even from their
own wives: this was required at the giving of the
law; (Exod. 19. 15.) but otherwise we never find
this made the matter of any ceremonial purity on
the one side, or pollution on the other. And there¬
fore the priest here seems to be over-nice, not to
say, superstitious.
[2.] David pleads that he and they that were
with him, in this case of necessity, might lawfully
eat of the hallowed bread, for they were not only
able to answer his terms of keeping from women for
three days, but that the vessels, that is, the bodies, of
the young men were holy, being possessed in sancti¬
fication and honour at all times; (1 Thess. 4. 4, 5.)
and therefore God would take particular care of
them, that they wanted not necessary supports, and
would have his priest to do so. And being thus holy,
holy things were not forbidden to them. Poor and
pious Israelites were, in effect, priests to God, and
rather than be starved, might feed on the bread
which was appropriated to thejiriests. Believers
are spiritual priests, and the offerings of the Lord
shall be their inheritance; they eat the bread of
their God. He pleads that the bread is in a man¬
ner common, now that what was primarily the re¬
ligious use of it, was over; especially fas our margin
reads it) when there is this day other oread (hot, v.
6.) sanctified this day in the vessel, and put in the
room of it upon the table. This was David’s plea,
and the Son of David approves it, and shows
from it that mercv is to be preferred to sacrifice,
that ritual observances must give way to moral du
ties; and that that may be done in a case of an urgent
providential necessity, which may not otherwise
be done. He brings it to justify his disciples in
310
I. SAMUEL, XXI.
plucking the ears of corn on the sibbath-day,
for which the Pharisees censured them, Matth.
12. 3, 4.
[3.] Ahimelech hereupon supplies him. He gave
him hallowed, bread; (y. 6.) and some think that it
was about this that he inquired of the Lord, ch. 22.
10. As a faithful servant, he would not dispose of
his Master’s provisions without his Master’s leave.
This bread, we may suppose, was the more agreea¬
ble to David for its being hallowed, so precious were
all sacred things to him. The show-bread was but
twelve loaves in all, yet out of this he gives David
five, (r. 3.) though he had no more in the house;
but he trusted in Providence.
(2.) He wanted a sword. Persons of quality,
though officers of the army, did not then wear their
swords so constantly as now they do, else surely Da¬
vid had not been without one; it was a wonder that
Jonathan did not furnish him with his, as he had
done, ch. 18. 4. However, it happened that he had
now no weapons with him, the reason of which he
pretends to be, because he came away in haste, v. 8.
Those that are furnished with the sword of the
Spirit and the shield of faith, cannot be disarmed
of them, nor need they, at any time, to be at a loss.
But the priests, it seems, had no swords; the wea¬
pons of their warfare were not carnal; there was not
a sword to be found about the tabernacle, but the
sword of Goliath, which he laid up behind the
ephod, as a monument of the glorious victory David
obtained over him; probably, David had an eye to
that, when he asked the priest to help him with a
sword; for that being mentioned, O! says he, there
is none like that, give it me, xl' 5. He could not use
Saul’s armour, for he had not proved it; but this
sword of Goliath he had made trial of, and done
execution with; by this it appears that he was well
grown in strength and stature, that he could wear
and wield such a sword as that. God had taught his
hands to war, so that he could do wonders, Ps. 18.
34. Two things we may observe concerning this
sword. [1.] That God had graciously given it him,
as a pledge of his singular favour; so that, whenever
he drew it, nay, whenever he looked upon it, it
would be a great support to his faith, by bringing to
mind that great instance of the particular care and
countenance of the divine providence. Experiences
are great encouragements. [2.] That he had
gratefully given it back to God, dedicating it to him
and to his honour, as a token of his thankfulness;
and now in his distress it stood him greatly in stead.
Note, What we devote to God’s praise, and serve
him with, is most likely to redound, one way or
other, to our own comfort and benefit. What we
gave, we have from him.
Thus was David well furnished with arms and
victuals; but it fell out very unhappily, that there
was one of Saul’s servants then attending before the
Lord, Doeg by name, that proved a base traitor,
both to David and to Ahimelech. He was by birth
an Edomite; (x>. 7.) and though proselyted to the
Jewish religion, to get the preferment he now had
under Saul, yet he retained the ancient and heredi¬
tary enmity of Edom to Israel. He was master of
the herds, which, perhaps, was then a place of as
much honour as master of the horse is now. Some
occasion or other he had at this time to wait on the
priest, either to be purified from some pollution, or
to pay some vow; but whatever his business was, it
is said, he was detained before the Lord. He must
attend, and could not help it, but he was sick of the
service, snuffed at it, and said, What a weariness is
it.' Mai. 1. 13. He would rather have been any
where else than before the Lord, and therefore, in¬
stead of minding the business he came about, was
plotting to do David a mischief, and to be avenged ;
on Ahimelech for detaining him. God’s sanctuary
could never secure itself from such wolves in sheep’s
clothing. See Gal. 2. 4.
10. And David arose, and fled that day
for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the
king of Gath. 11. And the servants of
Achish said unto him, Is not this David
the king of the land ? did they not sing one
to another of him in dances, saying, Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands? 12. And David laid up these
words in his heart, and was sore afraid of
Achish the king of Gath. 13. And he
changed his behaviour before them, and
feigned himself mad in their hands, and
scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let
his spittle fall down upon his beard. 14.
Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye
see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye
brought him to me ? 15. Have I need of
madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to
play the madman in my presence ? shall this
fellow come into my house ?
David, though king elect, is here an exile; de¬
signed to be master of vast treasures, yet had been
just now begging his bread; anointed to the crown,
and yet here forced to run his country: thus do
God’s providences sometimes seem to run counter
to his promises, for the trial of his people’s faith,
and the glorifying of his name, in the accomplish¬
ment of his counsels, notwithstanding the difficul¬
ties that lay in the way. Here is,
1. David’s flight into the land of the Philistines,
where he hoped to be hid, and to remain, undisco¬
vered, in the court or camp of Achish, king of
Gath, v. 10. Israel’s darling is necessitated to quit
the land of Israel, and he that was the Philistines’
great enemy, (upon I know not what inducements,)
goes to seek for shelter among them. It should
seem that as, though the Israelites loved him, yet
the king of Israel had personal enmity to him,
which obliged him to leave his own country; so,
though the Philistines hated him, yet the king of
Gath had a personal kindness for him, valuing his
merit, and, perhaps, the more for his killing Go¬
liath of Gath, who, it may be, had been no friend to
Achish. To him David now went directly, as to
one he could confide in; (as afterward, ch. 27. 2, 3.)
and Achish would have now protected him, but
that he was afraid of disobliging his own people by
it. God’s persecuted people have often found bet¬
ter usage from the Philistines than from Israelites,
in the Gentile theatres than in the Jewish syna¬
gogues: the king of Judah imprisoned Jeremiah,
and the king of Babylon set him at liberty.
2. The disgust which the servants of Achish
took at his being there, and the complaint of it to
Achish; (y. 11.) “ Is not this David? Is not this he
that has triumphed over the Philistines? Witness
that burthen of the song which was so much talked
of; Saul has slain his thousands, but David, this
very man, his ten thousands. Nay, is not this he
that (if our intelligence from the land of Israel be
true) is, or is to be, the king of the land? As such
he must be an enemy to our country; and is it safe
or honourable for us to protect or entertain such a
man?” Achish perhaps, had intimated to them, that
it would be policy to entertain David, because he
was now an enemv to Saul, and he might be here¬
after a friend to them; it is common for the outlaws
of a nat:on to be sheltered by the enemies of that
320
I. SAMUEL, XXII.
nation; but the servants of Achish objected to his
politics, and thought it not at all fit that he should
stay amung them. *■
3. The fright which this put David into.
Though he had some reason to put confidence in
Achish, yet, when he perceived the servants of
Achish jealous of him, he began to be afraid that
Achish would be obliged to deliver him up to them,
and he was sore afraid; ( v . 12.) and perhaps he
was the more apprehensive of his own danger,
when he was thus discovered, because he wore
Goliath’s sword, which, we may suppose, was well
known at Gath, and which he had reason to expect
they would cut off his head, as he had cut off Goli¬
ath’s with it. David now learned by experience what
he has taught us, (Ps. 118. 9.) that it is better to
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Men of high degree are a lie, and if we make them
our hope, they may prove our fear. It was at this
time that David penned the fifty-sixth Psalm,
( Michtam, a golden psalm, ) when the Philistines
took him in Gath, where having showed before God
his distresses, he resolves, ( v . 3.) what time I am
afraid, I will trust in thee: and therefore (v. 11.)
will not be afraid what man can do unto me, no not
the sons of the giant.
4. The course he took to get out of their hands.
He feigned himself mad; ( v . 13.) he used the
gestures and fashions of a natural fool, or one that
was gone out of his wits; supposing they would be
ready enough to believe that the disgrace he was
fallen into, and the troubles he was now in, had
driven him distracted. This dissimulation of his
cannot be justified: it was a mean thing thus to dis¬
parage himself, and inconsistent with truth thus to
misrepresent himself, and therefore not becoming
the honour and sincerity of such a man as David:
jet it was not a downright lie, and it was like a
stratagem in war, by which he imposed upon his
enemies for the preservation of his own life. What
David did here in pretence, and for his own safety,
which made it partly excusable, drunkards do
really, and only to gratify a base lust; they make
fools of themselves, and change their behaviour;
their words and actions commonly are either as
silly and ridiculous as an idiot’s, or as furious and
outrageous as a madman’s, which has often made
me wonder, that ever men of sense and honour
should allow themselves in it.
5. His escape by this means, v. 14, 15. I am apt
to think Achish was aware that the delirium was
but counterfeit, but, being desirous to protect Da¬
vid, as we find afterward he was very kind to
him, even when the lords of the Philistines favour¬
ed him not, (ch. 28. 1, 2. — 29. 6.) he pretended to
his servants, that he really thought he was mad,
and therefore had reason to question whether it was
David or no; or, if it were, they needed not fear
him, what harm could he do them now that his
reason was departed from him? They suspected
that Achish was inclined to entertain him; “ Not I,”
says he, “ he is a madman, I’ll have nothing to do
with him, you need not fear that I should employ
him, or give him any countenance. Have I need of
madmen? Shall this fool come into my house? I will
show him no kindness, but then you shall do him
no hurt, for if he be a madman, he is to be pitied.”
He therefore drove him away, as it is in the title of
Ps. 34. which David penned upon this occasion, and
an excellent Psalm it is, and snows, that he did not
change his spirit when he changed his behaviour,
but even in the greatest difficulties and hurries his
heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord; and he con¬
cludes that Psalm with this assurance, that none of
them that trust in God shall be desolate, though
they may be, as he now was, solitary and distress¬
ed; persecuted but not forsaken.
CHAP. XXII.
David being driven from Achish, returns into the land of
Israel to be haunted by Saul. I. David sets up his stand¬
ard in the cave of Adullam; entertains his relations,
(v. 1.) lists soldiers, (v. 2. ) but removes his aged parents
to a more quiet settlement, (v. 3, 4.) and has the prophet
Gad for his counsellor, v. o. II. Saul resolves to pursue
him and find him out, complains of his servants and
Jonathan, (v. 6 . . 8.) and finding by Doeg’s information
that Ahimelech had been kind to David, ne ordered him
and all the priests that were with him, eighty-five in all,
to be put to death, and all that belonged to them de¬
stroyed; (v. 9.. 19.) from the barbarous execution of
which sentence, Abiathar escaped to David, v. 20 . . 23.
1. l^AVID therefore departed thence,
and escaped to the cave Adullam :
and when his brethren and all his father’s
house heard it, they went down thither to
him. 2. And every one that teas in distress,
and every one that teas in debt, and every
one that was discontented, gathered them¬
selves unto him ; and he became a captain
over them : and there were with him about
four hundred men. 3. And David went
thence to Mizpeh of Moab : and he said
unto the king of Moab, Let my father and
my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be
with you till I know what God will do for
me. 4. And he brought them before the
king of Moab : and they dwelt with him all
the while that David was in the hold. 5.
And the prophet Gad said unto David,
Abide not in the hold ; depart, and get thee
into the land of Judah. Then David de¬
parted, and came into the forest of Hareth.
Here,
1. David shelters himself in the cave of Adullam,
v. 1. Whether it was a natural or artificial fast¬
ness, does not appear; it is probable that the access
to it was so difficult, that David thought himself
able, with Goliath’s sword, to keep it against all the
forces of Saul, and therefore buried himself alive in
it, while he was waiting to see (as he says here, v.
3. ) what God would do with him. The promise of
the kingdom implied a promise of preservation to
it, and yet David used proper means for his own
safety, else he had tempted God. He did not do
any thing that aimed to destroy Saul, but only to
secure himself. He that might have done good ser¬
vice to his country as a judge or general, is here
shut up in a cave, and thrown by as a vessel in
which there was no pleasure. We must not think
it strange, if sometimes shining lights be thus
eclipsed and hid under a bushel. Perhaps the
apostle refers to this instance of David, among
others, when he speaks of some of the Old Testa¬
ment worthies that wandered in deserts, in dens
and caves o f the earth, Heb. 11. 38. It was at this
time that David penned the 142d Psalm, which is
entitled, A prayer when he was in the cave; and
there he complains that no man would know him,
and that refuge failed him, but hopes that shortly
the righteous should compass him about.
2. Thither his relations flocked to him, his bre¬
thren and all his father's house, to be protected by
him, to give assistance to him, and to take their lot
with him. A brother is born for adversity . Now
Joab and Abishai, and the rest of his relations,
came to him, to suffer and venture with him, in
hopes shortly to be advanced with him ; and they
were so. The first three of his worthies were those
I. SAMUEL, XXII.
that first owned him when he was in the cave,
1 Chron. 11. 15, 8cc.
3. Here he began to raise forces in his own de¬
fence, v. 2. He found by the late experiments he
had made, that he could not save himself by flight,
and therefore was necessitated to do it by force;
wherein he never acted offensively, never offered
any violence to his prince, nor gave any disturbance
to the peace of the kingdom, but only used his forces
as a guard to his own person. But whatever de¬
fence his soldiers were to him, they did him no
great credit, for the regiment he had was made up
not of great men, or rich men, or stout men, no nor
good men, but men in distress, in debt, and discon¬
tented, men of broken fortunes and restless spirits,
that were put to their shifts, and knew not well
what to do with themselves. When David had
fixed his head-quarters in the cave of Adullam,
they came and enlisted themselves under him to the
number of about four hundred. See what weak in¬
struments God sometimes makes use of, by which
to bring about his own purposes. The Son of Da¬
vid is ready to receive distressed souls, that will ap-
oint him their Captain, and be commanded by
im.
4. He took care to settle his parents in a place of
safety; no such place could he find in all the land
of Israel, while Saul was so bitterly enraged against
him, and all that belonged to him for his sake; he
therefore goes with them to the king of Moab, and
puts them under his protection, v. 3, 4. Observe
here, (1. ) With what a tender concern he provided
for his aged parents. It was not fit they should be
exposed either to the frights or to the fatigues which
he must expect during his struggle with Saul, (their
age would by no means bear it,) therefore the first
thing he does, is, to find them a quiet habitation,
whatever became of himself. Let children learn
from hence to show piety at home, and to requite
their parents, (1 Tim. 5. 4.) in every thing consult¬
ing their ease and satisfaction; though ever so highly
preferred, and ever so much employed, let them
not forget their aged parents. (2.) With what an
humble faith he expects the issue of his present dis¬
tress, Till I know what God will do for me. He
expresses his hopes very modestly, as one that had
entirely cast himself upon God and committed his
way to him, expecting a good issue, not from his
own arts, or arms, or merits, but from what the
wisdom, power, and goodness of God would do for
him. Now David’s father and mother forsook him,
but God did not, Ps. 27. 10.
5. He had the advice and assistance of the pro¬
phet Gad, who, probably, was one of the sons of the
prophets that were brought up under Samuel, and
was by him recommended to David f r his chaplain
or spiritual guide; being a prophet, he would prav
for him and instruct him in the mind of God; and
David, though he was himself a prophet, was glad
of his assistance. He advised him to go into the
land of Judah, (v. 5.) as one that was confident rf
his own innocencv, and was well assured of the di¬
vine protection, and was desirous, even in his present
hard circumstances, to do some service to his tribe
and country. Let him not be ashamed to own his
own cause, nor decline the succours that would be
offered him. Animated by this word, there he de¬
termined to appear publicly. Thus are the steps
of a good man ordered by the Lord.
6. When Saul heard that David was dis¬
covered, and the men that reere with him,
(now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in
Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and
all his servants irere standing about him ;)
L Then Saul said unto his servants that
Vol. ii. — 2 S
321
! stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites,
will the son of Jesse give every one of you
fields and vineyards, and make you all cap¬
tains of thousands, and captains of hun¬
dreds ; 8. That all of you have conspired
against me, and there is none that show-
eth me that my son hath made a league
with the son of Jesse, and there is none of
you that is sorry for me, or showeth unto
me that my son hath stirred up my servant
against me, to lie in wait, as at this day ? 9.
Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which
was set over the servants of Saul, and said,
I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to
Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10. And he
inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him
victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath
the Philistine. 11. Then the king sent to
call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub,
and all his father’s house, the priests that
were in Nob : and they came all of them to
the king. 12. And Saul said, Hear now,
thou son of Ahitub. And he answered,
Here I am, my lord. 13. And Saul said
unto him, Why have ye conspired against
me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou
hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast
inquired of God for him, that he should rise
against me, to lie in wait, as at this day ?
14. Then Ahimelech answered the king,
and said, And who is so faithful among all
thy servants as David, which is the king’s
son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is
honourable in thine house ? 1 5. Did I then
begin to inquire of God for him ? be it far
from me. Let not the king impute any
thing unto his servant, nor to all the house
of my father : for thy servant knew nothing
of all this, less or more. 1 6. And the king
said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou
and all thy father’s house. 17. And the
king said unto the footmen that stood about
him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord;
because their hand also is with David, and
because they knew when he fled, and did
not show it to me. But the servants of the
king would not put forth their hand to fall
upon the priests of the Lord. 1 8. And the
king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon
the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turn¬
ed, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on
that day fourscore and five persons that did
wear a linen ephod. 19. And Nob, the
city of the priests, smote he with the edge of
the sword, both men and women, children
and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and
sheep, with the edge of the sword.
We have seen the progress of David’s trouH-SJ
now here we have the progress of Saul’s wi'ced*
ness. He seems to have laid aside the thou/lts °*
322
I. SAMUEL, XXII.
all other business, and to have devoted himself
wholly to the pursuit of David. He heard, at
length, by the common fame of the country, that
David was discovered, that is, that he appeared
publicly, and enlisted men in his service; and here¬
upon he called all his servants about him, and sat
down under a tree, or grove, in the high place at
Gibeah, with his spear in his hand for a sceptre; in¬
timating the force by which he designed to rule,
and the present temper of his spirit, or its distenv
per rather, which was to kill all that stood in his
way.
In this bloody court of inquisition,
I. Saul seeks for information against David and
Jonathan, v. 7, 8. Two things he was willing to
suspect, and desirous to see proved, that he might
wreak his malice upon two of the best and most ex¬
cellent men he had about him. 1. Th t his ser¬
vant David did lie in wait tor him, and seek his life,
which was utterly false. He really sought David s
life, and therefore pretended that David sought his
life, though he could not charge him with any overt
act that gave the least umbrage or suspicion. (2.)
That his son Jonathan stirred him up to do so, and
was confederate with him in compassing and ima¬
gining the death of the king. 1 his also was noto¬
riously false. A league of friendship there was be¬
tween David and Jonathan, but no conspiracy in any
evil thing; none of the articles of their covenant
carried any mischief to Saul. If Jonathan had
agreed, after the death of Saul, to resign to David,
in compliance with the revealed will of God, what
harm would that do to Saul? Yet thus the best
friends to their prince and country have often been
odiously represented as enemies to both ; even
Christ himself was so. He takes it for granted that
Jonathan and David were in a plot against him, his
crown and dignity, and is displeased with his ser¬
vants that they do not give him information of it,
supposing that they could not but know it; whereas
really there was no such thing. See the nature of
a jealous malice, and its pitiful arts to extort dis¬
coveries of things that are not. He looks upon . all
about him as his enemies, because they do not just
say as he says; and tells them, (1.) 1 hat they were
verv unwise, and acted against the interest both of
their tribe, (for they were Benjamites, and David,
if he were advanced, would bring the honour into
Judah which was now in Benj min,) and of their
families; for David would never be able to give
them such rewards as he had for them, of fi elds
and vineyards, and such preferment, to be colonels
and captains. (2.) That they were unfaithful; I ou
have conspired against me. V\ hat a continual agi¬
tation and torment are they in that give way to a
spirit of jealousy! If a ruler hearken to lies, all his
servants are wicked; (Prow 29. 12.) that is, they
seem to be so in his eyes. (3.) That they were
very unkind. He thought to work upon their good
nature with that word. There is none of you that
is so much as sorry for me, or solicitous for me, as
some read it. By these reasonings he stirred them
up to act vigorously, as the instruments of his ma¬
lice, that they might take away his suspicions of
them.
II. Though he could not learn any thing from his
servants against David or Jonathan, yet he got in¬
formation from Doeg, against Ahimelech the priest.
1. An indictment is brought against Ahimelech
by Doeg, and he himself is evidence against him, v.
9, 10. Perhaps Doeg, as bad as he was, would not
have given this information, if Saul had not extorted
i for had he been very forwaixl to it, he would
hwe done it sooner: but now he thinks they must
he u deemed traitors, if none of them be accusers,
and^erefore tells Saul what kindness Ahimelech
had '-owed to David, which he himself happened
to be an eye-witness of. He had inquired of God
for him, (wh:ch the priest used not to do but for
public persons and about public affairs,) and he had
furnished him with bread and a sword. All this
was true: but it was not the whole truth; he ought
to ha\ e told Saul further, that David had made
Ahimelech belie\e he was then going upon the
king’s business; so that what service he did to Da¬
vid, however it proved, was designed in honour to
Saul, and this would have proved Ahimelech,
whom Saul had in his power, and would have
thrown all the blame upon David, who was cut of
his reach.
2. Alvmelech is seized, or summoned rather to
appear before the king, and upon this indictment he
is arraigned. The king sent for him and all the
priests who attended the sanctuary, whom he sup¬
posed to be aiding and abetting; and they, not being
conscious of any guilt, and therefore not apprehen¬
sive of any danger, came all of them to the king, (v.
11.) and none of them attempted to make an es¬
cape, or to flee to David for shelter, as they would
have done, now that he had set up his standard, if
they had been as much in his interest as Saul sus¬
pected they were. Saul arraigns him himself with
the utmost disdain and indignation; (v. 12.) Hear
now, thou son of Ahitub; not so much as < filing
him by his name, much less giving him his title of
distinction. By this it appears that he had cast off
the fear of God, that he showed no respect at all to
his priests, but took a pleasure in affronting them
and insulting over them. Ahimelech holds up his
hand at the bar in these words, “ Here I am, my
lord, ready to hear my charge, knowing I have
done no wrong.” He does not demur to the juris¬
diction of Saul’s court, nor insist upon an exemption
as a priest, no, not though he were a High Priest,
to which office, that of the judge, or chief magis¬
trate, had not long since been annexed; but Saul
having now the sovereignty vested in him, in things
pertaining to the king, even the High Priest lowers
himself to a level with common Israelites. Let
every soul be subject (even clergymen) to the higher
powers.
3. His indictment is read to him, v. 13. That
he, a false traitor, had joined himself with the son
of Jesse in a plot to depose and murder the king.
“His design” (says Saul) “was to rise up against
me, and thou didst assist him with victuals and
arms.” See what bad constructions the most inno¬
cent actions are liable to; how unsafe they are, that
live under a tyrannical government, and what rea¬
son we have to be thankful for the happy constitu¬
tion and administration of the government we are
under.
4. To this indictment he pleads Not guilty; (v.
14, 15.) he owns the fact, but denies that he did
it traitorously or maliciously, or with any design
against the king. He pleads that he was so far
from knowing of any quarrel between Saul and
David, that he really took David to have been as
much in favour at court as ever he had been. Ob¬
serve, He does not plead that David had told him
an untruth, and with that had imposed upon him,
though really it was so, because he would not pro¬
claim the weakness of so good a man, no not for his
own vindication, especially to Saul, who sought all
occasions against him; but he insists upon the
settled reputation David had, as the most faithful of
all the servants of Saul; the honour the king had
put upon him in marrying his daughter to him, the
use the king had often made of him, and the trust
he had reposed in him ; he goes at thy bidding, and
is honourable in thy house , and therefore any one
would think it a meritorious piece of service to the
crown, to show him respect, so far from appre¬
hending it to be a crime. He pleads that he had
X. SAMUEL, XXII.
323
been wont to inquire oj God for him, when he was
sent by Saul upon any expedition, and did it now as
innocently as ever he had done it. He protests his
abhorrence of the thought of being in a plot against
the king; “ Be it far from me, I mind my own busi¬
ness, and meddle not with state-matters. ” He begs
the king’s favour, Let him not impute any crime to
us; and concludes with a declaration of his innocen-
cy, Thy servant knew nothing of all this. Could
any man plead with more evidences of sincerity?
Had he been tried by a jury of honest Israelites, he
had certainly been acquitted, for who can find any
fault in him? But,
5. Saul himself gives judgment against him; (v.
16.) Thou sha/t surely die, Ahimelech, as a rebel,
thou and all thy father’s house. What could be
more unjust? I saw under the sun, the place of
judgment, that wickedness was there, Eccl. 3. 16.
(1.) It. was unjust that Saul should himself
alone, give judgment in his own cause, without any
appeal either to judge or prophet, to his privy-
council, or to a council of war. (2.) That so fair a
plea should be overruled or rejected without any
reason given, or any attempt to disprove the allega¬
tions of it, but purely with a high hand. (3.) That
sentence should be passed so hastily and with so
much precipitation; the judge taking no time him¬
self to consider of it, nor allowing the prisoner any
time to move in arrest of judgment. (4.) That the
sentence should be passed not only cm Ahimelech
himself, who was the only person accused by Doeg,
but on all his father’s house, against whom nothing
was alleged: must the children be put to death for
the fathers? (5. ) That the sentence was pronounc¬
ed in passion, not for the support of justice, but for
the gratification of his brutish rage.
6. He issues out a warrant (a verbal warrant only)
for the immediate execution of his bloody sentence.
(1.) He ordered his footmen to be the execu¬
tioners of this sentence, but they refused, v. 17.
Hereby he intended to put a further disgrace upon
the priests; they may not die by the hands of his
men of war, (as 1 Kings 2. 29. ) or his usual minis¬
ters of justice, but his footmen must triumph over
them, and wash their hands in their blood. [1.]
Never was the command of a prince more barba¬
rously given; Turn, and slay the priests of the
Lord. This is spoken with such an air of impiety,
as can scarce be paralleled. Had 'he seemed to
forget their sacred office and relation to God, and
take no notice of that, it had intimated some regret
that men of that character should fall under his
displeasure; but to call them the priests of the
Lord then, when he ordered his footmen to cut
their throats, looked as if, upon that very account,
he hated them. God having rejected him, and or¬
dered another to be anointed in his room, he seems
well pleased with this opportunity of being avenged
on the priests of the Lord, since God himself was
out of his reach. What wickedness will not the
evil spirit hurry men to, when he gets the do¬
minion! He alleges, in his order, that which was
utterly false, and unproved to him, that they knew
when David fled; whereas they knew nothing of the
matter. [2.] Never was the command of a prince
more honourably disobeyed. The footmen had
more sense and grace than their master. Though
they might expect to be turned out of their places,
if not punished and put to death for their refusal,
yet, come on them what would, they would not
offer to fall on the priests of the Lord, such a rever¬
ence had they for their office, and such a conviction
of their innocence.
(2.) He ordered Doeg (the accuser) to be the
executioner, and he did it. One would have
thought that the footmen’s refusal should have
awakened Saul’s conscience, and he should not have
insisted upon the doing of a thing so barbarous as
that his footmen startled at the thought of it. But
his mind was blinded and his heart hardened, and
if they will not do it, the hands of the witness shall
be upon them, Deut. 17. 7. The most bloody
tyrants have fojind out instruments of their cruelty
as barbarous as themseh es; Doeg is no sooner com¬
manded to fall upon the priests, than he does it wil¬
lingly enough, and, meeting with no resistance,
slays with his own hand (for aught that appears) on
that same day eighty-five priests that were of
the age of ministration, between twenty and fifty,
for they wore a linen ephod, (y. 18. ) and perhaps
appeared at this time before Saul in their habits,
and were slain in them. This (one would think)
was enough to satiate the most blood-thirsty; but
the horse-leech of persecution still cries, “Give,
give.” Doeg, by Saul’s order no doubt, having
murdered the priests, went to their city Nob, and
put all to the sword there, ( v . 19.) men, women,
and children, and the cattle too. Barbarous cru¬
elty, and such as one cannot think of without hor¬
ror! Strange, that ever it should enter into the
heart of man to be so impious, so inhuman! We
may see in this, [1.] The desperate wickedness of
Saul, when the Spirit of the Lord was departed
from him. Nothing so vile, but they may be hur¬
ried to it, who have provoked God to give them up
to their heart’s lusts. He that was so compassion¬
ate as to spare Agag and the cattle of the Amalek-
ites, in disobedience to the command of God, could
now, with unrelenting bowels, see the priests of the
Lord murdered, and nothing spared of all that be¬
longed to them. For that sin, God left him to this.
[2.] The accomplishment of the threatenings long
since pronounced against the house of Eli; for
Ahimelech and his family were descendants from
him. Though Saul was unrighteous in doing this,
yet God was righteous in permitting it: now God
performed against Eli that, at which the ears of
them that heard it, must needs tingle, as he had
told him that he would judge his house for ever,
ch. 3. 11* *13. No word of God shall fall to the
ground. [3.] This may be considered as a great
judgment upon Israel, and the just punishment of
their desiring a king before the time God intended
them one. How deplorable was the state of reli¬
gion at this time in Israel! Though the ark had
long been in obscurity, yet it was some comfort to
them, that they had the altar, and priests to serve
at it; but now to see their priests weltering in their
own blood and the heirs of the priesthood too, and
the city of the priests made a desolation, so that the
altar of God must needs be neglected for want of
attendants, and this by the unjust and cruel order
of their own king, to satisfy his brutish rage — this
could not but go to the heart of all pious Israelites,
and make them wish a thousand times, they had
been satisfied with the government of Samuel and
his sons. The worst enemies of their nation could
not have done them a greater mischief.
20. And one of the sons of Ahimelech
the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, es¬
caped, and fled after David. 21. And Abi¬
athar showed David that Saul had slain the
Lord’s priests. 22. And David said unto
Abiathar, 1 knew it that day, when Doeg
the Edomite was there, that he would surely
tell Saul : I have occasioned the death of a)/
the persons of thy father’s house. 23. Abide
thou with me, fear not ; for he that seeketh
my life seeketh thy life : but with me thou
shalt be in safeguard.
324
I. SAMUEL, XXIII.
Here is,
1. The escape of Abiathar the son of Ahimelech,
out of the desolation of the priests’ city. Probably,
when his father went to appear, upon Saul’s sum¬
mons, he was left at home to attend the altar, by
which means he escaped the first execution, and,
before Doeg and his bloodhounds came to Nob, he
had intelligence of the danger, and had time to
shift for his own safety. And whither should he go
but to David? v. 20. They that suffer for the son
of David, let them commit the keeping' of their souls
to him, 1 Pet. 4. 19.
2. David’s resentment of the melancholy t:dings
he brought. He gave David an account of the
bloody work Saul had made among the priests of
the Lord, ( v . 21.) as the disciples of John, when
their master was beheaded, went and told Jesus,
Matth. 14. 12. And David g.eatlv lamented the
calamity itself, but especially his being accessary to
it; I have occasioned the death of alt the persons of
thy father's house, v. 22. Note, It is a great trou¬
ble to a good man, to find himself any way an oc¬
casion of the calamities of the church and ministry.
David knew Doeg’s character so well, that he
feared he would do some such mischief as this,
when he saw him at the sanctuary. I knew he
would tell Saul. He calls him Doeg the Edomite,
because he retained the heart of an Edomite,
though, by embracing the profession of the Jewish
religion, he had put on the mask of an Israelite.
3. The protection he granted to Abiathar. He
perceived him to be terrified, as he had reason to
be, and therefore bids him not fear, he would be as
careful for him as for himself; With me thou shalt
be in safeguard, v. 23. David, having now time to
recollect himself, speaks with assurance of his own
safety, and promises that Abiathar should have the
full benefit of his protection. It is promised to the
Son of David, that God will hide him in the shadow
of his hand, (Isa. 49. 2.) and with him, all that are
his, may be sure that they shall be in safeguard,
Ps. 91. 1. David had now not only a prophet, but
a priest, a High Priest, with him, to whom he was
a blessing, and they to him, and both a happy
omen of his success. Yet it appears, (by ch. 28. 6. )
that Saul had a High Priest too, for he had a Urim
to consult; it is supposed, he preferred Ahitub the
lather of Zadok, of the family of Eleazar; (1 Chron.
6. 8.) for even those that hate the power of godli¬
ness, yet will not be without the form. It must not
be forgotten here, that David at this time penned
the 52d Psalm, as appears by the title of that
Psalm, wherein he represents Doeg not only as ma¬
licious and spiteful, but as false and deceitful : be¬
cause, though what he said was, for the substance
of it, true, yet he put false colours upon it, with a
design to do mischief: yet even then, when the
priesthood was become as a withered branch, he
looks upon himself as a green olwe tree iti the house
of God, v. 8. In this hurry and distraction that
David was continually in, yet he found both time
and a heart for communion with God, and found
comfort in it.
CHAF. XXIII.
Saul, having made himself drunk with the blood of the
priests of the Lord, is here, in this chapter, seeking Da¬
vid’s life, who appears here doing good, and suffering
ill, at the same time. Here is, I. The good service he
did to his king and country, in rescuing the city of Keilah
out of the hands of the Philistines, v. 1..6. II. The
danger he was thereby brought into from the malice of
t*e prince he served, and the treachery of the city he
sa^ed ; and his deliverance, by divine direction, from
thaidanger, v. 7,. 13. III. David in a wood, and his
frienl Jonathan visiting him there and encouraging him,
v. 14.18. IV. The information which the Ziphites
brough to Saul of David’s haunts, and the expedition I
Saul made in pursuit of him, v. 19 . . 25. V. The nar¬
row escape David had of falling into his hands, v. 26 . .
29. Many are the. troubles of the righteous, but the Lord
delivereth them out of them all.
1. they told David, saying, Be-
iL hold, the Philistines fight against
Keilah, and they rob the threshing-floors.
2. Therefore David inquired of the Lord,
saying, Shall I go and smite these Phi¬
listines ? And the Lord said unto David,
Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Kei¬
lah. 3. And David’s men said unto him,
Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how
much more then if we come to Keilah
against the armies of the Philistines ? 4.
Then David inquired of the Lord yet
again. And the Lord answered him, and
said, Arise, go down to Keilah ; for I will
deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 5.
So David and his men went to Keilah, and
fought with the Philistines, and brought
away their cattle, and smote them with a
great slaughter. So David saved the in¬
habitants of Keilah. 6. And it came to
pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech
fled to David to Keilah, that he came down
with an ephod in his hand.
Now we find why the prophet Gad (by divine
direction, no doubt) ordered David to go into the
land of Judah; (ch. 22. 5.) it was, that since Saul
neglected the public safety, he might take care of
it, notwithstanding the ill treatment that was given
him; for he must render good for evil, and therein
be a type of him who not only ventured his life, but
laid down his life, for them that were his enemies.
1. Tidings are brought to David, as to the patron
and protector of his country’s liberties, that the
Philistines had made a descent upon the city of
Keilah, and plundered the country thereabouts, v.
1. Probably, it was the departure both of Gad and
David from Saul, that encouraged the Philistines to
make this incursion. When princes begin to per¬
secute God’s people and ministers, let them expect
no other than vexation on all sides. The way for
any country to be quiet, is, to let God’s church be
quiet in it: if Saul fight against David, the Philis¬
tines shall fight against his country.
2. D u . id is forward enough to come in for their
relief, but is willing to inquire of the Lord concern¬
ing it. Here is an instance, (1.) Of David’s gene¬
rosity and public-spiritedness. Though his head
and hands were full of his own business, and he
had enough to do, with the little force he had, to
secure himself, yet he was concerned for the safety
of his country, and could not sit still to see that
ravaged: nay, though Saul, whose business it was
to guard the borders of his land, hated him .and
sought his life, yet he was willing, to the utmost of
his power, to serve him and his interests against the
common enemy, and bravely abhorred the thought
of sacrificing the common welfare to his private re¬
venge. Those are unlike to David, who sullenly
declined to do good, because they have not been so
well considered as thev deserved for the services
they have done. (2.) Of David’s piety and regard
to God. He inquired of the Lord by the prophet
Gad; for it should seem by t>. 6. that Abiathar
came not to him with the ephod till he was in
Keilah. His inquiry is, Shall I go and smite these
Philistines? He inquires both concerning the duty.
325
' I. SAMUEL, XXIII.
whether he might lawfully take Saul’s work out of
his hand, and act without a commission from him;
and concerning the event, whether he might safely
venture against such a force as the Philistines had,
with such a handtul of men at his feet, and such a
dangerous enemy as Saul was, at h.s back. It is
our duty, and will be our ease and comfort, what¬
ever happens, to acknowledge God in all our ways,
and to seek direction from him.
3. God appointed him, once and again, to go
against the Philistines, and promised him success;
Go, and smite the Philistines, v. 2. His men op¬
posed it, v. 3. No sooner did he begin to ha\e sol¬
diers of his own, than he ft und it hard enough to
manage them. They objected, that they had ene¬
mies enough among their own countrymen, they
needed not to make the Philistines their enemies.
Their hearts failed them, when they only appre¬
hended themselves in danger from Saul’s band of
pursuers, much more when they came to engage the
Philistine armies. To satisfy them therefore, he
inquired of the JLord again, and now received, not
only a full commission, which would warrant him
to hght, though he had no orders from Saul, {Arise,
go down to Keilah,) but also a full assurance of vic¬
tory; I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand,
v. 4. This was enough to animate the greatest
coward he had in his regiment.
4. He went, accordingly, against the Philistines,
routed them, and rescued Keilah; ( v . 5.) and, it
should seem, he made a sally into the country of
the Philistines, for he carried off their cattle by way
of reprisal for the wrong they did to the men of
Keilah, in robbing their threshing-floors. Here
notice is taken, ( v . 6.) that it was while David re¬
mained in Keilah, after he had cleared it of the
Philistines, that Abiathar came to him with the
ephod in his hand, that is, the High Priest’s ephod,
in which the Urim and Thummim were. It was a
great comfort to David, in his banishment, that
when he could not go to the house of God, he had
some of the choicest treasures of that house brought
to him, the High Priest, and the breast-plate of
judgment.
7. And it was told Saul that David was
come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath
delivered him into mine hand ; for he is shut
in, by entering into a town that hath gates
and bars. 8. And Saul called all the peo¬
ple together to war, to go down to Keilah,
to besiege David and his men. 9. And Da¬
vid knew that Saul secretly practised mis¬
chief against him ; and he said to Abiathar
the priest, Bring hither the ephod. 1 0. Then
said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy ser¬
vant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh
to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my
sake. 1 J . Will the men of Keilah deliver
me up into his hand ? will Saul come down,
as thy servant hath heard ? O Lord God
of Israel, 1 beseech thee, tell thy servant.
And the Lord said, He will come down.
1 2. Then said David, Will the men of Kei¬
lah deliver me and my men into the hand
of Saul ? And the Lord said, They will
deliver thee up. 13. Then David and his '
men, which were about six hundred, arose
and departed out of Keilah, and went
whithersoever they could go. And it was
told Saul that David was escaped from
Keilah : and he forbare to go forth.
Here is,
I. Saul contriving within himself the destruction
of David, v. 7, 8. He heard that he was come to
Keilah; and did he not hear what brought him
thither. YY.as it not told him that he had bravely
relieved Kedah, and delivered it out of the hands
of the Philistines. 1 his, one would think, should
nav e put Saul upon considering what honour and
dignity should be done to David for this. But in¬
stead of that he catches at it as an opportunity of
doing him a mischief. An ungrateful wretch he
was, and tor ever unworthy to have any service or
kindness done him. Well might David complain
of his enemies, that they rewarded him evil for good,
and that tor his love they were his adversaries, Ps.
35. 12. — 109. 4. Christ was used thus basely',
John 10 32. Now observe, 1. How Saul abused
the G od oj Israel, in making his providence to pa¬
tronise and give countenance to his malicious de-
signs, and from thence promising himself success
m them. God hath delivered him into my hand-
as if he, who was rejected of God, were, in this
instance, owned and favoured by him, and David
infatuated. He vainly triumphs before the victory
forgetting how often he had had fairer advantages
against David than he had now, and yet missed his
aim. He impiously connects God with his cause,
because he thought he had gained one point. There •
fore David prays, (Ps. 140. 8.) Grant not, O Lord,
the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked
device, lest they exalt themselves. We must not
think that one smiling providence either justifies an
unrighteous cause, or secures its success. 2. How
Saul abused the Israel oj God , in making them the
servants of his malice against David. He called all
the people together to war, and they must with all
speed march to Keilah, pretending to oppose the
Philistines, but intending to besiege David and his
men; concealing that design, for it is said, (7;. 9.)
he secretly practised mischief against him. Misera¬
ble is that people, whose prince is a tyrant; fi r
while some are sufferers by his tyranny, others
(which is worse) are made' servants to it, and in¬
struments of it.
II. David consulting with Gcd concerning his own
preservation. He knew, by the information brought
him, that Saul was plotting his ruin, {y. 9. ) and
therefore applies himself to his great Protector for
direction. No sooner is the ephod brought him,
than he makes use of it, Bring hither the ephod ’
We have the scriptures, those lively oracles, in our
hands, let us take advice from them in doubtful
cases: “ Bring hither the Bible.” David’s address
to God, upon this occasion, is, 1. Very solemn and
reverent. Twice he calls God, the Lord God of
Israel^ and thrice culls himself his servant y v, 10,
11. 1 hose that address God, must know their dis¬
tance, and who they are speaking to. 2. Very par¬
ticular and express. His representation of the case
is so, v. 10. “ 1 hy servant has certainly heard on
good authority” (for he would not call for the ephod
upon every idle rumour) “that Saul has a design
upon Keilah;” he does not say, “to destroy me,”
but, * ‘ to destroy the city” (as he had lately dene
the city of Nob) “ for my sake. ” He seems more
sohcitous.for their safety than for his own, and vril!
expose himself any where, rather than they shall
be brought into trouble by his being among them.
Generous souls are thus minded. His queries up< n
the case are likewise very particular. God allow:,
us to be so in our addresses to him; “ Lord, direct
me in this matter, about which I am now at a loss. ”
He does indeed invert the due order of his queries,
but God in his answer puts him into method. That
326 I. SAMUEL, XXIII.
question should have been put first, and was first
answered, “Will Saul come down, as thy servant
has heard?” “Yea,” says the oracle, “he will
come down; he has resolved it, is preparing for it,
and will do it, unless he hear that thou hast quitted
the town.” “Well, but if he do come down, will
the men of Keilah stand by me in holding the city
. gainst him, or will they open him the gates, and
deliver me into his hand?” If he had asked the
men (that is, the magistrates or elders) of Keilah
themselves, what they would do in that case, they
could not have told him, not knowing their own
minds, nor what they should do when it came to
the trial, much less which way the superior vote of
their council would carry it; or they might have told
him they would protect him, and yet afterward have
betrayed him; but God could tell them infallibly:
“ When Saul besieges their city, and demands of
them that they surrender thee into his hands, how
fond soever they now seem of thee, as their saviour,
they will deliver thee up, rather than stand the
shock of Saul’s fury.” Note, (1.) God knows all
men better than they know themselves, knows their
strength, what is in them, and what they will do, if
they come into such and such circumstances. (2.)
He therefore knows not only what will be, but what
would be if it were not prevented; and therefore
knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation,
and how to render to every man according to his
works.
David having thus fair notice given him of his dan¬
ger, quitted Keilah, v. 13. His followers were
now increased in number to six hundred; with these
he went out, not knowing whither he went, but re¬
solving to follow Providence, and put himself under
its protection. This broke Saul’s measures; he
thought God had delivered him into his hand, but it
proved that God delivered him out of his hand, as
a bird out of the snare of the fowler. When Haul
heard that David was escaped from Keilah, he for-
hare to go forth with the body of the army, as he
intended, (v. 8.) and resolved to take only his own
guards, and go in quest of him. Thus does God
baffle the design of his people’s enemies, and turn
their counsels headlong.
14. And David abode in the wilderness
in strong holds, and remained in a mountain
in the wilderness of Ziph : and Saul sought
him every day ; but God delivered him not
into his hand. 15. And David saw that
Saul was come out to seek his life : and Da¬
vid teas in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
16. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and
went to David into the wood, and strength¬
ened his hand in God. 17. And he said
unto him, Fear not; for the hand of Saul
my father shall not find thee : and thou shalt
be king over Israel, and I shall be next un¬
to thee ; and that also Saul my father know-
eth. 13. And they two made a covenant
before the Lord. And David abode in the
wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
Here is,
I. David absconding. He abode in a wilderness,
in a mountain, (v. 14.) in a wood, v. 15. We must
here, 1. Commend his eminent virtues, his humili¬
ty, modesty, fidelity to his prince, and patient at¬
tendance on the providence of his God, that he did
not draw up his forces against Saul, fight him in the
field, or surprise him by some stratagem or other,
and so avenge his own quarrel and that of the Lord’s
priests upon him, and put an end to his own trou¬
bles, and the calamities of the country under his
tyrannical government. No, he makes no such at¬
tempt; he keeps God’s way, waits God’s time, and
is content to secure himself in woods and wilder¬
nesses, though with some it might seem a reproach
to that courage for which he had been famous. But,
2. We must also lament his hard fate, that an inno¬
cent man should be thus terrified, and put in fear
of his life; that a man of honour should be thus dis¬
graced, a man of merit thus recompensed for his
services, and a man that delighted in the service
both of God and his country, should be debarred
from both, and wrapt up in obscurity. What shall
we say to this? Let it make us think the worse of
this world, which often gives such bad treatment o
its best men: let it reconcile even great and active
men to privacy and restraint, if Providence make
that their lot, for it was David’s: and let it make us
long for that kingdom, where goodness shall for ever
be in glory, and holii as in honour, and therighteous
shall si line as the sun.
II. Saul hunting him as his implacable enemy.
He sought him every day, so restless was his ma¬
lice, v. 14. He sought his life no less, so cruel was
his m lice, v. 15. As it had been from the begin¬
ning, it was now, and -will be. He that is bom after
the flesh, persecuteth him that is bom after the sfii
rit. Gal. 4. 29.
III. Gcd defending him as his powerful Protect
or. God delivered him not into his hand, as Saul
hoped; ( v . 7.) and unless God had delivered him
into his hand, he could not prevail against him,
John 19. 11.
IV. Jonathan comforting him, as his faithful
friend. True friends will find out means to get to¬
gether; David, it is likely, appointed time and
place for this interview, and Jonathan observed it,
though he exposed himself by it to his father’s dis¬
pleasure, and, had it been discovered it might have
erst him his life. True friendship will not shrink
from danger, but can easily venture; will not shrink
from condescension, but can easily stoop, and ex¬
change a palace for a wood, to serve a friend. The
very sight of Jonathan was reviving to David; but
beside that, he said that to him, which was very en¬
couraging.
1. As a pious friend, he directed him to Gcd, the
Foundation of his confidence, and the Fountain of
his comfort. He strengthened his hand in God.
David, though a strong believer, needed the help
of his friends, for the perfecting of what was lack¬
ing in his faith ; and herein Jonathan was helpful to
him, by reminding him of the promise of God, the
holy oil wherewith he was anointed, the presence
of God with him hitherto, and the many experien¬
ces he had had of God’s goodness to him. Thus
he strengthened his hands for action, by encoura¬
ging his heart, not in the creature, but in God.
Jonathan was not in a capacity of doing any thing to
strengthen him, but he assured him God would.
2. As a self-denying friend, he takes a pleasure
in the prospect of David’s advancement to that
honour which was his own birthright; ( v . 17.)
“Thou shalt live to be king, and I shall think it
preferment enough to be next thee, near thee,
though under thee, and will never pretend to be a
rival with thee.” This resignation which Jonathan
made to David of his title, would be a great satisfac¬
tion to him, and make his way much the mot e clear.
This, he tells him, Saul knew very well; Jonathan
having sometimes heard him say as much. Whence
it appears, what a wicked man Saul was, to perse¬
cute one whom God favoured; and what a foolish
man he was, in thinking to prevent that which God
had determined, and which would certa'nly come
327
I. SAMUEL, XXIII.
to pass. How could he disannul what God had pur¬
posed?
3. As a constant friend, he renewed his league of
friendship with him ; they two made a covenant now,
this third time, before the Lord, calling him to wit¬
ness to it, v. 18. True love takes delight in repeat¬
ing its engagements, gi\ing and receiving fresh as¬
surances of the firmness of their friendship. Our
covenant with God should be often renewed, and
therein our communion with him kept up. Da¬
vid and Jonathan now parted, and never came to¬
gether again, that we find, in this world; for Jona¬
than said what he wished, not what he had ground
to expect, when he promised himself that he should
be next to David in his kingdom.
1 9. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to
Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide him¬
self with us in strong holds in the wood, in
the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south
of Jeshimon ? 20. Now therefore, O king,
come down, according to all the desire of
thy soul to come down ; and our part shall
be to deliver him into the king’s hand. 21.
And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord ;
for ye have compassion on me. 22. Go, I
pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his
place where his haunt is, and who hath seen
him there : for it is told me that he dealeth
veiy subtilely. 23. See therefore, and take
knowledge of all the lurking-places where
he hideth himself, and come ye again to me
with the certainty, and I will go with you :
and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land,
that I will search him out throughout all the
thousands of Judah. 24. And they arose,
and went to Ziph before Saul : but David
and his men were in the wilderness of Maon,
in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 25.
Saul also and his men went to seek him.
And they told David : wherefore he came
down into a rock, and abode in the wilder¬
ness of Maon. And when Saul heard that,
he pursued after David in the wilderness of
Maon. 26. And Saul went on this side of
the mountain, and David and his men on
that side of the mountain : and David made
haste to get away for fear of Saul ; for Saul
and his men compassed David and his men
round about to take them. 27. But there
came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste
thee, and come ; for the Philistines have in¬
vaded the land. 28. Wherefore Saul re¬
turned from pursuing after David, and went
against the Philistines : therefore they call¬
ed that place Sela-hammah-lekoth. 29. A nd
David went up from thence, and dwelt in
strong holds at En-gedi.
Here,
1. The Ziphites offer their services to Saul, and
betray David to him, v. 19. 20. He was sheltering
himself in the wilderness of Ziph, (z>. 14, 15.) put¬
ting the more confidence in the people of that coun¬
try, because they were of his own tribe. They had
reason to think themselves happy, that they had an
opportunity of serving one, who was the ornament
of their tribe, and was likely to be much more so:
who was so far from plundering the country, or
giving it any disturbance with his troops, that he
was ready to protect it, and do them all the good
offices that there was occasion for. But, to ingrati¬
ate themselves with Saul, they went to him, and
not only informed him very particularly where
David quartered, ( v . 19.) but invited him to come
with his forces into their country in pursuit of him,
and promised to deliver him into his hand, v. 20.
Saul had not sent to examine or threaten them, but
of their own accord, and even without asking a re¬
ward, (as Judas did, What •will ye give me?) they
proffer to betray David to him, who, they knew,
thirsted after his blood.
2. Saul thankfully receives their information, and
gladly lays hold on the opportunity of hunting David
in their wilderness, in hopes to make a prey of him
at length. He intimates to them how kindly he
took it; (in 21.) Blessed be ye of the Lord, (so near
is God to his mouth, though far from his heart,)
for ye have compassion on me. It seems he looked
upon himself as a miserable man and an object of
pity; his own envy and ill nature made him so, else
he might have been easy, and have needed no man’s
compassion. He likewise insinuates the little con¬
cern that the generality of his people showed for
him: “ You have compassion on me, which others
have not.” Saul gives them instructions to search
more particularly for his haunts, (v. 22.) “For,”
says he, “I hear he deals very subtilely;” repre¬
senting him as a man crafty to do mischief, whereas
all his subtilty was to secure himself. It was
strange that he did not go down with them imme¬
diately, but he hoped, by their means, to set his
game with the more certainty, and thus Divine
Providence gave David time to shift for himself.
But the Ziphites had laid their spies upon all the
places where he was likely to be discovered, and
therefore Saul might come and seize him, if he was
in the land, v. 23. Now he thought himself sure
of his prey, and pleased himself with the thoughts
of devouring it.
3. The eminent peril that David was now brought
into. Upon intelligence that the Ziphites had be
trayed him, he retired from the hill of Hachilah to
the wilderness of Maon, (i». 24. ) and at this time he
penned the 54th Psalm, as appears by the title,
wherein he calls the Ziphites strangers, though
they were Israelites, because they used him bar-
I barously; but he puts himself under the divine
protection. “ Behold, God is my Helper, and then
all shall be well.” Saul, having got intelligence of
him, pursued him closely, (y. 25.) till he came so
near him, that there was but a mountain between
them; (v. 26.) David and his men on the one side of
the mountain flying, and Saul and his men on the other
side pursuing; David in fear, and Saul in hope.
But this mountain was an emblem of the Divine
Providence coming between David and the de¬
stroyer, like the pillar of cloud between the Israel¬
ites and the Egyptians; David was concealed by this
mountain, and Saul confounded by it. David now
flees as a bird to his mountain, (Ps. 11. 1.) and finds
God to him as the shadow cf a great reck. Saul
hoped with his numerous forces, to enclose David,
and compass him in and his men; but the ground
djd not prove convenient for his design, and so it
failed. A new name was given to the place in re¬
membrance of this, v. 28, Sela-hammah-lekoth,
the rock of division, because it divided between
Saul and David.
4. The deliverance of David out of this danger.
Providence gave Saul a diversion when he was just
ready to lav hold on David; notice was brought
I him that -the Philistines were invading the land.
328
I. SAMUEL, XXIV.
( v . 27. ) probably, that part of the land where his
own estate lay, which would be seized, or at least
spoiled, by the invaders: for the little notice he took
of Keilah’s distress, and David’s relief of it in the
beginning of this chapter, give us cause to suspect
that he would not now have left pursuing David, and
gone to oppose the Philistines, if some private inter¬
ests of his own had not been at stake. However it
was, he found himself under a necessity of going
against the Philistines, ( v . 28.) and by this means
David was delivered when he was on the brink of
destruction; Saul was disappointed of his prey, and
God was glorified as his wonderful Protector.
When the Philistines invaded the land, they were
far from intending any kindness to David by it; yet
the overruling providence of God, which orders all
events, and the times of them, made it very service¬
able to him. The wisdom of God is never at a loss
for ways and means to preserve his people. As this
Saul was here diverted, so another Saul was convert¬
ed, just when he was breathing out threatenings and
slaughter against the saints of the Lord, Acts 9. 1.
Lastly, David having thus escaped, took shelter
in some' natural fortresses, which he found in the
wilderness of En-gedi, v. 29. And this Dr. Light-
foot thinks was the wilderness of Judah, in which
David was, when he penned the 63d Psalm, which
breathes as much pious and devout affections as al¬
most any of his Psalms; for in all places, and in all
conditions, he still kept up his communion with
God.
CHAP. XXIV.
We have hitherto had Saul seeking an opportunity to de¬
stroy David, and, to his shame, he could jiever find it.
In this chapter David had a fair opportunity to destroy
Saul, and, to his honour, he did not make use of it; his
sparimr Saul’s life, was as great an instance of God’s
grace in him, as the preserving of his own life was of
God’s providence over him. Observe, I. How malicious- ‘
ly Saul sought David’s life, v. 1, 2. II. How generously
David saved Saul’s life, (when he had him at an advan¬
tage,) and only cut off the skirt of his robe, v. 3 . . 8. III.
How pathetically he reasoned with Saul, upon this, to
bring him to a better temper towards him, v. 9 . : 15. IV.
The good impressions this made upon Saul, for the pre¬
sent, v. 16 . . 22.
1. A ND it came to pass, when Saul was
f\. returning from following the Philis¬
tines, that it was told him, saying, Behold,
David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. 2.
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men
out of all Israel, and went to seek David
and his men upon the rocks of the wild
goats. 3. And he came to the sheep-cotes
by the way, where was a cave ; and Saul
went in to cover his feet : and David and
his men remained in ihe sides of the cave.
4. And the men of David said unto him,
Behold the day of which the Lord said
unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine ene¬
my into thine hand, that thou mayest do to
him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then
David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s
robe privily. 3. And it came to pass after¬
ward, that David’s heart smote him, be¬
cause he had cut off Saul’s skirt. 6. And !
he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that
I should do this thing unto my master, the
Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand
against him, seeing he is the anointed of the
Lord. 7. So David stayed his servants
with these words, and suffered them not to
rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of
the cave, and went on his way. 8. David
also rose afterward, and went out of the
cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord
the king. And when Saul looked behind
him, David stooped with his face to the
earth, and bowed himself.
Here,
I. Saul renews his pursuit of David, i>. 1, 2. No
sooner is he come home safe from chasing the
Philistines, in which it should seem he had good
success, than he inquires after David to do him a
mischief, and resolves to have another thrust at
him, as if he had been delivered to do all those abomi¬
nations, Jer. 7. 10. By the frequent incursions of
the Philistines, he might have seen how necessary
it was to recall David from his banishment, ancl
restore him to his place in the army again; but so
far is he from that, that now, more than ever, he is
exasperated against him; and, hearing that he is in
the wilderness of En-gedi, he draws out three thou¬
sand choice men, and goes with them at his feet in
pursuit of him, upon the rocks of the wild goats,
where, one would think, David should not be en¬
vied an inhabitation, nor Saul be desirous to disturb
him; for what harm could he fear from one who was
no better accommodated? But it is not enough to
Saul, that he is thus cooped up; he cannot be easy
while he is alive.
II. Providence brings Saul alone into the same
cave wherein David and his men had hid them¬
selves, v. 3. In those countries there were very
large caves in the sides of the rocks or mountains,
partly natural, but, probably, much enlarged by
art, for the sheltering of sheep from the heat of
the sun; hence we read of places where the flocks
did rest at noon, (Cant. 1. 7. ) and this cave seems
to be spoken of as one of the sheep-cotes. In the
sides of this cave David and his men remained;
perhaps not all his men, the whole 600, but only
some few of his particular friends, the rest being
disposed of in similar retirements. Saul, passing
by, turned in himself alone, not in search of David,
(for, supposing him to be an aspiring ambitious man,
he thought to find him rather climbing with the
wild goats upon the rocks, than retiring with the
sheep into a cave,) but thither he turned aside to
cover his feet, that is, to sleep a while, it being a
cool and quiet place, and very refreshing in the
heat of the day: probably, he ordered his attendants
to march before, reserving only a very few to wait
for him at the mouth of the cave.
III. David’s servants stir him up to kill Saul,
now that he had so fair an opportunity to do it, v. 4.
They remind him that this was the day which he
had long looked for, and of which God had spoken
to him in general when he was anointed to the king
dom, which should put a period to his troubles, and
open the passage to his advancement. Saul now
lay at his mercy, and it was easy to imagine how
little mercy he should find with Saul, and therefore
what little reason he had to show mercy to him.
“ By all means,” say his servants, “ give him the
fatal blow now.” See how apt we are to misunder¬
stand, 1. The promises of God. God had assured
David he would deliver him from Saul, and his men
interpret that as a warrant to destroy Saul. 2. The
providences of God; because it was now in his power
to kill him, they concluded he might lawfully do it.
IV. David cut off the skirt of his robe, but soon
repented that he had done that: his heart smote him
for it, v. 5. though he did Saul no real hurt, and
329
I. SAMUEL, XXIV.
served David for a proof that it was in his power to
have killed him; (x’. 11.) yet, because it was an af¬
front to Saul’s royal dignity, he wished he had not
done it. Note, It is a good thing to have a heart
within us, smiting us for sins that seem little; it is a
sign that conscience is awake and tender, and will
be the means of preventing greater sins.
V. He reasons strongly botii with himself and
with his servants, against doing Saul any hurt. 1.
He reasons with himself: ( v . 6.) The Lord forbid
that I should do this thing'. Note, Sin is a thing
which it becomes us to startle at, and to resist the
temptations to, not only with resolution, but with a
holy indignation. He considers Saul now, not as
his enemy, and the only person that stood in the
w iy of his preferment, for then he would be induced
to hearken to the temptation, but as God’s anointed,
that is, the person whom God had appointed to
reign as long as he lived, and who, as such, was
under the particular protection of the di\ ine law ;
and as his master, to whom he was obliged to be
faithful. Let servants and subjects learn hence to
be dutiful and loyal, whatever hardships are put
upon them, 1 Pet. 2. 18. 2. He reasons with his
servants. He suffered them not to ?ise against Saul ,
v. 7. He would not only not do this bad thing himself,
but he would not suffer those about him to do it.
Thus did he render good for evil to him from
whom he had received evil for good; and was herein
both a type of Christ, who saved his persecutors,
and an example to all Christians, not to be overcome
of evil, but to overcome evil with good.
VI. He follows Saul out of the cave, and though
he would not take the opportunity to slay him, yet
he wisely took the opportunity, if possible, to slay
his enmity, by convincing him that he was not such
a man as he took him for. 1. Even in showing his
head, he testified that he had an honourable opin¬
ion of Saul. He had too much reason to believe
that, let him say what he would, Saul would imme¬
diately be the death of him, as soon as he saw him,
and yet he bravely lays aside that jealousy, and
thinks Saul so much a man of sense as to hear his
reasoning, when he had so much to say in his own
vindication, and such fresh and sensible proofs to
give of his own integrity. 2. His behaviour was
very respectful, he stooped with his face to the earth ,
and bowed himself giving honour to whom honour
was due, and teaching us to order ourselves lowly
and reverently to all our superiors, <even to those
that have been most injurious to us.
9. And David said to Saul, Wherefore
hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold,
David seeketh thy hurt? 10. Behold, this
day thine eyes have seen how that the
Lord hath delivered thee to-day into mine
hand in the cave : and some bade me kill
thee ; but mine eye spared thee : and I said,
I will not put forth mine hand against my
lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed. 11.
Moreover, my father, see ; yea, see the skirt
of thy robe in mine hand : for in that I cut
off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not,
know thou and see that there is neither evil
nor transgression in mine hand, and I have
not sinned against thee ; yet thou huntest
my soul to take it. 12. The Lord judge
between "o and thee, and the Lord avenge
me of thee ; but mine hand shall not be up¬
on thee. 1 3. As saith the proverb of the
ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the
Vol. ii.— 2 T
wicked : but mine hand shall not be upon
thee. 14. After whom is the king of Israel
come out ? After w horn dost thou pursue ?
After a dead dog, after a flea? 15. The
Lord therefore be judge, and judge be¬
tween me and thee, and see, and plead my
cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
We have here David’s warm and pathetic speech
to Saul, wherein he endeavours to convince him
that he did him a great deal of wrong in persecu¬
ting him thus, and to persuade him therefore to be
reconciled.
1. He calls him father; {v. 11.) for he was not
only, as king, the father of his country, but he was,
in particular, his father-in-law. From a father one
may expect compassion, and a favourable opinion.
For a prince to seek the ruin of any of his good
subjects, is as unnatural as for a father to seek the
ruin of his own children.
2. He lays the blame of his rage against him
upon his evil counsellors; Wherefore hearest thou
men’s words? v. 9. It is a piece of respect owing
to crowned heads, if they do amiss, to charge it
upon those about them, who either advised them to
it, or should have advised them against it. David
had reason enough to think that Saul persecuted
him purely from his own envy and maiice, yet he
decently supposes that ethers put him on to do it,
and made him believe that David was his enemy,
and sought his hurt. Satan, the great accuser of
the brethren, has his agents in all places, and par¬
ticularly in the courts of those princes that en¬
courage them and give ear to them, who make it
their business to represent the people of God as
enemies to Cxsar and hurtful to kings and princes,
that, being thus dressed up in bear skins, they may
“ be baited.”
3. He solemnly pretests his own innocence, and
that he was far from designing any hurt or mischief
to Saul, “ There is neither evil nor transgression in
my hand, v. 11. I am not chargeable with any
crime, nor conscious of any guilt, and, had I a
window in my breast, thou mightest through it see
the sincerity of my heart in this protestation. 1
have not sinned against thee; (however I have sin¬
ned against God;) yet thou huntest my soul,” that
is, “my life.” Perhaps it was about this time,
that David penned the seventh Psalm, concerning
the business of Cush the Benjamite, that is, Saul,
as some think, wherein he appeals to God, (v. 3*-
5.) If there be iniquity in my hand, then let the
enemy persecute ?ny soul and take it; putting in a
parenthesis, with reference to the story of this
chapter. Yea, I have delivered him that without
cause is mine enemy.
4. He produces undeniable evidence to prove the
falseness of the suggestion upon which Saul’s ma¬
lice against him was grounded; David was charged
with seeking Saul’s hurt; “ See,” says he, “yea,
see the skirt of thy robe; (x\ 11.) let this be a wit¬
ness for me, and an unexceptionable witness it is:
had that been true which I am accused cf, I had
now had thy head in my hand, and not the skirt of
thy robe, for I could as easily have cut off that : s
this.” To corroborate this evidence, he shows
him, (1.) That God’s providence had gi en him an
opportunity to do it. The Lord delivered thee, \ ery
surprisingly, to-day into mine hand; whence many
a one would have gathered an intimation, that it
was the will of God he should now give the deter¬
mining blow to him whose neck lay so fair for it.
When Saul had but a very small advantage against
David, he cried out, God has delivered him into mu
hand, ( ch . 23. 7-. ) and resolved to make the best of
that advantage; but Da\ id did not so. (2.) That
330
I. SAMUEL, XXIV.
his counsellors and those about him had earnestly
put him on to do it. Some bade me kill thee. He
had blamed Saul for hearkening to men’s words,
and justly; “for,” says he, “if 1 had done so, thou
hadst not been alive now.” (3.) That it was upon
a good principle, that he refused to do it; not be¬
cause his attendants were at hand, who, it may be,
would have avenged his death; no, it was not by the
fear of them, but by the fear of God, that he was
restrained from it; “ He is my Lord, and the Lord’s
anointed, whom I ought to protect, and to whom I
owe faith and allegiance, and therefore I said, I will
not touch a hair of his head. Such a happy com¬
mand he had of himself, that his nature, in the
midst of the greatest provocation, was not suffered
to rebel against his principles.
5. He declares it his fixed resolution never to be
his own avenger. The Lord avenge me of thee;
that is, “deliver me out of thy hand; but, whatever
comes of it, my hand shall not be upon thee;' (y.
12. and again, v. 13.) as saith the proverb of the
ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.
The wisdom of the ancients is transmitted to pos¬
terity by their proverbial sayings: many such we
receive by tradition from our fathers; and the coun¬
sels of common persons are very much directed by
this, “As the old saying is.” Here is one that was
in use in David’s time, Wickedness proceedeth from
the wicked; that is, (1.) Men’s own iniquity will
ruin them at last. So some understand it. Fro¬
ward fuiious men will cut their own throats with
their own knives. Give them rope enough, and
they will hang themselves. In this sense it comes
in very fitly as a reason why his hand should not be
upon him. (2.) Bad men will do bad things; ac¬
cording as men’s principles and dispositions are,
accordingly will their actions be: this suits the con¬
nexion. If David had been a wicked man, as he
was represented, he would have done this wicked
thing; but he durst not, because of the fear of God.
Or thus: Whatever injuries bad men do us, (which
we are not to wonder at; he that lies among thorns,
must expect to be scratched,) yet we must not re¬
turn them; never render railing for railing: though
wickedness proceed from the wicked, yet let it not
therefore proceed from us by way of retaliation.
Though the dog bark at the sheep, the sheep does
not bark at the dog. See Isa. 32. 6- *8.
6. He endeavoursto convince him, that as it was a
bad thing, so it was a mean thing, for him to give
chase to such an inconsiderable person as David
was; (y. 14.) Whom does the king of Israel pur¬
sue with all this care and force.'1 A dead dog; a
flea; one flea; so it is in the Hebrew. It is below
so great a king to enter the lists with one that is so
unequal a match for him, one of his own servants,
bred a poor shepherd, now an exile; neither able
nor willing to make any resistance. To conquer
him would not be to his honour, to attempt it was
his disparagement. If Saul would consult his own
reputation, he would slight such an enemy, (sup¬
posing he were really his enemy,) and would think
himself in no danger from him. David was so far
from aspiring, that he was, in his own account, as a
dead dog; Mephibosheth thus calls himself, 2 Sam.
9. 8. This humble language would have wrought
upon Saul, if he had any spark of generosity in him;
Satis est prostrasse leoni — Enough for the lion, that
he has laid his victim low. What credit would it be
to Saul to trample upon a dead dog? What pleasure
could it be to him to hunt a flea, a single flea? Which,
as s^me have observed,) if it be sought, is not easily
ound, if it be found, not easily caught, and if it be
caught, is a poor prize, especially for a prince.
Aquila non captat muscas — The eagle does not dart
upon flies. David thinks Saul had no more reason
to fear him, than to fear a flea-bite.
7. He once and again appeals to God as the
righteous Judge; (y. 12. and v. 15.) 7 he Lord,
judge between me arid thee. Note, The justice of
God is the refuge and comfort of oppressed inno¬
cence. If men wrong us, God will right us, at
furthest, in the judgment of the great day. With
him David leaves his cause, and so rests satisfied
waiting his time to appear for him.
16. And it came to pass, When David
had made an end of speaking these words
unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice,
my son David? And Saul lifted up his
voice and wept. 1 7. And he said to David,
Thou art more righteous than I: for thou
hast rewarded me good, whereas I have
rewarded thee evil. 18. And thou hast
showed this day how' that thou hast dealt
well with me: forasmuch as, when the
Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou
killedst me not. 19. For if a man find
his enemy, will he let him go well away?
Wherefore the Lord reward thee good for
that thou hast done unto me this day. 20.
And now, behold, I know well that thou
shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom
of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
21. Swear now therefore unto me by the
Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed
after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my
name out of my father’s house. 22. And
David sware unto Saul. And Saul went
home: but David and his men gat them up
unto the hold.
Here is,
I. Saul’s penitent reply to David’s speech. It
was strange that he had patience to hear him out,
considering how outrageous he was against him, and
how cutting David’s discourse was: but God re¬
strained him and his men; and we may suppose
Saul struck with amazement at the singularity of
the event, and much more when he found how much
he had lain at Dav id’s mercy. His heart must
have been harder than a stone, if this had not af¬
fected him.
1. He melted into tears; and we will not suppose
them to be counterfeit, but real expressions of his
present concern at the sight of his own iniquity, so
plainly proved upon him. He speaks as one quite
overcome with David’s kindness; Is this thy voice,
my son David? And, as one that relented at the
thought of his own folly and ingratitude, he lifted
up his voice and wept, v. 16. Many mourn for
their sins, that do not truly repent of them; weep
bitterly for them, and yet continue in love and
league with them.
2. He ingenuously acknowledged David’s inte¬
grity, and his own iniquity; (f. 17.) Thou art mor;
righteous than I. Now God made good to David
that word on which he had caused him to hope,
that he would bring forth his righteousness as the
light, Ps. 37. 6. They who take care to keep a
good conscience, may leave it to God to secure them
the credit of it. This fair confession was enough
to prov e David innocent, (even his enemy himself
being judge,) but not enough to prove Saul himself
a true penitent. He should have said, Thou art
righteous, but I am wicked; but the utmost he will
own is this. Thou art more righteous than I. Bad
men will commonly go no further than this in theii
331
I. SAMUEL, XXV.
confessions; bin they will own they are not so good
as some others are; there are that are better than
they, and more righteous. He now owns himself
under a mistake concerning David; (v. 18.) “ Thou
hast showed this day, that thou art so tar from
seeking my hurt, that thou hast dealt well with me. ”
We are too apt to suspect others to be worse affect¬
ed towards us than really they are, and than per¬
haps they are proved to be; when, afterward, our
mistake is discovered, we should be forward to re¬
call our suspicions, as Saul does here.
3. He prays God to recompense David for this his
generous kindness to him. He owns that David’s
sparing him when he had him in his power, was an
uncommon and an unparalleled instance of tender¬
ness to an enemy; no man would have done the
like; and therefore, either because he thought
himself not able to give him a full recompense for
so great a favour, or, because he found himself not
inclined to give him any recompense at all, he turns
him over to God for his pay; The Lord reward thee
stood, v. 19. Poor beggars can do no less than pray
for their benefactors, and Saul did no more.
4. He prophesies his advancement to the throne;
(z1. 20.) I know well that thou shall surely be king.
He knew it before, by the promise Samuel had
made him of it, compared with the excellent spirit
that appeared in David, which highly aggravated
his sin and folly, in persecuting him as he did; he
had as much reason to say, concerning David, as
David concerning him, How can I /tut forth my
hand against the Lord's anointed? But now he
knew it bv the interest he found he had in the peo¬
ple, the special providence of God in protecting
him, and the generous kingly spirt he had now
given a proof of in sparing his enemy. Now he
knew it; that is, now that he was in a good temper,
he was willing to own that he knew it, and to sub¬
mit to the conviction of it. Note, Sooner or later,
God will force even those that are of the synagogue
of Satan, to know and own those that he has loved,
and to worship before their feet; for so it is promis¬
ed, Rev. 3. 9. Tlfs acknowledgment which Saul
made of David’s incontestable title to the crown,
was a great encouragement to David himself, and a
support to his faith and hope.
5. He binds David with an oath, hereafter to
show the same tenderness of his seed, and of his
name, as he had now showed of his person, v. 21.
David had more reason to oblige Saul by an oath
that he would not destroy him, yet he insists not on
that; (if the laws of justice and honour would not
bind him, an oath would not;) but Saul knew David
to be a conscientious man, and would think his in¬
terests safe, if he could get them secured by his
oath. Saul, by his disobedience, had ruined his
own soul, and never took care by repentance to
prevent that ruin, and yet is very solicitous that his
name might not be destroyed, nor his seed cut off.
However, David sware unto him, v. 22. Though
he might be tempted, not only in revenge, but in
prudence, to extirpate Saul’s family, yet he binds
himself not to do it, knowing that God could and
would establish the kingdom to him and his, with¬
out the use of such bloody methods. This oath he
afterward religiously observed; he supported Me-
phibosheth, and executed those as traitors, that
slew Ish-bosheth. The hanging up of several of
S nil’s posterity, to atone for the destruction of the
Gibeonites, was God’s appointment, not David’s
act. and therefore not the violation of this oath.
II. Their parting in peace. 1. Saul, for the pre¬
sent, let fall the persecution: he went home con¬
vinced, but not converted; ashamed of his envy to
David, yet retaining in his breast that root of bit¬
terness; vexed that, when at last he had found Da-
\id, he could not at that time find in his heart to
destroy him, as he had designed. God has many
ways to tie the hands of persecutors, when he does
not turn their hearts. 2. David continued to shift
for his own safety; he knew Saul too well to trust
him, and therefore got him up into the hold. It is
dangerous venturing upon the mercy of a recon¬
ciled enemy. We read of those who believed in
Christ, and yet he did not commit himself to them,
because he knew all men. They that like David
are innocent as doves, must thus like him be wise
as serpents.
CHAP. XXV.
We have here some intermission of David’s troubles by
Saul. Providence favoured him with a breathing time,
and yet this chapter gives us instances of the troubles
of David ; if one vexation seem to be over, we must
not be secure ; a storm may arise from some other point,
as here to David. I- Tidings of the death of Samuel
could not but trouble him, v. 1. But, II. The abuse
he received from Nabal is more largely recorded in this
chapter. 1. The character of Nabal, v. 2, 3. 2. The
humble request sent to him, v. 4 . . 9. 3. His churlish
answer, v. 10, 11. 4. David’s angry resentment of it,
v. 12, 13, 21,22. 5. Abigail’s prudent care to prevent
the mischief it was likely to bring upon her family, v.
14.. 20- 6. Rer address to David to pacify him, v.
23.. 31. 7. David’s favourable reception of her, v.
32 . . 3 b. S. The death of Nabal, v. 36.. 38. 9. Ah -
gail’s marriage to David, v. 39 . . 44.
1. A ND Samuel died: and all the Israel-
f\ ites were gathered together, and la¬
mented him, and buried him in his house at
Hamah. And David arose, and went down
to the wilderness of Paran.
We have here a short account of Samuel’s death
and burial.
1. Though he was a great man, and one that was
admirably well qualified for public service, yet he
spent the latter end of his days in retirement and
obscurity: not because he was superannuated, for he
knew how to preside in a college of the prophets,
(ch. 19. 20.) but because Israel had rejected him,
for which God thus justly chastised them, and be¬
cause his desire was to be quiet, and to enjoy him¬
self and his God in acts of devotion, now in his
advanced years; and in this desire God graciously
indulged him. Let old people be willing to rest
themselves, though it look like burying themselves
alive.
2. Though he was a fast friend to David, for
which Saul hated him, as also for dealing plainly
with him; yet he died in peace, even in the worst
of the days of Saul’s tyranny, who, he sometimes
feared, would kill him, ch '. 16. 2. Though Saul
loved him not, yet he feared him, as Herod did
John: and feared the people, for all knew him to be
a prophet. Thus is Saul restrained from hurting
him.
3. All Israel lamented him; and they had reason,
for they had all a loss in him. His personal merits
commanded this honour to be done him at his death;
his former services to the public, when he judged
Israel, made this respect to his name and memory,
a just debt; it had been very ungrateful to have
withheld it. The sons of the prophets had lost the
founder and president of their college, and what¬
ever weakened them was a public loss: but that was
not all; Samuel was a constant intercessor for Is¬
rael, prayed daily for them; (ch. 12. 23.) if he go,
they part with the best friend they have. The loss
is the more grievous at this juncture, when Saul is
grown so outrageous, and David driven from his
country; never more need of Samuel than now, yet
now he is removed. We will hope that the Israel¬
ites lamented Samuel’s death the more bitterly, be-
332
I. SAMUEL, XXV.
cause they remembered against themselves their
own sin and folly in rejecting him, and desiring a
king. Note, (1.) Those have hard hearts, who can
bury their faithful ministers with dry eyes; who are
not sensible of the loss of those who have prayed
for them, and taught them the way of the Lord.
(2. ) When God’s providence removes our relations
and friends from us, we ought to be humbled for
our misconduct toward them, while they were
with us.
4. They buried him not in the school of the pro¬
phets at Naioth, but in his own house, or perhaps
m the garden pertaining to it, at Ramah, where he
was born.
5. David, hereupon, went down to the wilder¬
ness of Paran, retiring, perhaps, to mourn the more
solemnly for the death of Samuel. Or, rather, be¬
cause now that he had lost so good a friend, who
was (and he hoped would be) a great support to
him, he apprehended his danger to be greater than
ever, and therefore withdrew to a wilderness, out
cf the limits of the land of Israel; and now it was,
that he dwelt in the tents of Kedar, Ps. 120. 5. In
some parts of this wilderness of Paran, Israel wan¬
dered when they came out of Egypt; tne place
would bring to mind God’s care concerning them,
and David might improve that for his own encou¬
ragement, now in his wilderness state.
2. And there was a man in Maon whose
possessions were in Carmel ; and the man
was very great, and he had three thousand
sheep, and a thousand goats : and he was
shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3. Now the
name of the man teas Nabal, and the name
of his wife Abigail ; and she ivas a woman
of good understanding, and of a beautiful
countenance : but the man was churlish,
and evil in his doings; and he was of the
house of Caleb. 4. And David heard in
the wilderness that Nabal did shear his
sheep. 5. And David sent out ten young
men ; and David said unto the young men,
Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal,
and greet him in my name. 6. And thus
shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity ,
Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine
house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
7. And now I have heard that thou hast
shearers : now, thy shepherds which were
with us, we hurt them not, neither was there
aught missing unto them, all the while they
were in Carmel. 8. Ask thy young men,
and they will show thee. Wherefore let
the young men find favour in thine eyes;
for we come in a good day: give, I pray
thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto
thy servants, and to thy son David. 9. And
when David’s young men came, they spake
to Nabal according to all those words, in
the name of David, and ceased. 10. And
Nabal answered David’s servants, and said,
Who is David ? and who is the son of Jesse ?
There be many servants now-a-days that
break away every man from his master.
1 1 . Shall I then take my bread and my
water, and my flesh that I have killed for
my shearers, and give it unto men whom 1
know not whence they be?
Here begins the story of Nabal.
I. A short account of him, who and what he was,
v. 2, 3. A man we should never have heard of, if
1 there had not happened some communication be¬
tween him and David. Observe, 1. His name: JVa-
bal ; a fool, so it signifies. It was a wonder that his
parents would give him that name, and an ill omen
of what proved to be his character. Yet indeed we
all of us deserve to be so called, when we come in¬
to the world; for Man is born like the wild ass's colt,
and foolishness is bound up in our hearts. 2. His
family: he was of the house of Caleb, but was in¬
deed of another spirit. He inherited Caleb’s estate;
for Maon and Carmel lay near Hebron, which was
given to Caleb; (Josh. 15. 54, 55. — 14. 14.) but he
was far from inheriting his virtues. He was a dis¬
grace to his family, and then it was no honour to
him. Dcgeneranti genus opprobrium — A good ex¬
traction is a reproach to him who degenerates from
it. The Seventy, and some ether ancient versions,
read it appellatively; not, He was a Calebite. He
was a dogged man, of a currish disposition, surly
and snappish, and always snarling. He was dvS-goi-
huhko; — a man that was a cynic. 3. His wealth:
he was very great, that is, very rich; for riches
make men look great in the eye of the world; other¬
wise, to one that takes his measures aright, he really
looked very mean. Riches are common blessings,
which God often giv es to Nabals, to whom he gives
neither wisdom nor grace. 4. His wife: Abigail; a
woman of great understanding. Her name signi¬
fies, the joy of her father; yet he could not promise
himself much joy of her, when he married her to
such a husband, inquiring more after his wealth
than after his wisdom. Many a child is thrown
away upon a great heap of the mire of worldly
wealth; married to that and to nothing else that is
desirable. Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
but an inheritance is good for little without wisdom.
Many an Abigail is tied to a Nabal, and if it be so,
be her understanding, like Abigail’s, ever so great,
it will be little enough for her exercises. 5. Hi?
character: he had no sense either of honour or ho
nesty: not of honour, for he was churlish, cross,
and ill-humoured; not of honesty, for he was evil in
his doings, hard, and oppressive, and a man that
cared not what fraud and violence he used in getting
and saving, so he could but get and save. This is
the character given of Nabal by Him who knows
what every man is.
II. David’s humble request to him, that he would
send him some victuals for himself and his men.
1. David, it seems, was in such distress, that he
would be glad to be beholden to him, and did, in ef¬
fect, come a begging to his door. What little rea-
; son have we to value the wealth of this world, when
i so great a churl as Nabal was, abounds, and so great
a saint as David was, suffers want! Once before,
we had David begging his bread, but then it was of
Ahimelech the High Priest, to whom one would not
grudge to stoop. Rut to send a begging to Nabal,
was what such a spirit as David had, could not ad¬
mit without some reluctancv; yet if Providence
bring him to these straits, he will not say, that to
beg he is ashamed. Yet see Ps. 37. 25.
2. He chose a good time to send to Nabal, when
he had many hands employed about him in shear¬
ing his sheep, for whom he was to make a plentfful
entertainment, so that good cheer was stirring.
Had he sent at another time, Nabal would have
pretended he had nothing to spare, but now he
could not have that excuse. It was usual to make
feasts at their sheep-shearings, as appears from
33.3
I. SAMUEL, XXV.
Absalom’s feast on that occasion; (2 Sam. 13. 24.)
for wool was one of the staple commodities of Ca¬
naan.
3. David ordered his men to deliver their mes¬
sage to him with a great deal of courtesy and re¬
spect; “ Go to JVabal, and greet him in my name.
Tell him I sent you to present my service to him,
and to inquire how lie does, and his family, v. 5.
He puts words in their mouths; (v. 6.) Thus shall
ye say to him that liveth; (our translators add, in
prosperity ;) as if those live indeed, that live as Na-
bal did, with abundance of the wealth of this world '
about them; whereas, in truth, those that live in
pleasure , are dead while they live, 1 Tim. 5. 6.
This was, methinks, too high a compliment to pass
upon Nabal, to cal' him the man that liveth. Da¬
vid knew better things, that in God’s favour is life,
not in the world’s smiles: and by the rough answer
he was ■well enough served, for this too smooth ad¬
dress to such a muck-worm. Yet his good wishes
were very commendable; “ Peace be to thee; all
good both to soul and body: Peace to thy house and
to all that thou hast. Tell him I am a hearty well-
wisher to his health and prosperity.” He bids
them call him his son David; ( v . 8.) intimating,
that, for his age and estate, David honoured him as
a father, and therefore hoped to receive some
fatherly kindness from him.
4. He pleaded the kindness which Nabal’s shep¬
herds had received from David and his men; and
one good turn requires another. He appeals to Na¬
bal’s own servants, and shows that when David’s
soldiers were quartered among Nabal’s shepherds,
(1.) They did not hurt them themselves; did them
no injury, gave them no disturbance, were not a
terror to them, nor took any of their lambs out of
their flock. Yet, considering the character of Da¬
vid’s men, men in distress, and debt, and discon¬
tented, and the scarcity of provisions in his camp, it
was not without a great deal of care and good man¬
agement, that they were kept from plundering.
(2.) They protected them from being hurt by
others. David himself does but intimate this, for
he would not boast of his good offices; neither was
there aught missing unto them, v. 7. But Nabal’s
servants, to whom he appealed, went further; (v.
16.) They were a wall unto us both by night and
day. David’s soldiers were a guard to Nabal’s
shepherds, when the bands of the Philistines robbed
the threshing-Jloors, ( ch . 23. 1.) and would have
robbed the sheep-folds. From those plunderers
Nabal’s flocks were protected by David’s care, and
therefore let us find favour in thine eyes. Those
that have shown kindness, may justly expect to re¬
ceive kindness.
5. He was very modest in his request. Though
David was anointed king, he insists not upon royal
dainties, but “ Give whatsoever comes to thy hand,
and we will be thankful for it.” Beggars must not
be choosers. They that deserved to have been
served first, will now be glad of what is left. They
plead, lie come in a good day, a festival, when not
only the provision is more plentiful, but the heart
and hand are usually more open and free, than at
other times: when much may be spared, and yet
not be missed. He demands it not as a debt, either
by way of tribute, as he was king, or by way of con¬
tribution, as he was a general, but as a boon to a
friend, that was his humble servant. David’s ser¬
vants delivered their message faithfully, and very
handsomely, not doubting but to go back well laden
with provisions.
III. Nabal’s churlish answer to this modest peti¬
tion, v. 10, 11. One would not have imagined it
possible that any man should be so very rude and
ill-conditioned as Nabal was. David called him¬
self his son, and asked bread, and a fish, but, in¬
stead thereof, he gave him a stone, and a scorpion;
not only denied him, but abused him. If he had
not thought fit to send him any supplies for fear of
Ahimelech’s fate, who paid dear tor his kindness to
David, yet he might have given a civil answer, and
made the denial as modest as the request was. But,
instead of that, he falls into a passion, as covetous
men are apt to do, when they are asked for any
thing, thinking thus to cover one sin with another,
and by abusing the poor to excuse themselves from
relieving them. But God will not thus be mocked.
1. He speaks scornfully of David, as an insignifi¬
cant man, not worth taking notice of. The Philis¬
tines could say of him, This is David the king of the
land, that slew his ten thousands; (ch. 21. 11.) vet
Nabal his near neighbour, and one ot the same tribe,
takes on him to say that he does not know him, or
not know him to be a man of any merit or distinc¬
tion; Who is David? And who is the son Of ^ sse ?
He could not be ignorant how much the country
was obliged to David for his public services, but his
narrow soul thinks not of paying any part of that
debt, nor so much as acknowledge it; he speaks of
David as an inconsiderable man, obscure, and not
to be regarded. Think it not strange, if great men
and great merits be thus disgraced.
2. He upbraids him with his present distress,
and takes occasion from it to represent him as a bad
man, that was fitter to be set in the stocks for a va¬
grant than to have any kindness shown him. How
naturally does he speak the churlish clownish lan¬
guage of those that hate to give alms! There be
many sen'ants now-a-days, (as if there had been
none such in former days,) that break every man
from his muster; suggesting that David was one of
them himself. “He might have kept his place
with his master Saul, and then he needed not have
sent to me for provisions.” A’so that he entertain¬
ed and harboured those that were fugitives like
himself. It would make one’s blood rise, to hear so
great and good a man as David was, thus vilified
and reproached by such a base churl as Nabal was;
But the vile persoji will speak villany, Isa. 32. 5* *7.
If men bring themselves into straits by their own
folly, yet they are to be pitied and helped, and not
trampled upon and starved. But David is reduced
to this distress, not by any fault, nor any indis¬
cretion, of his own, but purely by the good services
he had done to his country, and the honours which
his God had put upon him; and yet he is repre¬
sented as a fugitive and a runagate. Let this help
us to bear such reproaches and misrepresentations
of us with patience and cheerfulness, and make us
easy under them, that it has often been the lot cf
the excellent ones of the earth. Some of the best
men that ever the world was blest with, were count¬
ed as the off-scouring of all things , 1 Cor. 4. 13.
3. He insists much upon the property he had in
the provisions of his table, and will by no means ad¬
mit any body to share in them. “It is my b‘ ead
and my flesh, yes, and my water too,” (though usus
communis aquarum — water is ex'ery one's proper¬
ty ,) “ and it is prepared for my shearers;” priding
himself in it, that it was all his own; and who denied
it? Who offered to dispute his title? But this, he
thinks, will justify him in keeping it all to himself,
and giving David none; for may he not do what he
will with his own? Whereas we mistake, if we
think we are absolute lords of what we have, and
may do what we please with it. No, we are but
stewards, and must use it as we are directed, re¬
membering it is not our own, but his that entrust¬
ed us with it. Riches are the t* a\Mr put, (Luke
16. 12.) they are another's, and we ought not to
talk too much of their being our own.
12. So David’s young men turned their
334
I. SAMUEL, XXV.
way, and went again, and came and told
him all those sayings. 13. And David said
unto his men, Gird ye on every man his
sword. And they girded on every man his
sword, and David also girded on his sword :
and there went up after David about four
hundred men ; and two hundred abode by
the stuff. 14. But one of the young men
told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold,
David sent messengers out of the wilder¬
ness to salute our master ; and he railed on
them. 15. But the men ivere very good
unto us, and we were not hurt, neither
missed we any thing, as long as we were
conversant with them, when we were in the
fields : 1 6. They were a wall unto us both
by night and day, all the while we were
with them keeping sheep. 17. Now there¬
fore know and consider what thou wilt do ;
for evil is determined against our master,
and against all his household : for he is such
a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to
him.
Here is,
I. The report to David of the abuse Nabal had
given to his messengers; (u. 12.) They turned their
way; they showed their displeasure as became them
to do, by breaking off abruptly from such a churl,
but prudently governed themselves so well, as not
to render railing for railing, nor to call him as he
deserved, much less to take by force what ought of
right to have been given them, but came and told
David — let him do as he thought fit. Christ’s ser¬
vants, when they are thus abused, must leave it to
him to plead his own cause, and wait till he appear
in it. The servant showed his lord what affronts
he had received, but did not return them, Luke
14. 21.
II. David’s hasty resolution, hereupon. He gird¬
ed on his sword, and ordered his men to do so too,
to the number of four hundred, v. 13. And what
he said, we are told, v. 21, 22. 1. He repented of
the kindness he had done to Nabal, and looks upon
it as thrown away upon him. He said, “ Surely in
vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wil¬
derness; I thought to have obliged him, and made
him my friend, but I see it is to no purpose. He
has no sense of gratitude, nor is he capable of re¬
ceiving the impressions of a good turn, else he could
not have used me thus. He hath requited me evil
for good. But when we are thus requited, we
should not repent of the good we have done, nor be
backward to do good another time. God is kind to
the evil and unthankful, and why may not we? 2.
He determined to destroy Nabal, and all that be¬
longed to him, v. 22. Here David did not act like
himself. His resolution was bloody, to cut off all
the males of Nabal’s house, and spare none, man,
nor man child. The ratification of his resolution
was passionate; So, and more also, do God (he was
going to say to me, but that would better become
Saul’s mouth ( ch . 14. 44.) than David’s, and there¬
fore he decently turns it off) to the enemies of Da¬
vid. Is this thy voice, 0 David? Can the man
after God’s own heart speak thus unadvisedly with
his lips? Has he been so long in the school of afflic¬
tion, where he should have learned patience, and
yet so passionate? Is this he who used to be dumb
and deaf when he was reproached, (Ps. 38. 13.)
who, but the other day, spared him who sought his
life, and yet now will net spare any thing that be ■
longs to him who had only put an affront upon his
messengers? He who, at other times, used to be
calm and considerate, is now put into such a heat
by a few hard words, that nothing will atone for
them but the blood of a whole family. Lord, what
is man! What are the best of men, when God
leaves them to themselves to try them, that they
may know what is in their hearts! From Saul, Da¬
vid expected injuries, and against th( se he was pre¬
pared, and stood upon his guard, and so kept his
temper; but from Nabal he expected kindness, and
therefore the affront he gave him, was a surprise to
him, found him off his guard, and, by a sudden and
unexpected attack, put him for the present into
disorder. What need have we to pray, Lord, lead
us not into temptation.
III. The account given of this matter to Abigail,
by one of the servants, who was more considerate
than the rest, v. 14. Had this servant spoken to
Nabal, and showed him the danger he had exposed
himself to, by his own rudeness, he would have said,
“ Servants are now-a-days so saucy, and so apt to
prescribe, that there is no enduring them;” and, it
may be, would have turned him out of doors. But
Abigail, being a woman of good understanding, took
cognizance of the matter, even from her servant,
who, 1. Did David right, in commending him and
his men for their civility to Nabal’s shepherds; (x\
15, 16.) “The men were very good to us; and
though they were themselves exposed, yet they
protected us, and were a wall unto us. ” 3 hey who
do that which is good, one way or other, shall have
the praise of the same. Nabal’s own servant will
be a witness for David, that he is a man of honour
and conscience, whatever Nabal himself says of
him. And, 2. He did Nabal no wrong in condemn¬
ing him for his rudeness to David’s messengers.
He railed on them, v. 14. He few upon them, so
the word is, with an ntolerable rage: “ For,” say
they, “ it is his usual practice; (m 17.) He is such
a son as Belial, so very morose and untractable, that
a man cannot speak to him, but he flies into a pas¬
sion immediately.” Abigail knew it too well her¬
self. 3. He did Abigail and the whole family a
kindness, in making her sensible what was likely
to be the consequence. He knew David so well,
that he had reason to think he would highly resent
the affront, and, perhaps, had had information of
David’s orders to his men to march that way; for he
is very positive evil is determined against our mas¬
ter and all his household; himself, among the rest,
would be involved in it. Therefore he desires his
mistress to consider what was to be done for their
common safety. They could not resist the force
David was to bring down upon them, nor had they
time to send to Saul to protect them; something
therefore must be done to pacify David.
18. Then Abigail made haste, and took
two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine,
and five sheep ready dressed, and five
measures of parched corn , and a hundred
clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes
of figs, and laid them on asses. 1 9. And she
said unto her servants, Go on before me :
behold, I come after you. But she told not
her husband Nabal. 20. And it was so, <75
she rode on the ass, that she came down by
the covert of the hill, and, behold, David
and his men came down against her ; and
she met them. 21. (Now David had said,
Surely in vain have I kept all that this fel-
335
1. § AMU EL, XXV.
low hath in the wilderness, so that nothing
was missed of all that pertained unto him :
and he hath requited me evil for good. 22.
So and more also do God unto the enemies
of David, if I leave of all that pertain to
him, by the morning light, any that pisseth
against the wall.) 23. And when Abigail
saw David, she hasted and lighted off the
ass, and fell before David on her face, and
bowed herself to the ground, 24. And fell
at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord,
upon me let this iniquity be ; and let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audi¬
ence, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
25. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard
this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his
name ts, so is he; Nabal is his name, and
folly is with him : but I thine handmaid saw
not the young men of my lord, whom thou
didst send. 26. Now therefore, my lord, as
the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, see¬
ing the Lord hath withholden thee from
coming to shed blood, and from avenging
thyself with thine own hand, now let, thine
enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord,
be as Nabal. 27. And now this blessing,
which thine handmaid hath brought unto
my lord, let it even be given unto the young
men that follow my lord. 28. I pray thee,
forgive the trespass of thine handmaid : for
the Lord will certainly make my lord a
sure house ; because my lord fighteth the
battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been
found in thee all thy days. 29. Yet a man
is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul:
but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the
bundle of life with the Lord thy God ; and
the souls of thine enemies, them shall he
sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.
30. And it shall come to pass, when the
Lord shall have done to my lord according
to all the good that he hath spoken con¬
cerning thee, and shall have appointed thee
ruler over Israel, 31. That this shall be no
grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my
lord, either that thou hast shed blood cause¬
less, or that my lord hath avenged himself:
but when the Lord shall have dealt well
with my lord, then remember thine hand¬
maid.
We have here an account of Abigail’s prudent
management for the preserving of her husband and
family from the destruction that was just coming
upon them : and we find that she did her part ad¬
mirably well, and fully answered her character.
The passion of fools often makes those breaches in
a little time, which the wise, with all their wis¬
dom, have much ado to make up again. It is hard
to say, whether Abigail was more miserable in such
a husband, or Nabal happy in such a wife. A vir¬
tuous woman is a crown to her husband, to protect
as well as adorn, and will do him good and not evil.
Wisdom in such a case as this, was better than
weapons of war. 1. It was her wisdom, that what
she did, she djd quickly, and without delay; she
made haste, v. 18. It was no time to trifie or linger,
when all was in danger. They that desire condi¬
tions of peace, must send when the enemy is yet a
great way off, Luke 14. 32. 2. It was her wisdom,
that what she did, she did herself: because, being a
woman of great conduct and very happy address, she
knew better how to manage it than any servant she
had. The virtuous woman will herself look well to
the ways of her household, and not devolve it wholly
upon others.
Abigail must endeavour to atone for Nabal's
faults, now that he h..d been two ways rude to Da¬
vid’s messengers, and in them to David. (1.) He
had denied them the provisions they asked for.
(2.) He had given them very provoking language.
Now,
I. By a most generous present, Abigail atones for
his denial of their request. If Nabal had given
them what came next to hand, they had gone away
thankful: but Abigail prepares the very best the
house afforded, and abundance of it, ( v . 18.) ac¬
cording to the usual entertainments of those times.
Not only bread and flesh, but raisins and figs, which
were their dried sweetmeats. Nabal grudged
them water, but she took two bottles {casks or rund-
lets ) of wine, loaded her asses with these provisions,
and sent them before; for a gift facifieth anger,
Prov. 21. 14. Jacob thus pacified Esau. When
the instruments of the churl are evil, the liberal
devise liberal things, and loses nothing by it; for by
liberal things shall he stand, Isa. 32. 7, 8. Abigail
not only lawfully, but laudably, djsposed of all these
goods of her husband’s, without his knowledge, even
when she had reason to think that if he had known,
he would not have consented to it; because it was
not to gratify her own pride, or vanity, but for the
necessary defence of him and his family, which
otherwise had been inevitably ruined. Husbands
and wives, for their common good and benefit, have
a joint-interest in their worldly possessions; but if
either waste, or unduly spend any way, it is robbing
the other.
II. By a most obliging demeanour, and charming
Seech, she atones for the abusive language which
abal had given them. She met David upon the
march, big with resentment, and meditating the
destruction of Nabal; (v. 20.) but with all possible
expressions of complaisance and respect she hum¬
bly begs his favour, and solicits him to pass by the
offence. Her demeanour was very submissive; she
bowed herself to the ground before David, v. 23.
and fell at liis feet, v. 24. Yielding pacifies great
offences. She puts herself into the place and pos¬
ture of a penitent, and of a petitioner, and was not
ashamed to do it, when it was for the good of her
house, in the sight both of her own servants, and of
David’s soldiers. She humbly begs of David that
he will give her the hearing; Let thy handmaid
sfieak in "thy audience. But she needed not thus to
bespeak his attention and patience; what she said
was sufficient to command it; for certainly nothing
could be more fine or more moving. No topic of
argument is left untouched, every thing is well
placed, and well expressed, most pertinently and
pathetically urged and improved to the best advan¬
tage, with such a force of natural rhetoric as can¬
not easily be paralleled.
1. She speaks to him all along with the deference
and respect due to so great and good a man ; calls him
My lord over and over, to expiate her husband’s
crime in saying, “ Who is David?” She dees not
upbraid him with the heat of his passion, though he
deserved to be reproved for it; nor does she tell
him how ill it became his character: but endeavours
336
I. SAMUEL, XXV.
to soften him, and bring him to a better temper;
not doubting but that then his own conscience would
upbraid him with it.
2. She takes the blame of the ill treatment of his
messengers upon herself; “ Ufion me, my lord,
ufion me, let this iniquity be, v. 24. If thou wilt be
angry, be angry with me, rather than with my poor
husband, and look upon it as the trespass of thy
handmaid ,” v. 28. Sordid spirits care not how
much others suffer for their faults, while generous
spirits can be content to suffer for the faults of
others. Abigail here discovered the sincerity and
strength of her conjugal affection, and concern for
her family: whatever Nabal was, he was her hus¬
band.
3. She excuses her husband’s fault by imputing it
to his natural weakness and want of understanding;
(v. 23.) “ Let not my lord take notice of his rude¬
ness and ill manners, for it is like him; it is not the
first time that he has behaved so churlishly: he must
be borne with, for it was for want of wit; JVabal is
his name,” (which signifies a fool, “ and folly is
vjith him. It was owing to his folly, not his malice.
He is simple, but not spiteful. Forgive him, for he
knows not what he does. ” What she said, was too
true, and she said it to excuse his fault and prevent
his ruin, else she had not done well to give such a
bad character as this of her own husband, whom
she ought to make the best of, and not to speak
ill of.
4. She pleads her own ignorance of the matter;
“ I saw not the young men, else they should have
had a better answer, and should not have gone
without their errand:” intimating hereby, that
though her husband was foolish, and unfit to man¬
age his affairs himself, yet he had so much wisdom
as to be ruled by her, and take her advice.
5. She takes it for granted that she had gained
the point already, perhaps, perceiving by David’s
countenance, that he began to change his mind;
(ta 26. ) Seeing the Lord hath withho/den thee. She
depends not upon her own reasonings, but God’s
grace, to mollify him, and doubts not but that grace
would work powerfully upon him; and then, (( Let
all thine enemies be as JVabal; that is, if thou forbear
to avenge thyself, no doubt, God will avenge thee
on him, as he will on all other thine enemies.” Or
it intimates that it was below him to take vengeance
on so wtak and impotent an enemy as Nabal was,
who, as he would do him no kindness, so he could
do him no hurt, for he needed to wish no more con¬
cerning his enemies, than that they might be as
unable to resist him as Nabal was. Perhaps she
refers to his sparing of Saul, when, but the other
day, he had him at his mercy. “Didst thou for¬
bear to avenge thyself on that lion that would de¬
vour thee, and wilt thou shed the blood of this dog
that can but bark at thee?” The very mentioning
of what he was about to do, to shed blood, and to
avenge himself, was enough to work upon such a
tender gracious spirit as David had; and it should
seem, by his reply, ( v . 33.) that it affected him.
6. She makes a tender of the present she had
brought, but speaks of it as unworthy of David’s
acceptance; and therefore desires it might be given
to the young men that followed him, ( v . 27.) and
particularly to those ten that were his messengers
to Nabal, whom he had treated so rudely.
7. She applauds David for the good services he
had done against the common enemies of his coun¬
try, the glory of which great achievements, she
hoped, he would not stain by any personal revenge.
My lord fighteth the battles of the Lord against the
Philistines, and therefore he will leave it to God to
fight his battles against those that affront him.
“ Evil hath not been found in thee all thy days,
(y. 28.) thou never yet didst wrong to any of thy
countrymen, (though persecuted as a traitor,) and
therefore thou wilt not begin now, nor do a thing
which Saul will improve tor the justifying of his
malice against thee.”
8. She foretells the glorious issue of his present
troubles. “It is true, a man pursues thee, and
seeks thy life;” (she names not Saul, out of respect
to his present character as a king;) “but thou
needest not look with so sharp and jealous an eve
upon every one that affronts thee; for all these
storms that now ruffle thee, will be blown over
shortly.” She speaks it with assurance, (1.) That
God would keep him safe; The soul of my lord
shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord
thy God; that is, God shall hold thy soul in life, (as
the expression is, Ps. 66. 9. ) as we hold these
things tight which are bundled up, or which are
precious to us, (Ps. 116. 15.) Thy soul shall be
treasured up in the treasure of lives, so the Chal¬
dee, under lock and key, as our treasure is,
“ Thou shalt abide under the special protection of
the Divine Providence.” The bundle of life is with
the Lord our God, for in his hand cur breath is,
and our times. Those are safe, and may be easy,
that have him for their Protector. The Jews un¬
derstand this, not only of the life that now is, but of
that which is to come, even the happiness of separate
souls, and therefore use it commonly as an inscrip¬
tion on their grave-stones. “ Here we have laid the
body, but trusting that the soul is bound up in the
bundle of life with the Lord our God.” There it is
safe, while the dust of the body is scattered. (2.
That God would make him victorious over his ene¬
mies. Their souls he shall sling out, v. 29. The
stone is bound up in the sling, but it is in order to be
thrown out again: so the souls of the godly shall be
bundled as corn for the barn, but the souls of the
wicked as tares for the fire. (3.) That God would
settle him in wealth and power; “ The Lord will
certainly make my lord a sure house, and no enemy
thou hast can hinder it; therefore forgive this tres¬
pass;” that is, “ show mercy as the u hopest to find
mercy. God will make thee great, and it is the
glory of great men to pass by offences.”
9. She desires him to consider how much more
comfortable it would be to him in the reflection to
have forgiven this affront than to have revenged it,
v. 30, 31. She reserves this argument for the last,
and a very powerful one with so good a man: That
the less he indulged his passion, the more he con¬
sulted his peace and the repose of his own con¬
science, which every wise man will be tender of.
(1.) She cannot but think, that if he should avenge
himself, it would afterward be a grief, and an
offence of heart to him. Many have dene that in a
heat, which they have a thousand times wished un¬
done again. The sweetness of revenge is soon
turned into bitterness. (2.) She is confident that if
he pass by the offence, it will afterward be no grief
to him; but, on the contrary, it would yield him un¬
speakable satisfaction that his wisdom and grace
had got the better of his passion. Note, When we
are tempted to sin, we should consider how it will
appear in the reflection. Let us never do any thing
for which our own conscience will afterward have
occasion to upbraid us, and which we shall look
back upon with regret. My heart shall not re¬
proach me.
Lastly , She recommends herself to his favour;
“ When the Lord shall have dealt well with my
lord, then remember thine handmaid, as one that
kept thee from doing that which would have dis¬
graced thine honour, disquieted thy conscience,
and made a blot in thine history.5’ We have
reason to remember those with respect and grati¬
tude, who have been instrumental to keep us from
sin.
1. SAMUEL, XXV.
337
32. And David said to Abigail, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee
this day to meet me : 33. And blessed be
thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood,
and from avenging myself with mine own
hand. 34. For in very deed, as the Lord
God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me
back from hurting thee, except thou hadst
hasted, and come to meet me, surely there
had not been left unto Nabal, by the morn¬
ing light, any that pisseth against the wall.
35. So David received of her hand that
which she had brought him, and said unto
her, Go up in peace to thine house : see, I
have hearkened to thy voice, and have ac¬
cepted thy person.
As an ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine
gold, so is a wise re /ir over upon an obedient ear,
rrov. 25. 12. Abigail w is a w'se reprover of Da¬
vid’s passion, and he gave an obedient ear to the
reproof, according to his own principle, (Ps. 141, 5. )
Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness.
Never was such an admonition either better given,
or better taken.
1. David gives God thanks for sending him this
happv check in a sinful way; (r. 32.) Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to
?neet me. Note, (1.) God is to toe acknowledged in
all the kindnesses that our friends do us either for
soul or body. Whoever meets us with counsel, di¬
rection, comfort, caution, or seasonable reproof, we
must see God sending them. (2.) We ought to be
very thankful for those happy providences which
are means of preventing sin.
2. He gives Abigail thanks for interposing so op¬
portunely between him and the miscnief he was
about to do; Blessed be thy advice, and blessed be
thou, v. 33. Most people think it enough, if they
take a reproof patiently ; but we meet with few that
will take it thankfully, and will commend those
that give it them, and accept it as a favour. Abigail
did not rejoice more that she had been instrumental
to save her husband and family from death, than
David rejoiced that she had been instrumental to
save him and his men from sin.
3. He seems very apprehensive of the great
danger he was in, which magnified the mercy of
his deliverance. (1.) He speaks of the sin as very
great. He was coming to shed blood, a sin which
he had, prevailingly, a great horror of; witness his
prayer, Deliver me from blood-guiltiness: he was
coming to avenge himself with his ovon hand, and
that is stepping into the throne of God, who has
said, Vengeance is mine I %vil l repay. The more
heinous any sin is, the greater mercy it is to be kept
from it. He seems to aggravate the evil of his de¬
sign with this, that it would have been an injury to
so wise and good a woman, as Abigail; God has
kept me back from hurting thee, v. 34. Or, perhaps,
at the first sight of Abigail, he was conscious of a
thought to do her a mischief for offering to oppose
him; and therefore reckons it a great mercy that
God gave him patience to hear her speak. (2.) He
speaks of the danger of his falling into it, as very
imminent; “ Except thou hadst hasted, the bloody
execution had been dene.” The nearer we were
to'the commission of sin, the greater was the mercy
of a seasonable restraint : Almost gone, (Ps. 73. 2. )
and y°t upheld.
4. He dismissed. her with an answer of peace, v.
Vol. II. — 2 U
35. He does, in effect, own himself overcome by
her eloquence; “I have hearkened to thy voice, and
will not prosecute the intended revenge, for 1 have
accepted thy person; am well pleased with thee, and
what thou hast said.” Note, (1.) Wise and good
men will hear reason, and let that rule them,
though it come from those that are every way their
inferiors, and though their passions are up, and
their spirits provoked. (2.) Oaths cannot bind us
to that which is sinful. David had solemnly vowed
the death of Nabal; he did ill to make such a vow,
but he had done worse if he had performed it. (3.)
A wise and faithful reproof is often better taken,
and speeds better than we expected; such is the
hold God has of men’s consciences. SeeProv. 28. 23.
36. And Abigail came to Nabal: and,
behold, he held a feast in his house, like the
feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was
merry within him, for he teas very drunken:
wherefore she told him nothing, less or
more, until the morning light. 37. But it
came to pass in the morning, when the
wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife
had told him these things, that his heart
died -within him, and he became as aslone.
38. And it came to pass, about ten days af¬
ter , that the Lord smote Nabal, that he
died. 39. And when David heard that Na¬
bal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord,
that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach
from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his
servant from evil: for the Lord hath re¬
turned the wickedness of Nabal upon his
own head. And David sent and communed
with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
40. "And when the servants of David were
come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto
her, saying, David sent us unto thee to take
thee to him to wife. 41. And she arose, and
bowed herself on her face to the earth, and
said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a ser¬
vant to wash the feet of the servants of my
lord. 42. And Abigail hasted, and arose,
and rode upon an ass, with five damsels
of hers that went after her ; and she went
after the messengers of David, and became
his wife. 43. David also took Ahinoam of
Jezreel ; and they w ere also both of them
his wives. 44. But Saul had given Michal
his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son
of Laish, wdiich was of Gallim.
We are now to attend Nabal’s funeral, and Abi¬
gail’s wedding.
I. Nabal’s funeral. The apostle speaks of some
that were twice dead, Jude 12. We have here Na¬
bal thrice dead, though but just now wonderfully
rescued from the sword of David, and delivered
from so great a death; for the preservations of
wicked men, are but reservations for some further
sorer strokes of divine wrath. Here is,
1. Arabal dead drunk, v. 36. Abigail came home,
and, it should seem, he had so many people, and so
much plenty about him, that he neither missed her,
nor the provisions she took to David; but she found
him in the midst of his jollity, little thinking how
:-:3S
L SAMUEL, XXVI.
near he was to ruin, by one whom he had foolishly
made his enemy. Sinners are often most secure,
when they are most in danger, and destruction is at
the door. Observe, (1.) How extravagant he was
in the entertainment of his company; He held a
feast like the feast of a king, so magnificent and
abundant, though his guests were but his sheep-
shearers. This abundance might have been allowed,
if he had considered what God gave him his estate
for, not to look great with, but to do good with. It
is veiy common for those that are most niggardly in
any act of piety or charity, to be most profuse in
gratifying a vain humour or a base lust. A mite is
grudged to God and his poor; but, to make a fair
show in the fiesh, gold is lavished out of the hag. If
Nabal had not answered to his name, he would
never have been thus secure and jovial, till he had
inquired whether he was safe from David’s resent¬
ments; but (as Bishop Hall observes) thus foolish
are carnal men, that give themselves over to their
pleasures, before they have taken any care to make
their peace with God. (2.) How sottish he was in
the indulgence of his own brutish appetite; He was
very drunk. A sign he was JVabal, a fool, that
could not use his plenty without abusing it; could
lot be present with his friends without making a
beast of himself. There is not a surer sign that man
has but little wisdom, nor a surer way to ruin the
little he has, than drinking to excess. Nabal, that
never thought he could bestow too little in charity,
never thought he could betow too much in luxury.
Abigail finding him in this condition, (and probably,
those about him little better, when t he master of the
feast set them so bad an example,) she had enough
to do to set the disordered house to rights a little,
but told Nabal nothing of what she had done with
reference to David, nothing of his folly in provoking
David, of his danger or of his deliverance; for, be¬
ing drunk, he was as incapable to hear reason, as
he was to speak it. To give good advice to those
that are in drink, is to cast pearls before swine ; it is
better to stay till they are sober.
2. Nab il dead with melancholy, v. 37. Next
morning, when he was come to himself a little, his
wife told him how near to destruction he had
brought himself and his family, by his own rude¬
ness: and with what difficulty she had interposed
to prevent it; and, upon this, his heart died within
him, and he became as a stone. Some suggest, that
the expense of the satisfaction made to David, by
the present Abigail brought him, broke his heart:
it seems rather, that the apprehension he now had
of the danger he had narrowly escaped, put him
into a consternation, and seized his spirits, so that
he could not recover it. He grew sullen, and said
little, ashamed of his own folly, and put out of coun¬
tenance by his wife’s wisdom. How is he changed!
His heart over-night merry with wine, next morn¬
ing heavy as a stone; so deceitful are carnal plea¬
sures; so transient the laughter of the fool; the end
of that mirth is heaviness. Drunkards are some¬
times sad, when they reflect upon their own folly.
Joy in God makes the heart always light. Abigail
could never, by her wise reasonings, bring Nabal to
repentance; but now, by her faithful reproof, she
brings him to despair.
3. Nabal, at last, dead indeed. About ten days
after, when he had been kept so long under this
pressure and pain, the Lord smote him that he died;
(u. 38.), and, it should seem, he never held up his
head. It is just with God, (says Bishop Hall,) that
they who live without grace, should die without
comfort; nor can we expect better, while we go on
in our sins. Here is no lamentation made for Nabal;
he departed without being lamented; every one sig¬
nified that the country would be well off, if it never
sustained a greater loss. David when he heard
the news of his death, gave God thanks for it, v.
39. He blessed God, (].) That he had kept him
from killing him; Blessed be the Lord, who hath
kept his servant from evil. He rejoices that Nabal
died a natural death, and not by his hand. W e
should take all occasions to mention and magnify
God’s goodness to us, in keeping us from sin. (2. )
That he had taken the work into his own hands,
and had vindicated David’s honour, and not suffer¬
ed him to go unpunished, who had been abusive to
him: hereby his interest would be confirmed, and
all would stand in awe of him, as one for whom Grd
fought. (3.) That he had thereby encouraged him,
and all others, to commit their cause to God, when
they are any way injured, with an assurance that,
in his own time, he will right them, if they sit still,
and leave it to him.
II. Abigail’s wedding. David was so charmed
with the beauty of her person, and the uncommon
prudence of her conduct and address, that, as soon
as was proper, after he heard she was a widow, he
informed her of his attachment to her, (i/. 39.) not
doubting, but that she who approved herself so
good a wife to so bad a husband as Nabal was,
would much more make him a good wife; and, hav¬
ing taken notice of her respect to him, and her con¬
fidence of his coming to the throne, 1. He solicited
by proxy, his affairs, perhaps, not permitting him
to come himself. 2. She received the address with
great modesty and humility, (v. 41.) reckoning
herself unworthy of the honour, yet having such a
respect for him, that she would gladly be one of
the poorest servants in his family, to wash the feet
of the other servants. None so fit to be preferred as
those that can thus humble themselves. 3. She
agreed to the proposal, went with his messengers,
took a retinue with her agreeable to her quality,
and she became his wife, v. 42. She did not upbraid
him with his present distresses, and ask him how
he could maintain her, but valued him, (1.) Be¬
cause she knew he was a very good man. (2.) Be¬
cause she believed he would, in due time, be a very
great, man; she married him in faith, not question¬
ing but that, though now he had not a house of his
own that he durst bring her to, yet God’s promise
to him would at length be fulfilled. Thus they who
join themselves to Christ, must be willing now to
suffer with him, believing that hereafter they shall
reign with him.
Lastly , On this occasion, we have some account
of David’s wives. 1. One that he had lost before
he married Abigail; Michal, Saul’s daughter, his
first, and the wife of his youth, to whom he would
have been constant, if she would have been so to
him; but Saul had given her to another, (r. 44.) in
token of his displeasure against him, and disclaim¬
ing the relation of a father-in-law to him. 2.
Another that he married beside Abigail, (y. 43.)
and, as should seem, before her, for she is named
first, ch. 27. 3. David was carried away by the
corrupt custom of those times; but from the begin¬
ning it was not so, nor is it so now that Messias is
come, and the times of reformation, Matth. 19. 4,
5. Perhaps Saul’s defrauding David of his only
rightful wife, was the occasion of his running into
this irregularity; for when the knot of conjugal af¬
fection is once loosed, it is scarcely ever tied fast
again. When David could not keep his first wife,
he thought that would excuse him, if he did not
keep to his second. But we deceive ourselves, if
we think to make another’s faults a cloak for our
own.
CHAP. XXVI.
David’s troubles from Saul here begin again, and the clouds
return after the rain, when one would have hoped the
storm had blown over, and the sky had cleared up or. that
I. SAMUEL, XXVI.
side: but, after Saul had owned his fault in persecuting
David, and David’s title to the crown, yet here he revives
the persecution; so perfectly lost was he to all sense of
honour and virtue. 1. The Ziphites informed him where
David was, tv. 1.) and, thereupon, he marches out with
aconsiderable force in quest of him, v. 2, 3. II. David
gained intelligence of his motions, (v. 4 ) and took a view
of the camp, v. 5. III. He and one of his men ventured
into his camp in the night, and found him and all his
guards fast asleep, v. 6, 7. IV. David, though much
urged to it by his companions, would not take away
Saul’s life; but only carried oft'his spear and his cruse of
water, v. 8 . . 12. V. He produced those as a further
witness for him, that he did not design any ill to Saul,
and reasoned with him upon it, v. 13 . . 20. VI. Saul
was hereby convinced of his error, and once more let fall
the persecution, v. 21 . . 25. The story is much like that
which we had, ch. 24. In both, David is delivered out
of Saul’s hand, and Saul out of David’s.
1. i ND the Ziphites came unto Saul to
1 A. Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide
himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is be¬
fore Jeshimon? 2. Then Saul arose, and
went down to the wilderness of Ziph, hav¬
ing three thousand chosen men of Israel
with him, to seek David in the wilderness
of Ziph. 3. And Saul pitched in the hill of
Hachilah which is before Jeshimon, by the
way : but David abode in the wilderness ;
and he saw that Saul came after him into
the wilderness. 4. David therefore sent out
spies, and understood that Saul was come
in very deed. 5. And David arose, and
came to the place where Saul had pitched:
and David beheld the place where Saul lay,
and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of
his host : and Saul lay in the trench, and
the people pitched round about him.
Here, I. Saul gets information of David’s motions,
and acts offensively. The Ziphites came to him,
and told him where David now was; in the same
place where he was when they formerly betrayed
him, ch. 23. 19. Perhaps, (though it is not mention¬
ed,) Siul had given them intimation, underhand,
that he continued his design against David, and
would be glad of their assistance: if not, they were
very officious to Saul, aware of what would please
him, and very malicious against David, to whom
they despaired of ever reconciling themselves, and
therefore they stirred up Saul (who needed no such
spur) against him, v. 1. For aught we know, Saul
would have continued in the same good mind that
he was in, (ch. 24. 17.) and would not have given
David this fresh trouble, if the Ziphites had not put
him on. See what need we have to pray to God,
that, since we have so much of the tinder of cor¬
ruption in our own hearts, the sparks of temptation
may be kept far from us, lest, if they come together,
we be set on fire of hell. Saul readily caught at
the information, and went down with an army of
3000 men, to the place where David hid himself, v.
2. How soon do unsanctified hearts lose the good
impressions which their convictions have made
upon them, and return with the dog to their vomit!
2. David gets information of Saul’s motions, and
acts defensively- He did not march out to meet
and fight him; he sought only his own safety, not
Saul's ruin; therefore he abode in the wilderness,
(v. 3.) putting thereby a great force upon himself,
and curbing the bravery of his own spirit by a silent
retirement, showing more true valour than he could
have done by an irregular resistance. (1.) He had
339
spies who ascertained him of Saul’s descent; that he
was come in very deed; (v. 4.) for he would not be¬
lieve that Saul would have dealt so basely with him
till he had the utmost evidence of it. (2.) He ob¬
served with his own eyes how Saul was encamped,
v. 5. He came toward the place where Saul and
his men had pitched their tents, so near as to be
able, undiscovered, to take a view of their intrench-
ments, probably, in the dusk of the evening.
6. Then answered David, and said to
Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the
son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying,
Who will go down with me to Saul to the
camp ? And Abishai said, I will go down
with thee. 7. So David and Abishai came
to the people by night: and, behold, Saul
lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear
stuck in the ground at his bolster ; but Ab¬
ner and the people lay round about him.
8. Then said Abishai to David, God hath
delivered thine enemy into thine hand this
day : now, therefore, let me smite him, I
pray thee, with the spear even to the earth
at once, and I will not smite him the second
time. 9. And David said to Abishai, De¬
stroy him not : for who can stretch forth his
hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be
guiltless ? 10. David said furthermore, A s
the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him ;
or his day shall come to die ; or he shall de¬
scend into battle and perish. 11. The
Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine
hand against the Lord’s anointed: but, 1
pray thee, take thou now the spear that is
at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and
let us go. 1 2. So David took the spear and
the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and
they gat them away, and no man saw it,
nor knew it, neither awaked ; for they zvere
all asleep ; because a deep sleep from the
Lord was fallen upon them.
Here is,
I. David’s bold adventure into Saul’s camp in the
night, accompanied only by his kinsman Abishai,
the son of Zeruiah. He proposed it to him and
to another of his confidants, (v. 6.) but the other
declined it, either as too dangerous an enter¬
prise, or, at least, was content that Abishai, who
was forward to it, should run the risk of it rather
than himself. Whether David was prompted to do
this by his own courage, or by an extraordinary
impression upon his spirits, or by the oracle, does
not appear; but, like Gideon, he ventured through
the guards, with a special assurance of divine ] ro-
tection.
II. The posture he found the camp in. Saul lay
sleeping in the trench, or as some read it, in his
chariot, and in the midst of his carriages, with his
spear stuck in the ground by him, to. be ready if
his quarters should be beaten up, (v. 7.) and all the
soldiers, even those that were appointed to stand
sentinel, were fast asleep, v. 12. Thus were their
eves closed and their hands bound, for a deep sleep
from the Lord was fallen upon them; something
extraordinary there was in it, that they should ail
be asleep together, and so fast asleep,' that David
340
I. SAMUEL, XXVL
and Abishai walked and talked among them, and
yet none of them stirred. Sleep, when God gives
it his beloved, is their rest and refreshment; but he
can, when he pleases, make it to his enemies their
imprisonment. Thus are the stout hearted spoiled;
they have slept their sleep, and none of the men of
might have found their hands, at thy rebuke, O
God of Jacob, Fs. 76. 5, 6. It was a deep sleep
from the Lord, who has the command of the pow¬
ers of nature, and makes them to serve his purposes
as he pleases. Whom God will disable or destroy,
he binds up with a spirit of slumber, 34 m. 11. 8.
How helpless do Saul and all his forces lie! All, in
effect, disarmed and chained, and yet nothing is
done to them; they are only rocked asleep. How
easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the
wisest, and baffle the most watchful ! Let all his
friends therefore trust him, and all his enemies fear
him.
III. Abishai’s request to David for a corn mission
to despatch Saul with the spear that stuck at his
bolster, which (now that he lay so fair,) he under¬
took to do at one blow, v. 8. He would not urge
David to kill him himself, because he had declined
before, when he had a like opportunity; but he beg¬
ged earnestly that he would give him leave to doit,
pleading that he was his enemy, not only cruel and
implacable, but false and perfidious, whom no rea¬
son would rule, nor kindness work upon, and that
God had now delivered him into his hand, and did,
in effect, bid him strike. The last adventure he
had of this kind, was indeed but accidental, when
Saul happened to enter the cave with him at the
same time; but in this there was something extraor¬
dinary: the deep sleep that was fallen on Saul, and
all his guards, was manifestly from the Lord, so
that it was a special providence which gave him
this opportunity; he ought not therefore to let it
slip.
IV. David’s generous refusal to suffer any harm
to be done to Saul, and in it, a resolute adherence
to his principles of loyalty, v. 9. David charged
Abishai not to destroy him; would not only not do
it himself, but not permit another to do it. And he
gave two reasons for it. 1. It would be a sinful
affront to God’s ordinance. Saul was the Lord’s
anointed king of Israel, by the special appointment
and nomination of the God of Israel; the power
that was; and to resist him was to resist the ordi¬
nance of God, Rom. 13. 2. No man could do it and
be guiltless; the thing he feared, was guilt, and his
concern respected his innocence more than his safe¬
ty. 2. It would be a sinful anticipation of Gcd’s
Srovidence; God had sufficiently showed him, in
labal’s case, that, if he left it to him to do him
right, he would do it in due time. Encouraged
therefore by his experience, in that instance, he re¬
solves to wait till God shall think fit to avenge him
on Saul, and he will by no means avenge himself;
(v. 10.) The Lord shall smite him, as he did Nabal,
with some sudden stroke, or he shall die in battle,
(as it proved he did soon after,) or, however, his day
shall come to die a natural death, and David will
contentedly wait till then, rather than force his
way to the promised crown by any indirect methods.
The temptation indeed was very strong; but if he
yield, he sins against God, and therefore he resists
the temptation with the utmost resolution; ( v . 11.)
“ The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine
hand against»the Lord's anointed; no, I will never
do it, nor suffer it to be done. ” Thus bravely does
he prefer his conscience to his interest, and trust
God with the issue.
V. The improvement he made of this opportuni¬
ty, for the further evidence of his own integrity.
He and Abishai carried away the spear and cruse
of water which Saul had by his bed-side, ( v . 12.)
i| and, which was very strange, none of all the guards
were aware of them: if a physician had given them
the strongest opiate or stupefying dose, they could
not have been faster locked up with sleep. Saul’s
spear which he had by him for defence, and his cup
ot water which he had for his refreshment, were
both stolen from him while he slept. Thus do we
lose our strength and our comfort, when we are
careless and secure, and off our watch.
13. Then David went over to the other
side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off,
(a great space being between them;) 14.
And David cried to the people, and to Ab¬
ner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou
not, Abner? Then Abner answered and
said, Who art thou that criest to the king ?
15. And David said to Abner, Art not thou
a valiant man ? and who is like to thee in
Israel? wherefore 4 hen hast. thou not kept
thy lord the king ? for there came one of the
people in to destroy the king thy lord. 1 6.
This thing is not good that thou hast done.
As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die,
because ye have not kept your master, the
Lord’s anointed. And now see where the
king’s spear is, and the cruse of water that
was at his bolster. 17. And Saul knew
David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice,
my son David ? And David said, It is my
voice, my lord, O king. 18. And he said,
Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after
his servant ? for what have I done ? or what
evil is in mine hand ? 19. Now therefore,
I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the
words of his servant. If the Lord have
stirred thee up against me, let him accept
an offering : but if they be the children of
men, cursed be they before the Lord; for
they have driven me out this day from
abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, say¬
ing, Go, serve other gods. 20. Now, there¬
fore, let not my blood fall to the earth before
the face of the Lord : for the king of Israel
is come out to seek a flea, as when one
doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
David being got safe from Saul’s camp himself,
and having brought with him proofs sufficient that
he had been there, pests himself conveniently, so
that they might hear him, and yet not reach him,
(y. 13.) and then begins to reason with them upon
what had passed.
1. He re sons ironically with Abner, and keenly
banters him. David knew well that it was from
the mighty power of God, that Abner and the rest
of the guards were cast into so deep a sleep, and
that God’s immediate hand was in it. But lie re¬
proaches Abner, as unworthy to be captain of the
life-guards, who could sleep, when the king his
master lay so much exposed. By this it appears
that the hand of God locked them up in this deep
sleep, that, as soon as ever David was got out of
danger, a very little thing awakened them, even
David’s voice at a great distance roused them, v. 14.
Abner got up, (we may suppose it early in a sum¬
mer’s morning,) and asked who called and dis-
341
I. SAMUEL, XXVI.
turbed the king’s repose. “It is I,” says David;
and then he upbraids him with his sleeping, when
he should have been upon his guard. Perhaps Ab¬
ner, looking upon David as a despicable enemy, and
one that there was no danger from, had neglected
to set a watch; however, he himself ought to have
been more wakeful. David, to put him in confusion,
tells him, 1. That he had lost his honour; (v. 15.)
“ Art not thou a man?’ so the word is; “ a man in
office, that art bound by the duty of thy place, to
inspect the soldiery? Art not thou in reputation for
a valiant man? So thou wouldest be esteemed; a
man of such courage and conduct, that there is none
like thee; but now thou art shamed for ever. A
sluggard call himself a general ! ” 2. That he had de¬
served to lose his head; (z\ 16.) “ Ye are all worthy
to die, by martial law, for being off your guard, when
you had the king himself asleep in the midst of you.
Ecce signum — Behold this token. Sec where the
king’s spear is, in the hand of him whom the king
himself is pleased to count his enemy. They that
took away this, might as easily and safely have ta¬
ken away his life. Now see who are the king’s
best friends; you that neglected him and left him
exposed, or I that protected him, when he was ex-
osed. You pursue me as worthy to die, and irritate
aul against me; but who is worthy to die now?”
Note, Sometimes those that unjustly condemn others,
are justly left to fall into condemnation themselves.
II. He reasons seriously and affectionately with
JlSaul. By this time he was so well awakened as to
Vj»ear what was said, and discern who said it; v. 17,
Is this thy voice, my son David ? In the same man¬
ner he had expressed his relentings, ch. 24. 16. He
had given his wife to another, and yet calls him son;
thirsted after his blood, and yet is glad to hear his
voice. Those are bad indeed that have never any
convictions of good, nor any good impressions. And
now David has as fair an opportunity of reaching
Saul’s conscience, as he had just now of taking away
his life ; this he lays hold on, though he had refused
the other, and enters into a close argument with him,
concerning the trouble he still continued to give
him, endeavouring to persuade him to let fall the
persecution, and be reconciled.
1. He complains of the very melancholy condition
he w as brought into by the enmity of Saul against
him. Two things he laments; (1.) That he was
driven from his master, and from his business;
“ My Lord pursues after his serx>ant, v. 18. How
gladly would I serve thee as formerly, if my service
might be accepted; but, instead of being owned as
a servant, I am pursued as a rebel, and my lord is
my enemy, and he compels me to flee from him,
whom I would follow with respect. ” (2. ) Thrft he
was driven from his God and from his religion; and
this was a much greater grievance than the former;
(r>. 19.) “They have driven me out from the in¬
heritance of the Lord; have made Canaan, at least
the inhabited parts of it, a dangerous abode, and
have forced me into the deserts and mountains, and
will, ere long, oblige me to quit the country.” And
that which troubled him, was, not so much that he
was driven out from his own inheritance, as that he
was driven out from the inheritance of the Lord, the
holy land. It should be more comfortable to us to
think of God's title to our estates, and his interest
in them, than of our own; and that with them we
may honour him, than that with them we may main¬
tain ourselves. Nor was it so much his trouble,
that he was constrained to live among strangers, as
that he was constrained to live among the worship¬
pers of strange gods, and was thereby thrust into
temptation to join with them in their idolatrous wor¬
ship. His enemies did, in effect send him to go
serve other gods; and perhaps he had heard that
some of them had spoken to that purport of him.
They that forbid our attendance on God’s ordinan
ces, do what in them lies to estrange us from God,
and to make us heathens. If David had not been a
man of extraordinary grace, and firmness to his reli¬
gion, the ill usage he met with from his own prince
and people, who were Israelites, and worshippers
of the true God, would have prejudiced him against
the religion they professed, and have driven him to
communicate with idolaters. “ If these be Israel¬
ites,” he might have said, “ let me live and die with
Philistines;” and no thanks to them that it had
not that effect. We are to reckon that the greatest
injury that can be done us, which exposes us to sin.
Of those who thus led David into temptation, he
here says, Cursed be they before the Lord. Those
fall under a curse, that thrust out those whom God
receives, and endea\ our to send those to the Devil,
who are dear to God.
2. He insists upon his own innocency; What have
I done, or vjhat evil is in mine hand? v. 18. He
had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he
had never done, nor ever designed, any mischief to
the person, honour, or government, of his prince,
nor to any of the interests of his country: he had
lately had Saul’s own testimony concerning him, ch.
24. 17, Thou art more righteous than I. It was
very unreasonable and wicked for Saul to pursue
him as a criminal, when he could not charge him
with any crime.
3. He endeavours to convince Saul that his pur¬
suit of him was not only wrong, but mean, and much
below him; “ The king of Israel, whose dignity is
great, and who has so much other work to do, is
come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt u
partridge in the mountains ,” v. 20. A poor game
for the king of Israel to pursue. He compares him¬
self to a partridge, a very innocent harmless bird,
which, when attempts are made upon its life, flies
if it can, but makes no resistance. And would Saul
bring the flower of his army into the field, only to
hunt one poor partridge? What a disparagement
was this to his honour ! What a stain would it be
on his memory ! To trample upon so weak and pa¬
tient, as well as so innocent, an enemy; (James 5.
6.) Ye have killed the just, and he doth not resist
you.
4. He desires that the core of the controversy
might be searched into, and some proper method
taken to bring it to an end, v. 19. Saul himself
could not say that justice put him on thus to perse¬
cute David, or that he was obliged to do it for the
public safety. David was not willing to say (though
it was very true) that Saul’s own envy and malice
put him on to do it; and therefore he concludes it
must be attributed either to the righteous judgment
of God, or to the unrighteous designs of evil men.
Now, (1.) “ If the Lord have stirred thee up against
me, either in displeasure to me, (taking this way to
punish me for my sins against him, though, as to
thee, I am guiltless.) or in displeasure to thee, if it
be the effect of that evil spirit from the Lord which
troubles thee, let him accept an offering from us
both; let us join in making our peace with God, and
reconciling ourselves to him, which may be done,
by sacrifice; and then I hope the sin will be pardon¬
ed, whatever it is, and the trouble, which is so great
a vexation both to thee and me, will come to an end. ”
See the right method of peace-making: let us first
make God our Friend by Christ the great Sacrifice,
and then all other enmities shall be slain, Epli. 2.
16. Prov. 16. 7. But, (2.) “If thou art put upon it
by wicked men, that incense thee against me,
cursed be they before the Lord;" that is, they are
wicked people, and it is fit that they should be aban¬
doned as such, and excluded from the king’s court
and councils. He decently lays the blame upon the
evil counsellors who advised the king to that which
342
I. SAMUEL, XXVII.
was dishonourable and dishonest, and insists upon it,
that they be removed from about him, and forbid¬
den his presence, as men cursed before the Lord,
and then he hoped he should gain his petition,
which is, ( v . 20.) “Let not my blood fall to the
earth, as thou threatenest, for it is before the face
of the Lord, who will take cognizance of the wrong,
and avenge it.” Thus pathetically does David plead
with Saul for his life, and, in order to that, for his
favourable opinion of him.
21. Then said Saul,] have sinned: re¬
turn, my son David ; for 1 will no more do
thee harm, because my soul was precious in
thine eyes this day : behold, I have played
the fool, and have erred exceedingly. 22.
And David answered and said, Behold the
king’s spear ! and let one of the young men
come over and fetch it. 23. The Lord
render to every man his righteousness, and
his faithfulness : for the Lord delivered thee
into my hand to-day ; but I would not stretch
forth mine hand against the Lord’s anoint¬
ed. 24. And, behold, as thy life was much
setJoy this day in mine eyes, so let my life be
mirch set by in the eyes of the Lord, and
let him deliver me out of all tribulation. 25.
Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou,
my son David : thou shalt both do great
things , and also shalt still prevail. So Da¬
vid went on his way, and Saul returned to
his place.
Here is,
I. Saul’s penitent confession of his fault and folly
in persecuting David, and his promise to do so no
more. This second instance of David’s respect to
him wrought more upon him than the former, and
extorted from him better acknowledgments, v. 21.
1. He owns himself melted and quite overcome by
David’s kindness to him; “ Mu soul was precious
in thine eyes this day, which, I thought, had been
odious.” 2. He acknowledges he had done very ill
to persecute him: that he had therein acted against
God’s law, I have sinned; and against his own in¬
terest, “ I have played the fool, in pursuing him as
an enemy who would have been one of my best
friends, if I could but have thought so; herein (says
he) I have erred exceedingly, and wronged both
thee and myself.” Note, Those that sin, play the
fool, nd err exceedingly ; thope especially that hate
and persecute God’s people, Job 19. 28. 3. He in¬
vites him to court again; Return, my son David.
Those that understand themselves, will see it their
interest to have those about them, that behave them¬
selves wisely, as David did, and have God with them.
4. He promises him that he would not persecute
him as he had done, but protect him; I will no more
do thee harm. We have reason to think, according
to the mind he was now in, that he meant as he said,
and vet neither his confession nor his promise of
smeiidment came from a principle of true repent¬
ance.
II. David’s improvement of Saul’s convictions
and confessions, and the evidence he had to produce
of his own sincerity. He desired that one of the
footmen might fetch the spear, ( v . 22.) and then,
v. 23. 1. He appeals to God as Judge of the con¬
troversy; The Lord render to every man his righ¬
teousness. David, by faith, is sure that he will do it,
for he infallibly knows the true characters of all
persons and actions, and is inflexibly just to render
to every man according to his work; and, by pray¬
er, he desires he would do it, wherein he cloes, in
effect, pray against Saul, who had dealt unrighteous¬
ly and unfaithfully with him; Give them according
to their deeds; (Ps. 28. 4 ) but he principally intends
it as a prayer for himself, that God would protect
him in his righteousness and faithfulness, and reward
him for it, since Saul so ill requited him. 2. He
reminds Saul again of the proof which he had now
given of his respect to him, from a principle of loy¬
alty; I would not stretch forth mine hand against
the lord's anointed; intimating to Saul, that the
anointing oil was his protection, for which he was
indebted to the Lord, and ought to express his gra¬
titude to him: had he been a common person, he
would not have been so tender of him; and, perhaps,
with this further suggestion, Saul knew, or had
reason to think, that David was the Lord’s anoint¬
ed too, and therefore, by the same rule, Saul ought
to be as tender of David’s life as he had been of his.
3. Not relying much upon Saul’s promises, he puts
himself under God’s protection, and begs his favour;
24.) “ Let my life be much set by in the eyes of
the Lord, how light soever thou makest of it.”
Thus he takes God to be his Paymaster for his
kindness to Saul, which they may with a holy con¬
fidence do, that do well and suffer for it.
III. Saul’s prediction of David's advancement.
He commends him; (v. 25.) Blessed be thou, my son
David. So strong was the conviction Saul was now
under of Da\ id’s honesty, and he was not ashamed
to condemn himself and applaud David, even in the
hearing of his own soldiers, who could not but blush
to think that they were come out so furiously against
a man, whom their master, when he meets, caress¬
es thus. He foretells his victories, and his eleva¬
tion at last; Thou shalt do great things. Note,
Those who make conscience of doing that which is
truly good, may come, by the divine assistance, to
do that which is truly great. He adds, “ Thou
shall also still prevail, more and more;” he means,
against himself, but was loath to speak that out.
The princely qualities which appeared in David,
his generosity in sparing Saul, his military authority
in reprimanding Abner for sleeping, his care of the
public good, and the signal token of God’s presence
with him, convinced Saul that he would certainly
be advanced to the throne at last, according to the
prophecies concerning him.
Lastly, A palliative cure being thus made of the
wound, they parted friends. Saul returned to Gib-
eah re infccta — without accomplishing his design,
and ashamed of the expedition he had made; but
David could not take his word so far as to return
with him. Those that have once been false, are not
easily trusted another time. Therefore David went
on his way. And, after this parting, it does not ap
pear that ever Saul and David saw one anothei
again.
CHAP. XXVI].
David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet he had his
faults, which are recorded, not for our imitation, but for
our admonition; witness the story ofthis chapter, in which,
though, I. We find, to his praise, that he prudently took
care of his own safety and his family’s, fv. 2. . 4.) and
valiantly fought Israel’s battles against the Cannanites;
(v. 8, 9.) yet, II. We find, to his dishonour, 1. That he
began to despair of his deliverance, v. 1. 2. That he de¬
serted his own country, and went to dwell in the land of
the Philistines, v. 1,5. .7. 3. That he imposed upon
Achish with an equivocation, if not a lie, concerning his
expedition, v. 10 . . 12.
1. A ND David said in his heart, I shall
now perish one day by the hand of
Saul : there is nothing better for me than that
348
I. SAMUEL, XXVII.
f should speedily escape into the land of the
Philistines ; and Saul shall despair of me,
to seek me any more in any coast of Israel :
so shall I escape out of his hand. 2. And
David arose, and he passed over with the
six hundred men that were with him unto
Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath,
he and his men, every man with his house¬
hold, even David with his two wives, Ahi-
noam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Car-
melitess, Nabal’s wife. 4. And it was told
Saul that David was fled to Gath ; and he
sought no more again for him. 5. And Da¬
vid said unto Achish, If I have now found
grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place
in some town in the country, that I may
dwell there: for why should thy servant
dwell in the royal city-with thee ? 6. Then
Achish gave him Ziklag that day : where¬
fore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Ju¬
dah unto this day. 7. And the time that
David dwelt in the country of the Philistines
was a full year and four months.
Here is,
I. The prevalency of David’s fear, which was
the effect of the weakness of his faith; v. 1. He
said to his heart, (so it may be read,) in his com-
munings with it concerning his present condition,
/ shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.
He represented to himself the restless rage and
malice of Saul, who could not be wrought into a
reconciliation; the treachery of his own country¬
men, witness that of the Ziphites, once and again;
he looked upon his own forces, and observed how
few they were, and that no recruits had come in to
him of a great while, nor could he perceive that he
got any ground; and from hence, in a melancholy
mood, he draws this dark conclusion, I shall one
day fierish by the hand of Saul. But, O thou of
little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt? Was he
not anointed to be' king? Did not that simply give
an assurance that he should be preserved to the
kingdom 11 Though he had no reason to trust
Saul’s promises, had he not all the reason in the
world to trust the promises of God? His expe¬
rience of the particular care Providence took of
him, ought to have encouraged him. He that has
delivered, does and will. But unbelief is a sin that
easily besets even good men. When without are
fightings, within are fears, and it is a hard matter
to get over them. Lord, increase our faith!
il. The resolution he came to hereupon. Now
that Saul was, for this time, returned to his place,
he determined to take this opportunity of retiring
into the Philistines’ country. Consulting his own
heart only, and not the ephod or the prophet, he
concludes, There is nothing better for me, than that
I should sfieedily escafie into the land of the Phi¬
listines. Long trials are in danger of tiring the
faith and patience even of very good men. Now, 1.
Saul was an enemy to himself and his kingdom, in
driving him to this extremity. He weakened his
own interest when he expelled from his service,
and forced into the service of his enemies, so great a
general as David was, and so brave a regiment as
he had the command of. 2. David was no friend to
himself in taking this course. God had appointed
him to set up his standard in the land of Judah;
{ch. 22. 5. ) there God had wonderfully preserved
him, and employed him sometimes for the good of
his country; why then should he think of deserting
his post? How could he expect the protection oi
the God of Israel, if he went out of the borders of
the land of Israel? Can he expect to be safe anfong
the Philistines, out of whose hands he had lately es¬
caped so narrowly by feigning himself mad? *W ill
he receive obligations from those now, whom he
knows, when he comes to be king, he must not re¬
turn kindness to, but be under an obligation to make
war upon? He will hereby gratify his enemies,
who bid him go serve other gods, that they might
have wherewith to reproach him; and will very
much weaken the hands of his friends, who would
not have wherewith to answer that reproa. n. See
what need we have to pray. Lord, lead us not into
temfitation.
III. The kind reception he had at Gath; Achish
bade him welcome, partly out of generosity, being
proud of entertaining so brave a man; partly out of
policy, hoping to engage him for ever to his service,
and that his example would invite many more to
desert, and come over to him. No doubt he gave
David a solemn promise of protection, which he
could rely upon, when he could not trust Saul’s
promises.’ We may blush to think that the word
of a Philistine should go further than the word of
an Israelite, who, if an Israelite indeed, would be
without guile; and that the city of Gath should be a
place of refuge for a good man when the cities of
Israel refuse him a safe abode. David, 1. Brought
his men with him, ( v . 2.) that they might guard
him, and might themselves be safe where he was;
and to recommend himself the more to Achish, who
hoped to have service out of him. 2. He brought
his family with him, his wives and his household;
so did ail his men, v. 2, 3. Masters of families
ought to take care of those that are committed to
them, to protect and provide for those of their owr
house, and to dwell with them as men of knowledge.
IV. Saul’s desisting from the further persecution
of him; (v. 4.) He sought no more again for him;
this intimates that, notwithstanding the professions
of repentance he had lately made, if he had had
David in his reach, he would have aimed another
blow. But, because he dares not come where he is,
he resolves to let him alone. Thus many seem to
leave their sins, but really their sins leave them;
they would persist in them, if they could. Saul
sought no more for him, contenting himself with his
banishment, since he could not have his blood; and
hoping, it may be, (as he had done, ch. 8. 25.) that
he would, some time or other, fall by the hand of
the Philistines: and though he would rather have
the pleasure of destroying him himself, yet if thev
do it, he will be satisfied, so that it be done effec¬
tually. *
V. David’s removal from Gath to Ziklag.
1. David’s request for leave to remove, was pru¬
dent, and very modest, v. 5. (1.) It was really
prudent. David knew what it was to be envied in
the court of Saul, and had much more reason to
fear in the court of Achish, and therefore declines
preferment there, and wishes for a settlement in
the country, where he might be private, more
within himself, and less in other people’s way. In
a town of his own, he might have the more free
exercise of his religion, and keep his men better to
it, and not have his righteous soul vexed as it was
at Gath, with the idolatries of the Philistines. (2. )
As it was presented to Achish, it was very modest.
He does not prescribe to him what place he should
assign him, only begs it might be in some town in
the country, where'he pleased ; beggars must not be
choosers: but he gives this for a reas< n, “ If hy
s liquid thy servant dwell in the royal city, to crowd
.344
I. SAMUEL XXVIII.
thee, and disoblige those about thee?” Note,
Those that would stand fast, must not covet to stand
high; and humble souls aim not to dwell in royal
ones.
24 The grant which Achish made him, upon that
request, was very generous and kind; (v. 6, 7.)
Ac.v»h gave him Z.klag. Hereby, (1.) Israel re-
co ered their ancient right; for Ziklag was in the
lot of the tr;be of Judah, Josh. 15. 31. and after¬
ward, out of that lot, was assigned, with some other
c ities, to Simeon, Josh. 19. 5. But either it was
never subdued, or the Philistines had, in some
struggle with Israel, made themselves masters of
it. Perhaps they had got it unjustly, and Achish
heing a man of sense and honour, took this occasion
to restore it. The righteous God judgeth righ¬
teously. (2.) David gained a commodious set¬
tlement, not only at a distance from Gath, but
bordering upon Israel, where he might keep up a
correspondence with his own countrymen, and
whither they might resort to him, at the revolution
that was now approaching. Though we do not find
that he augmented his forces at all, while Saul
lived, (for ch. 30. 10. he had but his six hundred
men,) yet, immediately after Saul’s death, that was
the rendezvous of his friends. Nay, it should
seem, while he kept himself close, because of Saul,
multitudes resorted to him, at least, to assure him
of their sincere intentions, 1 Chron. 12. 1*>22.
And this further advantage David gained, that
Ziklag was annexed to the crown, at least the roy¬
alty of it pert lined to the kings of Judah, ever
afier, v. 6. Note, There is nothing lost by hu¬
mility and modesty, and a willingness to retire.
Real advantages follow those that flee from imagi¬
nary honours. Here David continued for a full year and
some days, even four months, as it maj' very well be
read, (r. 7.) or some days above four months. The
Seventy read it, some months; so long he waited for
the set time of his accession to the throne; tor he
that believcth, shall not make haste.
8. And David and his men went up and
invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites,
and the Amalekites: for those tuitions were
of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou
goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
9. And David smote the land, and left
neither man nor woman alive; and took
away the sheep, and the oxen, and the
asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and
returned, and came to Achish. 10. And
Achish said, Whither have ye made a road
to-day ? And David said, Against the south
of Judah, and against the south of the Je-
rahmeelites, and against the south of the
Kenites. 1 1 . And David saved neither
man nor woman alive to bring tidings to
Gath, saying. Lest they should tell on us,
saying, So did David, and so will be his
manner all the while he dwelleth in the
country of the Philistines. 12. And Achish
believed David, saying, He hath made his
people Israel utterly to abhor him ; there¬
fore he shall be my servant for ever.
Here is au account of David’s actions, while he
was in the land of the Philistines; a fierce attack he
made upon some remains of the devoted nations, his
success in it, and the representation he gave of it to
Achish.
1. We may acquit him of cruelty and injustice in
this action, because these people whom he cut off,
were such as Heaven had long since doomed to de¬
struction, and he that did it, was one whom Heaven
had ordained to dominion; so that 'the thing was
very fit to be done, and he was very fit to do it. It
was not for him that was anointed to fight the
Lord’s battles, to sit still in sloth, however he
thought fit, in modesty, to retire. He desired to be
safe from Saul, only that he might expose himself
for Israel; he avenged an old quarrel that God had
with these nations, and at the same time fetched in
provisions for himself and his army, for by their
swords they must live. The Amalekites were to be
all cut off; probably the Geshurites and Gezrites
were branches of Amalek: Saul was rejected for
sparing them; David makes up the deficiency of his
obedience before he succeeds him. He smote
them, and left none alive, v. 8, 9. The service
paid itself, for they carried off abundance of spoil,
which served for the subsistence of David’s forces.
2. Yet we cannot acquit him of dissimulation with
Achish, in the account he gave him of this expedi¬
tion.
(1.) David, it seems, was not willing that he
should know the truth, and therefore spared none
to carry tidings to Gath; (v. 11. ) not because he was
ashamed of what he had done as a bad thing, but
because he was afraid, if the Philistines knew it,
they would be apprehensive of danger to themselves
or their allies, by harbouring him among them, and
would expel him their coasts. It would be easy to
conclude, If so he did, so will be his manner ; and
therefore he industriously conceals it from them,
which, it seems, he could do, by putting them all to
the sword; for none of their neighbours would in¬
form against him, nor, perhaps, would soon come to
the knowledge of what was done; intelligence not
being so readily communicated then as now.
(2.) He hid it from Achish, with an equivocation
not at all becoming his character. Being asked
which way he had made his sally, he answered,
Against the south of Judah, v. 10. It was true, he
had invaded those countries that lay south of Ju¬
dah, but he made Achish believe he had invaded
those that lay south in Judah , the Ziphites, for ex¬
ample, that had once and again betrayed him; so
Achish understood him, and from thence inferred
that he had made his people Israel to abhor him,
and so riveted himself in the interest of Achish.
The fidelity of Achish to him, his good opinion of
him, and the confidence he put in him, aggravate
his sin in deceiving him thus; which with some
other such instances, David seems penitently to re¬
flect upon, when he prays, Remove from me the
way of lying.
CHAP. XXVIII.
Preparations are herein making for that war which will
put an end to the life and reign of Saul, and so make
way for David to the throne. In this war, 1. The Phi¬
listines are the aggressors, and Achish Iheir king makes
David his confidant, v. 1, 2.- II. The Israelites prepare
to receive them, and Saul their king makes the Devil
his privy-counsellor, and thereby fills the measure of his
iniquity. Observe, 1. The despairing condition which
Saul was in, v. 3. . 6. 2. The application he made to a
witch, to bring him up Samuel, v. 7 . . 14. 3. His dis¬
course with the apparition, v. 15. . 19. 4. The damp it
struck upon him, v. 21.. 25.
1. A ND it. came to pass in those daj^s,
j\. that the Philistines gathered their
armies together for warfare, to fight with
Israel. And Achish said unto David, K now
thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with
me to battle, thou and thy men. 2. And
345
I. SAMUEL, XXVIII.
David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt
know what thy servant can do. And
Achish said to David, Therefore will I make
thee keeper of mine head for ever. 3. Now
Samuel was dead, and all Israel had la¬
mented him, and buried him in Ramah,
even in his own city. And Saul had put
away those that had familiar spirits, and the
wizards, out of the land. 4. And the Phi¬
listines gathered themselves together, and
came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul
gathered all Israel together, and they pitch¬
ed in Gilboa. 5. And when Saul saw the
host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and
his heart greatly trembled. 6. And when
Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord an¬
swered him not, neither by dreams, nor by
Urim, nor by prophets.
Here is,
I. The design of the Philistines against Israel;
they resolve to fight them, v. 1. If the Israelites
had not forsaken God, there had been no Philistines
remaining to molest them; if Saul had not forsaken
him, they had bv this time been put out of all dan¬
ger by them. The Philistines took an opportunity
to make this attempt, when they had Dav id among
them, whom they feared more than Saul and all his
forces.
II. The expectation Achish had of assistance
from David in this war, and the encouragement Da¬
vid gave him to expect it; “ Thou shalt go with me
to battle ,” says Achish, “if I protect thee, I may
de mand service from thee:” and he will think him¬
self happy, if he may hav e such a man as David on
his side, who prospered whithersoever he went.
David gave him an ambiguous answer, “We will
see what will be done, it will be time enough to talk
of that hereafter; but surely thou shalt know what
thy servant can do;” {y. 2.) that is, “I will con¬
sider in what post I may be best able to serve thee,
if thou wilt but give me leave to choose it.” Thus
he keeps himself free from a promise to serve him,
and yet keeps up his expectation of it. For Achish
took it in no other sense than as an engagement to
assist him, and promised him, thereupon, that he
would make him captain of the guards, protector,
or prime minister of state.
III. The drawing of the armies, on both sides,
into the field, v. 4, The Philistines fiitched in Shu¬
nem, which was in the tribe of Issachar, a great
way north from their country. The land of Israel,
it seems, was ill guarded, when the Philistines
could march their army into the verv heart of the
country. Saul, while he pursued David, left his
people naked and exposed. On some of the adja¬
cent mountains of Gilboa, Saul musters his forces
and prepares to engage the Philistines, which he
had little heart to do, now that the Spirit of the
Lord dr/iarted from him.
IV. The terror Saul w«s in, and the loss he was
a*-, upon this occasion. He saw the host of the Phi¬
listines, and by his own view of tTiem, and the in¬
telligence his spies brought him, he perceived they
were more numerous, better amied, and in better
heart, than his own were, which m de him of- aid,
so that his heart greatly trembled, v. 5. H d he
kept clnse to God, he needed not have been afraid
at the sight of an armv of Philistines; but now that
he had provoked God to forsake him, his interest
filled, his armies dwindled, and looked mean, and,
which was worse, his spirits failed him, his heart
Vol. II. — 2 X
sunk within him. A guilty conscience made him
tremble at the shaking of a leaf: now he remem¬
bered the guilty blood' of the Amalekites, which he
had spared, and the innocent blood of the priests,
which he had spilt; his sins are set in order before
his eyes, they put him into confusion, embarrass all
his counsels, and rob him of his courage; so that
there remained only a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation. Note, Troubles
arc terrors to the children of disobedience. In this
distress, Saul inquired of the Lord, v. 6. Need
drives those to God, who, in the day of their pros¬
perity, slighted his oracles and altars. Lord, in
trouble have they visited thee, Isa. 26. 16. Did
ever any seek the Lord, and not find him? Yes,
Saul did; the Lord answered him not, took no notice
either of his petitions or of his inquiries; gave him
no directions what to do, or any encouragement to
hope that he would be with him. Should he be in
quired of at all, by such a one as Saul? Ezek. 14.
3. No, he could not expect an answer of peace,
for, 1. He inquired in such a manner, that it was as
if he had not inquired at all. Therefore it is said,
(1 Chron. 10. 14.) Lie inquired not of the Lord, for
he did it faintly, and coldly, and with a secret de¬
sign, if God did not answer him, to consult the De¬
vil. He did not inquire in faith, but with a double
unstable mind. 2. He inquired of the Lord when
it was too late, when the days of his probation were
over, and he was finally rejected. Seek the Lord
while he man be found, for there is a time when he
will not be found. 3. He had forfeited the benefit
of all the methods of inquiry. Could he that hated
and persecuted Samuel and David, who were both
prophets, expect to be answered by prophets? Or
he that hath slain the High Priest, to be answered
by Urim? Or he that had sinned away the Spirit
of grace, to be answered by dreams? No, Be not
deceived, God is not mocked.
V. The mention of some things, that had hap¬
pened a good while ago, to introduce the following
story, v. 3. 1. The death of Samuel. Samuel was
dead, wh'ch made the Philistines the more bold,
and Saul the more afraid; for had Samuel been alive,
Saul would, probably, have thought that his pre¬
sence and countenance, his good advice and good
prayers, would have availed him in his distress.
2. Saul’s edict against witchcraft. He had put the
laws in execution against those that had familiar
spirits, who must not be suffered to live, Exod. 22.
18. Some think that he did this in the beginning
of his reign, while he was under Samuel’s influence;
others think that it was lately done, for it was spo¬
ken of here, v. 9. as a late edict. Perhaps, when
Saul was himself troubled with an evil spirit, he
suspected that he was bewitched, and, for that rea¬
son, cut off all that had familiar spirits. Many seem
zealous against sin, when they themselves are any
way hurt by it, (they will inform against swearers
if they swear at them, or against drunkards, if, .in
their drink, they abuse them,) who otherwise have
no concern for the glory of God, nor any dislike of
sin as sin. However, it was commendable in Saul,
thus to use his power for the terror and restraint of
these evil doers. Note, Many seem enemies to sin
in others, while they indulge it in themselves. Saul
will drive the Devil out of his kingdom, and yet
harbour him in his heart, by envy and malice.
7. Then said Saul unto his servants,
Seek me a woman that hath a familiar
spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of
her. And his servants said unto him, Be¬
hold, there is* i woman that hath a familiar
spirit at En-dor. 8. And Saul disguised
346
I. SAMUEL, XXVIII.
himself, and put on other raiment, and he
went, and two men with him, and they
came to the woman by night: and lie said,
t pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar
spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall
name unto thee. 9. And the woman said
unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul
hath done, how he hath cut off those that
have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out
of the land: wherefore then layest thou a
snare for my life, to cause me to die ? 10.
And Saul sware to her by the Lord, say¬
ing, As the Lord liveth, there shall no pun¬
ishment happen to thee for this thing. 11.
Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring
up unto thee ? And he said, Bring me up
Samuel. 12. And when the woman saw
Samuel, she cried with a loud voice ; and
the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why
hast thou deceived me ? for thou art Saul.
13. And the king said unto her, Be not
afraid: for what sawest thou? And the
woman said unto Saul, 1 saw gods ascend¬
ing out of the earth. 14. And he said unto
her, What form is he of ? And she said, An
old man cometh up ; and he is covered with
a mantle. And Saul perceived that it ivas
Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the
ground, and bowed himself.
Here,
I. Saul seeks for a witch, v. 7. When God an-
swereth him not, if he had humbled himself by re¬
pentance, and persevered in seeking God, who
knows but at length he might have been entreated
for him? But since he can discern no comfort,
either from heaven or earth, (Isa. 8. 21, 22.) he
resolves to knock at the gates or hell, and to see if
any there will befriend him, and give him advice;
Seek me a woman that has a familiar s/iirit, v. 7.
And his servants were too officious to serve him in
this bad affair; they presently recommended one to
him at En-dor, (a city not far off,) who had escaped
the execution of Saul’s edict: to her he resolves to
apply himself. Herein he is chargeable, 1. With
contempt of the God of Israel; as if any creature
could do him a kindness, when God had left him,
and frowned upon him. 2. With contradiction to
himself. He knew the heinousness of the sin of
witchcraft, else he would not have cut off those that
had familiar spirits; yet now he has recourse to that
as an oracle, which he had before condemned as an
abomination. It is common for men to inveigh
severely against those sins which they are in no
temptation to, but suffer themselves afterward to
be overcome by them. Had one told Saul, when
he was destroying the witches, that he himself
would, ere long, consult with one, he would ha^e
said, as Hazael did, What! is thy servant a dog?
But who knows what mischiefs they will run into,
that forsake God, and are forsaken of him?
II. Hearing of one, he hastens to her, but goes by
night, and in disguise, only with two servants, and
probably on foot, v, 8. See how those that are led
captive by Satan, are forced, 1. To disparage them¬
selves. Never did Saul look so mean as when he
went sneaking to a sorry witch to know his fortune.
2. To dissemble. E' il works are works of darkness,
and they hate the light, neither care for coming to
it. Said went to the witch, not in his robes, but in
the habit of a common soldier; not only lest the
witch herself, if she had known him, should have
declined to serve him, either fearing he came to
trepan her, or resolving to be avenged on him for
his edict against those of her profession, but lest his
own people should know it, and abhor him for it.
Such is the power of natural conscience, that e\ en
those who do evil, blush, and are ashamed to do it.
III. He tells her his errand, and promises her
impunity. 1. All he desires of her is, to bring him
up one from the dead, whom he had a mind to dis¬
course with. It was necromancy, or divination by
the dead, that he hoped to serve his purpose by;
this was expressly forbidden by the law, (l)eut. 18.
11.) seeking for the living to the dead, Isa. 8. 19.
Bring me u/i him whom I shall name, v. 8. This
supposes that it was generally taken for granted,
that souls exist after death, and that, when men
die, there is not an end of them : it supposes too that
great knowledge was attributed to separate souls.
But to think that any good souls should come up at
the beck of an evil spirit, or that God, who had de¬
nied a man the benefit of his own institutions should
suffer him to reap any real advantage by a cursed
diabolical invention, was very absurd. 2. She sig¬
nifies her fear of the law, and her suspicion that
this stranger came to draw her into a snare: (t\ 9.)
Thou knowest what Saul has done. Providence
ordered it so, that Saul should be told to his face,
of his edict against witches, at this very time when
he was consulting one, for the greater aggravation
of his sin. She insists upon the peril of the law,
perhaps to raise her price; for, though no mention
is made of her fee, no doubt she demanded, and
had, a large one. Observe how sensible she is cf
danger from the edict of Saul, and what care she is
in to guard against it; but not at all apprehensive of
the obligations of God’s law, and the terrors of his
wrath. She considers what Saul had done, not what
God had done, against such practices, and fears a
snare laid for her life, more than a snare laid for her
soul. It is common for sinners to be more afraid of
punishment from men, than of God’s righteous judg¬
ment. But, 3. Saul promises with an oath not to
betray her, v. 10; It was his duty, as a king, to pun¬
ish her, and he knew it, yet he swears not to do it;
as if he could by his own oath bind himself from
doing that, which, by the divine command, he was
bound to do. But he promised more than he could
perform, when he said, There shall no punishment
happen to thee; for he could not secure himself,
much less secure her, from divine vengeance.
IV. Samuel, who was lately dead, is the person
whom Saul desired to have some talk with; and the
witch, with her enchantments, gratifies his desire,
and brings them together.
1. As soon as Saul had given the witch the assur¬
ance she desired, (that he would not discover her,)
she applied herself to her witchcrafts, and asked
very confidently, Whom shall I bring up to thee?
v. 11. Note, Hopes of impunity imbolden sinners
in their evil ways, and harden their hearts. •
2. Saul desires to speak with Samuel, Bring me
tip Samuel. Samuel had anointed him to the king¬
dom, and had formerly been his faithful friend and
counsellor, and therefore with him he wished to ad¬
vise. While Samuel was living at Ramah, not far
from Gibeah of Saul, and presided there in the
school of the prophets, we never read of Saul’s go¬
ing to him to advise with him in any of the difficul
ties he was in; (it had been well for him if he had;)
then he slightea him, and perhaps hated him, look¬
ing upon him to be in David’s interest: but now that
he is dead, “O for Samuel again! By all means,
bring me up Samuel.” Note, Many that despise
and persecute God’s saints and ministers when they
347
I. SAMUEL, XXVIII.
are living, would be glad to have them again, when
they are gone. Send Lazarus to me, and send
JL.azarus to my father's house, Luke 16. 24* *27.
The sepulchres of the righteous are garnished.
3. Here is a seeming defect or chasm in the story:
Saul said, Bring me up. Samuel, and the very next
words are, When the woman saw Samuel, v. 12.
Whereas one would have expected to be told how
she performed the operation, what spells and
charms she used, or that some little intimation
should be given of what she said or did: but the
profound silence of the scripture concerning it, for¬
bids our coveting to know the depths of Satan, (Rev.
2. 24.) or to have our curiosity gratified with an ac¬
count of the mysteries of iniquity. It has been said
of the books of some of the popish confessors, that,
by their desci iptions of sin, they have taught men
to commit it; but the sci'iptui’e conceals sinful art,
that we may be simple concerning evil, Rom. 16. 19.
4. The witch, upon sight of the apparition, was
aware that her client was Saul: her familiar spirit,
it is likely, informing her of it, v. 12, “ Why hast
thou deceived me with a disguise? for thou art Saul,
the very man that I am afraid of above any man!”
Thus she gave Saul to understand the power of her
ai’t, in that she could discover him through his dis¬
guise; and yet she feai’ed lest, hei’eaftei’, at least,
he should take advantage against her for what she
was now doing. Had she believed that it was really
Samuel whom she saw, she would have had mo e
reason to be afraid of him, who was a good pro¬
phet, than of Saul, who was a wicked king. But
the wrath of earthly princes is feai’ed by most,
more than the wrath of the King of kings.
5. Saul (who, we may suppose, was kept at a dis¬
tance in the next room) bade her not be afraid of
him, but go on with the operation, and inquired
what she saw? v. 13. O, says the woman, / saw
gods ascending out of the earth ; that is, a spirit:
they called angels gods, because spiritual beings.
Poor gods that ascend out of the earth! But she
speaks the language of the heathen, who had their
infernal deiti?s, and had them in veneration. If
S ml had thought it necessary to his conversation 1
with Samuel, that the body of Samuel should be
called out of the grave, he would have taken the
witch with him to Ramah, where his sepulchre
was; but the design was wholly upon his soul, which
yet, if it became visible, was expected to appear in
the usual resemblance of the body; and God per¬
mitted the Devil, to answer the design, to put on
Samuel’s shape, that they who would not receive
the love of the truth, might be given up to strong .
delusion, and believe a lie. That it could not be
the soul of Samuel himself, they might easily ap¬
prehend, when it ascended out of the earth; for the
spirit of a mail, much more of a good man, goes up¬
ward, Eccl. 3. 21. But if people will be deceived,
it is just with God to say, “ Let them be deceived.”
That the Devil, by the divine permission, should
be able to personate Samuel, is not strange, since he
can transform himself into an angel of light: nor is
it strange that he should be permitted to do it upon
this occasion; that Saul might be driven to despair,
by inquiring of the Devil, since he would not, in a
right manner, inquii-e of the Lord, by which he
might have had comfoi’t. Saul, being told of gods
ascending, was eager to know what was the form of
this deity, and in what shape he appeared; so far
was he from conceiving any horror at it, his heart
being wretchedly hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin. Saul, it seems, was not permitted to see any
manner of similitude himself, but he must take the
woman’s word for it, that she saw an old man
covered with a mantle, or robe, the habit of a judge,
which Samuel had sometimes worn; and, some
think, it was for the sake of that, and the majesty
of its aspect, that she called this apparition Elohim,
a god, or gods; for so magisti’ates are styled,
6. Saul perceiving, by the woman’s description,
that it was Samuel, stooped with his face to the
ground, e ither, as it is generally taken, in rever¬
ence to Samuel, though he saw him not, or perhaps
to listen to that soft and muttering voice which he
now expected to hear; for they that had familiar
spirits, peeped and muttered; (Isa. 8. 19.) and, it
should seem, Saul bowed himself, (pi’obably by the
witch’s direction,) that he might hear what was
whispei’ed, and listen carefully to it; for the voice
of one that has a familiar spirit, is said to come out
of the ground, and to whisper out of the dust, Isa.
29. 4. He would stoop to that who would not stoop
to the word of God.
15. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast
thou disquieted me, to bring me up ? And
Saul answered, 1 am sore distressed ; for
the Philistines make war against me, and
God is departed from me, and answereth
me no more, neither by prophets nor by
dreams : therefore 1 have called thee, that
thou mayest make known unto me what I
shall do. 16. Then said Samuel, Wherefore
then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is
| departed from thee, and is become thine
! enemy ? 17. And the Lord hath done to
him, as he spake by me : for the Lord hath
rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and
given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
IS. Because thou obeyedst not the voice of
the Lord, nor executedsl his fierce wrath
upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord
done this thing unto thee this day. 19.
Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel
with thee into the hand of the Philistines ;
and to-morrow shall thou and thy sons be
with me : the Lord also shall deliver the
host of Israel into the hand of the Philis¬
tines.
We have here the conference between Saul and
Satan. Saul came in disguise, (z’. 6.) but Satan
soon discovered him, v. 12. Satan comes in disguise,
in the disguise of Samuel’s mantle, and Saul cannot
discover him. Such is the disadvantage we labour
under, in wrestling with the rulers of the darkness
of this world, that they know us, while we are ig¬
norant of their wiles and devices.
I. The spectre, or apparition, personating Sam¬
uel, asks why he is sent for, (v. 15.) Why hast thou
disquieted me to bring me up? To us this discovei's
that it was an evil spirit that personated Samuel;
for (as Bishop Pati’ick observes) it is not in the
power of witches to distui’b the rest of good" men,
and to bring them back into the world when they
please: nor would the true Samuel have acknow¬
ledged such a power in magical arts: but to Saul this
was a proper device of Satan’s to draw veneration
from him, to possess him with an opinion of the
power of divination, and so to rivet him in the De¬
vil’s interests.
II. Saul makes his complaint to this counterfeit
Samuel, mistaking him for the true; and a most
doleful complaint it is: “ I am sore distressed, and
know not what to do, for the Philistines make war
against me; yet I should do well enough with them.
348
I. SAM URL, XXVIIJ.
if I had but the tokens of God’s presence with me;
but, alas! God is departed from me.” He com¬
plained not of God’s withdrawings till he fell into
trouble, till the Philistines made war against him,
and then he begins to lament God’s departure. He
that in his prosperity inquired not after God, in his
adversity thought it hard that God answered him
not, nor t ok any notice of his inquiries, either by
dreams or prophets; he neither gave answers im¬
mediately himself, nor sent them by any of his
messengers. He does not, like a penitent, own the
righteousness of God in this; but, like a man en¬
raged, flies out against God as unkind, and flies off
from him; therefore I have called thee: as if Samuel,
a servant of God, would favour those whom God
frowned upon; or as if a dead prophet could do him
more service than the living ones. One would think,
from this, that he really desired to meet with the
Devil, and expected no other, (though under the
covert of Samuel’s name,) for he desires advice
otherwise than from God, therefore from the Devil,
that is, a rival with God. “ God denies me, there¬
fore I come to thee.” Flectere si nequeo Su/teros,
dc heron (a movebo — If I fail with Heaven, I will
succeed with Hell.
III. It is cold comfort which this evil spirit in
Samuel’s mantle gives to Saul, and is manifestly in¬
tended to drive him to despair and self-murder.
Had it been the true Samuel, when Saul desired to
be told what he should do, he would have bid him
repent, and make his peace with God, and recall
David from his banishment; and would then have
told him, that he might hope in this way to find
mercy with God: but, instead of that, he represents
his case as helpless and hopeless, serving him as he
did Judas, to whom he was first a tempter, and then
a tormentor, persuading him first to sell his Master,
and then to hang himself.
1. He upbraids him with h’s present distress;
(n. 16.) he tells him, not only that God was depart¬
ed from him, but that he was become his Enemy,
and therefore he must expect no comfortable an¬
swer from him; “ Wherefore dost thou ask me?
How can I be thy friend, when God is thine enemv;
or thy counsellor, when he has left thee?”
2. He upb”aids him with the anointing of David
to the kingdom, x>. 17. He could not have touched
upon a string that sounded more unpleasant in the
ear of Saul than this. Nothing is said to reconcile
him to David, but all tends rather to exasperate
him against David, and widen the breach. Yet, to
make him believe that he was Samuel, he says, it
was what God spake by him. The Devil knows
how to speak with an air of religion, and can teach
false a/iost/es to transform themselves into the afios-
tlrs of Christ, and imitate their language. Those
who use spells and charms, and plead, in defence of
them, that they find nothing in them but what is
good, may remember what good words the Devil
here spoke, and yet with what a malicious design.
3. He upbraids him with his disobedience to the
command of God, in not destroying the Amalekites,
a. 13. Satan had helped him to palliate and ex¬
cuse that sin, when Samuel was dealing with him to
bring him to repentance; but now he aggravates it,
to make him despair of God’s mercy. See what
they get, that hearken to Satan’s temptations! He
himself will be their accuser, and insult over them.
And see whom they resemble, that allure others to
that which is evil, and reproach them for it when
they have done.
4. He foretells his approaching ruin, v. 19. (1.)
That his army should be routed by the Philistines.
This is twice mentioned; The Lord shall deliver
Israel into the hand of the Philistines. This he
might foresee, bv considering the superior strength
and number of the Philistines, the weakness of the
armies of Israel, Saul’s terror, and especially God’s
departure from them. Yet, to personate a prophet,
he very gravely ascribes it once and again to God;
The Lord shall do it. (2.) That he and his sens
should be slain in the battle. To-morrow, that is,
in a little time, (and supposing that it was now after
midnight, I see not but it may be taken strictly for
the very next day after that which was now begun,)
thou and thy sons shall be with me; that is, in the
state of the dead, separate from the body. Had
this been the true Samuel, he could not have fore¬
told it, unless God had revealed it to him; and
though it were an evil spirit, God might by him
foretell it; as we read of an evil spirit that foresaw
Ahab’s fall at Ramoth-Gilead, and was instrumen¬
tal in it, (1 Kings 22. 20, &c. ) as perhaps this evil
spirit was, by the divine permission, in Saul’s de¬
struction. That evil spirit flattered Ahab, this
frightened Saul, and both, that they might fall; so
miserable are they that are under the power of
Satan; for whether he rage or laugh, there is no
rest, Prov. 29. 9.
20. Then Saul fell straightway all along
on the earth, and was sore afraid, because
of the words of Samuel : and there was no
strength in him ; for he had eaten no bread
all the day, nor all the night. 21. And the
woman came unto Saul, and saw that he
was sore troubled, and said unto him, Be¬
hold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice,
and I have put my life in my hand, and
have hearkened unto thy words which
thou spakest unto me. 22. Now therefore,
1 pray thee, hearken thou also unto the
voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a
morsel of bread before thee ; and eat, that
thou mayest have strength when thou goest
on thy way. 23. But lie refused, and said,
I will not eat. But his servants, together
with the woman, compelled him ; and he
hearkened unto their voice. So he arose
from the earth, and sat upon the bed. 24.
And the woman had a fat calf in the house,
and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour,
and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened
bread thereof: 25. And she brought it be¬
fore Saul, and before his servants ; and they
did eat. Then they rose up, and went a wav
that night.
We are here told how Saul received this terrible
message from the ghost he consulted. He desired
to be told what he should do, {y. 15.) but it onlv
told what he had not done, and what should be
done to him. Those that expect any good counsel
or comfort otherwise than from God, and in the
way of his institutions, will be as wretchedly disap¬
pointed as Saul here was. Observe,
1. How he sunk under the load, v. 20. He was
indeed unfit to bear it, having eaten nothing all the
day before, nor that night: he came fasting from the
camp, and continued fasting; not for want of food,
but for want of an appetite. The fear he was in of
the power of the Philistines, (v. 5.) took away his
appetite; or perhaps the struggle he had with
his own conscience, after he had entertained the
thought of consulting the witch, made him to nau¬
seate even his necessary food, though ever so dain¬
ty. This made him an easy prey to this fresh ter-
349
1. SAMUEL, XXIX.
ror, that now came upon him like an armed man.
He fell along on the earth, as if the archers of the
Philistines had already hit him, and there was no
strength in him to bear up against these heavy
thi ngs. Now he had enough of consulting witches,
and found them miserable comforters. When God
in his word speaks terror to sinners, he opens to
them, at the same time, a door of hope, if they re¬
pent: but they that apply themselves to the gates
of hell for succour, must there expect darkness
without any glimpse of light.
II. With what difficulty he was persuaded to
tike so much relief as was necessary to carry him
back to his post in the camp. The witch, it should
seem, had left Saul alone with the spectre, to have
his talk with him by himself: but, perhaps, hearing
him fall and groan, and perceiving him to be in an
agony, she came to him, (y. 21.) and was importu¬
nate with him to take some refreshment, that he
might be able to get clear from her house, fearing
that if he should be ill, espescially if he should die
there, she should be punished for it as a traitor,
though she had escaped punishment as a witch.
This, it is probable, rather than any sentiment of
kindness, made her solicitous to help him. But
what a deplorable 'condition had he brought him¬
self to, when he needed so wretched a comforter!
1. She shows herself very importunate with him
to take some refreshment; she pleads, ( v . 21.) that
she had obeyed his voice to the endangering of
her life; and why therefore should not he hearken
to her voice for the relieving of his life, v. 22. She
had a fat calf at hand, (and the word signifies one
that was made use of in treading out the corn, and
therefore could the worse be spared,) this she pre¬
pares for his entertainment, v. 24. Josephus is
large in applauding the extraordinary courtesy and
liberality of this woman, and recommending it for
an example of compassion to the distressed, and
readiness to communicate for their relief, though we
have no prospect of being recompensed for it.
2. He showed himself very averse to it; He re¬
fused, and said, I will not eat, [y. 23.) choosing
rather to die obscurely by famine than honourably
by the sword. Had he laboured only under a defect
of animal spirits, food might help him; but, alas!
his case was out of the reach of such succours.
What are dainty meats to a wounded conscience?
As vinegar ufion nitre, so is he that sings songs to a
heavy heart ; so disagreeable and unwelcome.
3. The woman at length, with the help of his
servants, over-persuaded him, against his inclina¬
tion and resolution, to take some refreshment. Not
bv force, but by friendly advice, they compelled
him ; (v. 23. ) and of no other than such a rational and
courteous compulsion, are we to understand that in
the parable, Compel them to come in, Luke 14. 23.
How forcibly are right words, when men are press¬
ed bv them to that which is for their own interest!
Job. 6. 25. Saul was somewhat revived with this
entertainment; so that he and his servants, when
thev had eaten, rose up and went away before it
was light, (is 25.) that they might hasten to their
business, and that they might not be seen to come out
of such a scandalous house. Josephus here much
admires the bravery and magnanimity of Saul, that
though he was assured he should lose both his life and
honour, yet he would not desert his army, but reso¬
lutely returned to the camp, and stood ready for an
engagement. I wonder more at the hardness of his
heart, that he did not again apply himself to God
by repentance and prayer, in hopes yet to obtain, at
least, a reprieve; but he desperately ran headlong
upon his own ruin. Perhaps, indeed, now that rage
and envv possessed him to the uttermost, he was
'.he better reconciled to his hard fate, being told that
his sons, and Jonathan among the rest, whom he
hated for his affection to David, should die with
him. If he must fall, he ca! ed net what desolations
of his family and kingdom accompanied Ins fall,
hoping it would be the worse for his successor,
(uu Bttnvnc ydix jui%(ihce mpi — J care not if, when 1
am dead, the world be sit on fire. He begged not,
as David, “Let thy hand be against me, but not
against thy people. ”
CHAP. XXIX.
How Saul, who was forsaken of God, when lie was in a
strait, was more and more perplexed and embarrassed
with his own counsels, we read in the foregoing chapter;
in this chapter, we find how David, who kept close to
God, when he was in a strait, was extricated and
brought off by the providence of God, without any con¬
trivance of his own. We have him, I« Marching with
the Philistines, v. I, 2. II. Excepted against by the
lords of the Philistines, v. 3 • . 5. Ill. Happily dismissed
by Achish, from the service wliichdidso ill become him,
and which yet he knew not how to decline, v. 6 . . 11.
1. VTOW the Philistines gathered to-
gether all their armies to Aphek:
and the Israelites pitched by a fountain
which is in Jezreel. 2. And the lords of the
Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by
thousands : but David and his men passed
on in the rearward with Achish. 3. Then
said the princes of the Philistines, What do
these Hebrews here 7 And Achish said unto
the princes of the Philistines, Is not this
I David, the servant of Saul the king of ls-
| rael, which hath been with me these days,
or these years, and I have found no fault in
him since he fell unto me unto this day? 4.
And the princes of the Philistines were
wroth with him ; and the princes of the
Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow
return, that he may go again to his place
which thou hast appointed him, and let him
not go down with us to battle, lest in the
battle he be an adversary to us: for where¬
with should he reconcile himself unto his
master? Should it not he with the heads of
these men ? 5. Is not this David, of whom
they sang one to another in dances, saying,
Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten
thousands?
Here is,
I. The great strait that David was in, which we
may suppose he himself was aware of, though we
read not of his asking advice from God, nor
any project of his own to get clear of it. The two
armies of the Philistines and the Israelites were en¬
camped and ready to engage, v. 1. Achish, who
had been kind to David, had obliged him to come
himself, and bring the forces he had, into his ser¬
vice. David came accordingly, and, upon a review
of the army, was found with Achish, in the post as¬
signed him in the rear, 7’. 2. Now, 1. If, when the
armies engaged, he should retire and quit his post,
he would fall under the indelible reproach, not
only of cowardice and treachery, but of base ingra¬
titude to Achish, who had been his protector and
benefactor, and had reposed a confidence in him,
and from whom he had received a very honourable
commission. Such an unprincipled thing as this, he
could by no means persuade himself to do. 2. If he
350
I. SAMUEL, XXIX.
should, as was expected from him, fight for the
Puilistines ag unst Israel, he would incur the impu¬
tation of bemg an enemy to the Israel of God, and a
traitor to his country; would make his own people
haie him, and unanimously oppose his coming to
the crown, as unworthy the name of an Israelite,
much more the honour and trust of a king of Israel,
who had fought against them, under the banner of
the uncircumcised. If Saul should be killed (as it
proved he was) in this engagement, the fault would
be laid at David’s door, as if he had killed him; so
that on each side there seemed to be both sin and
scandal. This was the strait he was in; and a great
strait it was to a good man, greater to see sin before
him than to see trouble. Into this strait he brought
himselt by his own unadvisedness, in quitting the
land of Judah, and going among the uncircumcised.
It is strange, if those that associate themselves with
wicked people, and grow intimate with them, come
off without guilt, or grief, or both. What he him¬
self proposed to do, does not appear. Perhaps he
designed to act only as a keeper to the king’s head,
the post assigned him, (ch. 28. 2.) and not to do
any thing offensively against Israel. But it would
have been very hard to come so near the brink of
sin, and not to fall in. Therefore, though God
might justly have left him in this difficulty, to
chastise him for his folly, yet, because his heart
was upright with him, he would not suffer him to
be temfited above what he was able, but with the
temptation made a way for him to escafie, 1 Cor.
10. 13.
II. A door opened for his deliverance out of this
strait. God inclined the hearts of the princes of the
-Philistines to oppose his being employed in the bat¬
tle, and to insist upon his being dismissed. Thus
their enmity befriended him, when no frie’nd he had
was capable of doing him such a kindness. 1. It
was a proper question which they asked, upon the
mustering of the forces; “ What do these Hebrews
here? v. 3. What confidence can we put in them?
Or what service can we expect from them? A He¬
brew is out of his place, and, if he have the spirit of
a Hebrew, is out of his element, when he is in the
camp of the Philistines, and deserves to be made
uneasy there. Da' id used to hate the congregation
of evil doers, (Ps. 26. 5.) however he came now to
be among them. 2. It was an honourable testimo¬
ny which Achish, on this occasion, g ive to David.
He looked upon him as a refugee, that fled from a
wrongful persecution in his own country, and had
put himself under his protection, whom therefore
he was obliged, in justice, to take care of, and
thought he might in prudence employ; for (says he)
he has been with me these days, or these years, that
is, a considerable time, many days at his court, and
a year or two in his country, and he never found any
fault in him, nor saw any cause to distrust his fide¬
lity, or to think any other than that he was heartily
come over to him. By this it appears, that David
had conducted himself with a great deal of caution,
and had prudently concealed the affection he still
retained for his own people. We have need to walk
in wisdom toward them that are without, to keep
our mouth when the wicked is before us, and to be
upon the reserve. 3. Yet the princes are peremp¬
tory in it, that he must be sent home; and they give
good reasons for their insisting on it. (I.) Be;cause
he had been an old enemy to the Philistines; wit¬
ness what was sung in honour of his triumphs over
them, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten
thousands, v. 5. “ It will be a reproach to us to
harbour and trust so noted a destroyer of our peo¬
ple; nor can it be thought that he should now ’act
heartily against Saul, who then acted so vigorously
with him and for him.” Who would be fond of
popular praise and applause, when even that may.
another time, be turned against a man to his reproach?
(2.) Because he might be a most dangerous enemy
to them, and do them more mischief than all S ml’s
army could, v. 4. “ He may in the battle be an ad¬
versary to us, and surprise us with an attack in the
rear, while their army charges us in the front; and
we have reason to think he will do so, that, by be¬
traying us, he may reconcile himself to his master.
Who can trust a man, who, besides his affection to
his country, will think it his interest to be false to
us?” It is dangerous to put confidence in a recon¬
ciled enemy.
G. Then Achish called David, and said
unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou
hast been upright, and thy going out and
thy coming in with me in the host is good in
my sight ; for I have not found evil in thee
since the day of thy coming unto me unto
this day: nevertheless, the lords favour thee
not. 7. Wherefore, now return, and go in
peace, that thou displease not the lords of
the Philistines. 8. And David said unto
Achish, Put what have I done ? and what
hast thou found in thy servant, so long as I
have been with thee unto this day, that I
may not go fight against the enemies of my
lord the king? 9. And Achish answered
and said to David, I know that thou art
good in my sight, as an angel of God: not¬
withstanding, the princes of the Philistines
have said, He shall not go up with us to the
battle. 10. Wherefore now rise up early
in the morning, with thy master’s servants
that are come with thee: and as soon as ye
be up early in the morning, and have light,
depart. 1 1. So David and his men rose up
early to depart in the morning, to return in¬
to the land of the Philistines : and the Phi¬
listines went up to Jezreel.
If the reasons Achish had to trust David, were
strbnger than the reasons which the princes offered
why they should distrust him, (as I do not see that,
in policy, they were, for the princes were certainly
in the right,) yet Achish was but one of five, though
the chief, and the only one that had the title of king;
accordingly, in a council of war, held on this occa¬
sion, he was over-voted, and obliged to dismiss Da¬
vid, though he was extremely fond of him. Kings
cannot always do as they would, nor have such as
they would about them.
1. The discharge Achish gives him, is very hon¬
ourable, and not a final discharge, but only from the
present service. (1.) He signifies the great plea¬
sure and satisfaction he had taken in him, and in his
conversation. Thou art good in my sight as an an¬
gel of God, v. 9. Wise and good men will gain re¬
spect, wherever they go, from all that know how to
make a right estimate of persons and things, though
of different professions in religion. What Achish
says of David, God, by the prophet, says of the
house of David, (Zech. 12. 8.) that it shall be as
the angel of the Lord. But the former is a court
compliment; the latter is a divine promise. (2.)
He gives him a testimonial of his good behaviour,
v. 6. It is very full, and in obliging terms; “ Thou
hast been upright, and thy whole conduct has been
good in my sight, and I have not found evil in thee. ”
Saul would not have given him such a testimonial,
361
I. SAMUEL, XXX.
though he had done far more service to him th m to
Aelnsh.. God’s people should behave themselves
always so unoffensively, as, if possible, to get the
good word of all they have dealings with: and it is
a debt we owe to those who have acquitted them¬
selves well, to give them the praise of it. (3.) He
lays all the blame of his dismission upon the prin¬
ces, who would by no means suffer him to continue
in the camp. “ The king loves thee entirely, and
would venture his life in thy hand; but the lords fa¬
vour thee not, and we must not disoblige them, nor
can we oppose them, therefore return, and go in
/ leace . ” He had better part with his favourite, than
occasion a disgust among his generals, and a mutiny
in his army. He intimates a reason why they were
uneasy; it was not so much for his own sake, as for
the sake of his soldiers that attended him, whom he
calls his master's servants, namely, Saul’s; (v. 10.)
they could trust him, but not them (4. ) He orders
him to be gone 'early, as soon as it was light, ( v . 10.)
to prevent their further resentments, and the jea¬
lousies they would have been apt to conceive if he
had lingered.
2. His reception of this discourse is very compli-
mental; but, I fear, not without some degree of dis¬
simulation. “ What!” says David, “ must I leave
my lord the king, whom I am bound by office to
protect, just now when he is going to expose him¬
self in the field? Why may not I go fight against
the enemies of m lord the king?" v. 8. He seem¬
ed anxious to serve him, when he was at this junc¬
ture really anxious to leave him; but he was not
willing that Achish should know that he was. No
•>ne knows how strong the temptation is to compli¬
ment and dissemble, which they are in, that attend
great men, and how hard it is to avoid it.
3. God’s providence ordered it wisely and gra¬
ciously for him. For, besides that the snare was
broken, and he was delivered out of the dilemma to
which he was reduced, it proved a happy hastening
of him to the relief of his own city, which sorely
wanted him, though he did not know it. Thus the
disgrace which the lords of the Philistines put upon
him, proved more ways than one, an advantage to
him. The steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord, and he delighteth in his way. What he does
with us, we know not now, but we shall know here¬
after and shall see it was all for good.
CHAP. XXX.
When David was dismissed from the army of the Philis¬
tines, he did not go over to the camp of Israel, but, being
expelled by Saul, observed an exact neutrality, and si¬
lently retired to his own city Ziklag. leaving the armies
ready to engage. Now here we are told, I. What a melan¬
choly posture he found the city in, all laid waste by the
Amalekites, and what distress it occasioned him and his
men, v. 1 . . 6. II. What course he took to recover what
he had lost. He inquired of God, and took out a com¬
mission from him, v. 7, 8. pursued the enemy, v. 9, 10.
gained intelligence from a straggler, v. 1 1 . . 15. attacked
and routed tne plunderers, v. 16, 17. and recovered all
they had carried off, v. 18.. 20. III. What method he
observed in the distribution of the spoil, v. 21 - . 31.
L A NE) it came to pass, when David and
l\. his men were come to Ziklag on the
third day, that the Amalekites had invaded
the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag,
and burnt it with fire; 2. And had taken
the women captives that were therein : they
slew not any, either great or small, but car¬
ried them away, and went on their way. 3.
So David and his men came to the city, and,
behold, it was burnt with fire ; and their
wives, and their sons, and their daughters,
were taken captives. 4. Then David and
the people that were with him lifted up their
voice and wept, until they had no more pow¬
er to weep. 5. And David’s two wives
were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreel-
itess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the
Carmelite. 6. And David was greatly dis¬
tressed : for the people spake of stoning him ;
because the soul of all the people was griev¬
ed, every man for his sons and for his daugh¬
ters: but David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God.
Here is,
I. The descent which the Amalekites made upon
Ziklag, in David’s absence, and the desolations they
made there. They surprised the city when it was
left unguarded, plundered it, burnt it, and carried all
the women and children captiv es, v. 1, 2. They
intended, by this, to avenge the like havoc that Da¬
vid had lately made of them and their country, ch.
27. 8. He that had made so many enemies, ought
not to have left his own concerns so naked and de¬
fenceless. They that make bold with others, must
expect that others will make as bold with them,
and provide accordingly. Now observe in this, 1.
The cruelty of Saul’s piety (as it proved) in sparing
the Amalekites; if he had utterly destroyed them,
as he ought to have done, these had not been in be¬
ing to do this mischief. 2. How David was correct¬
ed for being so forward to go with the Philistines
against Israel. God showed him that he had better
have staid at home, and looked after his own busi¬
ness. When we go abroad in the way of our duty,
we may comfortably hope that God will take care
of our families in our absence, but not otherwise. 3.
How wonderfully God inclined the hearts of these
Amalekites to carry the women and children away
captives, and not to kill them. When David inva¬
ded them, he put all to the sword; (ch. 27. 9.) and
no reason can be given why they did not retaliate
upon this city, but that God restrained them; for he
has all hearts in his hands, and says to the fury cf
the most cruel men, Hitherto thou shalt come, and
no further. Whether they spared them, to lead
them in triumph, or to sell them, or to use them for
slaves, God’s hand must be acknowledged, who de¬
signed to make use of the Amalekites for the cor
rection, not for the destruction, of the house of
David.
II. The confusion and consternation that David
and his men were in, when they found their houses
in ashes, and their wives and children gone into cap¬
tivity. Three days’ march they had from the camp
of the Philistines to Ziklag; and now that they came
thither weary, but hoping to find rest in their hou¬
ses, and joy in their families, behold, a black and
dismal scene is presented to them, (v. 3.) which
made them all weep, David himself not excepted,
though they were men of war, till they had no more
power to weep, v. 4. The mention of David’s wives,
Ahinoam and Abigail, and their being carried cap¬
tive, intimate that that went nearer his heart than
any thing else. Note, It is no disparagement to the
boldest and bravest spirits, to lament the calamities
of relations and friends. Observe, 1. This trouble
came upon them when they were absent. It was
the ancient policy of Amalek to take Israel at an
advantage. 2. It met them at their return, and for
aught that appears, their own eyes gave them the
first intelligence of it. Note, When we go abroad,
we cannot foresee what evil tidings may meet us
when we come home again. The going out may be
very cheerful, and yet the coming in be very doleful.
352
I. SAMUEL, XXX.
Boast not thysef therefore of to-morrow, nor of to- !
night neither, for thou knowest not what a day, ( r
a piece of a day, may bring forth, Prov. 27. 1. If,
when we ccnie off a journey, we find our tabernacles
in peace, and not laid waste, as David here found his,
let the Lord be praised for it.
III. T iie mutiny and murmuring of David’s men
against him, v. 6. David was greatly distressed,
for, in the midst <f all his losses, his own people
spake of stoning him, 1. Because they looked upon
him as the occas.on of their calam ties, by the pro- j
vocation he had given the Amalekites, and his in- ;
discretion in leaving Ziklag without a garrison in it.
Thus apt are we, when we are in trouble, to fly into
a rage against those who are, in any way, the occa¬
sion of our trouble, while we overlook the Divine
Providence, and have not that regard to the opera¬
tions of God’s hand in it, which would silence our
passions, and make us patient. 2. Because now
they began to despair of that preferment which they
promised themselves in following David. They
h ped, ere this, to have been all princes; and now,
co find themselves all beggars, was such a disap¬
pointment to them, as made them grow outrageous,
and threaten the life of him, on whom, under God,
they had the greatest dependence. What absurdi¬
ties will not ungoverned passions plunge men into!
This was a sore trial to the man after God’s own
heart, a.id could not but go very near him. Saul
had driven him from his country, the Philistines had
driven him from their camp, the Amalekites had
plundered his city, his wives were taken prisoners,
and now, to complete his woe, his own familiar
friends, in whom he trusted, whom he had shelter¬
ed, and who did eat of his bread, instead of sympa¬
thizing with him, and offering him any relief, lifted
up. the heel against him, and threatened to stone
him. Great faith must expect such severe exer¬
cises. But it is observable that David was reduced
to this extremity just before his accession to the
throne; at this present time, perhaps, the stroke
was struck, which opened the door to his advance¬
ment. Things are sometimes at the worst with the
church and people of God, just before they begin to
mend.
IV. David’s pious dependence upon the Divine
Providence and grace, in this distress. But David
encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 1. His
men fretted at their loss; the soul of the people was
bitter, so the word is; their own discontent and im¬
patience added wormwood and gall to the affliction
and misery, and made it doubly grievous. But Da¬
vid bore it better, though he had more reason than
any of them to lament it; they gave liberty to their
passions, but he set his graces on work, and, by en¬
couraging himself in Gnd, while they dispirited each
other, he kept his spirit calm and sedate. Or, 2.
David’s language opposed itself to the threatening
words his men gave out against him, they spake of
stoning him; but he, not offering to avenge the af¬
front, not terrified bv their menaces, encouraged
himself in the Lord his God; believed and consider¬
ed, with application to his present case, the power
and providence of God, his justice and goodness,
the method he commonly takes of bringing low, and
then raising up; his care of his people that serve
him, and trust in him, and the particular promises
he had made to him of bringing him safe to the
throne; with these considerations he supported him¬
self, not doubting but the present trouble would end
well. Note, Those that have taken the Lord for
their God, may take encouragement from their re¬
lation to him in the worst of times. It is the duty
and interest of all good people, whatever happens,
to encourage themselves in God as their Lord and
their God, assuring themselves that he can and will,
bring light out of darkness, peace out of trouble,
! and good out of evil, to all that lovehim, and are the
! called according to his purpose, Rom. 8. 28. . It w;.s
David’s practice, and he had the comfort cf it;
What time lam afraid, 1 will trust in thee. When
he was at his wit’s end, he was not at his faith’s end.
7. And David said unto Abiathar the
priest, Ahimelech’s son, 1 pray thee, bring
me hither the ephod. And Abiathar
brought thither the ephod to David. 3. And
David inquired at the Loud, saying, Shall
I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake
them ? And he answered him, Pursue: lor
thou shalt surely overtake them , and without
fail recover all. 9. So David went, he and
the six hundred men that were with him,
and came to the brook Besor, where those
that were left behind stayed. 10. But Da¬
vid pursued, he and four hundred men : (for
two hundred abode behind, which were so
faint that they could not go over the brook
Besor.) 1 1 . And they found an Egyptian
in the field, and brought him to David, and
gave him bread, and he did eat ; and they
made him drink water: 12. And they
gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two
clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten,
his spirit came again to him; for he had
eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three
days and three nights. 1 3. And David said
unto him, To whom belongest thou ? and
whence art thou ? And he said, I am a
young man of Egypt, servant to an Ama-
lekite ; and my master left me, because
three days agone I fell sick. 14. We
made an invasion upon the south of the
Cherethites, and upon the coast which be-
longeth to Judah, and upon the south of
Caleb; and we burnt Ziklag with fire. 15.
And David said to him, Canst thou bring
me down to this company ? And he said,
Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt nei¬
ther kill me, nor deliver me into the hands
of my master, and I will bring thee down
to this company. 16. And when he had
brought him down, behold, thef-were spread
abroad upon all the earth, eating, and
drinking, and dancing, because of all the
great spoil that they had taken out of the
land of the Philistines, and out of the land
of Judah. 17. And David smote them
from the twilight even unto the evening of
the next day; and there escaped not a man
of them, save four hundred young men
which rode upon camels, and fled. 18.
And David recovered all that the' Amalek¬
ites had carried aw'ay ; and David rescued
his two wives. 19. And there was nothing
lacking to them, neither small nor great,
neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil,
nor any thing that they had taken to them:
David recovered all. 20. And David took
1. SAMUEL, XXX. 35.*
all the flocks and the herds, ivhich they
drave before those other cattle, and said,
This is David’s spoil.
Solomon observes, that (he righteous is delivered
out of trouble , and the wicked cometh in his stead;
that the just falleth seven times a day, and riseth
again; so it was with David. Many were his trou¬
bles, but the Lord delivered him out of them all;
and particularly out of this which here we have an
account of.
I. He inquired of the Lord both concerning his
duty, Shall I pursue after this troop ? and concern¬
ing the event, Shall I overtake them? v. 8. It was
a great advantage to David, that he had the High
Priest with him, and the breast-plate of judgment,
which, as a public person, he might consult in all
his affairs, Numb. 27. 21. We cannot think that
he left Abiathar and the ephod at Ziklag, for then
he and it would have been carried away by the
Amalekites, unless we may suppose them hidden
by a special providence, that they might be ready
for David to consult at his return. If we conclude
that David had his priest and ephod with him in
the camp of the Philistines, it was certainly a great
neglect in him, that he did not inquire of the Lord
by them, concerning his engagement to Achish.
Perhaps he was ashamed to own hi religion so far
from among the uncircumcised; but now he begins
to apprehend that this trouble is brought upon him
to correct him for that oversight; and therefore the
first thing he does, is, to call for the ephod. It is
well if we get this good by our afflictions, to be re¬
minded by them of neglecting duties, and particu¬
larly to be quickened by them to inquire of the
Lord. See 1 Chron. 15. 13. David had no room
to doubt but that his war against these Amalekites
was just, and he had an inclination strong enough to
set upon them, when it was for the recovery of that
which was dearest to him in this world; and yet he
would not go about it without asking counsel of
God, thereby owning his dependence upon God,
and submission to him. If we thus, in all our ways,
acknowledge God, we may expect that he will di¬
rect our steps, as he did David’s here, answering
him above what he asked, with an assurance that
he should recover all.
II. He went himself in person, and took with him
all the force he had, in pursuit of the Amalekites,
v. 9, 10. See how quickly, how easily, how effec¬
tually, the mutiny among the soldiers was crushed
by his patience and faith. When they spake of
stoning him, (v. 6.) if he had spoken of hanging
♦hem, or had ordered that the ringleaders of the
faction should immediately have had their heads
struck off, though it had been just, yet it might
have been of pernicious consequence to his interest
in tl-is critical j-”’ct"re; and while he and his men
weic contending, the Amalekites would have clear¬
ly carried off their spoil: but when he, as a deaf
man, heard not, smothered his resentments, and
encouraged himself in the Lord his God, the tumult
of the people was stilled by his gentleness, and the
power of God on their hearts; and, being thus
mildly treated, they are now as ready to follow his
foot, as they were but a little before to fly in his
face. Meekness is the security of any government.
All his men were willing to go along with him in
Pursuit of the Amalekites, and he needed them all;
jut h6 was forced to drop a third part of them by
the way; two hundred, out of six, were so fatigued
with their long march, and so sunk under the load
rt their grief, that they could not pass the brook
Besor, but staid behind there. This was, 1. A
great trial of David’s faith, whether he could go on,
in a- dependence upon the word of God, when so
Vol. ii.— 2 Y
many of his men failed him. When we are disap¬
pointed and discouraged in our expectations from
second causes, then go on with cheerfulness, con¬
fiding in the divine power, this is giving glory to
God, by believing against hope, in hope. 2. A
great instance of David’s tenderness to his men,
that he would by no means urge them beyond their
strength, though the cause itself was so very ur¬
gent. The Son of David thus considers the frame
of his followers, who are not all alike strong and
vigorous in their spiritual pursuits and conflicts;
but, where we are weak, there he is kind; nay
moie, there he is strong, 2 Cor. 12. 9, 10.
III. Providence threw one in their way, that ga- e
them intelligence of the enemy’s motions, and
guided their’s; a poor Egyptian lad, scarcely alive,
is made instrumental of a great deal of good to Da¬
vid. God chooses the foolish things of the world,
with them to confound the wise. Observe, 1. His
master’s cruelty to him. He had got out of him all
the service he could, and when he fell sir k, proba¬
bly being over-toiicd with his work, he barbarously
left him to perish, in the field, when he was in no
such haste but he might have put him into some of
the carriages, and brought him home, or, at least,
have left him wherewith to support himself. That
master has the spirit of an Amalekite, not of an Is¬
raelite, that can thus use a servant worse than one
would use a beast. The tender mercies of the
wicked are cruel. This Amalekite thought he
should now ha\ e servants enough of the Israelite
captives, and therefore cared not what became of
his Egyptian slave; but could willingly let him die
in a ditch for want of necessaries, while he was
eating and drinking, v. 16. Justly did Providence
make this poor servant, that was thus basely abus¬
ed, instrumental toward the destruction of a whole
army of Amalekites, and h s master among the
rest; for God hears the cry of oppressed servants.
2. David’s compassion to him; though he had rea¬
son to think he was one of those that had helped to
destroy Ziklag, yet, finding him in distress, he
generously relieved him, not only with bread and
water, (v. 11.) but with fgs and raisins, v. 12.
Though the Israelites were in haste, and had no
great plenty for themselves, yet they would not
forbear to deliver one that was drawn unto death ,
nor say, Behold, we know it not, Prov. 24. 11, 12.
They are unworthy the name of Israelites, who
shut up the bowels of their compassion from per¬
sons in distress. It was also prudently done to re¬
lieve this Egyptian; for, though despicable, he was
capable of doing them service; so it proved, though
they were not certain of it when they relieved him.
It is a good reason why we should neither do an
injury, nor deny a kindness, to any man, that we
know not but, some time or other, it may be in his
power to return either a kindness or an injury. 3.
The intelligence David received from this poor
Egyptian, when he was come to himself. He gave
him an account concerning his party; (1.) What
they had done, (v. 14.) We made an invasion. The
countries which David had pretended to Achish to
have made an incursion upon, ( ch . 27. 10.) they
really had invaded and laid waste. What was
then false, now proved too true. (2.) Whither
they were gone, v. 15. This he promised David to
inform him of, upon condition he would spare his
life and protect him from his master, who, if he
could hear of him again, (he thought,) would add
cruelty to cruelty. Such an opinion this poor
Egyptian had of the obligation of an oath, that he
desired no greater security for his life than that,
Swear unto me by God; not by the gods of Egypt
or Amalek, but by the one supreme God.
IV. David, being directed to the place where
they lay, securely celebrating their triumphs, fell
l. SAA1UEL, XXX.
upon them, and, as he used to pray, saw his desire
uhon his enemies.
1. The spoilers were cut off. The Amalekites,
finding the booty was rich, and being got with it (as
they thought) out of the reach of danger, were
making themselves very merry with it, v. 16. All
thoughts of war were laid aside, nor were they in
any haste to house their prey, but spread them¬
selves abroad on the earth in the most careless
manner that could be, and there they wei e found
eating and drinking, and dancing, probably in
honour of their idol-gods, to whom they gave the
praise of their success. In this posture, David sur¬
prised them, which made the conquest of them, and
the blow he gave them, the more easy to him, and
the more dismal to them. Then are sinners near¬
est to ruin, when they cry, Peace and safety, and
fiut the evil day far from them. Nor does any
thing give our spiritual enemies more advantage
against us than sensuality, and the indulgence of the
flesh. Eating and drinking, and dancing, have
been the soft and pleasant way in which many have
gone down to the congregation of the dead. Find¬
ing them thus off their guard, and from their arms,
(many of them, it may be, drunk, and unable to
make any resistance,) he put them all to the sword,
and only four hundred escaped, v. 17. Thus is the
triumphing of the wicked short, and wrath comes
on them, as on Belshazzar, when they are in the
midst of their jollity.
2. The spoil was recovered and brought off, and
nothing was lost, but a great deal gotten. (1.)
They retrieved all their own; (v. 18, 19.) David,
rescued his two wives; that is mentioned particu¬
larly, because that pleased David more than all the
rest of his achievements. Providence had so order¬
ed it, that the Amalekites carefully preserved all
that they had taken, concluding that they kept it
for themselves, though really they preserved it for
the right owners; so that there was nothing lacking
to them; so it proved, when they concluded all was
gone; so much better is God oftentimes to us, than
our own fe irs. Our Lord Jesus was indeed the son
of David, and the son of Abraham, in this re¬
sembling them both, that he took the prey from the
mighty, and led cafitivity captive: Abraham, Gen.
14. 16'. and David here.' But this was not all. (2.)
They took all that belonged to the Amalekites be¬
sides, v. 20, flocks and herds; either such as were
t iken from the Philistines, and others which David
had the disposal of by the law of war; or perhaps
he made a sally into the enemy’s country and fetch¬
ed off these flocks and herds from thence, as in¬
terest for his own. This drove was put in the van
of the triumph, with this proclamation, “ This is
David's spoil. This we may thank him for.”
Those who lately spake of stoning him, now ca¬
ressed him, and cried him up, because they got by
him more than they had then lost. Thus are the
world, and its sentiments, governed by interest.
21. And David came to the two hundred
men, which were so faint that they could
not follow David, whom they had made
also to abide at the brook Besor : and they
went forth to meet David, and to meet the
people that were with him : and when Da¬
vid came near to the people, he saluted
them. 22. Then answered all the wicked
men, and men of Belial, of those that went
with David, and said, Because they went
not with us, we will not give them aught of
the spoil that we have recovered, save to
even/ man his wife and his children, that
they may lead them away, and depart. 23.
Then said David, \e shall not do so, my
brethren, with that which the Lord hath
given us, who hath preserved us, and de¬
livered the company that came against us
into our hand. 24. Lor who will hearken
unto you in this matter? but as his part is
that goeth down to the battle, so shall his
part be that tarrieth by the stulf: they shall
part alike. 25. And it was so, fiom that
day forward, that he made it a statute and
an ordinance lor Israel unto this day. 26.
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent
of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to
his friends, saying, Behold a present for you
of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
27. To them which were in Beth-el, and to
them which were in south Ramoth, and to
them which were in Jattir, 28. And to
them which were in Aroer, and to them which
tcere in Siphmoth, and to them which were
in Eshtemoa, 29. And to them which tcere
in Radial, and to them which were in the
cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them
which were in the cities of the Kenites, 30.
And to them which were in Honnah, and to
them which were in Cor-ashan, and to them
which were in Athaeh, 31. And to them
which tcere in Hebron, and to all the places
where David himself and his men wen*
wont to haunt.
We have here an account of the distribution of
the spoil which was taken from the Amalekites.
When the Amalekites had carried away a rich
booty from the land of Judah and the Philistines,
they spent it in sensuality, in eating and drinking,
and making merry with it; but David disposed of
the spoil taken, after another manner, as one that
knew that justice and charity must govern us, in
the use we make of whatever we have in this world.
What God gives us, he designs we should do good
with, not serve our lust with. In the distribution < f
the spoil,
I. David was just and kind to those who abode by
the stuff. They came forth to meet the conquerors,
and to congratulate them on their success, though
they could not contribute to it; ( v . 21.) for we
should rejoice in a good work done, though Provi¬
dence had laid us aside, and rendered us incapable
of lending a hand to it. David received their ad¬
dress very kindly, and was so far from upbraiding
them with their weakness, that he showed himself
solicitous concerning them; he saluted them, he
asked them of peace, so the word is; inquired how
they did, because he had left them faint, and not
well; or wished them peace, bid them be of good
cheer, they should lose nothing by staying behind;
for of this they seemed afraid; David perhaps saw
it in their countenances.
1. There were those that opposed their coming
in to share in the spoil; some of David’s soldiers,
probably the same that spake of stoning him, spake
now of defrauding their brethren; they are called
wicked men, and men of Belial, v. 22. Let not the
best of men think it strange, if they have those at¬
tending them that are very bad, and they cannot
prevail to make them, better. We may suppose
that David had instructed his soldiers, and prayed
355
I. SAMUEL, XXXI.
with them, and yet there were many among them
that were wicked men, and men of Belial; often ter¬
rified with the apprehensions of death, and yet
wicked men still, and men of Belial. "1 hese made
a motion, that the two hundred men who abode by
the stuff, should only have their wives and children
given them, but none of their goods. M/ell might
they be called wicked men ; for this bespeaks them,
(1.) Very covetous themselves, and greedy of gain;
for hereby the more would fall to their share. A
while ago, they would gladly have given half their
own to recover the other half; yet now that they
have all their own, they are not content unless they
can have their brethren’s too; so soon do men forget
their low estate. All seek their own, and too often
more than their own. (2. ) Very barbarous to their
brethren; for, to give them their wives and chil¬
dren, and not their estates, was to give them the
mouths without the meat. What joy could they
have of their families, if they had nothing to main¬
tain them with? Was this to do as they would be
done by? These are men of Belial indeed, who de¬
light in putting hardships upon their brethren, and
care not who is starved, so thev may be fed to the
full.
2. David would by no means admit this, but or¬
dered that they who tarried behind, should come in
for an equal share in the sp i's with those that went
to the battle, v. 23, 24. This he did, (1.) In grati¬
tude to God. The spoil we have, is that which
God has given us; we have it from him, and there¬
fore must use it under his direction, as good stew¬
ards. Let this check us when we are tempted to
misapply that which God has intrusted us with of
this world’s good; “ Nay, I must not do so with that
which God has given me, not serve Satan and abase
lust, with those things which are not only the crea¬
tures of his power, but the gifts of his bounty. God
has righted us by delivering the company that came
against us into our hand , let not us then wrong our
brethren ; God has been kind to us in preserving us,
and giving us victory, let not us be unkind to them.
God’s mercy to us should make us mercif.il to one
another. (2.) Injustice to them. It is true, they
tarried behind; but, [1.] It was not for want of
good will to the cause, or to their brethren, but be¬
cause they had not strength to keep up with them.
It was not their fault, but their infelicity ; and there¬
fore they ought not to suffer for it. [2. ] Though
thev tarried behind now, they had formerly engaged
many times in battle, and done their part as well as
the best of their brethren, and their former services
must be considered, now that there was something
to enjoy. [3. ] Even now they did good service,
for they abode by the stufF, to guard that which
somebody must take care of, else that might have
fallen into the hands of some other enemy. Every
post of service is not alike a post of honour, yet
those that are any way serviceable to the common
interest, though in a meaner station, ought to share
in the common advantages; as in the natural body,
every member has its use, and therefore has its
share of the nourishment. First, Thus David over¬
ruled the wicked men, and men of Belial, with rea¬
son, but with a great deal of mildness; (for t'ne f rc e
of reason is sufficient, without the force of passion;)
he calls them his brethren, v. 23. Superiors often
lose their authority bv haughtiness, but seldom by
courtesy and condescens:on; Secondly, Thus he
settled the matter for time to come, made it a
statute of his kingdom, (a statute of distributions,
firimo Davidis — in the first year of David’s reign,)
an ordinance of war, (v. 25.) that as his fiart is that
goes down to the battle, and jeopards his life in the
high places of the field, so shall his be that guards
the carriages. Abraham returned the spoils of S^-
■dom to the right owners, and quitted his title to
them, jure belli — derived from the laws of war.
If we help ethers to recover their right, we must
not think that this alienates the property and makes
it our’s. God appointed that the spoil of Midian
should be divided between the soldiers and the
whole congregation, Numb. 31. 27. The case here
was somewhat different, but governed by the same
general rule — that we are members one of another.
The disciples, at first, had all things common, and
we should still be ready to distribute, willing to
communicate, 1 Tim. 6. 18. When kings of armies
did flee apace, she that tarried at name did divide
the spoil, Ps. 68. 12.
II. David was generous and kind to all his friends.
When he had gi - en every one his own with interest,
there was a considerable overplus, which David, as
general, had the disposal of: probably the spoil of
the tents of the Amalekites consisted much in plate
and jewels; (Judg. 8. 24. 26.) and those, because he
thought they would but make his own soldiers
proud and effeminate, he thought fit to make pre¬
sents of to his friends, even the elders of Judah , v.
26. Sev eral places are here named to which he
sent of these presents, all of them in or near the
tribe of Judah. The first place named is Beth-el,
which signifies the house of God; that place shall
be first served for its name’s sake; or, perhaps, it
means not the city so called, but the place where
the ark was, which was therefore the house of God.
Thither David sent the first and best, to them that
attended there, for his sake who is the First and
Best. H< bron is named last, (v. 31.) probably be¬
cause thither he sent the residuum, which was the
largest share, lw ing an eye upon that place as fit¬
test for his head-quarters, 2 Sam. 2. 1.
In David’s sending these presents, observe, 1.
His generosity. He imed not to enrich himself,
but to serve his country; and therefore God after¬
wards enriched h'm, and set him to rule the coun¬
try he had served. It becomes gracious souls to be
generous; there is that scatters and yet increases.
2. His gratitude. He sent presents to all the places
where he and his men were wont to haunt; (y. 31.)
that is, to all he had received kindness from, that
had sheltered him, and sent him intelligence or
provisions. Note, Honesty, as well as honour,
obliges us to requite the favours that have been
done us, or, at least, make a real acknowledgment
of them as far as is in the power of our hand. 3.
His p:etv; that he calls it a blessing; for no present
we give to our friends will be a comfort to them,
but as it is made so by the blessing of God : it inti¬
mates that his prayers for them accompanied his
present; also, (hat he sent them out of the spoil of
the enemies of the Lord, (so he calls them, not his
enemies,) that they might rejoice in the victory, for
the Lord’s sake, and might join with him in thanks¬
givings for it. 4. His policy, that he sent these
presents among his countrymen, to oblige them to
be readv to appear for him, upon his accession to
the throne, which he now saw at hand. A man’s
gift maketh room for him. He was fit to be a king,
who thus showed the bounty and liberality of a king.
Munificence recommends a man more than magni¬
ficence. The Ziphites had none of his presents,
nor the men of Iveilah; and thus he showed, that,
though he was such a saint as not to revenge af¬
fronts, yet he was not such a fool as not to take no¬
tice of them.
CHAP. XXXI.
In the foregoing chapter, we had David conquering, yea.
more than a conqueror. In this chapter, we have Saul
conquered, and worse lhan a captive. Providence or¬
dered it, that both these things should be doing just at
the same time. The very same day, perhaps, that David
was triumphing over the Amalekites, were the Philis-
356
I. SAMUEL, XXXI.
times triumphing over Saul. One is set against the other,
that men may see what, comes of trusting in God, und
what comes of forsaking him. We left Saul ready to
engage the Philistines, with a shaking hand and an ach¬
ing Heart, having had his doom read from hell, which he
would not regard when it was read him from heaven. Let
us now see what comes of him. Here is, I. His army
routed, v. 1. II. His three sons slain, v. 2 III. Him¬
self wounded, v. 3. Slain by his own hand, v. 4. His
armour-bearer, (v. 5.) and all his men, v. 6. IV. His
country possessed by the Philistines, v. 7. His camp
plundered, and his dead body deserted, v. 8. His fall
triumphed in, v. 9. His body publicly exposed, (v. 10.)
and with difficulty rescued by the men of Jabesh-gilead,
v. 1 1 • • 13. Thus fell the man that was rejected of God.
1. ']VTOW the Philistines fought against
_L n Israel : and the men of Israel fled
from before the Philistines, and fell down
slain in mount Gilboa. 2. And the Philis¬
tines followed hard upon Saul, and upon
his sons ; and the Philistines slew Jonathan,
and Abinadab, and Melchi-shua, Saul’s
sons. 3. And the battle went sore against
Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was
sore wounded of the archers. 4. Then, said
Saul unto his armour-bearer, Draw thy
sword, and thrust me through therewith,
lest these uncircumcised come and thrust
me through, and abuse me. But his ar¬
mour-bearer would not ; for he was sore
afraid: therefore Saul took a sword, and
fell upon it. 5. And when his armour-
bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell like¬
wise upon his sword, and died with him.
6. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his
armour-bearer, and all his men, that same
day together. 7. And when the men of Is¬
rael that were on the other side of the val¬
ley, and theij that were on the other side
Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and
that Saul and his sons were dead, they for¬
sook the cities and fled ; and the Philistines
came and dwelt in them.
The day of recompense is now come, in which
Saul must account for the blood of the Amalekites,
which he had sinfully spared, and that of the priests,
which he had more sinfully spilt; that of David too,
which he would have spilt, must come into the ac¬
count. Now his day is come to fall, as David fore¬
saw, when he should descend into battle, and perish,
ch. 26. 10. Come, and see the righteous judgments
of God.
I. He sees his soldiers fall about him, v. 1.
Whether the Philistines were more numerous, bet¬
ter posted, and better led on, or what other advan¬
tages they had, we are not told; but it seems they
were more vigorous, for they made the onset, they
fought against Israel, and the Israelites fled and fell.
The best of the troops were put into disorder, and
multitudes slain; probably, those whom Saul had
employed in pursuing David. Thus they who had
followed him, and served him in his sin, go before
him in his fall, and share with him in his plagues.
II. He sees his sons fall before him. The victo¬
rious Philistines pressed most forcibly upon the king
of Israel, and those about him; his three sons were
next him, it is probable, and they were all three
slain before his face, to his great grief, for they
were the hopes of his family; and to his great ter¬
ror, for they were now the guard of his person; and
[ he can conclude no other, than that his own turn
comes next. His sons are named, (i>. 2.) and it
grieves us to find Jonathan among them: that wise,
valiant, good man, who was as much David’s friend
as Saul was his enemy; he falls with the rest. Duty
to his father would not permit him to stay at heme,
or to retire when the armies engaged; and Provi¬
dence so orders it, that he falls in the common fate
of his family, though he never involved himself in
the guilt of it; so that the observation of Eliphaz
does not hold, (Job 4. 7.) Who ever perished, being
innocent? For here was one. What shall we say
to it? 1. God would hereby complete the vexation
of Saul in his dying moments, and the judgment that
was to be executed upon his house. If the family
must fall, Jonathan, that is one of it, must fall with
it. 2. He would hereby make David’s way to the
crown the more clear and open. For though Jona¬
than himself would have cheerfully resigned all his
title and interest to him, (we have no reason to sus¬
pect any other,) yet it is very probable, that many
of the people would have made use of his name for
the support of the house of Saul, or, at least, would
have come in but slowly to David. If Ish-bosheth
(who was now left at home as one unfit for action,
and so escaped) had so many friends, what would
Jonathan have had, who had been the darling of the
people, and had never forfeited their favour? They
that were so anxious to have a king like the nations,
would be zealous for the right line, especially if that,
threw the crown upon such a head as Jonathan’s.
This would have embarrassed David; and if Jona¬
than could have prevailed to bring in all his interest
to David, then it would have been said that Jona¬
than had made him king, whereas God was to have
all the glory. This is the Lord’s doing. So that
though the death of Jonathan would be a great af¬
fliction to David, yet, by making him mindful of his
own frailty, as well as by facilit .ting his accession
to the throne, it would be an adv; ntage to him. 3.
God would hereby show us, that the difference be¬
tween good and bad is to be made in the other
world, not in this. All things come alike to all. We
cannot judge of the spiritual or eternal state of any,
by the manner of their death; for in that there is one
event to the righteous and to the wicked.
III. He himself is sorely wounded by the Philis¬
tines, and then slain by his own hand. The archers
hit him, (v. 3.) so that he could neither fight nor
fly, and therefore must inevitably fall into their
hands. Thus, to make him the more miserable,
destruction comes gradually upon him, and he dies
so as to feel himself die. To that extremity was
he now reduced, that, 1. He was desirous to die by
the hand of his own servant, rather than by the
hand of the Philistines, lest they should abuse him
as they did Samson. Miserable man! He finds
himself dying, and all his care is, to keep his body
out oi the a aids oi the Philistines, but no care to
resign his soul into the hands of God who gave it,
Eccl. 12. 7. As he lived, so he died, proud and
jealous, and a terror to himself and all about him.
They who rightly understand themselves, think it
of small account, in comparison, how it is with them
in death, so it may but be well with them after
death. Those are in a deplorable condition indeed,
who, being bitter in soul, long for death, but it
comcth not, (Job 3. 20, 21.) especially those, who,
despairing of the mercy of God, like Judas, leap
into hell before them, to escape a hell within them.
2. When he could not obtain that favour, he became
his own executioner, thinking thereby to avoid
shame, but running upon a heinous sin, and with it
entailing upon his own name a mark of perpetual
infamy, as felo de sc — a self-murderer. Jonathan,
who received his death-wound from the hand of the
Philistines, and bravely yielded to the fate of war,
357
I. SAMUEL, XXXI.
(tied in the bed of honour; but Saul died as a fool
dieth, as a coward dieth, a proud fool, a sneaking
coward; he died as a man that had neither the fear
of God, nor hope in God; neither the reason of a
man, nor the religion of an Israelite, nor the reso¬
lution of a soldier. Let us all pray, Lord. , lead us
not into tem/itation, this temptation. His armour-
bearer would not run him through, and he did well
to refuse it; for no man’s servant ought to be a slave
to his master’s lusts or passions of any kind: the
reason given is, that he was sore afraid, not of death,
for he himself ran wilfully upon that immediately;
but, having a profound reverence for the king h.s
master, he could not conquer that so far as to do
him any hurt; or perhaps he feared lest his trem¬
bling hand should have given him but half a blow,
and so have put him to the greater misery.
IV. His armour-bearer, who refused to kill him,
refused not to die with him, but fell likewise upon
his sword, v. 5. This was an aggravating circum¬
stance of the death of Saul, that, by the example
of his wickedness, in murdering himself, he drew
in his servant to be guilty of the same wickedness,
and perished not alone in his iniquity. The Jews
say that Saul’s armour-bearer was I) eg, whom he
preferred to that dignity for killing the priests, and
if so, justly does his violent dealing return on his
own head. David had foretold concerning him,
that God would destroy him for ever, Ps. 52. 5.
V. The country was put into such confusion by
the rout of Saul’s army, that the inhabitants of the
neighbouring cities (on that side Jordan, as it
might be read) quitted them, and the Philistines,
for a time, had possession of them, till things were
settled in Israel, v. 7. Such a sad pass had Saul
by his wickedness brought this country to, which
might have remained in the hands of the uncircum¬
cised, if David had not been raised up to repair the
breaches of it. See what a king he proved, for
whom they injected God and Samuel. They still
had done wickedly (it is to be feared) as well as he,
and therefore were consumed, both they and their
king, as the prophet had foretold concerning them,
ch. 12. 25. And to this reference is had long after;
(Hos. 13. 10, 11.) Where are thy saviours in all thy
cities, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and
princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and
took him away in my wrath; that is, he was a
plague to thee living and dying: thou couldest ex¬
pect no other.
8. And it came to pass on the morrow,
when the Philistines came to strip the slain,
that they found Saul and his three sons
fallen in mount Gilboa. 9. And they cut
off his head, and stripped off his armour,
and sent into the land of the Philistines
round about, to publish it in the house of
their idols, and among the people. 10. And
they put his armour in the house of Ashta-
roth ; and they fastened his body to the wall
of Beth-shan. 11. And when the inhabit¬
ants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which
the Philistines had done to Saul, 12. All
the valiant men arose, and went all night,
and took the body of Saul, and the bodies
of his sons, from the wall of Beth-shan, and
came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13.
And they took their bones, and buried them
under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven
days.
The scripture makes no mention of the souls of
Saul and his sons, what became of them after they
were dead; (secret things belong not to us;) but of
their bodies only.
I. How they were basely abused by the Philis¬
tines. The day after the battle, when they had re¬
covered their fatigue, they came to strip the slain,
and, among the rest, found the bodies of Saul and
his three sons, v. 8. Saul’s armour-bearer perhaps
intended to honour his master, bv following the ex¬
ample of his self-murder, and to show thereby how
well he lo\edhim; but if he had consulted his rea¬
son more than his passions, he would have spared
that foolish compliment, not only in justice to his
own life, but in kindness to his master, to whom, by
the opportunity of survivorship, he might have
done all the service that could be done him by any
man after he was dead: for he might, in the night,
have conveyed away his body, and those of his sons,
and buried them decently.' But such false and
foolish notions as these, vain men have, (though
they would be wise,) of giving and receiving honour.
Nay, it should seem, Saul might have saved him¬
self the fatal thrust, and have made his escape; for
the pursuers (in fear of whom he slew himself)
came not to the place where he was, till the next
day. But whom God will destroy, he infatuates,
and utterly consumes with his terrors. See Job 18.
5, &c.
Finding Saul’s body, (which, now that it lay ex¬
tended on the bloody turf, was distinguishable from
the rest by its length, as it was, while erect, by its
height, when he proudly overlooked the surround¬
ing crowd,) they will, in that, triumph over Israel’s
crown, and poorly gratify a barbarous and brutish
revenge, by insulting the deserted corpse, which,
when alive, they had stood in awe of.
1. They cut off his head. Had they designed in
this to revenge the cutting off of Goliath’s head,
they should rather have cut off the head of David,
who did that execution, when he was in their
country; they intended it, in general, for a reproach
to Israel, who promised themselves that a crowned,
and an anointed head, would have saved them from
the Philistines, and a particular reproach to Saul,
who was taller bv the head than other men, (which
perhaps he was wont to boast of,) but was now
shorter by the head.
2. They stripped him of his armour, ( v . 9.) and
sent that to be set up as a trophy of their victory in
the house of Ashtaroth their goddess; (i>. 10.) and
we are told, 1 Chron. 10. 10. (though it is omitted
here,) that they fastened his head in the temple of
Dagon. Thus did they ascribe the honour of their
victory, not, as they ought to have done, to the real
justice of the true God, but to the imaginary power
of their false gods; and by this respect paid to pre¬
tended deities, shame those who give not the praise
of their achievements to the living God. Ashtaroth,
the idol, that Israel had many a time gone a whor¬
ing after, now triumphs over them.
3. They sent expresses throughout their countiy,
and ordered public notice to be given in the houses
of their gods, of the victory they had obtained, ( [v .
9. ) that public rejoicings might be made, and thanks
given to their gods. This David regretted sorely;
(2 Sam. 1. 20.) Tell it not in Gath.
4. They fastened his body, and the bodies of his
sons, (as appears, v. 12.) to the wall of Beth-shan;
a city that lay not far from Gilboa, and very near to
the river Jordan. Hither the dead bodies were
dragged, and here hung up in chains, to be devour¬
ed by the birds of prey. Saul slew himself, to avoid
being abused by the Philistines, and never was
royal corpse so abused as his was; perhaps the
more, if they understood that he slew himself, and
for what reason. He that thinks to save his honour
358
1. SAMUEL, XXXI.
by sin, will certainly lose it. See to what a height
of insolence the Philistines were arrived, just before
David was raised up, who perfectly subdued them.
Now that they had slain Saul and his sons, they
thought the land of Israel was their own for ever,
but they soon found themselves deceived. When
God has accomplished his whole work by them, he
will accomplish it upon them. See Isa. 10. 6, 7.
II. How they wefe bravely rescued by the men
;f Jabesh-gilead. Little more than the liver of
Jordan lay between Beth-shan and Jabesh-gilead,
and Jordan was in that place passable by its fords;
a bold adventure was therefore made by the valiant
men of that city, who, in the night, passed the
river, took down the dead bodies, and gave them
decent burial, v. 11* *13. This they did, 1. Out of
a common concern for the honour of Israel, or the
land of Israel, which ought not to be defiled by the
exposing of any dead bodies, and especially of the
crown of Israel, which was thus profaned by the
uncircumcised. 2. Out of a particular sense of
gratitude to Saul, for his zeal and forwardness to
rescue them from the Ammonites, when he first
cime to the throne, c/i. 11. It is an argument of a
gracious spirit, and an encouragement to benefi¬
cence, when the remembrance of kindness is thus
retained, and they are thus returned, in an extre¬
mity. The men of Jabesh-gilead would have done
Saul better service, if they had sent their valiant
men to him sooner, to strengthen him against the
Philistines. But his day was come to fall, and now
this is all the service they can do him, in honour to
his memory.
We find not that any general mourning was made
for the death of Saul, as was for the death of Sa¬
muel, (ch. 25. 1.) only those Gileadites of Jabesh
did him honour at his death; for, (1.) They made
a burning for the bodies, to perfume them. So
some understand the burning of them. They burnt
spices over them, v. 12. And that it was usual
thus to do honour to their deceased friends, at least,
their princes, appears bv the account of Asa’s fune¬
ral, (2 Chron. 16. 14.) that they made a very great
burning for him. Or, (as some think,) they burnt
the flesh because it began to putrefy. (2.) They
buried the bodies, when, by burning over them,
they had sweetened them, (or, if they burnt them,
they buried the bones and ashes,) under a tree,
which served for a grave-stone and monument.
And, lastly , they fasted seven days; that is, each
day of the seven, they fasted till the evening; thus
they lamented the death of Saul, and the present
distracted state of Israel, and perhaps joined pray¬
ers with their fasting, for the re-establishment of
their shattered state. Though when the wicked
perish, there is shouting, that is, it is to be hoped a
better state of things will ensue, which will be mat¬
ter of joy, yet humanity obliges us to show a decent
respect to dead bodies,' especially those of princes.
This book began with the birth of Samuel, but now
it ends with the burial of Saul, the comparing of
which two together will teach us to prefer the
honour that comes from God, before any of the
honours which this world pretends to have the dis¬
posal of.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE SECOND BOOK OF
SAMUEL.
This book is the history of the reign of king David. W e had, m the foregoing Book, an account of his
designation to the government, and his struggles with Saul, which ended at length in the death of his
persecutor. This Book begins with his accession to the throne, and is entirely taken up with the anaii s
of the government during the forty years he reigned, and therefore is entitled, by the Se\ enty, ic
Third Book of Che Kin vs. It gives us an account of David’s triumphs and his troubles.
I. His triumphs over the house of Saul; ( ch . 1--4.) over the Jebusites and Philistines; (ch. 5.) at the
bringing up of the ark; (ch. 6 and 7.) over the neighbouring nations that opposed him, c i. 8* *10. Anc
so far the history is agreeable to what we might expect from David s character, and the choice made
of him. But his cloud has a dark side. rTr-i /■ . j no n t-v „„„
II. We have his troubles, the cause of them, his sin in the matter of Uriah, {ch. 11 and 12.) he r u-
bles themselves from the sin of Amnon, {ch. 13.) the rebellion ot Absalom, (c/i. 14* • 19.) and ot
Sheba, {ch. 20.) and the plague in Israel for his numbering the people, {ch. 24. ) beside the famine tor
the Gibeonites, {ch. 21.) His song we have, {ch. 22.) and his words and worthies, ch. 2o. Many
things in this history are very instructive; but for the hero, that is the subject ot it, though, in many
instances, he appears here very great, and very good, and very much the favourite of Heaven, yet it
must be confessed that his honour shines brighter in his Psalms than in his Annals.
II. SAMUEL, I.
CHAP. I.
In the close of the foregoing Book, (which with this is
connected as a continuation of the same history,) we
had Saul’s exit; he went down slain to the pit, though
he was the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
We are now to look toward the rising sun, and to in¬
quire where David is, and what he is doing. In this
chapter, we have, I. Tidings brought him to Ziklag of
the death of Saul and Jonathan, by an Ainalekite, who
undertook to give him a particular narrative ot it,
v. 1 . . 10. 11. David’s sorrowful reception of Ihese
tidings, v. 11, 12. III. Justice done upon the messen¬
ger, who boasted that he had helped Saul to despatch
himself, v. 13. . 16. IV. An elegy which David penned
upon this occasion, 17 . . 27. And in all this, David’s J
breast appears very happily free from the sparks, either :
of revenge or ambition, and he observes a very suitable
demeanonr.
1. -^TOW it came to pass, after the death
.1^1 of Saul, when David was returned
from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and
David had abode two days in Ziklag ; 2.
It came even to pass on the third day, that,
behold, a man came out of the camp from
Saul, with his clothes rent, and earth upon
his head : and so it was, when he came to
David, that he fell to the earth, and did
obeisance. 3. And David said unto him,
From whence comest thou ? And he said
unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am 1
escaped. 4. And David said unto him,
How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me.
And he answered, That the people are tied
from the battle, and many of the people
also are fallen and dead ; and Saul ana
Jonathan his son are dead also. 5. And
David said unto the young man that told
him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jon¬
athan his son be dead ? 6. And the young
man that told him said, As I happened by
chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul
leaned upon his spear ; and, lo, the chariots
and horsemen followed hard after him. 7
360
II. SAMUEL, 1.
Anti when he looked behind him, he saw
me, and called unto me: and I answered,
He re am I. 8. And he said unto me, Who
art thou? And I answered him, I am an
Amalekita 9. He said unto me again,
Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me;
for anguish is come upon me, because my i
life is yet whole in me. 10. So I stood upon
him, and slew him, because I was sure
that he could not live after that he was fall¬
en: and I took the crown that ivas upon
his head, and the bracelet that teas on his
arm, and have brought them hither unto my
lord.
Here is,
I. David settling again in Ziklag his own city:
after he had rescued his family and friends out of
the hands of the Amalekites, (it. 1.) he abode in
Ziklag. Thence he was now sending presents, to
his friends, 1 Sam. 30. 26. and there he was ready
to receive those that came into his interests; not
men in distress and debt, as his first followers were,
but persons of quality in their country, mighty men,
men of war, and cafitains of thousands; (as we find,
1 Chron. 12. 1, 8, 20.) such came day by day to
him, God stirred up their hearts to do so, till he had
a great host, like the host of God, as it is said there,
v. 22. The secret springs of revolutions are unac¬
countable, and must be resolved into that Provi¬
dence, which turns all hearts as the rivers of water.
II. Intelligence brought him thither of the death
of Saul. It was strange that he did not leave some
spies about the camps, to bring him early notice of
the issues of the engagement, a sign that he desired
not Saul’s woful (lay, nor was impatient to come
to the throne, but willing to wait till those tidings
were brought to him, which many a one would
have sent more than half way to meet. He that
believes, does not make haste, takes good news
wher it comes, and is not uneasy while it is in the
coming.
1. The messenger presents himself to David as
an express, in the posture of a mourner for the de¬
ceased prince, and a subject to the succeeding one.
He came with his clothes rent, and m ide obeisance
to David, ( v . 2.) pleasing himself with the fancy
that he had the honour to be the first that did him
homage as his sovereign; but it proved he was
the first that received from him sentence o.f death,
as his judge. He told David he came from the
camp of Israel, and intimated the confusion it was
in, when he said he was escaped out of it, having
much ado to get away with his life, v. 3.
2. He gives him a general account of the issue of
the battle. David was \ ery desirous to know how
the matter went, as one that had more reasons
than any to be concerned for the public; and he told
him very distinctly that the army of Israel was
routed, many slain, and, among the rest, Saul and
Jonathan, v. 4. He names only Saul and Jonathan,
because he knew David would be most solicitous to
know their fate; for Saul was the man whom he
most feared, and Jonathan the man whom he most
loved.
3. He gives him a more particular account of the
death of Saul. It is probable that David had heard,
by the report of others, what the issue of the war
was, for multitudes resorted to him, it should seem,
in consequence; but he was des:rous to know' the
certaintv of the report concerning Saul and Jona¬
than, either because he was not forward to believe
it, or because he would not proceed upon it, to
make his own claims, till he was fully assured of
He therefore asks, How knowest thou that Saul ai ,
Jonathan are dead? In answer to which, the young
man tells him a very ready story, putting it past
doubt that Saul was dead, for he himself had been
not only an eye-witness of his death, but an instru¬
ment of it, and therefore David might rely upon his
testimony. He says nothing, in his narrative, of the
death ot Jonathan, knowing how ungrateful that
would be to David, but accounts only for Saul
thinking (as David understood it well enough, ch.
4. 10.) that he should be welcome for that, and re¬
warded, as one that brought good tidings.
The account he gives of this matter is,
(1.) Very particul: : that he happened to go to
the place where Sa 1 was, (v. 6.) as a passenger,
not as a soldier, an . therefore an indifferent per¬
son; that he found Saul endeavouring to run him¬
self through with his own spear, none of his attend¬
ants being willing to do it for him; and, it seems, he
could not do it dexterously for himself, his hand and
heart failed him, the miserable man had not cou¬
rage enough either to live or die; he therefore call¬
ed this stranger to him, ( v . 7.) inquired what coun¬
tryman he w'as, for, provided he were not a Philis¬
tine he would gladly receive from his hand the
coup, de grace (as the French call it, concerning
those that are broken on the wheel) — the merciful
stroke, that might despatch him out of his pain.
Understanding that he was an Amalekite, (neither
one of his subjects, nor one of his enemies,) he
begs this favour from him, (t». 9.) Stand upon me,
and slay me. He is now sick of his dignity, and
willing to be trampled upon; sick of his life, and
willing to be slain. Who then would be inordi¬
nately fond of life or honour? The case may be such,
even with those that have no hope in their death,
that yet they may desire to die, and death flee from
them. Rev. 9. 6. Anguish, is come upon me; s > we
read it; as a complaint of the pain and terror his
spirit was seized with. If his conscience now
brought to mind the javelin he had cast at Da\ id,
his pride, malice, and perfidiousness, and especi lly
the murder of the priests, no marvel that anguish
came upon him: moles (they say,) open their eyes
when they are dying. Sense of unpardoned guilt
will make death indeed the king of terrors. They
that have baffled their convictions, will, perhaps, in
their dying moments, be overpowered by them.
The margin reads it as a complaint of the inconve¬
nience of his clothes; that his coat of mail which he
had for his defence, or his embroidered coat, which
he had for ornament, hindered him, that he could not
get the spear far enough into his body, or so strait¬
ened him, now that his bodv swelled with anguish,
that he could not expire. Let no man’s clothes lie
his pride, for it may so happen, that they may be his
burthen and snare. “ Hereupon,” saith our young
man, liIstood upon him, and slew him ;” ( v . 10.)
at which word, perhaps, he observed David look up¬
on him with some show of displeasure, and therefore
he excuses it, in the next words; “ for I was sure
he could not live; his life was whole in him indeed,
but he would certainly have fallen into the hands < t
the Philistines, or given himself another thrust. ”
(2.) It is doubtful whether this story be true. It
it was, the righteousness of God is to be observed,
that Saul, who spared the Amalekites, in contempt
of the divine command, received his death’s wound
from an Amalekite. But most interpreters thmk
that it was false, and that, though he might happen
to be present, yet he was not assisting in the death
of Saul, but told David so, in expectation that he
would have rewarded him for it, as having done
him a piece of good service. They who rejoice at
the fall of an enemy, are apt to measure others by
themselves, and to think that they will do so too.
11. SAMUEL, 1. 3C.1
But a man after God’s own heart, is not to be judg¬
ed of by common men. I am not clear whether
this young man’s story were true or no; it may con¬
sist with the narrative in the chapter before, and be
an addition to it, as Peter’s account of the death of
Judas, Acts 1. 18. is to the narrative, Matth. 27. 5.
What is there called a sword, may here be called
a spear; or when he fell upon his sword, he leaned
on his spear.
(3.^) However, he produced that which was
proof sufficient of the death of Saul, the crown that
was upon his head, and the bracelet that was
on his arm. It should seem, these Saul was so
foolishly fond of, as to wear them in the field of
battle, which made him a fair mark for the arch¬
ers, by distinguishing him from those about him:
but as pride (we say) feels no cold, so it fears no
danger from that which gratifies it. These fell into
the hands of this Amalekite. Saul spared the best
of their spoil, and now the best of his came to one
of that devoted nation. Pie brought them to David,
as the rightful owner of them now that Saul was
dead, not doubting but by his officiousness herein,
to recommend himself to the best preferments in
his court or camp. The tradition of the Jews, is,
that this Amalekite was the son of Doeg, (for the
Amalekites were descendants from Edom,) and
that Doeg, who, they suppose, was Saul’s armour-
bearer before he slew himself, gave Saul’s crown
and bracelet (the ensigns of his royalty) to his son,
and bade him carry them to David, to curry favour
with him. But this is a groundless conceit; Doeg’s
son, it is likely, was so well known to Saul, that he
needed not ask him as he did, ( v . 8.) Who art
thou? David had been long waiting for the crown,
and now it is brought him by an Amalekite. See
how God can serve his own purpose of kindness to
his people, even by designing (ill-designing) men,
who aim at nothing but to set up themselves.
1 1. Then David took hold on his clothes,
and rent them ; and likewise all the men
that were with him: 12. And they mourned,
and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul,
and for Jonathan his son, and for the people
of the Lord, and for the house of Israel;
because they were fallen by the sword. 1 3.
And David said unto the young man that
told him, Whence art thou? And he an¬
swered, I am the son of a stranger, an
Amalekite. 14. And David said unto him,
How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth
thine hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?
15. And David called one of the young
men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him.
And he smote him that he died. 16. And
David said unto him, Thy blood be upon
thy head ; for thy mouth hath testified
against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord’s
anointed.
Here is,
I. David’s reception of these tidings. So far
was he from falling into a transport of joy, as the
Amalekite expected, that he falls into a passion of
weeping, rent his clothes, ( v . 11.) mourned and
fasted, (v. 12.) not only for his people Israel, and
Jonathan his friend, but for Saul his enemy.’ This
he did, not only as a man of honour, in observance
of that decorum which forbids us to insult over
those that are fallen, and requires us to attend our
VOL. II. — 2 Z
relations to the grave with respect, whatever we
lost by their life, or got by their death; but as a
good man and a man of conscience, that had for¬
given the injuries Saul had done him, and bore him
no malice. He knew before his son wrote it, (Prov
24. 17, 18.) that if we rejoice when our enemy falls
the Lord sees it, and it displeases him; and, that ht
who is glad at calamities, shall not go unpunished,
Prov. 17. 5. By this it appears, that those passages
in David’s psalms, which express his desire of, and
triumph in, the ruin of his enemies, proceed not
from a spirit of revenge, or any irregular passion,
but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and the
public good; for by what he did here, when he
heard of Saul’s death, we may perceive that his
natural temper was very tender, and that he was
kindly affected even to those that hated him. He
was very sincere, no question, in his mourning fcj-
Saul, and it was not pretended, or a copy of his
countenance only. His passion was so strong, on
this occasion, that it moved these about him; all that
were with him, at least, in complaisance to him,
rent their clothes, and they fasted till even, in token
of their sorrow; and, probably, it was a religious
fast, they humbled themselves under the hand of
God, and prayed for the repairing of the breaches
made upon Israel by this defeat.
II. The reward he gave to him that brought him the
tidings; instead of preferring him, he put him to
death; judged him, cut of his own mouth, ns a mur¬
derer of his prince, and ordered him foi thwith to be
executed for the same. What a surprise was this to
the messenger, who thought he should have favour
shown him for his pains! In vain did he plead that
he had Saul’s order for it, that it was a real kind¬
ness to him, that he must inevitably have died; all
those pleas are overruled, “ Thy mouth has testi¬
fied against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's
anointed ; (v. 16.) therefore thou must die.”
Now, 1. David herein did not do unjustly. For,
(1.) The man was an Amalekite. This, lest he
had mistaken it in his narrative, he made him own
a second time, v. 13. That nation, and all that be¬
longed to it, were doomed to destruction; so that, in
slaying him, David did what his predecessor should
have done, and was rejected for not doing. (2.)
He did himself confess the crime, so that the e\i-
dence was, by the consent of all laws, sufficient to
convict him; for every man is presumed to make
the best of himself. If lie did as lie said, he de¬
served to die for treason, (z>. 14.) doing that which,
it is probable, he heard Saul’s own armour-bearer
refuse to do; if not, yet by boasting that he had
done it, he plainly showed, that if there had been
occasion, he would have clone it, and would have
made nothing of it; and by boasting of it to David,
he showed what opinion he had of him, that he
would rejoice in it, as one altogether like himself,
which was an intolerable affront to him, who had
himself once and again refused to stretch forth his
hand against the Lord's anointed. And his lying to
David, if indeed it were a lie, was highly criminal,
and proved, as sooner or later that sin will prove,
lying against his own head.
2. Fie did honourably and well. Hereby he de
monstrated the sincerity of his grief; discouraged
all others from thinking, by doing the like, to in
gratiate themselves with him; and did that which
might, probably, oblige the house of Saul, and
win upon them, and recommend him to the people,
as one that was zealous for public justice, without
regard to his own private interest. We may learn
from it, that to give assistance to any in murdering
themselves, directly or indirectly, if done wittingly,
incurs the guilt of blood; and that the lives of
princes ought to be, in a special manner, precious
to us.
362 II. SAMUEL, I.
17. And David lamented with this la¬
mentation over Saul and over Jonathan his
son: 18. (x\lso he bade them teach the
children of Judah the use o/ the bow: behold,
it is written in the book of Jasher :) 19. The
beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places:
how are the mighty fallen! 20. Tell it not
m Gath, publish it not in the streets of Aske-
lon; lest the daughters of the Philistines re¬
joice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised
triumph. 21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let
there he no dew, neither let there he rain up¬
on you, nor fields of offerings: for there the
shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the
shield of Saul, as though “he had not heen
anointed with oil. 22. F rom the blood of
the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow
of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword
of Saul returned not empty. 23. Saul and
Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their
lives, and in their death they were not di¬
vided : they were swifter than eagles, they
were stronger than lions. 24. \ e daughters
of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you
in scarlet, with other delights ; who put on
ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 25.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst
of the battle! O Jonathan, thou least slain
in thine high places. 26. I am distressed
for thee, my brother Jonathan : very plea¬
sant hast thou been unto me : thy love to
me was wonderful, passing the love of wo¬
men. 27. How are the mighty fallen, and
the weapons of war perished!
When David had rent his clothes, mourned and
wept, and fasted, for the death of Saul, and done
justice upon him who made himself guilty of it, one
would think he had made full payment of the debt
of honour he owed to his memory; yet this is not all:
we have here a poem he wrote on the occasion; for
he was a great master of his pen as well as sword.
By this elegy he designed both to express his own
sorrow for this great calamity, and to impress the
like on the minds of others, who ought to lay it to
heart. The putting of lamentations into poems,
made them, 1. The more moving and affecting.
The passion of the poet, or singer, is, by this way,
wonderfully communicated to the readers and hear¬
ers. 2. The more lasting. Thus they were made,
not only to spread far, but to continue long; from
generation to generation. Those might gain infor¬
mation by poems, that would not read history.
Here we have,
I. The orders David gave with this elegy; (10 18.)
He bade them teach the children of Judah (nis own
tribe, whatever others did) the use of the bow; either,
1. The bow used in war. Not but that the children
of Jud h knew how to use the bow; (it was so com¬
monly used in war, long before this, that the sword
and bow were put for all weapons of war, Gen. 48.
22.) but, perhaps, they had of late made more use
of slings, as Da' id, in killing Goliath, because cheap¬
er; which David wmuld have them now to see the
nconverience of, (for they were the archers of the
PViV.vt; that bore so hard upon Saul, 1 Sam. 31.
8 ' nd t • return more generally to the use of the
bow. to exercise themselves in this weapon, that they
' might be in a capacity to avenge the death of their
prince upon the Philistines, and to outdo them at
their own weapon. It wTas pity but those that had
such good heads and hearts, as the children of Ju¬
dah, should not be wTell armed. David hereby show¬
ed his authority over, and concern for, the armies
of Israel, and set himself to rectify the errors of the
former reign. But we find that the companies
which were now come to David to Ziklag, were
armed with bows; (1 Chron. 12. 2.) therefore, 2.
Some understand it, either of some musical instru¬
ment called a bow, to which he would have the
mournful ditties sung, or, of the elegy itself; he bade
them teach the children of Judah, Kesheth, the bow ,
that is, this song, which was so entitled, for the sake
of Jonathan’s bow, the achievements of which are
here celebrated. Moses commanded Israel to learn
his song, (Deut. 31. 19.) so David his. Probably,
he bade the Levites teach them. It is written in
the book of Jasher, there it was kept upon record,
and from thence transcribed into this history. That
book was, probably, a collection of state poems;
what is said to be written in that book, (Josh. 10. 13. )
is also poetical, a fragment of an historical poem.
Even songs would be forgotten and lost, if they were
not committed to wrriting, that best conservatory' of
knowledge.
II. The elegy itself. It is not a divine hvmn,
nor given by inspiration of God, to be used in divine
service; nor is there any mention of God in it; but
is a human composition, and therefore was inserted,
not in the book of Psalms, which, being of d:vine
original, is preserved; but in the book of Jasher,
which, being only a collection of common poems, is
long since lost.
This elegy bespeaks David to be,
1. A man of an excellent spirit, in four things.
(1. ) He was very generous to Saul, his sworn ene¬
my. Saul was his father-in-law, his sovereign, and
the anointed of the Lord; and therefore, though he
had done him a great deal of wrong, he does not
wreak his revenge upon his memory when he is in
his grave; but, like a good man, and a man of honour,
[l.j He conceals his faults: and though there was
no preventing of their appearance in his history, yet
they should not appear in this elegy'. Charity teach¬
es us to make the best we can of every bodv; and
those we can say no good of, to say nothing of, espe¬
cially when they are gone. De mortuti nil nisi bo-
num — Sfieak evil of no one. We ought to deny
ourselves the satisfaction of making personal reflec¬
tions upon those who have been injunous to us, much
more drawing their character from thence, as if
every man must of necessity be a bad man, that has
done ill by us. Let the corrupt part of the memo¬
ry be buried with the corrupt part of the man, earth
to earth, ashes to ashes; let the blemish be hidden,
and a vail drawn over the deformity. (2.] He ce¬
lebrates that which was praise-worthy in him. He
does not commend him for that which he was not;
says nothing of his piety, or fidelity; those funeral
commendations, which are gathered out of the
spoils of truth, are not at all to the praise of those
on whom they are bestowed, but very much the dis-
raise of those who unjustly misplace them. But
e has this to say, in honour of Saul himself, First,
That he was anointed with oil, (x>. 21.) the sacred
| oil, which signified his elevation to, and qualification
| for, the government. Whatever he was otherwise,
I the crown of the anointing oil of his God was upon
him, as is said of the High Priest, (Lev. 21. 12.)
and, on that account, he was to be honoured, be¬
cause flod, the Fountain of honour, had honoured
him. Secondly, That he was a man of war, a migh¬
ty man; (v. 19* *21.) that he had often been victo
rious over the enemies of Israel, and vexed them
i whithersoever he turned; (1 Sum. 14. -17.) his sword
II. SAMUEL, IF.
returned not empty, but satiated with blood and
spoil, v. 22. His disgrace and fall, at last, must not
make his former successes and services to be for¬
gotten. Though his sun set under a cloud, time
was, when it shone bright Thirdly, That, take
him with Jonathan, he was a man tf a very agreea-
ole temper, that recommended himself to the affec¬
tions cf his subjects; ( v . 23.) Saul and Jonathan
were lovely and pleasant. Jonathan was always so,
and Saul was so as long as he concurred with him.
Take them together, and in the pursuit of the ene¬
my, never were men more bold, more brave, swifter
than eagles, and stronger than lions. Observe,
They that were most fierce and fiery in the camp,
were no less sweet and lovely in the court; as amia-
Dle to the subject, as they were formidable to the
foe: a rare composition of softness and sharpness
they had, which makes many a man’s temper very
happy. It may be understood of the harmony and
affection, that, for the most part, subsisted between
Saul and Jonathan; they were lovely and pleasant
one to another. Jonathan a dutiful son, Saul an af¬
fectionate father, and therefore dear to each other
in their li\ es, and in their death they were not di¬
vided, but kept close together in the stand they
made against the Philistines, and fell together in the
same cause. Fourthly, That he h d enriched his
country with the spoils of conquered nations, and
introduced a more splendid attire. When thev had
a king like the nations, they must have clothes like
the nations; and herein he was, in a particular man¬
ner, obliging to his female subjects, v. 24. The
daughters of Israel be clothed in scarlet, which was
their delight.
(2) He was very grateful to Jonathan his sw m
friend. Beside the tears he sheds over him, and
the encomiums he gives of him in common with
Saul, he mentions him with seme marks cf distinc¬
tion: (v. 25.) O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine
high places! which, compared with v. 19. intimates
that he meant him by the beauty of Israel, which,
he there says, was slain upon the high p! ces. He
laments Jonathan as his particular friend; (v. 26.) i
My brother Jonathan; not so mnch of what he
would have been to him if he had lived, very ser¬
viceable, no doubt, in his advancement to the throne,
and instrumental to prevent those long struggles,
which, for want of his assistance, he had with the
house of Saul; (had this been the cnlv ground of his
grief, it had been selfish ;) but he lamented him for
what he had been; “ Very pleasant hast thou been
unto me; but that pleasantness is now over, and I
cm distressed for thee.” He had reason to sav, that
Jonathan’s love to him was wonderful; sure never
was the like, for a man to love one who he knew
was to take the crown over his head; and to be so
faithful to his rival : this far surpassed the highest
degree of conjugal affection and constancy. See
here. [1.] That nothing is more delightful in this
world than a true friend, that is wise and good, that
kindly receives and returns our affection, and is
faithful to us in all our true interests. [2.] That
nothing is more distressful than the loss of such a
friend; it is parting with a piece of one’s self. It is
the vanity of this world, that what is most pleasant
to us, we are most liable to be distressed in. The
more we love, the more we grieve.
(3.) He was deeply concerned for the honour of
God; for that is it which he has an eve to, when he
fears lest the daughters of the uncircumcised, that
are out of covenant with God, triumph over Israel,
and the God of Israel, v. 20. Good men are touch¬
ed in a very sensible part by the reproaches of them
that reproach God.
(4.) He was deeply concerned for the public wel¬
fare. It was the beauty of Israel that was slain,
(o 19.) and the honour of the public that was dis¬
graced; the mighty are fallen, that is three times
lamented, (r. 19, 25, 27.) and so the strength cf
the people is weakened. Public losses are most
laid to heart. by men of public spirits. David hoped
God would make him instrumental to repair their
losses, and yet laments them.
2. David here shows himself to be a man of a
fine imagination, as well as a wise and holy man.
The expressions are all excellent, and calculated to
work upon the passions. (1.) The embargo he
would fain lay up< n Fame, is elegant, (r. 20.) Tell
it not in Gath. It grieved him to the heart, to
think that it would be proclaimed in the cities cf
the Philistines, and that they would insult over Is¬
rael upon it, and the more, in remembrance cf the
triumphs cf Israel over them formerly, when thev
sung, Saul has slam his thousands; that would new
be retorted. (2.) The curse he entails on the moun-
1 tains of Gilboa, the theatre on which this tragedv
j was acted, Let there be no dew upon you, nor fields
, of offerings, v. 21. This is a poetical strain, like
! that of Job, Let the day perish wherein I was borr.
Not as if David wished that any part cf the land of
Israel might be barren, but, to express his sorrow
j for the thing, he speaks with a seeming indignation
at the place. Observe, [1.] How the fruitfulness
of the earth depends upon hea\ en. The worst
thing he could wish to the mountains cf Gilboa, was
barrenness, and unprofitableness to man; those are
miserable, that are useless; it was the cur^e Christ
pronounced cn the fig-tree. Art fru it grow on thee
more; and that n < k effect, the fig-tree w ithered
away; this, on the mountains of Gilboa. did not; but
when he wished them ban en, he w ished there might
be no rain upon them : and if the heavens be brass,
the earth will soon be iron. [2.] How the fruitful¬
ness of the earth must therefore be dev oted to hea¬
ven: which is intimated in his calling the fruitful
fields, fields of ffe rings. Those fruits cf their laDd
that were offered to God, were the cn wn and g’erd
cf it: and therefore the failure of the offerings is the
saddest consequence cf the failure of the corn. See
Joel 1. 9. To want that wherewith we should
honour God, is worse than to want that w herewith
we should sustain ourselves. This is the reproach
David fastens upon the mountains of Gilbca, which,
having been stained with royal bleed, therebv for¬
feited celestial dews. In this elegv, Saul had a
more honourable interment, than that which the
men cf Jabesh-gilead gave him.
CHAP. II.
David had paid due respect to the memory of Saul his
prince, and Jonathan his friend, and what he did, was as
much his praise as theirs: he is now considering what is
to be done next. Saul is dead, now therefore David
arises. 1. By direction from God, he went up to He¬
bron, and was there anointed king, v. 1 . . 4. II. He re-
. turned thanks to the men of Jabesh-gilead for burying
Saul, v. 5. . 7. III. Ish-bosheth. the son of Saul, is set
up in opposition to him, v. S . . 11. IV. A w arm encoun¬
ter happens between David's party, and Is: -bosheth's. in
which, 1. Twelve of each side engaged hand to hand,
and were all slain, v. 12. . 16. 2. Saul’s parTy was beat¬
en, v. 17. 3. Asahel, on David's side, was slain by Ab¬
ner, v. IS.. 23. 4. Joab, at Abner’s request, sounds a
retreat, v. 24. . 2S. 5. Abner makes the best of h;? w ay;
(v. 29.) and the loss on both sides is computed, v. 30 . . 32.
So that here we have an account of a civil war in Israel,
which in process of time, ended in the complete settle¬
ment of David on the throne.
1. 4 XD it came to pass after this, that
1 David inquired of the Lord, saying.
Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah ?
And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And
David said. Whither shall I so up? And he
said- Unto Hebron. ~2. So David went up
364
II. SAMUEL. II.
thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam
the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal’s wife,
the Carmelite. 3. And his men that were
with him did David bring up, every man
with his household : and they dwelt in the
cities of Hebron. 4. And the men of Judah
came, and there they anointed David king
over the house of Judah. And they told
David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gil-
ead were they that buried Saul. 5. And
David sent messengers unto the men of Ja-
besh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be
ye of the Lord, that ye have showed this
kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and
have buried him. 6. And now the Lord
show kindness and truth unto you : and I
also will requite you this kindness, because
ye have done this thing. 7. Therefore now
let your hands be strengthened, and be ye
valiant : for your master Saul is dead, and
also the house of Judah have anointed me
king over them.
When Saul and Jonathan were dead, though Da¬
vid knew himself anointed to be king, and now saw
his way very clear, yet he did not immediately send
messengers through all the coasts of Israel, to sum¬
mon all people to come in and swear allegiance to
him, upon pain of death, but proceeded leisurely;
for he that believeth, doth not make haste, but
waits God’s time for the accomplishment of God’s
promises. Many were come in to his assistance
from several tribes, while he continued at Ziklag,
(as we find, 1 Chron. 12. 1- *22,) and by such a force
he might have come in by conquest; but he that will
rule with meekness, will not rise with violence.
Observe here,
I. The direction he sought and had from God, in
this critical juncture, v. 1. He doubted not of suc¬
cess, yet he uses proper means, both divine and
human. Assurance of hope in God’s promise, will
be so far from slackening, that it will quicken pious
endeavours. If I be elected to the crown of life, it
does not follow, Then I will do nothing; but, Then
I will do all that he directs me, and follow his con¬
duct who chose me: this good use David made of
his election, and so will all whom God has chosen.
1. David, according to the precept, acknowledged
God in his way. He inquired of the Lord, by the
breast-plate of judgment, which Abiathar brought
him. We must apply ourselves to God, not only
when we are in distress, but even then when the
world smiles upon us, and second causes work in
favour of us. His inquiry was, “ Shall I go nfi to
any of the cities of Judah? Shall I stir hence?”
Though Zik'ag be in ruins, he will not quit it with¬
out direction from God: “If I stir hence, shall I go
to one of the cities of Judah?” Not limiting God
to them; if God should so direct him, he would go
to any of the cities of Israel. But it bespeaks his
prudence, in the cities of Judah he would find
most friends; and his modesty, he would look no
further at present than his own tribe. In all our
motions and removes, it is comfortable to see God
going before us; and we may, if by faith and prayer
we set him before us. 2. God, according to the
promise, directed his path, bade him go up, told
him whither, unto Hebron, a priest’s city, one of
the cities of refuge; so it was to David, and an inti¬
mation that God himself would be to him a little
Sanctuary. The sepulchres of the patriarchs, ad¬
joining to Hebron, would remind him of the ancient
promise, on which God had caused him to hope.
God sent him, not to Beth-lehem his own city,
because that was little among the thousands of
Judah ; (Mic. 5. 2.) but to Hebron, a more con¬
siderable place, and which, perhaps, was then as
the country town of that tribe.
II. The care he took of his family and friends in
his remove to Hebron. 1. He took his wives with
him, (iy. 2.) that, as they had been companions
with him in tribulation, they might be so in the
kingdom. It does not appear that as yet he had
any children; his first-born was in Hebron, ch. 3. 2.
2. He took his friends and followers with him; (i>.
3. ) they had accompanied him in his wanderings,
and therefore, when he gained a settlement, they
settled with him. Thus if we suffer with Christ ,
we shall reign with him, 2 Tim. 2. 12. Nay, Christ
does more for his good soldiers, than David could
do for his; he found lodging for them. They dwelt
in the cities of Hebron, the adjacent towns; but to
those who continue with Christ in his temptations ,
he appoints a kingdom , and will feast them at his
own table, Luke 22. 29, 30.
III. The honour done him by the men of Judah:
they anointed him king over the house of Judah, v.
4. The tribe of Judah had often stood by itself,
more than any other of the tribes; in Saul’s time it
was numbered by itself as a distinct body, (1 Sam.
15. 4.) and had been used to act separately; they
did so now; yet they did it for themselves only; they
did not pretend to anoint him king over all Israel,
(as Judg. 9. 22.) but only over the house of Judah ;
the rest of the tribes might do as they pleased, but
as for them and their house, they would be ruled by
him whom God had chosen. See how David rose
gradually; he was first anointed king in reversion,
then, in possession, of one tribe only, and, at last, of
all the tribes, thus the kingdom of the Messiah, the
son of David, is set up by degrees; he is Lord of
all, by divine designation, but we see not yet all
things put under him, Heb. 2. 8. David’s reign¬
ing at first over the house of Judah only, was a
tacit intimation of Providence, that his kingdom
would in a short time be reduced to that again, as it
was when the ten tribes revolted from his grandson,
and it would be an encouragement to the godly
kings of Judah, that David himself, at first, reigned
over Judah only.
IV. The respectful message he sent to the men
of Jabesh-gilead, to return them thanks for their
kindness to Saul. Still he studies to honour the
memory of his predecessor, and thereby to show,
that he was far from aiming at the crown from any
principle of ambition, or enmity to Saul, but purely
because he was called of God to it. It was told
him, that the men of Jabesh-gilead buried Saul,
perhaps, by some that thought he would have been
displeased at them as over-officious. But he was
far from that; 1. He commended them for it, v. 5.
According as our obligations were to love and
honour any while they lived, we ought to show re¬
spect to their remains, that is, their bodies, names,
and families, when they are dead; “Saul was voui
lord,” says David, “and therefore you did well to
show him this kindness, and do him this honour. ”
2. He prays to God to bless them for it, and to re¬
compense it to them. Blessed be ye, and blessed
may ye be of the Lord, who will deal kindly with
those in a particular manner, that deal kindly with
the dead, as it is in Ruth 1. 8. Due respect and
affection showed to the bodies, names, and families,
of those that are dead, in conscience toward God,
is a piece of charity, which shall in no wise lose its
reward, The Lord show kindness and truth to you!
(v. 6.) that is, kindness according to the promise:
what kindness God shows, is, in truth, what one
366
IT. SAMUEL, IT.
may trust to. 3. He promises to make them I
amends for it, I also will requite you. He does not
turn them over to God for recompense, that he
might excuse himself from rewarding them; good
wishes are good things, and instances of gratitude,
but they are too cheap to be rested in where there
is an ability to do more. 4. He prudently takes
this opportunity to gain them to his interest, v. 7.
They had paid their last respects to Saul, and he
would have them to be the 1 st ; “ The house of
Judah have anointed me king, and it will be your
wisdom to concur with them, and in that to be
valiant.” We must not so dote on the dead, how
much soever we have valued them, as to neglect or
despise the blessings we have in those that survive,
whom God has raised up to us in their stead.
8. But Abner the son of Ner, captain
of Saul’s host, took Ish-bosheth the son of
Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim :
9. And he made him king over Gilead, and
over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and
over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and
over all Israel. 10. Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son,
was forty years old when he began to reign
over Israel, and reigned two years. But
the house of Judah followed David. 11.
And the time that David was king in He¬
bron, over the house of Judah, was seven
years and six months. 12. And Abner
the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-
bosheth the son of Saul, went out from
Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13. And Joab the
son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David,
went out, and met together by the pool of
Gibeon : and they sat down, the one on the
one side of the pool, and the other on the
other side of the pool. 14. And Abner
said to Joab, Let the young men now arise,
and play before us. And Joab said, Let
them arise. 15. Then there arose, and
went over by number, twelve of Benjamin,
which pertained to Ish-bosheth the son of
Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16. And they caught everyone his fellow
by the head, and thrust his sword into his
fellow’s side ; so they fell down together :
wherefore that place was called Helkath-
hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 17. And
there was a very sore battle that day : and
Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel,
before the servants of David.
Here is,
I. A rivalship between two kings; David, whom
God made king, and Ish-bosheth, whom Abner
made king. One would have thought, when Saul
was slain, and all his sons that had sense and spirit
enough to take the field with him, David should
have come to the throne without any opposition,
since all Israel knew not orrly how he had signalized
himself, but how manifestly God had designated
him to it; but such a spirit of contradiction is there,
in the devices of men, to the counsels of God, that
such a weak and silly thing as Ish-bosheth, who was
not thought fit to go with his father to the battle,
shall yet be thought fit to succeed him in the go¬
vernment, rather than David shall come peaceably
to it. Herein David’s kingdom was typical of the
Messiah’s, against which the heathens rage, and the
rulers take counsel, Ps. 2. 1, 2. 1. Abner was the
Eerson who set up Ish-bosheth in competition with
(ar id; perhaps, in his zeal f< r the lineal succes¬
sion; sin< e they must have a king like the nations,
in this they must be like them, that the crown must
descend from father to son. Or rather, in his affec¬
tion to his own family and relations, (for he was
Saul’s uncle,) and because he had no other way to
secure to himself the post of honour he was in, as
capta n of the host. See how much mischief the
pride and ambhion of one man may be the occasion
of. Ish-bosheth would never have set up himself,
if Abner had not set him up, and made a tool < f him
to sen e his own purposes. 2. Mahanaim was the
place where he first made his claim. On the othei
side Jordan, where it was thought David had the
least interest, and being at a distance from his
forces, they might have time to strengthen them¬
selves. But, having set up his standard there, the
unthinking people of all the tribes of Israel, that
is, the generality of them submitted to him, (x>. 9.)
and Judah only was entire for David. This was a
further trial of the faith of David in the premise cf
God, and of his patience, whether he could wait
God’s time for the performance of that premise.
3. Some difficulty there is about the time cf the
continuance of this competition. David reigned
over Judah only, about seven years; (y. 11.) and
yet (r. 10.) Ish-bosheth reigned over Israel but
two years: either before those two years, or
after, or both, it was in general for the house of
Saul, ( ch . 3. 6.) and not any particular person of
that house, that Abner declared. Or, these two
years he reigned, before the war broke out, (r. 12.)
which continued long, even the remaining five
years, ch. 3. 1.
II. A rencounter between their two armies It
does not appear that either side brought their whole
force into the field, .for the slaughter was but small,
v. 30, 31. We may wonder, 1. That the men of
Judah did not appear and act more vigorously for
David, to reduce all the nation into obedience to
him; but, it is likely, IJavid would not suffer them
to act offensively, choosing rather to wait till the
thing wi uld do itself, or rather till God would do it
for him, without the effusion of Israelitish bleed,
for to him, as a type of Christ, that was very pre¬
cious, Ps. 72. 14. Even these that were his adver¬
saries he looked upon as his subjects, and would
treat them accordingly. 2. That the men of Israel
could in a manner stand neuter, and sit down tamely
under Ish-bosheth, for so many years, especially
considering what characters many of the tribes dis¬
played at this time, as we find, 1 Chron. 12. 23,
&c. Wise men, mighty men, men of valour, ex¬
pert in war, and not cf double hearty and yet for
seven years together, for aught that appears, most
of them seemed indifferent in whose hand the pub¬
lic administration was. Divine Providence serves
its own purposes, by the stupidity of men at some
times, and the activity of the same persons at
other times; they are unlike themselves, and yet
the motions of Providence uniform.
(1.) In this battle Abner was the aggressor.
David sat still to see how the matter would fall;
but the house of Saul, and Abner at the head of it,
gave the challenge, and tney went by the worst.
Therefore go not forth hastily to strive, nor be for¬
ward to begin quarrels, lest thou know not what to
do in the end thereof, Prov. 25. 8. A fool’s lips
and hands enter into contention.
(2.) The seat of the war was Gibeon; Abner
chose it, because it was in the lot of Benjamin,
where Saul had the most friends; yet, since he of-
366
II. SAMUEL, II.
fered battle, Joab, David’s gener.l, would not de- j
cline it, but there joined issue with him, and met
him by the pool of Gibeon, v. 13. David’s cause,
being built upon God’s promise, feared not the dis¬
advantages of the ground; the pool between them
gave both sides time to deliberate.
(3.) The engagement was first proposed by Ab¬
ner, and accepted by Joab, to be between twelve
and twelve of a side. [ 1. ] It should seem this trial
of skill began in spoil. Abner made the motion,
(V. 14.) Let the young men arise, and play before
us, as gladiators; perhaps, Saul had used his men
to these barbarous pastimes, like a tyrant indeed,
and Abner had learnt it of him, to make a jest of
wounds and death, and divert himself with the
scenes of blood and horror. He meant, “Let
them fight before us,” when he said, “ Let them
filay before us;” fools thus ? nake a mock at sin.
But he is unworthy the name of a man, that can be
thus prodigal of human blood, that can thus throw
about fire-brands, arrows, and death, and say, Am
not I in sfiort? Prov. 26. 18, 19. Joab, having been
nred up under David, had so much wisdom as not
to make sucli a proposal, yet had not resolution
enough to resist and gainsay it when another made
it. For he stood upon a point of honour, and
thought it a blemish to his reputation to refuse a
challenge; and therefore said, Let them arise; not
that he was fond of the sport, or expected that the
duels would be decisive, but he would not be hec¬
tored by his antagonist. How many precious lives
have thus been sacrificed to the caprice of proud
men! Twelve of each side were accordingly called
o it as champions to enter the lists, a double jury of
life and death, not of others, but their own; and the
champions on Abner’s side seem to have been most
forward, for they took the field first, (■y. 15.) hav¬
ing, perhaps, been bred up in a foolish ambition,
thus to serve the humour of their commander-in
chief. But, [2.] However it began, it ended in
blood; (v. 16.) they thrust every man his sword into
his fellow's side, spurred on by honour, not by en¬
mity; so they fell down together, that is, all the
twenty-four were slain; such an equal match were
they for one another, and so resolute, that neither
side would either beg or give quarter; they did as it
were by agreement, (says Josephus,) despatch one
another with mutual wounds. They that strike at
other men’s lives, often throw away their own, and
death only conquers and rides in triumph. The
wonderful obstinacy of both sides was remembered
in the name given to the place, Helkath-hazzurim,
the field of rocky men; men that were not only
strong in body, but of firm and unshaken constancy,
that stirred not at the sight of death. Yet the
stout-hearted were spoiled, and slept their sleep, Ps.
76. 5. Poor honour for men to purchase at so vast
an expense: they that lose their lives for Christ
shall find them.
(4.) The whole army, at length, engaged, and
Abner’s forces were routed, v. 17. The former
was a drawn battle, in which all were killed on
both sides, and therefore they must put it upon
another trial, in which (as it often happens) they
that give the challenge went away with loss. Da¬
vid had God on his side; his side therefore was vic¬
torious.
1 8. Anti there were three sons of Zeruiah
there, Joab, anti Abishai, and Asahel: and
Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe.
19. And Asahel pursued after Abner ; and
in going he turned not to the right hand nor
to the left from following Abner. 20. Then
Abner looked behind him, and said, Art
thou Asahel? And he answered, J am.
21. And Abner said to him, Turn thee
aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and
lay thee hold on one of the young men, and
take thee his armour. But Asahel would
not turn aside from following of him. 22.
And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee
aside from following me: wherefore should
I smite thee to the ground ? how then should
I hold up my lace to Joab thy brother ? 23.
Howbeit, he refused to turn aside : where¬
fore Abner, with the hinder end of the
spear, smote him under the fifth rib, that
the spear came out behind him; and he
fell down there, and died in the same place:
and it came to pass, that as many as came
to the place where Asahel fell down and
died, stood still. 24. Joab also and Abish¬
ai pursued after Abner: and the sun went
down when they were come to the hill of
Ammah, that lieth before Giah, by the way
of the wilderness of Gibeon.
We have here the contest between Abner and
Asahel: Asahel, the brother of Joab, and cousin-
german to David, was one of the principal command¬
ers of David’s forces, and was famous for swiftness
in running; he was as light of foot as a wild roe;
(v. 18.) this he got the name of, by swift pursuing,
! not swift flying. Yet, we may suppose, he was not
I comparable to Abner, as a skilful, experienced sol-
! dier; we must therefore observe,
1. How rash he was in aiming to make Abner
! his prisoner. He pursued after him, and no other,
v. 19. Proud of his relation to David and Joab, his
I own swiftness, and the success of his party, no less
a trophy of victory would sene the young warrior,
than Abner himself, either slain or bound, which
, he thought would put a ft end to the war, and effec¬
tually open David’s way to the throne. This made
him very eager in the pursuit, and careless of the
opportunities he had of seizing others in his way,
on his right hand, and on his left; his eye is on Ab¬
ner only. The design was brave, had he been par
negotio — equal to the accomplishment of it: but let
not the swift man glory in his swiftness, any more
than the strong man in his strength: magnis excidit
ausis — he perished in an attempt too vast for him.
2. How fair Abner was, in giving him notice of
the danger he exposed himself to, and advising him
not to meddle to his own hurt, 2 Chron. 25. 19.
1.) He bid him content himself with a lesser prey;
v. 21.) “ Lay hold on one of the young men, plun¬
der him, and make him thy prisoner; meddle with
thy match, but pretend not to one who is so much
superior to thee.” It is wisdom in all contests to
compare our own strength with that of our adver¬
saries, and to take heed of being partial to our¬
selves in making the comparison, lest we prove, in
the issue, enemies to ourselves, Luke 14. 31. (2.)
He begged of him not to put him upon the necessity
of slaying him in his own defence, which he was
very loath to do, but must do, rather than be slain
by him, v. 22. Abner, it seems, either loved Joab,
or feared him, for he was very loath to incur his dis¬
pleasure, which he would certainly do, if he slew
Asahel. It is commendable for enemies to be thus
respectful one to another. Abner’s care how he
should lift up his face to Joab, gives cause to sus¬
pect that he really believed David would have the
kingdom at last, according to the divine designation,
II. SAMUEL, II.
367
and then, in opposing him, he acted against his
conscience.
3. How fatal Asahel’s rashness was to him. He
refused to turn aside, thinking that Abner spoke so
kindly, because he feared him; but what came of
it? Abner, as soon as he came up to him, gave him
his death’s wound with a back stroke; ( v . 23.) he
smote him with the hinder end of his spear, from
which he feared no danger. This was a pass which
Asahel was not acquainted with, nor had learned to
stand upon his guard against; but Abner, perhaps,
had formerly used it, and done execution with it;
and here it did effectual execution, Asahel died
immediately of the wound. See here, (1.) How
death often comes upon us by ways that we least
suspect. Who would fear the hand < f a flying
enemy, or the butt-end of a spear? Yet from these
Asahel receives his death’s wound. (2.) How we
are often betrayed by the accomplishments we are
proud of. Asahel’s swiftness, which he presumed
so much upon, did him no kindness, but forwarded
his fate, and with it he ran upon his death, instead
of running from it. Asahel’s fall was not only Ab¬
ner’s security from him, but put a full stop to the
conqueror’s pursuit, and gave Abner time to rally
again; for all that came to the place, stood still:
only Joab and Abishai, instead of being disheart¬
ened, were exasperated by it, pursued Abner with
so much the more fury, (v. 24. ) and overtook him
at last about sunset, when the approaching night
would oblige them to retire.
25. And the children of Benjamin gath¬
ered themselves together after Abner, and
became one troop, and stood on the top
of a hill. 26. Then Abner called to Joan,
and said, Shall the sword devour for ever ?
knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in
the latter end ? how long shall it be then
ere thou bid the people return from follow¬
ing their brethren? 27. And Joab said, A s
God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely
then in the morning the people had gone
up every one from following his brother.
28. So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the
people stood still, and pursued after Israel
no more, neither fought they any more.
29. And Abner and his men walked all
that night through the plain, and passed
over Jordan, and went through all Bithron,
and they came to Mahanaim. 30. And
Joab returned from following Abner: and
when he had gathered all the people to¬
gether, there lacked of David’s servants
nineteen men and Asahel. 31. But the ser¬
vants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and
of Abner’s men, so that three hundred and
threescore men died. 32. And they took up
Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of
his father, which was in Beth-lehem. And
Joab and his men went all night, and they
came to Hebron at break of day.
Here, 1. Aimer being conquered, meanly begs
for a cessation of arms: he rallied the remains of
his forces on the top of a hill, (<y. 25.) as if he
would have made head again, but becomes an hum¬
ble supplicant to Joab for a little breathing-time,
v 26. He that was most forward to fight, was the
j first that had enough of it. He that made a jest of
bloodshed, v. 14, Let the young men arise and play
before us, is now shocked at it, when he finds him¬
self on the losing side; and the sword he made so
light of drawing, threatening to touch himself. Ob¬
serve how his note is changed: then, it was but
: playing with the sword; now, Shall the sword de¬
vour for ever'/ It had devoured but one day, yet
to him it seemed for ever; because it went against
him; and very willing he is now, that the sun should
not go down upon his wrath. Now he can appeal
to Joab himself concerning the miserable conse¬
quences of a civil war, Knowest thou not that it will
be bitterness in the latter end/ It will be reflected
upon with regret, when the account comes to be
made up; foi whoever gets in a civil war, the com¬
munity is sure to lose. Perhaps he refers to the
bitterness that was in the tribes of Israel, in the
end of their war with Benjamin, when they wept sore
for the desolations which they themselves had made,
Judg. 21. 2. Now he begs of Joab to sound a re¬
treat, and pleads that they were brethren, who
ought not thus to bite and devour one another: he
that in the morning would have Joab bid the people
fall upon their brethren, now would have bid them
laydown their arms. See here, (1.) How easy it
is for men to use reason, when it makes for them,
who would not use it if it made against them ! If
Abner had been the conqueror, we should not have
had him complaining of the voraciousness of the
sword, and the miseries of a civil war, nor pleading
that both sides were brethren; but, finding himself
beaten, all these reasonings are mustered up and
improved for the securing of his retreat, and the
saving of his scattered troops from being cut off.
(2.) How the issue of things alters men’s minds.
The same thing which looked pleasant in the morn¬
ing, at night looked dismal. Those that are for¬
ward to enter into contention, will, perhaps, repent
it before they have done with it, and therefoie had
better leave it off before it be meddled with, as
Solomon advises. It is true of every sin, (O that
men would consider it in time!) that it will be bitter¬
ness in the latter end. At the last , it bites, like a
serpent, those on whom it fawned.
2. Joab, though a conqueror, generously grants
it, and sounds a retreat, knowing very well his mas¬
ter’s mind, and how averse he was to the shedding
of blood. He does indeed justly upbraid Abner
with his forwardness to engage; he lays the blame
upon him, that there had been so much blood shed
as there was; (v. 27.) “ Unless thou hadst spoken,”
that is, “ hadst given orders to fight, hadst bidden
the young men arise and play before us, tv ne of us
had struck a stroke, nor drawn a sword against our
brethren. Thou complainest that the sword de¬
vours: but who first unsheathed it? Who began?
Now thou wouldst have the people parted, but re¬
member who set them on to fight. We had retired
in the morning, if thou hadst not given the chal¬
lenge. ” Those that are forward to make mischief,
are commonly the first to complain of it. This
might have served to excuse Joab, if he had pushed
on his victory, and made a full end of Abner’s for¬
ces; but, like one that pitied the mistake of his ad¬
versaries, and scorned to make an army of Israel¬
ites pay dear for the folly of their commander, he
very honourably, by sound of trumpet, put a stop to
the pursuit, ( v . 28.) and suffered Abner to make an
orderly retreat. It is good husbandry to be sparing
of blood. As the soldiers were here very obsequi¬
ous to the general’s orders, so he, no doubt, observed
the instructions of his prince,- who sought the wel¬
fare of all Israel, and therefore not the hurt of any.
3. The armies being separated, both retired to
the places whence they came, and both marched
in the night; Abner to Mahanaim, on the other
368
IT. SAMUEL, III.
side Jordan, (v. 29.) and Joab to Hebron, where
David was, v. 32. 1 he slain on both sides are com¬
puted. On Da\ id’s side, only nineteen men were
missing, and Asahel, (u. 30. ) who was worth more
than all; on Abner’s side, three hundred and three
score, v. 31. In civil wars formerly great slaughters
had been made; (as Judg. 12. 6. — 20. 44.) in com¬
parison with which, this was nothing. It is to be
noped that they were grown wiser and more mode¬
rate. Asahel’s funeral is here mentioned' the rest
they buried in the field of battle, but he was carried
to Beth-lehem, and buried in the sepulchre of his
father, v. 32. Thus are distinctions made between
the dust of some and that of others; but in the re¬
surrection no other difference will be made, but
that between godly and ungodly, which will remain
for ever.
CHAP. III.
The battle between Joab and Abner did not end the contro¬
versy between the two houses of Saul, and. David, but it
is in this chapter working towards a period. Here is, I.
The gradual advance of David’s interest, v. 1. II. The
building up of his family, v. 2.. 5. III. Abner’s quarrel
with Ish-bosheth, and his treaty with David, v. 6. .12.
IV. The preliminaries settled, v. 13.. 16. V. Abner’s
undertaking and attempt to bring Israel over to David,
v. 17*. 21. VI. The treacherous murder of Abner, by
Joab, when he was carrying on this matter, 22. . 27 .
VII. David’s great concern and trouble for the death of
Abner, v. 28 . . 39.
I-TV°W there was a long war between
JL^I the house of Saul and the house of
David : but David waxed stronger and strong¬
er, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and
weaker. 2. And unto David were sons
born in Hebron : and his first-born was
Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess ; 3.
And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the
wife of Nabal the Carmelite ; and the third,
Absalom, the son of Maacah the daughter
of Talmai king of Geshur; 4. And the
fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith ; and
the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of A bital ; 5.
And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglali, David’s
wife. These were born to David in He¬
bron. 6. And it came to pass, while there
was war between the house of Saul and
the house of David, that Abner made him¬
self strong for the house of Saul.
Here is,
1. The struggle that David had with the house
of Saul, before his settlement in the throne was com¬
pleted, v. 1. (1.) Both sides contested; Saul’s house,
though beheaded and diminished, would not fall
tamely. It is not strange that there was war be¬
tween them; but one would wonder it should be a
long war, when David’s house had right on its side,
and therefore God on its side; but though truth and
equity will triumph at last, God may, for wise and
holy ends, prolong the conflict. The length of this
war tried the faith and patience of David, and made
his establishment at last the more welcome to him.
(2.) David’s side got ground. The house of Saul
waxed weaker and weaker, lost places, lost men,
sunk in its reputation, grew less considerable, and
was foiled in every engagement; but the house of
David grew stronger and stronger; many deserted
the declining cause of Saul’s house, and prudently
came into David’s interest, being convinced that he
would certainly win the day. The contest between
grace and corruption in the hearts of believers, who
are sanctified but in part, may fitly be compared to
this recorded here. There is a long war between
them, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the
spirit against the flesh; but as the work of sanctifi¬
cation is carried on, corruption, like the house ot
Saul, grows weaker and weaker; while grace, like
the house of David, grows stronger and stronger,
till it come to a perfect man, and judgment be
brought forth unto victory.
2. The increase of his own house. Here is an
account of six several wives, in the seven years he
reigned in Hebron. Perhaps this is mentioned here,
as that which strengthened David’s interest; every
child, whose welfare was embarked in the common
safety, was a fresh security given to the common¬
wealth for his care of it. He that has his quivei
filled with arrows, shall sfieakwith his enemy in the
gate, Ps. 127. 5. As the death of Saul’s sons weak¬
ened his interest, so the birth of David’s strength¬
ened his. (1.) It was David’s fault thus to multi¬
ply wives, contrary to the law, (Dent. 17. 17.) and
it was a bad example to his successors. (2.) It
does not appear, that in these seven years he had
above one son by each of these wives; some have
had as numerous a progeny, and with much more
honour and comfort, by one wife. (3.) We read
not that any of these sons came to be famous, three
of them were zVifamous, Amnon, Absalom, and
Adonijah; we have therefore reason to rejoice with
trembling, in the building up of our families. (4.)
His son by Abigail is called Chileab, v. 3. whereas,
1 Chron. 3. 1. he is called Daniel. Bishop Patrick
tells the reason which the Hebrew doctors give for
these names: that his first name was Daniel, God
has judged me, namely, against Nabal; but David’s
enemies reproached him, and said, “ It was Nabal’s
son, and not David’s;” to confute which calumny.
Providence so ordered it, that, as he grew up, he
became, in his countenance and features, extremely
like David, and resembledhim more than any of his
children, upon which he gave him the name of Chil¬
eab, which signifies, like his father; or, the father’s
picture. (5.) Absalom’s mother is said to be the
daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, a heathen prince,
perhaps D vid thereby hoped to strengthen his in¬
terest, but the issue of the marriage was one that
proved his grief and shame. (6.) The last is call¬
ed David’s wife, which therefore, some think, was
Michal, his first and most rightful wife, called here
by another name; and though she had no child after
she mocked David, she might have had before.
Thus was David’s house strengthened; but it was
Abner that made himself strong for the house of
Saul, which is mentioned, ( v . 6.) to show that if he
failed them, they would fall of course.
7. And Saul had a concubine, whose
name, 'was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah :
and Ish-boshelh said to Abner, Wherefore
hast thou gone in unto my father’s concu¬
bine? 8. Then was Abner very Vroth, for
the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am 1 a
dog’s head, which against Judah do show
kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy
father, to his brethren, and to his friends,
and have not delivered thee into the hand
of David, that thou chargest me to-day
with a fault concerning this woman ! 9. So
do God to Abner, and more also, except as
the Lord hath sworn to David, even so ]
do to him ; 10. To translate the kingdom
from the house of Saul, and to set up the
11. SAMUEL. 111.
369
throne of David over Israel, and over Ju¬
dah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba. 11.
And he could not answer Abner a word
again, because he feared him. 12. And
Abner sent messengers to David on his be¬
half, saying, Whose is the land ? saying also.
Make thy league with me, and, behold, my
hand shall be with thee, to bring about all
Israel ifnto thee. 13. And he said, Well ; I
will make a league with thee : but one
thing I require of thee, that is, Thou
shalt not see my face, except thou first
bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when thou
comest to see my face. 14. And David
sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son,-
saying, Deliver vie my wife Michal, which
I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of
the Philistines. 15. And Ish-bosheth sent,
and took her from her husband, even from
Phaltiel the son of Laish. 16. And her
husband went with her along weeping be¬
hind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner
unto him, Go, return. And he returned.
17. And Abner had communication with
the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for
David in times past to be king over you : 1 8.
Now then do it : for the Lord hath spoken
of David, saying, By the hand of my servant
David I will save my people Israel out of
the hand of the Philistines, and out of the
hand of all their enemies. 19. And Abner
also spake in the ears of Benjamin : and
Abner went also to speak in the ears of Da¬
vid in Hebron all that seemed good to Is¬
rael, and that seemed good to the whole
house of Benjamin. 20. So Abner came to
David to Hebron, and twenty men with
him : and David made Abner, and the men
that were with him, a feast. 21. And Ab¬
ner said unto David, I will arise and go,
and will gather all Israel unto my lord the
king, that they may make a league with
thee, and that thou mayest reign over all
that thine heart desireth. And David sent
Abner away ; and he went in peace.
Here,
I. Abner breaks with Ish-bosheth, and deserts
his interest, upon a little provocation which Ish-
bosheth unadvisedly gave him. God can serve his
own purposes by the sins and follies of men. 1.
Ish-bosheth accused Abner of no less a crime than
debauching one of his father’s concubines, v. 7.
Whether it was so or no, does not appear, nor
what ground he had for the suspicion: but however
It was, it had been Ish-bosheth’s prudence to connive
at it, considering how much it was his interest not
to disoblige Abner. If the thing was false, and his
jealousy groundless, it was very disingenuous and
ungrateful to entertain unjust surmises of one who
had ventured his all for him, and was certainly the
best friend he had in the world. 2. Abner resented
the charge very deeply. Whether he was guilty of
the fault concerning this woman, or no, he does not
Vol. ii. — 3 A
say, ( v . 8. ) but we suspect he was guilty, for he
does not expressly deny it; and though he was, he
lets Ish-bcsheth know, (1.) that he scorned to be
reproached with it by him, and would not take it at
his hands. “What!” says Abner, “am la dog’s
head, a vile and contemptible animal, that thou ex-
posest me thus? v. 8. Is this my recompense for
the kindness I have shown to thee and thy father’s
house, and the good services I have done you?” He
'magnifies the service with this, That it was against
Judah, the tribes on which the crown was settled,
and which would certainly have it at last; so that,
in supporting the house of Saul, he acted both
against his conscience, and against his interest, for
which he deserved a better requital than this: and
yet, perhaps, he would not have been so zealous for
the house of Saul, if he had not thereby gratified
his own ambition, and hoped to find his own account
in it. Note, Proud men will not bear to be re¬
proved, especially by those whom they think they
have obliged. (2.) That he would certainly be
avenged on him, v. 9, 10. With the utmost degree
of arrogance and insolence, he lets him know, that,
as he had raised him up, so he could pull him down
again, and would do it. He knew that God had
sworn to David to give him the kingdom, and yet
opposed it with all his might, from a principle of
ambition; but now he complies with it from a prin¬
ciple of revenge, under colour of seme regard to
the will of God, which was but a pretence. They
that are slaves to their lusts, have many masters,
which drive, some one way, and some another, and
according as they make head, men are Violently
hurried into self-contradictions. Abner’s ambition
made him zealous for Ish-bosheth, and now his re¬
venge made him zealous for David; if he had sin¬
cerely regarded God’s promise to David, and acted
with an eye to that, he had been steady and uniform
in his counsels, and acted in consistence with him¬
self. But while Abner serves his own lusts, God,
by him, serves his own purposes, makes even his
wrath and revenge to praise him, and ordains
strength to David by it. Lastly, See how Ish-
bosheth was thunderstruck by Abner’s insolence;
he could not answer him again, v. 11. If Ish-
bosheth had had the spirit of a man, especially of a
great prince, he might have answered him, that his
merits were the aggravation of his crimes: that he
would not be served by so bad a man, and doubted
not but to do well enough without him. But he was
conscious to himself of his own weakness, and
therefore said not a word, lest he should make bad
worse. His heart failed him, and he now became,
as David had foretold, concerning his enemies, like
a bowing wall, and a tottering fence, Ps. 62. 3.
II. Aimer treats with David. We must suppose
that he began to grow weary of Ish-bosheth’s
cause, and sought an opportunity to desert it; or
else, however he might threaten Ish-bosheth with
it, for the quashing of the charge against himself,
lie would not have made good his angry words so
soon as he did, v. 12. He sent messengers to Da¬
vid, to tell him that he was at his service. “ Whose
is the land? Is it not thine? For thou hast the best
title to the government, and the best interest in the
people’s affections.” Note, God can find out ways
to make those serviceable to the kingdom cf Christ,
who yet have no sincere affection for it, and who
have vigorously set themselves against it. Enemies
are sometimes made a footstool, not only to be
trodden upon, but to ascend by. The earth helped
the woman.
III. David enters into a treaty with Abner, but
upon condition that he procure him the restitution
of Michal his wife, v. 13. Hereby, 1. David show¬
ed the sincerity of his conjugal affection to his first
and most rightful wife; neither her marrying an-
:s70
II. SAMUEL, III.
other nor h's, had alienated him from her; many
waters could not quench that love. 2. He testified
his respect to the house of Saul; so far was he from
trampling upon it, now that it was fallen, that,
even in his elevation, he valued himself not a Lttle
on his relation to it. He cannot be pleased with
the honours of the throne, unless he have Michal,
Saul’s daughter, to share with him in them; so far
was he from bearing any malice to the family of
his enemy. Abner sent him word, that he must
apply himself to Ish-bosheth, which he did, v. 14.
pleading, that he had purchased her at a dear rate,
and she was wrongfully taken from him. Ish-
bosheth durst not deny his demand, now that he
had not Abner to stand by him, but took her from
Phaltiel, to whom Saul had married her, v. 15. and
Abner conducted her to David, not doubting, but
that then he should be doubly welcome, when he
brought him a wife in one hand, and a crown in the
other. Her latter husband was loath to part with
her, and followed her wee/ting; [y. 16.] but there
was no rertnedy, he must thank himself; for when
he took her, he knew that another had a right to
her. Usurpers must expect to resign. Let no man
therefore set his heart on that which he is not enti¬
tled to. If any disagreement has separated husband
and wife, as fhey expect the blessing of God, let
them be reconciled, and come together again; let
all former quarrels be forgotten, and let them live
together in love, according to God’s holy ordinance.
IV. Abner uses his interest with the elders of Is¬
rael, to bring them over to David; knowing, that
which ever way they went, the common people
would follow of course. Now that it serves his own
turn, he can plead in David’s behalf, that he was,
1. Israel’s choice, (y. 17.) “ Ye sought for him in
times } last to be king over you; when he had signa¬
lized himself in so many engagements with the Phi¬
listines, and done you so much good service; no
man can pretend to greater person d merit than
David, nor to less than Ish-bosheth: you. have tried
them both, Delur digniori — Give the crown to him
that best drsen'est it. Let David be your king.” 2.
God’s choice; (v. 18.) The Lord hath s/ioken of
David. Compare v. 9. “When God appointed
Samuel to anoint him, he did, in effect, promise,
that by his hand he would save Israel; for, for that
end he was made king. God having promised, by
David’s hand, to save Israe’, it is both your duty, in
compliance with God’s will, and your interest, in
order f> your victories over your enemies, to submit
to him; and it is the greatest folly in the world to
oppose him.” Who would have expected such
reasonings as these out of Abner’s mouth? But thus
God will make the enemies of his people to know,
and own, that he has loved them. Rev. 3. 9. He
particularly applied himself to the men of Benja¬
min, those of his own tribe, on whom he had the
greatest influence, and whom he had drawn in to
appear for the house of Saul; he was the man that
had deceived them, and therefore he was concerned
to undeceive them. Thus the multitude are as
they are managed.
V. David concludes the treaty with Abner; and
he did wisely and well therein; for, whatever in¬
duced Abner to it, it was a good work to put an end
to the war, and to settle the Lord’s anointed on the
throne; and it was as lawful for David to make use
of his agency, as it is for a poor man to receive an
alms from a Pharisee, who gives it in pride and
hypocrisy. Abner reported to David the sense of
the people, and the success of his communications
with them, v. 19. He came now, not, as at first,
privately, but with a retinue of twenty men, and
David entertained them with a feast, (t/. 20.) in
token of reconciliation and joy, and as a pledge of
the agreement between them: it was a feast upon a
covenant, like that, Gen. 26. 30, If thine enemy
hunger, feed him; but if he submit, feast him. Ab¬
ner, pleased with his entertainment, the prevention
of his fall with Saul’s house, (which would have
been inevitable, if he had not taken this course,)
and much more with the prospect he had of prefer¬
ment under Dav id, undertakes, in a little time, to
perfect the revolution, and to bring all Israel into
obedience to David, v. 21. He tells David he shall
reign over all that his heart desired. He knew Da¬
vid’s elevation took rise from God’s appointment,
yet he insinuates that it sprang from Lis own ambi¬
tion and desire of rule; thus (as bad men often do)
he measured that good man by himself. Howev er,
David and he parted very good friends, and the af¬
fair between them was well settled. Thus it be¬
hoves all, who fear God and keep his command¬
ments, to avoid strife, e\ en with the wicked; to live
at peace with all men, and to show the world that
they are children of the light.
22. And, behold, the servants of David
and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and
brought in a great spoil with them : (but
Abner was not with David in Hebron; for
he had sent him away, and he was gone in
peace.) 23. When Joab and all the host
that was with him were come, they told
Joab, saying, Abner the son of Nercame to
the king, and he hath sent him away, and
he is gone in peace: 24. Then Joab came
to the king, and said, What hast thou done ?
behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it
that thou hast sent him away, and he is
quite gone ? 25. Thou knowest Abner the
son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee,
and to know thy going out, and thy coming
in, and to know all that thou doest. 26.
And when Joab was come out from David,
he sent messengers after Abner, which
brought him again from the well of Sirah :
but David knew it not. 27. And when
Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took
him aside in the gate to speak with him
quietly, and smote him there under the fifth
rib , that he died, for the blood of Asahel his
brother. 28. And afterward, when David
heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are
guiltless before the Lord for ever from the
blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29. Let it
rest on the head of Joab, and on all his fa¬
ther’s house; and let there not fail from the
house of Joab one that hath an issue, or
that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or
that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh
bread. 30. So Joab and Abishni his bro¬
ther slew Abner, because he had slain their
brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. 31.
And David said to Joab, and to all the peo¬
ple that were with him, Rend your clothes,
and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn be¬
fore Abner. And king David himself fol¬
lowed the bier. 32. And they buried Ab¬
ner in Hebron : and the Icing lifted up his
voice, and wept at the grave of Abner ; and
II. SAMUEL, III.
all the people wept. 33. And the king la¬
mented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as
a fool dieth? 34. Thv I lands were not bound,
nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man fa.ll-
eth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And
all the people wept again over him. 35.
And when all the people came to cause
David to eat meat while it was yet day,
David sware, saying, So do God to me,
and more also, if I taste bread, or aught
else, till the sun be down. 36. And all the
people took notice of it, and it pleased
them : as whatsoever the king did pleased
all the people. 37. For all the people, and
all I srael understood that day, that it was
not of the king to slay Abner the son of
Ner. 38. And the king said unto his ser¬
vants, Know ye not that there is a prince
and a great man fallen this day in Israel ?
39. And I am this day weak, though
anointed king ; and these men the sons of
Zeruiah be too hard for me: the Lord shall
reward the doer of evil according to his
wickedness.
We have here an account of the murder of Abner
by Joab, and David’s deep resentment of it.
I. Joab very insolently fell foul upon David for
treating with Abner. He happened to be abroad
upon service, when Abner was with David, pursu¬
ing a troop, either of Philistines, or of Saul’s party;
but, upon his return, was informed that Abner was
just gone, ( v . 22, 23. ) and that a great many kind
things had past between David and him. He had
all the reason in the world to be satisfied of David’s
prudence, and to acquiesce in the measures he took,
knowing him to be a wise and good man himself,
and under a di\ ine conduct in all his affairs; and
yet, as if he had the same sway in David’s cause
that Abner had in Ish-bosheth’s, lie chides David,
and reproaches hint'to his face, as impolitic; (v. 24,
25.) What hast thou done? As if David were ac¬
countable to him for what he did: “ Why hast thou
sent him away, when thou mightest have made him
a prisoner? He came as a spy, and will certainly
betray thee.” I know not whether to wonder more,
that Joab had impudence enough to give such an
affront to his prince, or that David had patience
enough to t ike it. He does, in effect, call David a
fool, when he tells him he knew Abner came to de¬
ceive him, and yet he trusted him. We find no
answer that David gave him, not because he feared
him, as Ish-bosheth did Abner, (v. 11.) but because
he despised him, or because Joab had not so much
good manners as to stay for an answer.
II. He very treacherously sent for Abner back,
and, under colour of a private conference with him,
barbarously killed him with his own hand. That
he made use of David’s name, under pretence of
giving him some further instructions, is intimated in
that, but David knew it not, v. 26. Abner, design¬
ing no harm, feared none, but very innocently re¬
turned to Hebron, and when he found Joab waiting
for him at the gate, turned aside with him to speak
with him privately, forgetting what he himself had
said, when he slew Asahel, How shall I hold up
my face to Joab thy brother? ( cli . 2. 22.) and there
Joab murdered him; (v. 27.) and it is intimated, (a>.
30.) that Abishai was privy to the design, and was
aiding and abetting, and would have come in to his
brother’s assistance, if there had been occasion; he
is therefore charged as an accessary; Joab and
Abishai slew Abner ; though perhaps He only knew
it, who is privy to the thoughts and intents of men’s
hearts.
Now in this, 1. It is certain that the Lord was
righteous. Abner had maliciously, and against the
convictions of his conscience, opposed David; he
had now basely deserted Ish-bosheth, and betrayed
him, under pretence of regard to God and Israel,
but really from a principle of pride and revenge,
and impatience of control; God will net therefore
use so bad a man, though David might, in so good a
work, as the uniting of Israel. Judgments are pre¬
pared for such scorners as Abner was. But, 2. It is
as certain that Joab was unrighteous, and, in what
he did, did wickedly. David was a man after God’s
heart, but could not have those about him, no not in
places of the greatest trust, after his own heart.
Many a good prince, and a good master, has been
forced to employ bad men. (1.) Even the pretence
for doing this was very unjust. Abner had indeed
slain his brother Asahel, and Joab and Abishai pre¬
tended herein to be the avengers of his blood; ( v .
27, 30. ) but Abner slew Asahel in an open war,
wherein Abner indeed had given the challenge, but
Joab himself had accepted it, and had slain many
of Abner’s friends; he did it likewise in his own de¬
fence, and not till he had given him fair warning,
(which he would not take,) and he did it with re¬
luctance; but Joab here shed the blood of war in
/ieace, i Kings 2. 5. (2.) That which we have rea¬
son to think was at the bottom of Joab’s enmity to
Abner, made it much worse. Joab was now general
of David’s forces; but if Abner should come into his
interest, he would possibly be preferred before him,
being a senior officer, and more experienced in the
art of war. This Joab was jealous of, and could
better bear the guilt of blood, than the thoughts of a
rival. (3.) He did it treacherously, and under pre¬
tence of speaking peaceably to him, Deut. 27.' 24.
Had he challenged him, he had done like a soldier;
but to assassinate him was done villanously, and like
a coward. His words were softer than oil, yet were
they drawn swords, Ps. 55. 21. Thus he basely
slew Am-.sa, ch. 20. 9, 10. (4.) The doing of it
was a great affront and injury to David, who was
now in treaty with Abner, and Joab knew it. Ab¬
ner was now actually in his master’s service, so
that, through his side he struck at David himself.
(5. ) It was a great aggravation of the murder, that
he did it in the gate, openly and avowedly, as one
that was not ashamed, nor could blush. The gate
was the place of judgment and the place of con¬
course; so that he did it in defiance of justice, both
the just sentence of the magistrates, and the just re¬
sentments of the crowd; as one that neither feared
Cod, nor regarded man, but thought himself above
all control: and Hebron was a Levites’ city, and a
citv of refuge.
III. David laid it deeply to the heart, and many
ways expressed his detestation of this execrable
villanv.
1. He washed his hands from the guilt of Abner’s
blood. Lest any should suspect that Joab had some
secret intimation from David to do as he did, (and
the rather, because he went so long unpunished,)
he here solemnly appeals to God concerning his in-
nocency; J and my kingdom are guiltless (and my
kingdom is so, because I am so) before the Lord
for ever, v. 28. It is a comfort to be able to say,
when anv bad thing is done, that we had no hand
in it; We have not shed this blood, Deut. 21. 7.
However we may be censured or suspected, our
hearts shall not reproach us.
2. He entailed the curse for it upon Joab and his
family-; (x». 29.) “ Let it rest on the head of Joab ;
let the blood cry against him, and let divine ven-
372
II. SAMUEL, Ill.
geance follow him. Let the iniquity be visited upon
his children, and children’s children, in some here¬
ditary disease or other.” The longer the punish¬
ment is delayed, the longer let it last when it does
come. Let his posterity be stigmatized, blemished
with an issue, or a leprosy, which will shut them
out from society; let them be beggars, or cripples,
or come to some untimely end, that it may be said,
“ Here is one of Juab’s race.” This intimates that
the guilt of blood brings a curse upon families; if
men do not avenge it, God will, and will lay up the
iniquity for the children. But, methinks, a resolute
punishment of the murderer himself would better
have become David, than this passionate impreca¬
tion of God’s judgments upon his posterity.
3. He called upon all about him, e^en Joab him¬
self, to lament the death of Abner; (v. 31.) Pend
your clothes and mourn before Abner; that is, be¬
fore the hearse of Abner, as Abraham is said to
mourn before his dead; (Gen. 23. 2, 3.) and he gives
a reason why they should attend his funeral with
sincere and solemn mourning, (v. 38.) because there
is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel.
His alliance to Saul, his place as general, his in¬
terest, and the great services he had formerly done,
were enough to denominate him a prince and a great
man. When he could not call him a saint and a
good man, he said nothing of that, but what was
true he gave him the praise of, though he had been
his enemy, that he was a prince and a great, man;
such a man fallen in Israel, and fallen this day, just
when he was doing the best deed he ever did in his
life; this day, when he was likely to be so service¬
able to the public peace and welfare, and could so
ill be spared.
(1.) Let them all lament it. The humbling
change death puts all men under, is to be lamented,
especially as affecting princes and great men. Alas,
alas, (alluding to Rev. 18. 10.) how mean, how lit¬
tle, are they made by death, who made themselves
the terror of the mighty in the land of the living!
But we are especially obliged to lament the fall of
useful men in the midst of their usefulness, and
when there is most need of them. A public loss
must be every man’s grief, for every man shares in
it. Thus David took care that honour should be
done to the memory of a man of merit, to animate
others.
(2. ) Let Joab, in a particular manner, lament it,
which he has less at heart, but more reason to do,
than any of them. If he could be brought to do it
sincerely, it would be an expression of repentance
for his sin in slaying him. If he did it in show only,
as it is likely he did, yet it was a sort of penance im¬
posed upon him, and a present commutation of the
punishment. If he do not as yet expiate the mur¬
der with his blood, let him do something towards it
with tears. This, perhaps, Joab submitted to with
no great reluctancy, now he had gained his point.
Now that he is on the bier, no matter in what pomp
ne lies. Sit divus modo non sit vivus — Let him be
canonized, so that he be but killed.
4. David himself followed the corpse as chief
mourner, and made a funeral oration at the grave.
He attended the bier, v. 31. and wept at the grave,
v. 32. Though Abner had been his enemy, and
might possibly have proved no fast friend, yet, be¬
cause he had been a man of bravery in the field,
and might have done service in the public counsels
at this critical juncture, all former quarrels are for¬
gotten, and David is the true mourner for his fall.
What he said over the grave, fetched fresh floods
of tears from the eyes of all that were present, when
they thought they had already paid the debt in full,
v. 33, 34. Died Abner as a fool dieth? (1.) He
speaks as one vexed that Abner was fooled out of i
his life; that so great a man as he, so famed for con- I
uuct and courage, should be imposed upon by a co¬
lour of friendship, slain by surprise, and so, die as a
fool dies. The wisest and stoutest of men have no
fence against treachery. To see Abner, who
thought himself the main hinge on which the great
affairs of Israel turned, so considerable as, himself,
to be able to turn the scale of a trembling govern¬
ment, his head full of great projects, and great pros¬
pects, to see him made a fool of by a base rival, and
falling, on a sudden, a sacrifice to his ambition and
jealousy — this stains the pride of all glory, and
would put one out of conceit with worldly grandeur;
Put not your trust in princes, Ps. 146. 3, 4. And
let us therefore make that sure, which we cannot
be fooled of. A man may have his life, and all that
is dear to him, taken from him, and not be able to
prevent it with all his wisd m, care, and integrity;
but there is that which no thief can break through
to steal. See here how much more we are beholden
to God’s providence, than to our own prudence, for
the continuance of our lives and comforts. Were it
not for the hold God has of the consciences of bad
men, how soon would the weak and innocent be¬
come an easy prey to the strong and merciless, and
the wisest die as fools! Or, (2.) He speaks as one
maintaining that Abner did not fool himself out of
his life. “ Died Abner as a fool dies? No, he did
not, not as a criminal, a traitor or felon, that forfeits
his life into the hands of public justice; his hands
were not pinioned, or his feet fettered, as those of a
malefactor’s are. Abner falls not before just men,
by a judicial sentence, but as a man, an innocent
man, falleth before wicked men, thieves and rob¬
bers, so fellest thou.” Died Abner as JK'abal died?
So the Seventy read it. Nabal died as he lived,
like himself, like a sot; but Abner’s fate was such
as might have been the fate of the wisest and best
man in the world. Abner did not throw away his
life as Asahel did, who wilfully ran upon the spear,
after fair warning, but he was st'.uck by surprise.
Note, It is a sad thing to die like a fool, as they do,
that any way shorten their own days, and much
more they that make no provision for another world.
5. He fasted all that day, and would by no means
be persuaded to eat any thing till night, v. 35 It
was then the custom of great mourners to refrain
for the time from bodily refreshments, as ch. 1. 12.
1 Sam. 31. 13. How incongruous is it then to turn
the h< use of mourning into a house of feasting ! The
respect which David paid to Abner, was very
pleasing to the people, and satisfied them that he
was not, in the least, accessary to the murder; ( v .
36, 37.) he was solicitous to avoid the suspicion, lest
Joab’s villany should have made him odious, as that
of Simeon and Levi did Jacob, Gen. 34. 30. On
this occasion it is said, JYhatever the king did pleased
all the people. Which bespeaks, (1.) His good af¬
fection to them; he studied to please them in every
thing, and carefully avoided what might be dis
obliging. (2.) Their good opinion of him; they
thought every thing he did, well done; such a mu¬
tual willingness to please, .*.nd easiness to be pleased,
will make every relation comfortable.
6. He bewailed it that he could not, with safety,
do justice on the murderers, v. 39. He was weak,
his kingdom newly planted, and a little shake would
overthrow it; Joab’s family had a great interest,
were bold and daring, and to make them his ene¬
mies now might be of bad consequence. These
sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him, too big for
the law to lay hold of; and therefore, though by
man, by the magistrate, the blood of a murderer
should be shed, (Gen. 9. 6.) David bears the sword
in vain, and contents himself, as a private person,
to leave them to the judgment of God; The I.ord
shall reward the doer of evil accordbig to his wick¬
edness. Now this is a diminution, (1.) To David’s
373
II. SAMUEL, IV.
greatness; he is anointed king, and yet is kept in
awe by his own subjects, and some of them are too
hard for him. Who would be fond of power, when
a man may have the name of it, and must be ac¬
countable for it, and yet be hampered in the use of
it.1' (2.) To David’s goodness; he ought to have
done his duty, and trusted God w.th the issue. Fiat
jusii ia, ruat c&lum — Let justice be done, though
the heavens should fall asunder. If the law had
had its course against Joab, perhaps the murder of
Isii-bosheth, Amuon, and others, had been prevent¬
ed. It was carnal policy and cruel pity that spared
Joab. Righteousness supports the throne, and will
never shake it. Yet it was only a reprieve that Da¬
vid gave to Joab; on his death-bed, he left it to So¬
lomon (who could the better wield the sword of jus^-
tice, bee mse he had no occasion to draw the sword
of war) to avenge the blood of Abner. Evil pur¬
sues sinners, and will overtake them at last. David
preferred Abner’s son Jaasiel, 1 Chron. 27. 21.
CHAP. IV.
When Abner was slain, David was at a loss for a friend to
perfect the reduction of those tribes that were yet in Ish-
bosheth’s interest; which way to adopt for the accom¬
plishment of it, he could not tell; but here Providence
brings it about by the removal of Ish-bosheth. I. Two
of his own servants slew him, and brought his head to
David, v. 1. .8. II. David, instead of rewarding them,
put them to death for what they had done, v. 9. .12.
1. 4 ND when Saul’s son heard that Ab-
1 iL ner was dead in Hebron, his hands
were feeble, and all the Israelites were
troubled. 2. And Saul’s son had two men
that were captains of bands ; the name of
the one was Baanah, and the name of the
other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Bee-
rothite, of the children of Benjamin : (for
Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin :
3. And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and
were sojourners there until this day.) 4.
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that
was lame of his feet, and was five years old
when the tidings came of Saul and Jona¬
than out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him
up, and fled : and it came to pass, as she
made haste to flee, that he fell, and became
lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
5. And the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite,
Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about
(he heat of the day to the house of Ish-bo-
sheth, who lay on a bed at noon : 6. And
they came thither into the midst of the house,
as though they would have fetched w heat ;
and they smote him under the fifth rib : and
Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7. For when they came into the house, he
lay on his bed in his bed-chamber ; and they
smote him, and slew him, and beheaded
him, and took his head, and gat them away
through the plain all night. 8. And they
brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto Da¬
vid to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold
the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul
thine enemy, which sought thy life ; and the
Lord hath avenged my lord the king this
day of Saul, and of his seed.
Here is,
I. The weakness of Saul’s house; still it grew
weaker and weaker. 1. As for Ish-bosheth, who
was in possession of the throne, his hands were
feeble; (in 1.) all the strength they ever had, was
from Abner’s support, and now that he was dead,
he had no spirit left in him. Though Abner had,
in a passion, deserted his interest, yet he hoped, by
his means, to have made good terms with David;
but now even that hope fails him, and he sees him¬
self forsaken by his friends, and at the mercy of
his enemies. All the Israelites that adhered to him,
were troubled, and at a less what to do, whether to
proceed in their treaty with David or no. 2. As
for Mephibosheth, who, in the right of his father
Jonathan, had a prior title, his feet were lame, and
he was unfit for any service, v. 4. He was but five
hears old when his father and grandfather were
killed; his nurse, hearing of the Philistines’ victory,
was apprehensive that, in pursuit of it, they would
immediately send a party to Saul’s house, to cut off
all that pertained to it, and would especially aim at
her young master, who was now next heir to the
crown. Under the apprehension cf this, she fled
with the child in her arms, to secure it either in
some secret place where he could not be found, or
in some strange place where he could not be come
at; and, making more haste than good speed, she
fell with the child, and by the fall some bone was
broken or put out, and not well set, so that he was
lame of it as long as he lived, and unfit either fi r
court or camp. See what sad accidents children
are liable to in their infancy, the effect of which
may be felt by them, to their great uneasiness, ail
their days: even the children cf princes and great
men, the children of good men, for such a one Jon. -
than was, children that are well tended, and have
nurses of their own to take care of them, yet are
not always safe. What reason have we to be
thankful to God for the preservation cf our limbs
and senses to us, through the many perils of the
weak and helpless state of infancy, and to own his
goodness in giving his angels a charge concerning
us, to bear us up in their arms, out of which there
is no danger of falling, Ps. 91. 12.
II. The murder of Saul’s son: we are here told,
1. Who were the murderers, Baanah and he-
chab, v. 2, 3. They were own brothers, as Simeon
and Levi, and partners in iniquity. They were, or
had been, Ish-bosheth’s own servants employed un¬
der him; so much the mere base and treacherous
was it in them to do him a mischief. They were
Benjamites, of his own tribe. They were of the
city of Beeroth; for some reason which we camvt
now account for, care is here taken to let us know
(in a parenthesis) that the city belonged to the lot
of Benjamin; (so we find Josh. 18. 25.) but that the
inhabitants, upon some occasion or other, perhaps
upon the death of Saul, retired to Gittaim, another
city which lay not far off in the same tribe, but was
better fortified by nature, being situate (if we may
depend upon Mr. Fuller’s map) between the two
rocks Bozez and Seneh; there the Beerothites were
when this was written, and, probably, took root
there, and never returned to Beeroth again, which
made Beeroth, that had been one of the cities of
the Gibeonites, (Josh. 9. 17.) to be forgotten, and
Gittaim to be famous long after, as we find, Neh.
11. 33.
2. How the murder was committed, v. 5- *7. See
here (1.) The slothfulness of Ish-bosheth. He lay
upon his bed at noon; it does not appear that the
t country was at any time of the ye ir so hot, as to
i oblige the inhabitants to retire at noon, as we are
374
II. SAMUEL, IV.
told they do in Spain in the heat of summer; but
Ish-bosheth was a sluggish man, loved his ease,
and hated business: and when he should have been,
at this tritical juncture, at the head of his forces in
the field, or at the head of his counsels in a treaty
with David, he was lying upon his bed, and sleep¬
ing, for his hands were feeble, (t>. 1.) and so were
his head and heart. When those difficulties dispirit
us, which should rather invigorate us, and sharpen
our endeavours, we betray both our crowns and
li res. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty and
ruin. The idle soul is an easy prey to the destroyer.
(2.) The treachery of Baanah and Rechab. They
c ime into the house, under pretence of fetching
wheat for the victualling of their regiments; and
such was the plainness of those times, that the
king’s corn-chamber, and his bed-chamber, lay
near together, which gave them an opportunity,
when they were fetching wheat, to murder him as
he lay on the bed. We know not when and where
death will meet us: when we lie down to sleep, we
are not sure but that we may sleep the sleep of
death before we awake; nor do we know from what
unsuspected hand a fatal stroke may come. Ish-
bosheth’s own men, who should have protected his
life, took it away.
3. The murderers triumphed in what they had
done. As if they had performed some very glori¬
ous action, and the doing of it for David’s advantage
was enough not only to justify it, but to sanctify it,
they make a present of Ish-bosheth’s head to Da¬
vid; ( v . 8.) Behold the head of thine enemy ; than
which they thought nothing could be more accept¬
able to him: yea, and they make themselves instru¬
ments of God’s justice, ministers to bear his sword,
though they had no commission; The Lord hath
avenged thee this day of Saul, and of his seed. Not
that they had any regard either to God, or David’s
honour; they aimed at nothing but to make their
own fortunes, (as we say,) and to get preferment in
David’s court; but, to ingratiate themselves with
him, they pretend a concern for his life, a convic¬
tion of his title, and a zealous desire to see .him in
full possession of the throne. Jehu pretended zeal
for the Lord of hosts, when an ambition to set up
himself and his own family was the spring of his
actions.
9. And David answered Rechab and
Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon
the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the
Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul
out of all adversity, 10. When one told
me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, (thinking
to have brought good tidings,) 1 took hold
of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought
that I would have given him a reward for
his tidings: 11. How much more, when
wicked men have slain a righteous person
in his own house upon his bed ? shall I not
therefore now require his blood of your
hand, and take you away from the earth ?
12. And David commanded his young men,
and they slew them, and cut off their hands
and theii feet, and hanged them up over the
poo. m Hebron. But they took the head of
Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre
of Abner in Hebron.
evidence, their own tongues witnessed against them,
and were so far from denying the fact, that they
gloried in it; David therefore shows them the hei¬
nousness of the crime, and that blood called for
blood from his hand, who was now the chief magis
trate, and was, by office, the avenger of blood.
And, perhaps, he was the more \ igorous in the
prosecution, because, for reasons of state, he had
spared Joab. “ Shall I not require the blood of the
slain at the hand of the slayers, and since they can¬
not make restitution, take their’s instead of it?’
Observe, 1. How he aggravates the crime, v. 11.
Ish-bcsheth was a righteous person: he had done
them no wrong, nor designed them any. As to
himself, David was satisfied that what opposition
he gave him, was not from malice, but mistake,
from an idea he had of his own title to the crown,
and the influence of others upon him, who urged
him to put in for it. Note, Charity teaches us to
make the best, not only of our friends, but of our
enemies, and to think those may be righteous per¬
sons, who yet, in some instances, do us wrong. I
must not presently judge a man a bad man, because
I think him so to me. David owns Ish-bosheth an
honest man, though he had created him a deal of
trouble unjustly. The manner of it much aggra¬
vated the crime. To slay him in his own house,
which should have been his castle, and upon his
bed, when he was in no capacity of making any
opposition; this is treacherous and barbarous, and
all that is base, and that which every man’s heart
wi'l rise with indignation at the thought of, that is
not perfectly lost to all honour and humanity. As¬
sassinating is confessedly the most odious and villan-
ous way cf murdering. Cursed is he that smitelh
his neighbour secretly. 2. He quotes a precedent;
( v . 10.) he had put him to death, who had brought
him the tidings of the death of Saul, because he
i thought it would be good tidings to David. Nothing
I is here said of that Amalekite’s helping Saul to kill
I himself, only of his bringing the tidings of it: by
I which it should seem that the story he told, was,
! upon inquiry, found to be false, and that he lied
against his own head. “ Now,” (says David,)
“d:d I treat him as a criminal, and not a fav ourite,”
(as he expected,) “ who brought me Saul’s crown,
and shall they be held guiltless, that bring me Ish-
I bosheth’s head?” 3. He ratifies the sentence with
an oath; ( v . 9.) jis the Lord liveth, who hath re¬
deemed my soul out of all adversity. He expresses
himself thus resolutely, to prevent the making of
any intercession for the criminals by those about
him: and thus piously, to intimate that his depen¬
dence was upon God for the putting of him in pos¬
session of the promised throne, and that he would
not be beholden to any man to help him to it, by any
indirect or unlawful practices. God had redeemed
him from all adversity hitherto, helped him over
many a difficulty, and through many a danger, and
therefore he would depend upon him to crown and
complete his own work. He speaks of his redemp¬
tion from all adversity, as a thing done, though he
had many a storm yet before him, because he knew
that he who had delivered, would deliver. Here¬
upon, he signs a warrant for the execution of these
men, v. 12. This may seem severe, when they in¬
tended him a kindness in what they did; but, (1.)
He would thus show his detestation of the villany.
When he heard th at the Lord smote Afabal, he gave
thanks, 1 Sam. 25. 38, 39. for he is the Cod to
whom vengeance belongefh; but if wicked men
smite Ish-bosheth, they deserve to die, for taking
God’s work out of his hands. 2. He would thus
show his resentment of the great affront they put
in expeetmg that he shnild patronise
1 it; thev c.< uld scarcely hav e dene him a
than thus to think him altogether
We have here justice done upon the murderers j! up n him
of Ish-bosheth. jl and rewav
1. Sentence past upon them. There needed no !i greater injury,
375
II. SAMUEL, V.
such a one as themselves; one that cared not what
blood he waded through to the crown.
II. Execution done. The murderers were put
to death according to law, and their hands and feet
were hung up; not their whole bodies, the law for¬
bade that, but only their hands and feet, in terrorem
— to frighten others, and to be monuments of Da¬
vid’s justice, to make that to be taken notice of,
which would recommend him to the esteem of the
people, as a man fit to rule, and that aimed not at
his own preferment, nor had any enmity to the
house of Saul, but only and sincerely, designed the
public welfare. But what a confusion was this to
the two murderers! What a horrid disappoint¬
ment! And such they will meet with, who think to
serve the interests of the Son of David, by any im¬
moral practices, by war and persecution, fraud
and rapine, who, under colour of religion, murder
princes, break solemn contracts, lay countries
waste, hate their brethren , and cast them out, and
say, Let the Lord be glorified; kill them, and think
they do God good sendee. However men may
canonize such methods of serving the church and
the catholic cause, Christ will let them know, an¬
other day, that Christianity was not intended to de¬
stroy humanity; and they, who thus think to merit
heaven, shall not escape the damnation of hell.
CHAP. V.
How far Abner’s deserting- the house of Saul, his murder,
and the murder of Ish-bosheth, might contribute to the
perfecting of the revolution, and the establishing of Da¬
vid king over all Israel, does not appear; but, it should ■
seem, that happy change followed presently thereupon,
which in this chapter we have an account of. Here is,
I. David anointed king by all the tribe, v. 1 . . 5. II. j
Making himself master of the strong hold of Zion, v. |
6 . . 10. III. Building himself a house, and strengthen¬
ing himself in his kingdom, v. 11, 12. IV. Ilis children
that were born after this, v. 13.. 16. His victories over
the Philistines, v. 17. *25.
1. ’ i^HEN came all the tribes of Israel to
JL David unto Hebron, and spake,
saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy
flesh. 2. Also in time past, when Saul was
king over us, thou wast he that leddest out
and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said
to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel,
and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
3. So all the elders of Israel came to the
king to Hebron ; and king David made a
league with them in Hebron before the
Lord: and they anointed David king over
Israel. 4. David was thirty years old when
he began to reign, avd he reigned forty
3rears. 5. In Hebron he reigned over Judah
seven years and six months ; and in Jerusa¬
lem he reigned thirty and three years over
all Israel and Judah
He»e :s,
I. The humble address of all the tribes of Israel to
David, beseeching him to take upon him the government,
(for they were now as sheep having no shepherd,)
and owning him for their king. Though David
might by no means approve the murder of Ish-
bosheth, yet he might improve the advantages he
gained therebv, and accept the applications made
to him thereupon. Judah had submitted to David
as their kmg, above seven years ago, and their ease
and happiness, under his administration, encouraged
the rest of the tribes to make their court to him.
What number came from each tribe, with what
zeal and sincerity they came, and how they were
'entertained for three days at Hebron, when they
were all of one heart to make David king, we have
a full account, 1 Chron. 12. 23* -40. Here we have
only the heads of their address, containing the
grounds they went upon in making David king. 1.
Their relation to him was some inducement. “ We
are thy bone, and thy Jiesh, v. 1. Not only thou
art our bone, and our flesh,' not a stranger, unquali¬
fied by the law to be king, (Deut. 17. 15.) but we
are thine;” that is, “ we know that thou consider-
est us as thy bone and thy flesh, and hast a tender
concern for us, as a man has for his own body,
which Saul and his house had not. We are thy
bone and thy Jiesh, and therefore thou wilt be as glad
as we shall be, to put an end to this long civil war;
and thi u wilt take pity on us, protect us, and do
thine utmost for our welfare. ” Those who take
Christ for their King, may thus plead with him,
“ We are thy bone and thy Jiesh; thou hast made
thyself in all things like unto thy brethren, (Heb. 2.
17.) therefore be thou our Ruler, and let this ruin
lie under thy hand,” Isa. 3. 6. 2. His former good
services to the public were a further inducement;
(7». 2.) “ When Saul was king, he was but the
cipher, thou wast the figure, thou wast he that
leddest out Israel to battle, and broughtest them in
triumph; and therefore who so fit now to fill the
vacant throne?” He that is faithful in a little de¬
serves to be intrusted with more. Former good
offices done for us should be gratefully remember¬
ed by us, when there is occasion. 3. The divine
appointment was the greatest inducement of all.
The Lord said, Thou shalt feed my people Israel;
that is, thou shalt rule them ; for princes are to feed
their people as shepherds, in every thing consult ng
the subjects’ benefit; feeding them, and not fleecing
them. “ And thou shalt be not only a king to
govern in peace, but a captain to preside in war,
and be exposed to all the toils and perils of the
camp.” Since God has said so, now at length,
when need drives them to it, they are persuaded to
say so too.
II. The public and solemn inauguration of Da¬
vid, v. 3. A convention of the states was called,
all the elders of Israel came to him; the contract
was settled, the pacta conventa — covenants sworn
to, and subscribed on both sides; he obliged himself
to protect them as their judge in peace, and captain
in war; and they obliged themselves to obey him;
he made a league with them, to which God was a
Witness; it was before the Lord. Hereupt n he
was, the third time, anointed king. His advances
were gradual, that his faith might be tried, and
that he nvght gain experience. And thus his king¬
dom typified that of the Messiah, which was to
come to its height by degrees; for we see not yet all
things put under him, (Heb. 2. 8.) but we shall *ee
it, 1 Cor. 15. 25.
III. A general account of his reign and age. He
was thirty years old when he began to reign, upon
the death of Saul, v. 4. At that age, the Levites
were at first : ppointed to begin their ministration.
Numb. 4. 3. About that age, the Son of David en¬
tered upon his public ministry, Luke 3. 23. Then
men come to their full maturity of strength and
judgment. He reigned, in all, forty years and six
months; of which, seven years and a half in He¬
bron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem, 7'. 5.
Hebron had been famous; (Josh. 14. 15.) it was a
priests’ city, but Jerusalem was to be more so, and
to be the holy city. Great kings affected to raise
cit es of their own; (Gen. 10. 11. — 36. 32* *35. )
David did so, and Jerusalem was it; ihe city of Da¬
vid. It is a name famous to the end of the Bible,
(Rev. 21.) where we read of a new Jerusah in.
376
II. SAMUEL, V.
G. And the king and his men went to Je¬
rusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants
of the land; which spake unto David, say¬
ing, Except thou take away the blind and
the lame, thou shalt not come in hither:
thinking, David cannot come in hither.
7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold
of Zion : the same is the city of David. 8.
And David said on that day, W hosoever get-
teth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebu¬
sites, and the lame and the blind, that are
hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and
captain : wherefore they said, The blind and
the lame shall not come into the house. 9.
So David dwelt in the fort, and called it
The city of David: and David built round
about, from Millo and inward. 10. And
David went on, and grew great; and the
Lord God of hosts was with him.
If Salem, the place which Melchizedek was
king of, was Jerusalem, (as seems probable from
Ps. 76. 2.) it was famous in Abraham’s time;
Joshua, in his time, found it the chief city of the
south part of Canaan, Josh. 10. 1*»3. It fell to
Benjamin’s lot, (Josh. 18. 28.) but joined close to
Judah’s, Josh. 15. 8. The children of Judah had
taken it, (Judg. 1. 8.) but the children of Benjamin
suffered the Jebusites to dwell among them, (Judg.
1. 21. ) and they grew so upon them, that it becmne
a city of Jebusites, Judg. 19. 11. Now the very
first exploit David did, after he was anointed king
over all Israel, was, to gain Jerusalem out of the
hand of the Jebusites, which, because it belonged to
Benj tmin, he could not well attempt, till that tribe,
which long adhered to Saul’s house, (1 Chron. 12.
29.) submitted to him. Here we have,
I. The Jebusites’ defiance of David, and his
forces. They said, Except thou take away the
blind and the la?ne, thou shall not come in hither, v.
6. They sent David this provoking message, be¬
cause, as it is said afterward, on another occasion,
they could not believe that ever an enemy should
enter into the gates of Jerusalem, Lam. 4. 12.
They confided, either, 1. In the protection of their
gods, which David, in contempt, had called the
blind and the lame, for they have eyes and see not,
feet and walk not; “But,” say they, “these are
the guardians of our city, and except thou take
those away, (which thou canst never do,) thou wilt
not come in thither.” Some think they were con¬
stellated images of brass, set up in the recess of the
fort, and intrusted with the custody of the place.
They call their idols their Mauzzim, or strong
holds, (Dan. 11. 38.) and as such relied on them;
the name of the I.ord is our strong tower, and his
arm is strong, his eyes piercing. Or, ,2. In the
strength of their fortifications, which they thought
were made so impregnable by nature or art, or
both, that the blind and the lame were sufficient to
defend them against the most powerful assailant.
I be strong hold of Zion they especially depended
on, as that which could not be forced. ' Probably,
thev set blind and lame people, invalids or maimed
soldiers, to make their appearance upon the walls,
in sex rn of David and his men, judging them an
equal match for him. Though there remain but
wounded men among them, yet they should sen e
to beat back the besiegers. Compare Jer. 37. 10.
Note, The enemies of God’s people are often very
confident of their own strength, and most secure
when their day to fall draws nigh.
II. David’s success against the Jebusites. Their
pride and insolence, instead of daunting him, ani¬
mated him, and when he made a general assault, he
gave this order to his men; “ He that smiteth the
Jebusites, let him also throw down in the ditch, or
gutter, the lame and the blind, which are set upon
the wall to affront us and our God. It is probable
they had spoken blasphemous things, and were
therefore hated of David’s soul. Thus v. 8. may
be read; we fetch our reading of it from 1 Chron.
11. 6. which speaks only of smiting the Jebusites,
but nothing of the blind and the lame. The Jebu¬
sites had said, that if these images of their’s did not
protect them, the blind and the lame should not
come into the house, that is, they would never again
trust their palladium, (so Mr. Gregory understands
it,) nor pay the respect they had paid to their im¬
ages; and David, having gained the fort, said so tor,
that these images, which could not protect their
worshippers, should never have any place there
more.
III. His fixing his royal seat in Zion; he himself
dwelt in the fort, (the strength whereof, which had
given him opposition, and was a terror to him, now
contributed to his safety,) and he built houses round
about for his attendants and guards, (7;. 9.) from
Millo (the town-hall, or state-house) and inward.
He proceeded and prospered in all he set his hand
to; grew great in honour, strength, and wealth;
more and more honourable in the eyes of his sub¬
jects, and formidable in the eyes of his enemies; for
the Lord God of hosts was with him. God has all
creatures at his command, makes what use he
pleases of them, and serves his own purposes by
them; and he was with him, to direct, preserve,
and prosper him: those that have the Lord of hosts
for them, need not fear what hosts of men or de¬
vils can do against them. Those who grow great,
must ascribe it to the presence of God with them,
and give him the glory of it. The church is c lied
Zion, and the city of the living God; the Jebusites,
; Christ’s enemies, must first be conquered and dis-
j possessed, the blind and the lame taken away, and
| then Christ divides the spoil, sets up his throne
there, and makes it his residence by the Spirit.
11. And Hiram king of Tyre sent mes¬
sengers to David, and cedar-trees, and car¬
penters, and masons; and they built David
a house. 12. And David perceived that
the Lord had established him king over Is¬
rael, and that he had exalted his kingdom
for his people Israel’s sake. 13. And Da¬
vid took Am more concubines and wives out
of Jerusalem, after he was come from He¬
bron : and there were yet sons and daugh¬
ters born to David. 14. And these be the
names of those that were born unto him in
Jerusalem ; Shammuah, and Shobab, and
Nathan, and Solomon, 1 5. Ibhar also, and
Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 16. And
Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.
Here is,
I. David’s house built, a royal palace, fit for the
reception of the court he kept, and the homage
that was made to him, v. 11. The Jews were hus¬
bandmen and shepherds, and did not much addict
themselves either to merchandise or manufactures;
and therefore Hiram, king of Tyre, a wealthv
prince, when he sent to -congratulate David on his
accession to the throne, offered him workmen to,
build him a house: David thankfully accepted the
377
II. SAMUEL, V.
offer, and Hiram’s workmen built David a house to
his mind. Many ha\ e excelled in arts and sciences,
who were strangers to the covenants of promise;
yet David’s house w'as never the worse, nor the less
"fit to be dedicated to God, for its being built by the
sons of the stranger: it is prophesied of the gospel-
church, The sons of strangers shall build up thy
wall, and their kings shall minister unto thee , Isa.
60. 10.
II. David’s government rooted and built up, v.
12. 1. His kingdom was established; there was
nothing to sh ike it, none to disturb his possession,
or question his title. He that made him king, es¬
tablished him, because he was to be a type of
Christ, with whom God’s hand should be establish¬
ed, and his covenant stand fast, Ps. 89. 21* *28.
Saul was made king, but not established; so Adam
in innocency. David was established king, so is the
Son of David, and all who, through him, are made
to our God kings and priests. 2. It was exalted
in the eyes both of its friends and enemies: never
had the nation of Israel looked so great or made
such a figure, as it began now to do. Thus it is
promised of Christ, that he shall be higher than
the kings of the earth, Ps. 89. 27. God has highly
exaltek him , Philip. 2. 9. 3. David perceived it,
by the wonderful concurrence of providences to his
establishment and advancement; By this I know
that thou favourest me, Ps. 41. 11. Many have
the favour and love of God, and do not perceive it,
and so want the comfort of it: but to be exalted to
that, and established in it, and to perceive it, is
happiness enough. 4. He owned that it was for
his fieofile Israel's sake, that God had dene such
great things for him : that he might be a blessing to
them, and they might be happy under his adminis¬
tration. God had not made Israel his subjects for
his sake, that he might be great, and rich, and ab¬
solute; but he made him their king for their sake,
that he might lead, and guide, and protect them.
Kings are ministers of God to their fieofile for
good, Rom. 13. 4.
III. David’s family multiplied and increased.
All the sons that were born to him after he came to
Jerusalem, are here mentioned together; eleven in
all; beside the six that were born to him before in
Hebron, ch. 3. 2* *5. There the mothers are men¬
tioned, not here ; only, in general, that he took him
more concubines and wives, v. 13. Shall we praise
him for this? We praise him not; we justify him
not; nor can scarce excuse him. The bad example
of the patriarchs might make him think there was
no harm in it, and he might hope it would strength¬
en his interest, by multiplying his alliances, and
increasing the royal family. Hafifiy is the man
that has his quiver full of these arrows. But one
vine by the side of the house, with the blessing of
God, may send boughs to the sea, branches to the
rivers. Adam, by one wife, peopled the world,
and Noah repeopled it. David had many wives,
and yet that did not keep him from coveting his
neighbour’s wife, and defiling her; for men that
have once broken the fence, will wander endlessly.
Of David’s concubines, see ch. 15. 16. — 16. 22. —
19. 3. Of his sons, see 1 Chron. 3. 5.
1 7. But when the Philistines heard that
they had anointed David king over Israel,
all the Philistines came up to seek David ;
and David heard of it, and went down to
the hold. 1 8. The Philistines also came,
and spread themselves in the valley of Re-
phaim. 19. And David inquired of the
.Loro, saying, Shall I go up to the Philis-
Yol. ii. — 3 B
tines? wilt thou deliver them into mine
hand ? And the Lord said unto David,
Go up; for I will doubtless deliver the Phi
listiner, into thine hand. 20. And David
came to Baal-perazim, and David smote
them there, and said, The Lord hath bro¬
ken forth upon mine enemies before me, as
the breach of waters. Therefore he called
the name of that place Baal-perazim. 21.
And there they left their images, and David
and his men burnt them. 22. And the
Philistines came up yet again, and spread
themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23.
And when David inquired of the Lord, he
said, Thou shalt not go up ; but fetch a
compass behind them, and come upon
them over against the mulberry-trees. 24.
And let it be, when thou hearest the sound
of a going in the tops of the mulberry-
trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself : tor
then shall the Lord go out before thee, to
smite the host of the Philistines. 25. And
David did so, as the Lord had commanded
him; and smote the Philistines from Geba
until thou come to Gazer.
The particular service which David was raised
up for, was, to save Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines, ch. 3. 18. This therefore Divine Pro¬
vidence, in the first place, gives him an opportunity
of accomplishing. Two great victories obtained
over the Philistines we have here an account of,
by which David not only balanced the disgrace, and
retrieved the loss, Israel had sustained in the bat¬
tle wherein Saul was slain, but went far toward the
total subduing of those vexatious neighbours, the
last remains of the devoted nations.
I. In both these actions, the Philistines were the
aggressors, stirred first toward their own destruc¬
tion, and pulled it on their own heads. 1. In the
former, they came ufi to seek David, (y. 17. ) be¬
cause they heard that he was anointed king over
Israel. He that under Saul had slain his ten thou¬
sands, what would he do when he himself came to
be king? They therefore thought it was time to
look about them, and try to crush his government
in its infancy, before it was well settled. Their
success against Saul, some years ago, perhaps, en¬
couraged them to make this attack upon David;
but they considered not that David had that pre¬
sence of God with him, which Saul had forfeited
and lost. The kingdom of the Messiah, as soon as
ever it was set up in the world, was thus vigorously
attacked by the powers of darkness, who, with the
combined force both of Jews and Gentiles, made
head against it; the heathen raged, and the kings
of the earth set themselves to oppose it; but all in
vain, Ps. 2. 1, &c. The destruction will turn, as
this here did, upon Satan’S own kingdom. They
took counsel together, but were broken in fiieces,
Isa. 8. 9, 10. 2. In the latter, they came up yet
again, hoping to recover what they had lost in the
former engagement, and their hearts being harden¬
ed to their destruction, v. 22. 3. In both, they
spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim, which
lay very near Jerusalem: that city thev hoped to
make themselves masters of, before David had
completed the fortifications of it. Jerusalem, from
its infancy, had been aimed at, and struck t, with
a particular enmity. Their spreading themselves,
378
II. SAMUEL, VI.
intimates that they were very numerous, and that
they made, a very formidable appearance. We
read of the church’s enemies going upon the breadth
of the earth; (Rev. 20. 9.) but the further they
Sread themselves, the fairer mark they are to
od’s arrows.
II. In both, David, though forward enough to go
forth against them, (for, as soon as he heard it, he
’went down to the hold, to secure some important
advantageous post, v. 17.) yet he entered not upon
action, till he had inquired of the Lord by the
breast-plate of judgment, v. 19. and again, v. 23.
H's inquiry was twofold. 1. Concerning his duty;
“ Shall I go ufi ? Shall I have a commission from
heaven to engage them?” One would think he
needed not doubt this; what was he made king for,
but to fight the battles of the Lord, and Israel?
But a good man loves to see God going before him
in every step he takes. “ Shall I go up now?” It
is to be done, but is it to be done at this time? In
all thy ways acknowledge him. And besides, though
the Philistines were public enemies, yet some of
them had been his particular friends; Achish had
been kind to him in his distress, and had protected
him: “Now,” says David, “ought not I, in re¬
membrance of that, rather to make peace with
them, than to make war with them?” “No,” says
God, “ the v are Israel’s enemies, and are doomed
to destruction, and therefore never scruple it, but
go ufi.” 2. Concerning his success. His con¬
science asked the former question. Shall I go ufi?
his prudence asked this, Wilt thou deliver them
into my hand? Hereby he owns his dependence
on God for victory, that he could not conquer them
unless God delivered them into his hand; and re¬
fers himself to the good pleasure of God, Wilt
thou do it? Yea, says God, I will doubtless do it.
If God sends us, he will bear us out, and stand by
us: the assurance God has given us of victory over
our spiritual enemies, that he will tread Satan un¬
der our feet shortly, should animate us in our spi¬
ritual conflicts. We do not fight at uncertainty.
David had now a great army at command, and in
good heart, yet he relied more on God’s promise
than his own force.
III. In the former of these engagements, David
routed the army of the Philistines by dint of sword,
(z>.20.) he smote them ; and when he had done,
1. He gave his God the glory; he said, “ The Lord
hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me; I
could not have done it, if he had not done it before
me; he opened the breach, like the breach of wa¬
ters in a dam, which, when once opened, grows
wider and wider.” The principal part of the work
was God’s doing; nay, he did all; what David did,
was not worth speaking of; and therefore, Not unto
us, but unto the Lord, give glory. He hoped like¬
wise that this breach, like that of waters, was as
the opening of the sluice, to let in a final desolation
upon them: and, to perpetuate the remembrance
of it, he called the place Baal-perazim, the master
of the breaches; because, God having broken in
upon their forces, he soon had the mastery of them.
Let posterity take notice of it to God’s honour. 2.
He put their gods to. shame. They brought the
images of their gods into the field, as their protect¬
ors, in imitation of the Israelites bringing the ark
into their camp : but being put to flight, they could
not stay to carry off their images, for thev were a
burthen to the weary beasts, (Isa 46. 1.) and there¬
fore they left them to fall with the rest of their
baggage into the hands of the conqueror. Their
images failed them, and gave them no assistance,
and therefore they left their images to shift for
themselves. Gnd cat. make men weary of those
thin >s th t thev lr ve been most fond of, and com¬
pel them to desert what they doted upon, and cast
even the idols of silver and gold to the moles and
the bats, Isa. 2. 20, 21. David and his men ccn
verted to their own use the rest of the plunder, but
the images they burnt, as God had appointed;
(Dent. 7. 5.) “ Ye shall burn their graven images
with fire, in token of your detestation of idolatry,
and lest they should be a snare.” Bishop Patrick
well observes here, that when the ark fell into the
Philistines’ hands, it consumed them, but when
these images fell into the hands of Israel, thev
could not save themselves from being consumed.
IV. In the latter of these engagements, God gave
David some sensible tokens of his presence with
him, bade him not fall upon them directly, as he
had done before, but fetch a compass behind them
v. 23. 1. God appoints him to draw back, as Is
rael stood still, to see the salvation of the Lord. 2.
He promised him to charge the enemy himself, by
an invisible host of angels, v. 24. Thou shalt hear
the sound of a going, like the march of an army in
the air, upon the tops of the mulberry-trees. An¬
gels tread light, and he that can walk upon the
clouds, can, when he pleases, walk on the tops
of trees, or, (as Bishop Patrick understands it,) at
the head of the mulben v-tree; that is, of the wood,
or hedge-row, of those trees. “And by that sign
thou shalt know that the J.ord goes out before thee;
though thou see him not, yet thou shalt hear him,
and faith shall come and be confirmed by hearing.
He goes forth to smite the host of the Philistines.”
When David had himself smitten them, (v. 20.)
he ascribed it to God; The Lord has broken forth
upon mine enemies; to reward him for which thank¬
ful acknowledgment, the next time God did it him¬
self alone, without putting him to any toil or peril;
for those that own God in what he has done for
them, he will do more. But observe, though
God promised to go before them and smite the Phi¬
listines, yet David, when he heard the sound of the
going, must bestir himself, and be ready to pursue
the victory. Note, God’s grace must quicken our
endeavours. If God work in us both to will and to
do, it does not follow that we must sit still, as those
that have nothing to do, but we must therefore
work out our salvation with all possible care and
diligence, Phil. 2. 12, 13. The sound of the going
was, (1.) A signal to David when to move; it is
comfortable going out when God goes before us.
And, (2.) Perhaps, it was an alarm to the enemy,
and put them into confusion. Hearing the march
of an armv against their front, they retreated with
precipitation, and fell into David’s army, which lay
behind them in their rear. Of those whom God
fights against, it is said, (Lev. 26. 36.) The sound
of a shaken leaf shall chase them.
The success of this is briefly set down, v. 25.
David observed his orders, waited till God moved,
and stirred then, but not till then. Thus he was
trained up in a dependence on God and his provi¬
dence. God performed his promise, went before
him, and routed all the enemies’ force, and David
failed not to improve his advantages; he smote the
Philistines, even to the borders of their own coun¬
try. When the kingdom of the Messiah was to be
set up, the apostles that were to beat down the
Devil’s kingdom, must not attempt any thing till
they received the promise of the Spirit; who came
with a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, (Acts 2. 2.) which was typified by this sound
of the going on the tops of the mulberry-trees; and
when they heard that, they must bestir them¬
selves, and did so; they went forth conquering and
to conquer.
CHAP. VI.
The obscurity of the ark, during the reign of Saul, had been
as great a grievance to Israel as the insults of the Philip
379
II. SAMUEL, VI.
tines. David having humbled the Philistines and mortifi¬
ed them, in gratitude for that favour, and in pursuance
of his designs for the public welfare, is here bringing up
the ark to his own city, that it might be near him, and be
an ornament and strength to his new foundation. Here
is, I. An attempt to do it, which failed and miscarried.
The design was well laid, v. 1, 2. But, 1. They were
guilty cf an error in carrying it in a cart, v. 3.. 5. 2.
They were punished for that error by the sudden death
of Uzzah, (v. 6, 7.) which was a great terror to David,
(v. 8, 9.) and put a stop to his proceedings, 10, 11. II.
The great joy and satisfaction with which it was, at last,
done, v. 12.. 15. And, 1. The good understanding be¬
tween David and his people, v. 16. .19. 2 The uneasi¬
ness between David and his wife, upon that occasion, v.
16, 20 . . 23. And when we consider that the ark was
both the token of God’s presence, and a type of Christ,
we shall see that this story is very instructive.
1. A GAIN, David gathered together all
the chosen men of Israel, thirty thou¬
sand. 2. And David arose, and went with
all the people that were with him from
Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence
the ark of God, whose name is called by
the name of The Lord of hosts, that
dwelleth between the cherubims. 3. And
they set the ark of God upon a new cart,
and brought it out of the house of Abin-
adab that was in Gibeah : and Uzzah and
Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new
cart. 4. And they brought it out of the
house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah,
accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio!
went before the ark. 5. And David and
all the house of Israel, played before the
Lord on all manner of instruments made of
fir-wood, even on harps, and psalteries, and
on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cym¬
bals.
We have not heard a word of the ark, since it j
was lodged in Kerjath-jearim, immediately after ;
its return out of its captivity among the Philis- :
tines, (1 Sam. 7. 1, 2.) except that, once, Saul call- j
ed for it, 1 Sam. 14. 18. That which, in former
days, had made so great a figure, is now thrown
aside, as a neglected thing, for many years. And
if now the ark was for so many years in a house,
let it not seem strange that we find the church so
long in the wilderness, Rev. 12. 14. Perpetual visi¬
bility is no mark of the true church. God is gra¬
ciously present with the souls of his people, when
they want the external tokens of his presence. But
now that David is settled in the throne, the honour
of the ark begins to revive, and Israel’s care of it to
flourish again . wherein also, no doubt, the good
people among them had been careful, but they lack¬
ed op.fi or t unity, Phil. 4. 10.
I. Here is hon urable mention made of the ark.
Because it had not been spoken of a great while,
now that it is spoken of, observe how it is described;
(y. 2.) it is the ark of God, whose name is called by
the name of the Lord of hosts, that dwelleth between
the cherubims: or, at which the name, even the name
of the Lord of hosts, was called upon, or, upon
which the name of the Lord of hosts was called: or,
b cause of which the name is proclaimed, the name
of the Lord of hosts; that is, God was greatly mag¬
nified in the miracles done before the ark. Or, the
ark of God, who is called the name; (Lev. 24. 11.
16.) the name of the Lord of hosts, sitting on the
cherubims upon it. Let us learn hence, 1. To think
and speak highly of God. He is the name above
every name; the Lord cf hosts, that has all the
creatures in heaven and earth at his command, and
receives homage from them all, and yet is pleased
to dwell between the cherubims, o\ er the propitia¬
tory or mercy seat, graciously manifesting himself
to his people, reconciled in a Mediator, and ready
to do them good. 2. To think and speak honoura¬
bly of holy ordinances, which are to us, as the ark
was to Israel, the tokens of God’s presence, (Matth.
28. 20.) and the means of our communion with him,
Ps. 27. 4. It is the honour of the ark, that it is the
ark of God, he is jealous for it, is magnified in it,
his name is called upon it. The divine institution
puts a beauty and grandeur upon holy ordinances,
which otherwise have no form nor comeliness.
Christ is our Ark, in and by him God manifests his
favour, and communicates his grace to us, and ac¬
cepts our adorations and addresses.
II. Here is an honourable attendance given to the
ark upon the removal of it. Now, at length, it is
inquired after; David made the motion, (1. Chron.
13. 1. .3.) and the heads of the congregation agreed
to it, t'. 4. All the chosen men of Israel are call¬
ed together, to grace the solemnity, to pay their re¬
spects to the ark, and to testify their joy on its re¬
moval. The nobility and gentry, elders and offi¬
cers, came, to the number of thirty thousand, (v. 1.)
and the generality of the common people besides;
(1 Chron. 13. 5.) for, some think, it was done at one
of the three great festivals. This would make a no¬
ble cavalcade, and would help to inspire the young
people of the nation, who, perhaps, had scarcely
heard of the ark, with a great veneration for it, for
this was certainly a treasure of inestimable value,
which the king himself, and all the great men,
waited upon, and were a guard to.
III. Here are great expressions of joy, upon the
removal cf the ark, v. 5. David himself, and all
that were with him that were musically inclined,
made use of such instruments as they had, to excite
and express their rejoicing upon this occasion. It
might well put them into a transport of joy, to see
the ark rise out' of obscurity, and move towards a
public station. It is better to have the ark in a
house, than not at all, better in a house than a cap¬
tive in Dagon’s temple. But it is very desirable to
have it in a tent pitched on purpose for it, where the
resort to it may be more free and open. As secret
worship is better the more secret it is, so public
worship is better the more public it is: and we have
reason to rejoice, when restraints are taken off, and
the ark of God finds welcome in the city of David,
and has not only the protection and supp'oi t, but the
countenance and encouragement, of the civil pow¬
ers; for joy of this, they played before the Lord.
Note, Public joy must al ways be as before the Lord,
with an eye to him, and terminating in him; and
must not degenerate into that which is carnal and
sensual. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that, upon this oc¬
casion, David penned the 68th Psalm, because it be
gins with that ancient prayer of Moses, at the re
moving of the ark, Let God arise, and let his ent
mies be scattered; and notice is taken there (v. 25.)
of the singers and players on instruments that at¬
tended, and (t». 27. ) of the princes of several of the
tribes; and perhaps those words in the last verse,
Q God thou art terrible out of thy holy places, were
added, upon occasion of the death of Uzzah.
IV. Here is an error that they were guilty of in
this matter, that they carried the ark in a cart cr
carriage, whereas the priests should ha\ e carried
it upon their shoulders, v. 3. The Kohathites that
had the charge of the ark, had no waggons assigned
them, because their service seas to bear it on their
shoulders. Numb. 7. 9. The ark was no such
heavy burthen, but that they might, among them,
have carried it as fm as Mount Zicn upon their
380
II. SAMUEL, VI.
shoulders, they needed not put it in a cart like a
common thing. It was no excuse for them, that the
Philistines had done so, and were not punished for
it; they knew no better, nor had they any priests or
Levites with them to undertake the carrying of it;
better carry it in a cart, than that any of Dagon’s
priests should carry it. Philistines may cart the
ark with impunity; but if Israelites do, it is at their
peril. And it mended the matter very little, that it
was a new cart; old or new, it was not what God
had appointed. I wonder how so wise and good
a man as David was, that conversed so much
with the law of God, came to be guilty of such an
oversight. We will charitably hope that it was be¬
cause he was so extremely intent upon the sub¬
stance of the service, that he forgot to take care of
this circumstance.
6. And when they came to Nachon’s
threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand
to the ark of God, and took hold of it ;
for the oxen shook it. 7. And the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah,
and God smote him there for his error ; and
there he died by the ark of God. 8. And
David was displeased, because the Lord
had made a breach upon Uzzah : and he
called the name of the place Perez-uzzah
to this day. 9. And David was afraid of
the Lord that day, and said, How shall the
ark of the Lord come to me? 10. So Da¬
vid would not remove the ark of the Lord
unto him into the city of David; but David
carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom
the Gittite. 11. And the ark of the Lord
continued in the house of Obed-edom the
Gittite three months: and the Lord bless¬
ed Obed-edom, and all his household.
We have here Uzzah struck dead for touching
the ark, when it was upon its journey toward the
city of David; a sad providence, which damped their
mirth, stopped the progress of the ark, and for the
present, dispersed this great assembly, which was
come together to attend it, and sent them home in
a fright.
I. Uzzah’s offence seemed very small. He and
his brother Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, in whose
house the ark had long been lodged, having been
used to attend it, to show their willingness to prefer
the public benefit to their own private honour and
advantage, undertook to drive the cart, in which
the ark was carried; this being, perhaps, the last
service they were likely to do it, for others would
be employed about it when it came to the city of
David. Ahio went before, to clear the way, and,
if need were, to lead the oxen; Uzzah followed
close to the side of the cart; it happened that the
oxen shook it, v. 6. The critics are not agreed
about the signification of the original word: They
stumbled; so our margin: They kicked; so some;
perhaps, against the goad with which Uzzah drove
them. They stuck in the mire, so some. By some
accident or other, the ark was in danger of being
overthrown. Uzzah thereupon laid hold on it, to
save it from falling: we have reason to think, with
a very good intention, to preserve the reputation of
the ark, and to prevent a bad omen. Yet this was
his crime: Uzzah was a Levite, but priests only
might touch the ark. The law was express concern¬
ing the Cohathites, that though they were to carry
the ark by the staves, yet they must not touch any
holy thing , lest they die, Numb. 4. 15. Uzzah’s
long familiarity with the ark, and the constant at¬
tendance he had given to it, might occasion his pre¬
sumption, but would not excuse it.
II. His punishment for this offence seems very
great; ( v . 7.) The anger of the Lord was kindled
against him, (for in sacred things he is a jealous
God,) and he smote him there for his rashness, as
the word is, and struck him dead upon the spot.
There he sinned, and there he died, by the ark of
God; even the mercy-seat would not save him.
Why was God thus severe with him? 1. The touch¬
ing of the ark was forbidden to the Levites, express¬
ly under pain of death, lest they die; and God, by
this instance of severity, would show how he might
justly have dealt with our first parents, when they
had eaten that which was forbidden under the same
penalty, lest ye die. 2. God saw the presumption
and irreverence of Uzzah’s heart. Perhaps he af¬
fected to show, before this great assembly, how
bold he could make with the ark, having been so
long acquainted with it. Familiarity, even with
that which is most awful, is apt to breed contempt.
3. David afterward owned that Uzzah died for an
error they were all guilty of, which was carrying
the ark in a cart; because it was not carried on the
Levites’ shoulders, The Lord made that breach ufi-
on us, 1 Chron. 15. 13. But Uzzah was singled
out to be made an example, perhaps, because he
had been most forward in advising that way of con¬
veyance; however, he had fallen into another error,
which was occasioned by that. Perhaps, the ark
was not covered, as it should have been, with the
covering of badgers’ skins, (Numb. 4. 6.) and that
was a further provocation. 4. God would hereby
strike an awe upon the thousands of Israel, would
convince them that the ark was never the less ve¬
nerable for its having been so long in mean circum¬
stances; and thus he would teach them to rejoice
with trembling, and always to treat holy things with
reverence and holy fear. 5. God would hereby
teach us that a good intention would not justify a bad
action; it will not suffice to say of that which is ill
done, that it was well meant. He will let us know
that he can and will secure his ark, and needs not
any man’s sin to help him to do it. 6. If it were
so great a crime for one to lay hold on the ark of
the covenant, that had no right to do so, what is it
for those to lay claim to the privileges of the cove¬
nant, that come not up to the terms of it? To the
wicked, God says, What hast thou to do to take my
covenant in thy mouth? Ps. 50. 16. Friend, how
earnest thou in hither? If the ark was so sacred,
and not to be touched irreverently, what is the blood
of the covenant? Heb. 10. 29.
III. David’s feelings on the infliction of this stroke,
were keen, and perhaps not altogether as they
should have been. He should have humbled him¬
self under God’s hand, confessed the error, acknow¬
ledged God’s righteousness, and deprecated the
further tokens of his displeasure, and then have
gone on with the good work he had in hand. But
we find,
1. He was displeased; it is not said because Uz-
zah had affronted God, but because God had made
a breach upon Uzzah, v. 8. David's anger was
kindled. It is the same word that is used for God’s
displeasure, v. 7. Because God was angry, David
was angry and out of humour. As if God might
not assert the honour of his ark, and frown upon
one that touched it rudely, without asking David’s
leave. Shall mortal man pretend to be more just
than God; arraign his proceedings, or chr.rge him
with iniquity? David did not now act like himself,
like a man after God's own heart. It is not for us
to be displeased at any thing that God does, how
unpleasing soever it is to us. The death of Uzzah
II. SAMUEL, VI.
381
was indeed an eclipse to the glory of a solemnity, 1
which David valued himself upon more than any
thing else, and might give birth to some speculations
among those that were disaffected to him, as if God
were departing from him too; but, however, he
ought to have subscribed to the righteousness and
wisdom of God in it, and not to have been displeas¬
ed at it. When we lie under God’s anger, we must
keep under our own.
2. He was afraid, v. 9. It should seem he was
afraid with amazement; for he said, How s/iall the
ark of the Lord come to me? As if God sought ad¬
vantages against all that were about him, and was
so extremely tender of his ark, that there was no
dealing with it; and therefore better for him to keep
it at a distance. Qui firocul a Jove, firocul a ful-
mine — To retire from Jove, is to retire from the
thunder-bolt. He should rather have said, “Let
the ark come tome, and I will take warning by this
to treat it with more reverence.” Provoke me not,
(says God, Jer. 25. 6.) and I will do you no hurt.
Or, this may be looked upon as a good use which
David made of this tremendous judgment; he did
not say, “ Surely, Uzzah was a sinner above all
men, because he suffered such things,” but is con¬
cerned for himself, as one conscious, not only of his
own unworthiness of God’s favour, but his obnox¬
iousness to God’s displeasure; “God might justly
strike me dead, as he did Uzzah; my flesh trembles
for fear of thee,” Ps. 119. 120. This God intends
in his judgments, that others may hear and fear.
David therefore will not bring the ark into his own
city, (v. 10. ) till he is better prepared for its recep¬
tion.
3. He took care to perpetuate the remembrance
of this stroke by a new name he gave to the place,
Perez-uzzah, the breach of Uzzah, v. 8. He had
been lately triumphing in the breach made upon his
enemies, and called the place Baal-Perazim , a
place of breaches. But here is a breach upon his
friends. When we see one breach, we should con¬
sider, that we know not where the next will be.
The memorial of this stroke would be a warning to
posterity, to take heed of all rashness and irrever¬
ence in dealing about holy things; for God will be
sanctified in those that come nigh unto him.
4. He lodged the 'ark in a good house, the house
of Obed-edom a Levite, which happened to be near
the place where this disaster happened, and there,
(1.) It was kindly entertained and bid welcome, and
continued there three months, v. 10, 11. Obed-
edom knew what slaughter the ark had made
among the Philistines that imprisoned it, and the
Bethshemites that looked into it. He saw Uzzah
struck dead for touching it, and perceived that Da¬
vid himself was afraid of meddling with it; yet he
cheerfully invites it to his awn house, and opens his
doors to it without fear, knowing it was a savour of
death unto death, to those only that treated it ill.
“ O the courage,” says Bishop Hall, “of an honest
and faithful heart; nothing can make God otherwise
than amiable to his own: even his very justice is
lovely.” (2.) It paid well for his entertainment.
The Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
The same hand that punished Uzzah’s proud pre¬
sumption, rewarded Obed-edom’s humble boldness,
and made the ark unto him a savour of life unto
life. Let none think the worse of the gospel for the
judgments inflicted on those that reject it, but set
in opposition to them the blessings it brings to those
that duly receive it. None ever had, or ever shall
have reason to say that it is in vain to serve God.
Let masters of families be encouraged to keep up
religion in their families, and to serve God and the
interests of his kingdom, with their houses and es¬
tates, for that is the way to bring a blessing upon
all they have. The ark is a guest which none shall
lose by, that bid it welcome. Josephus says, that
whereas, before Obed-edom was poor on a sudden,
in these three months, his estate increased, to the
envy of his neighbours. Piety is the best friend to
prosperity. In wisdom’s left hand are riches and
honour. His household shared in the blessing: it is
good living in a family that entertains the ark, for
all about it will fare the better for it.
12. And it was told king David, saying,
The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed
edom, and all that yertaineth unto him, be¬
cause of the ark of God. So David went
and brought up the ark of God from the
house of Obed-edom into the city of David
with gladness. 1 3. And it was so, that
when they that bare the ark of the Lord
had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and
fadings. 14. And David danced before the
Lord with all his might : and David was
girded with a linen ephod. 1 5. So David
and all the house of Israel brought up the
ark of the Lord with shouting, and with
the sound of the trumpet. 1 6 And as the
ark of the Lord came into the city of Da¬
vid, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through
a window, and saw king David leaping and
dancing before the Lord ; and she despis¬
ed him in her heart. 17. And they brought
in the ark of the Lord, and set it in his
place, in the midst of the tabernacle that
David had pitched for it : and David offer¬
ed burnt-offerings and peace-offerings be^
fore the Lord. 18. And as soon as David
had made an end of offering burnt-offerings
and peace-offerings, he blessed the people
in the name of the Lord of hosts. .19.
And he dealt among all the people, even
among the whole multitude of Israel, as
well to the women as men, to every one a
cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and
a flagon of wine. So all the people depart¬
ed every one to his house.
We have here the second attempt to bring the
ark home to the city of David; and this succeeded,
though the former miscarried. It should seem, the
blessing with which the house of Obed-edom was
blessed for the ark’s sake, was a great inducement
to David to bring it forward; for when that was told
him, (v. 12.) he hastened to fetch it to him. For,
1. It was an evidence that God was reconciled to
them, and his anger was turned away. As David
could read God’s frowns upon them all in Uzzah’s
stroke, so he could read God’s favour to them all in
Obed-edom’s prosperity; and if God be at peace
with them, they can cheerfully go cn with their de¬
sign. 2. It was an evidence that the ark was not
such a burthensome stone, as it was taken to be,
but, on the contrary, happy was the man that had
it near him. Christ is indeed a .S 'tone of stumbling,
and a Pock of offejice, to them that are d:sc bedient;
but to them which believe, he is a Corner-stone,
elect, precious, 1 Pet. 2. 6- -8. When David heard
that Obed-edom had such joy of the ark, then he
j would have it in his own city. Note, The experi-
j ence others have had of the gains of godliness,
should encourage us to be religious. Is the ark a
1 blessing to other’s houses? Let us bid it welcome
382
11. SAMUEL, VII.
to our’s; we may have it, and the blessing of it,
without fetching it from our neighbours.
Let us see how David managed the matter now.
I. He rect fied the former error; he did not put
the ark in a cart now, but ordered those, whose bu¬
siness it was, to carry it on their shoulders. This is
implied here, ( v . 13.) and expressed 1 Chron. 15.
15. Then we make a good use of the judgments of
God on ourselves and others, when we are awak¬
ened by them to reform and amend whatever has
been amiss.
II. At their first setting out, he offered sacrifices
to God, ( v . 13.) by way of atonement for their for¬
mer errors, and in a thankful acknowledgment of
the blessings bestowed on the house of Obed-edom.
Then we are likely to speed in our enterprises,
when we begin with God, and give diligence to
make our peace with him. When we attend upon
God in holy ordinances, our eye must be to the
great Sacrifice, to which we owe it that we are tak¬
en into covenant and communion with God, Ps. 50.
5.
III. He himself attended the solemnity with the
highest expressions of joy that could be, ( v . 14.) he
danced, before the Lord with all his might; he leap¬
ed for joy, as one transported with the occasion,
and the more, because of the disappointment he met
with the last time. It is a pleasure to a good man
to see his errors rectified, and himself in the way
of his duty. His dancing, I suppose, was not arti¬
ficial, by any certain rule or measure, nor do we
find that any danced with him; but it was a natural
expression of his great joy and exultation of mind.
He did it with all his might; so we should perform
all our religious services, as those that are intent
upon them, and desire to do them in the best man¬
ner: all our might is little enough to be employed
in holy duties: the work deserves it all. On this
occasion, David laid aside his imperial purple, and
put on a plain ephod, which was light and conveni¬
ent for dancing, and was used in religious exercises
£v those who were no priests, for Samuel wore one,
1 S tm. 2. 18. That great prince thought it no dis¬
paragement to him to appear in the habit of a mi¬
nister to the ark.
IV. All the people triumphed in this advance¬
ment of the ark; (v. 15.) They brought it ufi into
the city with shouting, and with sound of trumpet,
so expressing their own joy in loud acclamations,
and giving notice to all about them to rejoice with
them. The public and free administration of ordi¬
nances, not only under the protection, but under
the smiles, of the civil powers, is just matter of re¬
joicing to any people.
V. The ark was safely brought to, and honoura-
deposited in, the place prepared for it, v. 17.
1 ‘ v set it in the midst of the tabernacle, or tent,
W ch David had pitched for it; not the tabernacle
w uoh Moses reared, that was at Gibeon, (2 Chron.
1. 13.) and, we may suppose, being made of cloth,
in so many hundred years, it was gone to decay,
and not fit to be removed; but this was a tent set up
on purpose to receive the ark. He would not bring
it into a private house, no not his own, lest it should
seem to be too much engrossed, and people’s resort
to it, to pray before it, should be less free; yet he
would not build a house for it, lest that should su¬
persede the building of a more stately temple in due
time; and therefore, for the present, he placed it
within curtains, under a canopy, in imitation of
Moses’s tabernacle. As soon as ever it was lodged,
he offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, in
thankfulness to God, that the business was now
done without any more errors or breaches; and in
supplication to God for the continuance of his fa¬
vour. Note, All our joys must be sanctified both
with praises and prayers; for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. Now, it should seem, he pen
ned Ps. 132.
VI. The people were then dismissed with great
i satisfaction. He sent them away, 1. With a gr
cious prayer; he blessed them in the name of the
Lord of hosts, ( v . 18.) having not only a particular
interest in heaven as a prophet, but an authc rity
over them as a prince, for the less is blessed of the
better, Heb. 7. 7. He prayed to God to bless them,
and particularly to reward them for the honour and
respect they had now shown to his ark; assuring
them they should be no losers by their journey, but
the blessing of God upon their, affairs at home
would more than bear their charges. He testified
his desire for their welfare by this prayer for them,
and let them know they had a king that loved
them. 2. With a generous treat; for so it was,
rather than a distribution of alms; the great men, it
is probable, he entertained at his own house, but to
the multitude of Israel, men and women, (and
children, says Josephus,) he dealt, to each, a cake
of bread; ( a spice-cake, so some;) a good piece of
flesh; {a handsome, decent piece, so some; a part
of the peace-offerings, so Josephus; that they might
feast with him upon the sacrifice;) and a fagon, or
bottle, of wine, v. 19. Probably, he ordered this
provision to be made for them at their respective
quarters, and this he did, (1.) In token of his joy
and gratitude to God. When the heart is enlarged
by cheerfulness, that should open the hand in
liberality. The feast of Purim was observed with
sending portions one to another, Esth. 9. 22. As
those to whom God is merciful, ought to show mer¬
cy in forgiving; so those to whom God is bountiful,
ought’to exercise bounty in giving. (2.) To recom¬
mend himself to the people, and to confirm his in¬
terest in them; for every one is a friend to him that
giveth gifts. They that care not for his prayers,
would love him for his generosity; and this would
encourage them to attend him another time, if he
saw cause to call them together.
20. Then David returned to bless his
household. And Michal, the daughter of
Saul, came out to meet David, and said,
How glorious was the king of Israel to-day,
who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes
of the handmaids of his servants, as one of
the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth
himself! 21. And David said unto Michal,
It was before the Lord, which chose me
before thy father, and before all his house,
to appoint me ruler over the people of the
Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play be¬
fore the Lord. 22. Arid I will yet be more
vile than thus, and will be base in mine
own sight : and of the maid-servants, which
thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be
had in honour. 23. Therefore Michal, the
daughter of Saul, had no child unto the day
of her death.
David, having dismissed the congregation with
a blessing, returned to bless his household; (x\ 20.)
that is, to pray with them and for them, and to
offer up his family-thanksgiving for this national
mercy. Ministers must not think that their public
performances will excuse them from their family-
worship; but when they have, with their instruc¬
tions and prayers, blessed the solemn assemblies,
thev must return in the same manner to bless their
households, for with them they are in -a particular
383
II. SAMUEL, VII.
manner charged. David, though he had prophets,
and priests, and Levites, about him, to be his chap¬
lains, yet did not devolve the work upon them, but
himself blessed his household. It is angel’s work to
worship God, and therefore surely that can be no
disparagement to the greatest men.
Never did David return to his house with so
much pleasure and satisfaction, as he did now that
he had got the ark into his neighbourhood, and yet
even this joyful day concluded with some uneasi¬
ness, occasioned by the pride and peevishness of his
wife. Even the palaces of princes are not exempt
from domestic troubles. David had pleased all the
multitude of Israel, but Michal was not pleased
with his dancing before the ark: for this, when he
was at a distance, she scorned him, and when he
came home, she scolded him. She was not dis¬
pleased at his generosity to the people, nor did she
grudge the entertainment he gave them, but she
thought he demeaned himself too much in dancing
before the ark. It was not her covetousness, but
her pride, that made her fret.
1. When she saw David in the street dancing be¬
fore the Lord, she des/iised him in her heart , v. 16.
She thought this mighty zeal of his for the ark of
God, and the transport of joy he was in, upon its
coming home to him, was but a foolish thing, and
unbecoming so great a soldier, and statesman, and
monarch, as he was: it had been enough for him to
encourage the devotion of others, but she looked
up-on it as a thing below him to appear so very de¬
vout himself. “ What a fool” (thinks she) “ does
my husband make of himself now! How fond is he
of this ark, that might as well have lain still where
it had lain f >r so many years! Much devotion has
almost made him mad.” Note, The exercises of
religion appear very mean in the eyes of those that
have little or no religion themselves.
II. When he came home in the very best dispo-
s:tion, she began to upbraid him, and was so full of
disdain and indignation, that she could not hold her
peace till she had him in private, but went out to
meet him with her reproaches.
Observe, 1. How she taunted him; (v. 20.) “ How
glorious was the King of Israel to-day l What a
figure didst thou make to-day in the midst of the
mob; how unbecoming thy post and character!”
Her contempt of him and hjs devotion began in the
heart, but out of the abundance of that the mouth
spake. That which displeased her, was, his affec¬
tion to the ark, which she could wish he had no
greater kindness for than she had: but she basely
represent bis conduct, in dancing before the ark,
as lewd an l immodest; and, while really she was
displeased at it, as a diminution to his honour, she
pretended to dislike it, as a reproach to his virtue,
that he uncovered himself in the eyes of his maid¬
servants, so as no man would have done, but one of
the vain fellows, that cares not how much he shames
himself. We have no reason to think that this was
true in fact : David, no doubt, observed decorum,
and governed his zeal with discretion ; but it is com¬
mon for those that reproach religion, thus to put
false colours upon it, and lay it under the most
odious characters. To have abused any man thus,
for his pious zeal, had been very profane; but to
abuse her own husband thus, whom she ought to
reverence, and one whose prudence and virtue were
above the reach of malice itself to disparage, one
who had showed such affection for her, that he
would not accept a crown, unless he might have her
restored to him, ( ch . 3. 13.) was a most base and
wicked thing, and showed her to have more of
Saul’s daughter in her, than of David’s wife, or
Jonathan’s sister.
2. How he replied to her reproach. He does not
upbraid her with her treacherous departure from
him, to embrace the bosom of a stranger. He had
forgiven that, and therefore had forgotten it,
though, it may be, his own conscience, < n this oc¬
casion, upbraided him with his folly in receiving
her again, (for that is said to pollute the land, Jer
3. 1.) but he justifies himself in what he did.
(1.) He designed thereby to honour God; {v. 21.)
It wus before the Lord, and with an eye to him.
Whatever in\ idious construction she was pleased to
put upon it, he had the testimony of his conscience
for him, that he sincerely aimed at the glory cf
God, for whom he thought he could never do
enough. Here he reminds her indeed of the setting
aside of her father’s house, to make way for him to
the throne, that she might not think herself the
most proper judge of propriety; “ God chose me
before thy father, and afifiointed me to be ruler
over Israel, and now I am the fountain of honrur;
and if the expressions of a warm devotion to God
were looked upon as mean and unfashionable in thy
father’s court, yet I will flay before the Lord, and
thereby bring them into reputation again. And if
this be to be vile, (m 22.) I will yet be more vile.”
Note, [1.] We should be afraid of censuring the
devotion of others, though it may not .agree with
our sentiments, because for aught that we know,
the heart may be upright in it, and who are we that
we should despise those whom God has accepted?
[2.] If we can approve ourselves to God in what
we do in religion, and do it as before the Lord, we
need not value the censures and reproaches of men.
If we appear right in God’s eyes, no matter how
mean we appear in the eyes of the world. [3.]
The more we are vilified for well doing, the more
resolute we should be in it, and hold our religion
the faster, and bind it the closer to us, for the en¬
deavours of Satan’s agents to shake us, and to shame
us out of it. I will be yet more vile.
(2. ) He designed thereby to humble himself; “ 1
will be base in my own sight, and will think nothing
too mean to stoop to for the honrur of God.” In
the throne of judgment, and in the field of battle,
none shall do more to support the grandeur and au¬
thority of a prince than David shall; but in acts of
devotion he lays aside the thoughts of majesty,
humbles himself to the dust before the Lord, joins
in with the meanest services done in honour of the
ark, and yet thinks it no diminutipn to him. The
greatest of men is less than the least of the ordi¬
nances of Jesus Christ.
(3.) He doubted not but even this would turn to
his reputation among those whose reproach he fear¬
ed; Of the maidservants shall I be had in honour.
The common people would be so far from thinking
the worse of him for these pious condescensions,
that they would esteem and honour him so much
the more. Those that are truly pious, are some¬
times manifested in the consciences even of those
that speak ill of them; 2 Cor. 5. 11. Let us nev er
be driven from our duty by the fe r of reproach,
for to be steady and resolute in it, will, perhaps,
turn to our reputation more than we think it will.
Piety will have its praise: let us not then be indif¬
ferent in it, nor afraid or ashamed to own it.
David was contented thus to justify himself, and
did not any further animadvert upon Michal’s inso¬
lence, but God punished her for it, writing her for
ever childless from this time forward, v. 23. She
unjustly reproached David for his devotion, and
therefore God justly put her under the perpetual
reproach of barrenness. They that honour God, he
will honour ; but those that despise him, and his
servants and service, shall be lightly esteemed.
CHAP. VII.
Still the ark is David’s care as well as his joy. In this
chapter, we have, I. His consultation with Nathan
384
II SAMUEL, VII.
about building a house for it; he signifies his purpose to
do it, (v. 1,2.)' and Nathan approves his purpose, v. 3.
II. His communion with God about it. 1. A gracious
message God sent him about it, accepting his purpose,
countermanding the performance, and promising him an
entail of blessings upon his family, v. 4 • • 17. 2. A very
humble prayer which David offered up to God, in return
to that gracious message: thankfully accepting God’s
promises to him, and earnestly praying for the perform¬
ance of them, v. 18 . . 29. And in both these, there is
an eye to the Messiah, and his kipgdom.
I. A ND it came to pass, when the king
sat in his house, and the Lord had
given him rest round about from all his ene¬
mies, 2. That the king said unto Nathan
the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house
of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within
curtains. 3. And Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that is in thine heart: for the
Lord is with thee.
Here is,
I. David at rest. He sat in his house, (i;. 1.)
quiet and undisturbed, having no occasion to take
me field; The Lord had given him rest round about,
from all those that were enemies to his settlement
in the throne, and he sets himself to enjoy that rest;
though he was a man of war, he was for / xeace ,
(Ps. 120. 7.) and did not delight in war. He had
not been long at rest, nor was it long before he was
again engaged in war; but, at present, he enjoyed a
calm, and he was in his element when he was sit¬
ting in his house, meditating on the law of God.
II David’s thoughts of building a temple for the
honour of God. He had built a palace for himself,
and a city for his servants; and now he thinks of
building a habitation for the ark. 1. Thus he
would make a grateful return for the honours God
had put upon him. Note, When God, in his provi¬
dence, has remarkably done much for us, it should
put us upon contriving what we may do for him and
his glory. What shall I render unto the Lord? 2.
Thus he would improve the present calm, . and
make a good use of the rest God had given him.
Now that he was not called out to serve God and
Israel in the high' places of the field, he would em¬
ploy his thoughts, and time, and estate, in serving
him another way, and not indulge himself in ease,
much less in luxury. When God, in his providence,
gives us rest, and finds us little to do of worldly bu¬
siness, we must do so much the more for God and
our souls. How different were the thoughts of Da¬
vid, when he sat in his palace, from Nebuchadnez¬
zar’s, when he walked in his! Dan. 4. 29, 30. That
proud man thought of nothing but the might of his
own power, and the honour of his own majesty;
this humble soul is full of contrivance how to glorify
God, and give honour to him; and how God resisted
the proud, and gave grace and glory to the humble,
the event showed. David considered ( v . 2.) the
stateliness of his own habitation, ( I dwell in a
house of cedar,) and compared with that the
meanness of the habitation of the ark, ( that dwells
within curtains, ) and thought this incongruous,
that he should dwell in a palace, and the ark in a
tent. David had been uneasy till he found out a
filace for the ark, (Ps. 132. 4, 5.) and now he is un¬
easy till he finds out a better place. Gracious,
grateful souls, (1.) never think they can do enough
for God, but when they have done much, are still
projecting to do more, and devising liberal things.
(2.) They cannot enjoy their own accommodations,
while they see the church of God in distress and
under a cloud. David can take little pleasure
in a house of cedar for himself, unless the ark have
one. Those who stretched themselves upon beds of
ivory, and were not grieved for the affliction of Jo¬
seph, though they had Daud’s music, had nor Da¬
vid’s spirit; (Amos 6. 4. 6.) nor they who dwelt in
their ceiled houses, while God’s house lay waste.
Hag. 1. 4.
III. His communicating of his thought to Nathan
the prophet. He told him, as a friend and confidant
whom he used to advise with. Could not David
have gone about it himself? Was it not a good
work? Was not he himself a prophet? Yes, but in
the multitude of counsellors there is safety. David
told him that by him he might know th\ mind of
God. It was certainly a good work, but it was un¬
certain whether it was the will of God that David
should have the doing of it.
IV. Nathan’s approbation of it; Go, do all that
is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee, v. 3. We
do not find that David told him that he proposed to
build a temple, only that it was a trouble to him
that there was not one built; from which Nathan
easily gathered what was in his heart, and bade
him go on and prosper. Note, We ought to do all
we can, to encourage and promote the good pur¬
poses and designs of others, and put in a good word,
as we have opportunity, to forward a good work.
Nathan spoke this, not in God’s name, but as from
himself; not as a prophet, but as a wise and good
man; it was agreeable to the revealed will of God,
which requires that all in their places should lay
out themselves for the advancement of religion and
the service of God, though, it seems, the secret
will was otherwise that David should not do this.
It was Christ’s prerogative always to speak the
mind of God, which he perfectly knew; other pro¬
phets spake it only when the spirit of prophecy
was up^rn them; but if in any thing they mistook,
(as Samuel, 1 Sam. 16. 6. and Nathan here,) God
soon rectified the mistake.
4. And it came to pass that night, that
the word of the Lord came unto Nathan,
saying, 5. Go and tell my servant David,
Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me a
house for me to dwell in ? 6. Whereas I
have not dwelt in any house since the time
that I brought up the children of Israel out
of Egypt even to this day, but have walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7. In all the
places wherein I have walked with all
the children of Israel, spake I a word with
any ot the tribes of Israel, whom I com¬
manded to feed my people Israel, saying,
Why build ye not me a house of cedar? 8.
Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my
servant David, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, I took thee from the sheep-cote, from
following the sheep, to be ruler over my
people, over Israel : 9. And I was with
thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have
cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and
have made thee a great name, like unto the
name of the great men that are in the earth.
(10. Moreover, I will appoint a place for
my people Israel, and will plant them, that
they may dwell in a place of their own, and
move no more ; neither shall the children of
wickedness afflict them any more, as before¬
time, 11. And as since the time that I com-
II. SAMUEL. VII.
385
mancled judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine
enemies.) Also the Lord telleth thee, that
he will make thee a house. 12. And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers, I will setup thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom. 1 3. He
shall build a house for my name, and I will
stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14. 1 will be his father, and lie shall be my
son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten
him with the rod of men, and with the
stripes of the children of men : 15. But my
mercy shall not depart away from him, as I
took it from Saul, whom I put away before
thee. 16. And thine house and thy king¬
dom shall be established for ever before thee :
thy throne shall be established for ever. 1 7.
According to all these words, and according
to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto
David.
We have here a full revelation of God’s favour to
David, and the kind intentions of that favour; the
notices and assurances of which, God sent him by
Nathan the prophet, whom he intrusted to deliver
this long message to him. The design of it is to
take him off from his purpose of building the tem¬
ple, and was therefore sent, 1. By the same hand
that had given him encouragement to do it: lest, if
it had been sent by any other, Nathan should have
been despised and insulted, and David should have
been perplexed, lying encouraged by one prophet,
and discouraged by another. 2. The same night,
that Nathan might not continue long in an error,
nor David have his head any further filled with
thoughts of that which he must never bring to pass.
God might have said this to David himself imme¬
diately, but he chose to send it by Nathan, to sup-
Eort the honour of his prophets, and to preserve in
►avid a regard to them: though he be the head,
they must be the eyes by which he must see the
visions of the Almighty, and the tongue by which
he must hear the word of God. He that delivered
this long message to Nathan, assisted his memory
to retain it, that he might deliver it fully, (he being
resolved to deliver it faithfully,) as he received it
of the Lord.
Now in this message we have,
I. David’s purpose to build God a house super¬
seded. God took notice of that purpose, for he
knows what is in man; and he was well pleased with
it, as appears, 1 Kings 8. 18, Thou didst well that
it was in thine heart; yet he forbade him to go on
with his purpose, v. 5, “ Shalt thou build me a
house? No, thou shalt not ,” as it is explained in
the parallel place, 1 Chron. 17. 4. “There is other
work appointed for thee to do, which must be done
first.” David is a man of war, and he must enlarge
the borders of Israel, by carrying on their conquests.
David is a sweet psalmist, and he must prepare
psalms for the use of the temple when it is built,
and settle the courses of the Levites; but his son’s
genius will better suit for building the house, and
he will have a better treasure to bear the charge of
it, and therefore let it be reserved for him to do.
As evert; man hath received the gift, to let him
minister.
The building of a temple was to be a work of
time, and preparation made for it; but it was a thino-
Vol. ii.— 3 C
that had never been spoken of till now. God tells
him, 1. That hitherto lie never had had a house
built for him; ( v . 6.) a tabernacle had served hi¬
therto, and it might serve a while longer. God
values not outward pomp in his service; his pre¬
sence was as surely with his people when the ark
was in a tent, as when it was in a temple; David
was uneasy that the ark was in curtains, (a mean
and moveable habitation,) but God never complain¬
ed of it as any uneasiness to him. He did not dwell,
but walk, and yet fainted not, nor was weary.
Christ, like the ark, when here on earth, walked
in a tent and tabernacle, for he went about doing
good, and dwelt not in any house of his own, till he
ascended on high, to the mansions above, in his Fa¬
ther’s house, and there he sat down. The church,
like the ark, in this world, is ambulatory, dwells in
a tent, because its present state is both pastoral and
military; its continuing city is to ccme. David, in
his Psalms, often calls the tabernacle a temple, (as
Ps. 5. 7.-27. 4.-29. 9.-65. 4.— 138. 2.) because
it answered the intention of a temple, though it was
made but cf curtains: wise and good men value not
the show, while they have the substance. David
perhaps had more true devotion, and sweeter com¬
munion with God, in a house of curtains, than any
of his successors in the house of ced m. 2. That he
had never given any orders or directions, or the
least intimation, to any of the scepties of Israel,
that is, to any of the judges, 1 Chron. 17. 6. (for
rulers are called scefitres, Ezek. 19. 14. the great
Ruler is called so, Numb. 24. 17.) concerning the
building of the temple, v. 7. That worship only is
acceptable, which is instituted; why should David
therefore design what God never ordained ? Let
him wait for a warrant, and then let him do it.
Better a tent of God’s appointing, than a temfile of
his own inventing.
II. David is reminded of the great things God
had done for him, to let him know that he was a
favourite of Heaven, though he had not the favour
to be employed in this service: as also that God was
not indebted to him for his good intentions; but,
whatever he did for God’s honour, God was before¬
hand with him, v. 8. 9. 1. He had raised him from
a very mean and low condition: he took him from
the sheefi-cote. It is good for those who are come
to great preferment, to be often reminded of their
small beginnings, that they may always be humble
and thankful. 2. He had given him success and
victory over his enemies; ( v . 9.) “I was with thee
whithersoever thou wentest, to protect thee when
pursued, to prosper thee when pursuing; I have cut
off all thine enemies, that stood in the way of thine
advancement and settlement.” 3. He had crowned
him not only with power and dominion in Israel, but
with honour and reputation among the nations about,
I have made thee a great name. He was become
famous for his courage, conduct, and great achieve¬
ments, and was more talked of than any of the great
men of his day. A great name is what they who
have, have great reason to be thankful for, and may
improve to good purposes; but what they that have
not, have no reason to be ambitious of: a good name
is more desirable. A man may pass through the
world very obscurely, and yet very comfortably.
III. A happy establishment is promised to God’s
Israel, v. 10, 11. This comes in in a parenthesis,
before the promises made to David himself, to let
him understand, that what God designed to do for
him, was for Israel’s sake, that they might be hap¬
py under his administration, and to give him the
satisfaction of foreseeing peace upon Israel, when
it was promised him that he should see his children’s
children, Ps. 128. 6. A good king cannot think
himself happy unless his kingdom be so. The pro¬
mises that follow, relate to his family and posterity,
336
11. SAMUEL, VII.
these, therefore, which speak of the settlement of
Israel, intend the happiness of his own reign. Two
tilings are promised. 1. A quiet place; 1 will a/i-
fioint a place for my people Israel. It was appoint¬
ed long ago, yet they were disappointed, but now
that appointment should be made good. Canaan
should oe clearly their own, without any ejection or
molestation. 2." A quiet enjoyment of that place;
the children of wickedness, meaning especially the
Philistines, who had been so long a plague to them,
shall not afflict them any more : but, as in the time
that I caused judges to be over my people Israel, I
cause thee to rest from all thine enemies; so v. 11. [
may be read; th it is, “ I will continue and complete
that rest; the land shall rest from war, as it did
under the judges. ”
IV. Blessings arc entailed upon the family and
posterity of David. David had purposed to build
God a house, and, in recjuital, God promises to build
him a house, v. 11. Whatever we do for God, or
sincerely design to do, though Providence prevents
our doing it, we shall in no wise lose our reward.
He had promised to make him a name, v. 9. here
he promises to make him a house, which should
bear up that name. It would be a great satisfaction
to David, while he lived, to have the inviolable as¬
surance of a divine promise, that his family should
flourish when he is gone. Next to the happiness of
our souls, and the church of God, we would desire
the happiness of our seed, that those who come of
us, may be praising God on earth, when we are
praising him in heaven.
1. Some of these promises relate to Solomon, his
immediate successor, and to the royal line of Judah.
(1.) That God would advance him to the throne.
Those words, when thy days be fulfilled, and thou
shalt sleep with thy jathers, intimate that David
himself should come to his grave in peace; and then
I will set up thy. seed. This favour was so much
the greater, because it was more than God had done
for Moses, or Joshua, or any of the judges, whom
he called to feed his people! David’s government
was the first that was entailed; for the promise
made to Christ, of the kingdom, was to reach to his
spiritual seed: if children, then heirs. (2.) That 'he
would settle him in the throne. I will establish his
kingdom, v. 12. The throne of his kingdom, v. 13.
His title shall be clear and uncontested, his interest
confirmed, and his administration steady. 3. That
he would employ him in that good work of building ;
the temple, which David had only the satisfaction
of designing. He shall build a house for my name, \
v. 13. The work shall be done, though David
shall not have the doing of it. (4.) That he would
take him into the covenant of adoption; ( v . 14, 15.) '
I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son. We
need no more to make us and ours happy, than
to have God to be a Father to us and them: and all 1
those to whom God is a Father, he by his grace
makes his sons, by giving them the disposition of
children. If he be a careful, tender, bountiful Fa¬
ther to us, we must be obedient, tractable, dutiful
children to him. The promise here speaks as unto
sons. [1.] That his Father would correct him, when
there was occasion; for what son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not? Afflictions are an article
of the covenant, and are not only consistent with,
but flow from, God’s Fatherly love. “ If he com¬
mit iniquity ,” (as it proved he did, 1 Kings 11. 1.)
“ I will chasten him to bring him to repentance; but
it shall be with the rod of men, such a rod as men
may wield; I will not plead against him with the
great power of a God,” Job 23. 6. Or rather, such
a rod as men may bear. “ I will consider his frame,
and correct him with all possible tenderness and
■compassion, when there is need, and no more than
there is need of; it shall be with the stripes, the
touches,” (so the word is,) “of the children of men ;
not a stroke, or wound, but a gentle touch.'’ [2.]
That yet he would not disinherit him; ( v . 15.) My
mercy (and that is the inheritance of sons) shall not
depart from him. The revolt of the ten tribes from
the house of David was their correction for iniquity,
but the constant adherence of the other two to that
family, which was a competent support of the royal
dignity, perpetuated the mercy of G< d to the seed
of David, according to this promise; though that fa¬
mily was cut short, yet it was not cut off, as the
house of Saul was. Never any other family swayed
the sceptre of Judah, than that of David. This is
that covenant of royalty celebrated Ps. 89. 3, 8cc.
as typical of the covenant of redemption and g> ace.
2. Others of them relate to Christ, who is often
called David, and the Son of David: that sen of
David to whom these promises pointed, and in
whom they had their full accomplishment. He was
of the seed of David, Acts 13. 23. To him God
gave the throne of his father David, Luke 1. 32.
All power, both in heaven and earth, and authority
to execute judgment. He was to build the gospels
temple, a house for God’s name, Zech. 6. 12, 13,
That premise, I will be his Father, and he shall be
my Son, is expressly applied to Christ by the apos¬
tle, Heb. 1. 5. But the establishing of his heust,
and his throne, and his kingdom for ever, {y. 13.)
and again, and a third time, (u. 16 .) for ever, can
be applied to no other than Christ and his kingdom ;
David’s house and kingdom are long since c( me to
an end, it is only the Messiah’s kingdom that is
everlasting, and of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. The supposition
of committing iniquity cannot indeed be applied to
the Messiah himself, but it is applicable (and very
comfortably) to his spiritual seed; true believers
have their infirmities, for which they may expect
to be corrected, but they shall not be cast off
Every transgression in the covenant will not throw
us out of covenant.
Now, (1.) This message Nathan faithfully deli
vered to David, v. 17. Though, in forbidding ITm
to build the temple, he contradicted his own words,
yet he was not backward to do it, when he was bet¬
ter informed concerning the mind of God. (2.)
These promises God faithfully performed to David,
and his seed, in due time. Though David came
short cf making good his purpose to build God’s
hr use, yet he did not come short of making good
his promise to build him a house. Such is the tenor
of the covenant we are under; though there aie
many failures in our performances, there are nc ne
in God’s.
18. Then went king David in, and sat
i before the Lord; and he said, Who am I,
O Lord God ? and what is my house, that
1 thou hast brought me hitherto? 19. And
this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O
Lord God ; but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant’s house for a great while to come.
And is this the manner of man, O Lord
God? 20. And what can David say more
unto thee ? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. 21. For thy word’s sake, and ac¬
cording to thine own heart, hast thou done
all these great things, to make thy servant
know them. 22. Wherefore thou art great,
O Lord God : for there is none like thee,
neither is there any God besides thee, ac¬
cording to all that we have heard with our
387
II. SAMUEL, VII.
ears. 23. And what one nation in the earth !
ts like thy people, even like Israel, whom
God went to redeem for a people to himself,
and to make him a name, and to do for you
great things and terrible, for thy land, before
thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee
from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
24. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy
people Israel, to be a people unto thee for
ever : and thou, Lord, art become their
God. 25. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou hast spoken concerning thy ser¬
vant, and concerning his house, establish it
forever, and do as thou hast said. 26. And
let thy name be magnified for ever, saying,
The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel :
and let the house of thy servant David be
established before thee. 27. For thou, O
Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed
to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a
house: therefore hath thy servant found in
his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. 28.
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God,
and thy words be true, and thou hast pro¬
mised this goodness unto thy servant : 29.
Therefore now let it please thee to bless the
house of thy servant, that it may continue
for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord
God, hast spoken it; and with thy blessing
let the house of thy servant be blessed for
ever.
We have here the solemn address David made to
God, in answer to the gracious message God had
sent him. We are not told what he said to Nathan;
no doubt he received him very kindly and respect¬
fully, as his messenger, but his answer to God he
took himself, and did not send by Nathan. When
ministers deliver God’s message to us, it is not to
them, but to God, that our hearts must reply; he
understands the language of the heart, and to him
we may come boldly. David had no sooner received
the message, than while the impressions of it were
fresh, he retired to return an answer. Observe,
I. The place he retired to; he went in before the
Lord, that is, into the tabernacle where the ark
was, which was the token of God’s presence; be¬
fore that he presented himself. God’s will now is,
that men pray every where; but wherever we pray,
we must set ourselves as before the Lord, and set 1
him before us.
II. The posture he put himself into; he sat before
the Lord. 1. It denotes the posture of his body. !
Kneeling or standing is certainly the most proper !
gesture to be used in prayer; but the Jews, from
tliis instancf , say, “ It was allowed to the kings of
the house of David to sit in the temple, and to no
other.” But this will by no means justify the ordi¬
nary use of that gesture in prayer, whatever may
be allowed in a case of necessity. David went in, I
and took his place before the Lord, so it may be
read ; but when he prayed, he stood up ns the man¬
ner was. Or, he went in and continued before the
Lord; staid some time silently meditating, before
he began his prayer, and then remained longer than
usual in the tabernacle. Or, 2. It may denote the j
frame of his spirit at this time. He went in and
•composed himself before the Lord; thus we shculd |
do in all our approaches to God; 0 Clod, my hean
is fixed, my heart is fixed.
III. The prayer itself, which is full of the breath
ings ol pious and devout affection toward God.
1. He speaks very1 humbly of himself, and his
own merits. So he btgins s one astonished. Who
am I, 0 Lord Clod, and what is my house? v. 18.
God had reminded him of the meanness of his ori¬
ginal, (u. 8.) and he subscribed to it; he had low
thoughts, (1.) Of his personal merits, ll'ho am I ?
He was, upon all accounts, a very considerable and
valuable man. His endowments, both of body and
mind, were extraordinary. His gifts and gi. _ s
were eminent. He was a man of honour, su ccss,
and usefulness, the dailingof his country, and the
dread of its enemies; yet he says, when he comes
to speak of himself before God, “ Who am I? A
man not worth taking notice of.” (2.) Of the merits
of his family. What is my house? His house was
of the royal tribe, and descended from the prince of
that tribe; he was allied to the best families of the
country, and yet, like Gideon, thinks his family
poor in Judah, and himself the least in his father's
house, .Tudg. 6. 15. David thus humbled himself,
when S ml’s daughter was mentioned to him for a
wife, (1 Sam. 18. 18.) but now with much more rea¬
son. Note, It very well becomes the greatest and
best of men, even in the midst of the highest ad¬
vancements, to have low and mean thoughts of them¬
selves. For the greatest of men are worms, the best
are sinners, and those that are highest advanced,
have nothing but what they have received; “ JVho
am I, that thou hast brought me hitherto; brought
me to the kingdom, and to a settlement in it, and
rest from all mine enemies?” It intimates that he
could not have reached this himself by his own
management, if God had not brought him to it. All
our attainments must be looked upon as God’s
vouchsafements.
2. He speaks very highly and honourably of God’s
favours to him. (1.) In what he had done for him.
“ Thou hast brought me hitherto, to this great dig-
nitv and dominb n. Hitherto thou hast helped me.”
Though we should be left at uncertainty concern¬
ing further mercy, we have great reason to be
thankful for that which has been done for us hither¬
to, Acts 26. 22. (2.) In what he had yet further
promised him. God had done great things for him
already, and yet, as if those had been nothing, he
had promised to do much more, v. 19. Note, What
God has laid out upon his people is much, but what
he has laid up for them is infinitely more, Ps. 31. 19.
The present graces and comforts of the saints are
invaluable gifts; and yet, as if these were too little
for God to bestow upon his children, he has spoken
concerning them for a great while to come, even as
far as eternity itself reaches. Of this we must own,
as David here, [1.] That it is far beyond what we
could expect. Is this the manner of men ? That is,
First, Can man expect to be so dealt with by his
Maker? Is this the law of Adam ? Note, Consider¬
ing what the character and condition of men are, it
is very surprising and amazing that God should deal
with them as he does. Man is a mean creature,
and therefore under a law of distance; unprofitable
to God, and therefore under a law of disesteem and
disregard; guilty and obnoxious, and therefore un¬
der a law of death and damnation. But how unlike
are God’s dealings with man to this law of Adam!
He is brought near to God, purchased at a high rate ;
taken into covenant and communion with God;
could this ever have been thought of? Secondly,
Do men usually deal thus one with another? No,
the way of our God is f ir above the manner of men.
Though he be high, he has respect to the lowlv;
and is this the manner of men? Though he is of¬
fended by us, he beseeches us to be reconciled,
383
IT. SAMUEL, VII.
waits to be gracious, multiplies his pardons; and is
this the manner of men? Some give another sense
of this, reading it thus: And this is the law of man,
the Lord Jehovah: that is, “This promise of one
whose kingdom shall be established for ever, must
be understood of one that is a man, and yet the Lord
Jehovah, this must be the law of such a one. A
Messiah from my loins must be man, but, reign¬
ing for ever, must be God.” [2.] That beyond
this, there is nothing we can desire. “ And what
'an David saiy more unto thee? v. 20. What can
1 ask, or wish for more? Thou, Lord, knowestthy
servant, knowest what will make me happy, and
what thou hast prom sed is enough to do so.” I he
promise of Christ includes all ; if that man, the
Lord God, be ours, what can we ask, or think of,
more? Eph. 3. 20. The promises ot the co\enant
of grace are framed by him that knows us, and
therefore knows how to adapt them to every branch
of our necessity. He knows us better than we
know ourselves; and therefore let us be satisfied
with the provision he has made for us; w hat .can we
say more for ourselves in our prayers, than he has
said for us in his promises?
3. He ascribes all to tire free grace of God; ( [v .
21. ) both the great things he had done t r him, and
the great things he had made known to him. All
was, (1.) For his word’s sake, that is, for the sake
of Christ the eternal Word; it is all owing to his
merit. Or, “ That thou mayest magnify thy word
of promise above all thy name, in making :t the stay
and store-house of thy people.” (2. ) A> cording to
thy own heart, thy gracious counsels and designs,
ex mero motu — of thy own good pleasure-, Rven so.
Father, because it seemed good in thine eyes. All
that God does for his people in his providences, and
secures to them in his promises, is for his pleasure,
and for his praise; the pleasure of his will, and the
praise of his word.
4. Hp adores the greatness and glory of God; (v.
22. ) Thou art great, 0 Lord God, for there is none
like thee. God’s gracious condescension to him, and
the honour he had put upon him, did not at all abate
his awful veneration for the Divine Majesty ; for the
nearer any are brought to God, the more they see
of his glory; and the dearer we are in his eyes, the
greater he should be in ours. And this we acknow¬
ledge concerning God, that there is no Being like
nim, nor any God beside him; and that what we
have seen with our eyes of his power and goodness,
is according to all we have heard with our ears, and
the one half not told us.
5. He expresses a great esteem for the Israel of
God, v. 23, 24. As there were none among the
gods to be compared with Jehovah, so none, among
the nations to be compared with Israel; considering,
(1.) The works he had done for them. He went
to redeem them, applied himself to it as a great
work, went about it w ith SGlciroufy, Llohun halccu,
dii iverunt — The gods went. As if there were the
same consultation and concurrence of all the persons
in the blessed Trinity, about the work of redemp¬
tion, that there was about the work of creation,
when God said, Let us make man. Whom they
that were sent o f God, went to redeem; so the Chal¬
dee, meaning, I suppose, Moses and Aaron. The
redemption of Israel, as described here, was typical
of our redemption by Christ, in that, [1.] I hey
were redeemed from the nations and their gods; so
are we from all iniquity, and all conformity to this
present world; Christ came to save his people from
their sins. [2.] They were redeemed to be a peo¬
ple unto God, purified and appropriated to himself,
that he might make himself a great name, and do
for them great things; the honour of God, and the
eternal happiness of the saints, are the two things
aimed at in then- redemption. (2.) The covenant
he had made with them, v. 24. It was, [1.] Mu
tual; “ They to be a people to thee, and thou to be
a God to them; all their interests consecrated to
thee, and all thine attributes engaged for them.”
[2.] Immutable; “ Thou hast confirmed them.”
He that makes the covenant, makes it sure, and
will make it good.
6. He concludes with humble petitions to God.
(1.) He grounds his petitions upon the message
which God had sent him; ( v . 27.) Thou hast re¬
vealed this to thy servant; that is, “ Thou hast of
thine own good will given me the promise, that thou
wilt build me a house, else I could never have found
in my heart to pray such a prayer as this; I durst
not have asked such great things, if I had not been
directed and encouraged by thy promise to ask
them: they are indeed too great for me to beg, but
not too great for thee to give. Thy servant haj
found in his heart to pray this prayer;” so it is in
the original, and the Septuagint. Many, when they
go to pray, have their hearts to seek, but David’s
heart was found, that is, it was fixed; gathered in
from its wanderings, and entirely engaged to the
duty, and employed in it. That prayer which is
found in the tongue only, will not please God; it
must be found in the heart; that must be lifted up
and poured out before God. My son, give God thy
heart. (2.) He builds h s faith, and hopes to speed,
upon the fidelity of God’s promise, v. 28. Thou
art that God; thou art he, even that God; the Lord
of hosts, and God of Israel; or, That God whose
words are true, God whom one mat depend upon;
and that thou hast promised this goodness unto thy
servant, which I am therefore bold to pray for.
(3.) Thence he fetches the matter of his prayer,
and refers himself to that, as the guide of his
prayers.
[1.] He prays for the performance 'f his pro¬
mise; (to. 25.) “ Let the word be made good to me,
on which thou hast caused me to hope, (Ps. 119. 49.)
and do as thou hast said; I desire no more, and I
expect no less; so full is the promise, and so firm.”
Thus we must turn God’s promises into prayers,
and then they shall be turned into performances;
for, with God, saying and dfiing are not two things,
as they often are with men; God will do as he hath
said.
[2.] He prays for the glorifying of God’s name-
(v. 26.) Let thy name be magnified fir ever; tin?
ought to be the summary and centre of all on r pray¬
ers, the Alpha and the Omega of them; begin with
Hallowed be thy name, and end with Thine is the
glory for ever. “ Whether I be magnified or no,
let thy name be magnified.” And he reckons that
nothing magnifies 'God’s name more th n this, to
sav, with suitable affections, The Lord of hosts is
the God over Israel. This bespeaks the God of Is¬
rael gloriously great, that he is the Lord of hosts;
and lli.s bespeaks the Lord of Loss gn . h good,
that he is God over Israel; in both, let his name be
magnified for ever: let all the creatures, and all the
churches, give him the glory of these two. David
desired the performance of God’s promise for the
honour, not of his own name but of God’s. Thus
the Son of David prayed, Father, glorify thy name;
(John 12. 28. — 17. 1.) Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
man also glorify thee.
[3.] He prays for his house, for to that the pro
mise has special reference: First, That it might be
happy; (v. 29.) Let it. please thee to bless the house
of thy servant; and again, with thy Messing, let the
house Of the se—eant be truly and eternally blessed.
Thos- whom thou blessest are blessed indeed. The
care of good men is very much concerning their fa¬
milies; and the best entail on their families is that
of the blessing of God. . The repetition of this re¬
quest is no)t a vain repetition, but expressive of the
389
II. SAMUEL, VIII.
value he had of the divine blessing, and his earnest
desire of it, as all in all to the happiness of his family.
Secondly, That the happiness of it might remain.
Let it be established before thee, v. 26. Let it con¬
tinue for ever before thee, v. 29. He prays, 1.
That the entail of the crown might not be cut off,
bat remain in his family; that none of his might
ever forfeit it, but that they might walk before God,
and that would be their establishment. 2. That his
kingdom might ha\ e its perfection and perpetuity
in the kingdom of the Messiah. When Christ for
ever sat down on the right hand of God, (Heb. 10.
12.) and received all possible assurance that his
seed and throne shall be as the days of heaven, this
prayer of David the son of Jesse for his seed was
abundantly answered, that it might continue before
God for ever. See Ps. 72. 17. The perpetuity of
the Messiah’s kingdom is the desire av.d faith of all
good people.
CHAP. VIII.
David having sought first the kingdom of God and the righ¬
teousness thereof, settling the ark as soon as he was him¬
self well settled, we are here told how all things were
added to him. Here is an account, I. Of his conquests.
He triumphed, 1. Over the Philistines, v. 1. 2. Over
the Moabites, v. 2. 3. Over the king of Zobah, v. 3, 4.
4. Over the Syrians, v. 5 . . 8, 13. 5. Over the Edomites,
v. 14. II. Of the presents that were brought him, and
the wealth he got from the nations he subdued, which he
dedicated to God, v. 9 . . 12. III. Of his court; the ad¬
ministration of his government, (v. 15.) and his chief of¬
ficers, v. 16 . . 18. This gives us a general idea of the
prosperity of David’s reign.
1 . AND after this it came to pass, that
j. Jl David smote the Philistines, and
subdued them: and ‘David took Metheg-
ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
2. And he smote Moab, and measured them
with a line, casting them down to the ground ;
even with two lines measured lie to put to
death, and with one full line to keep alive :
and so the Moabites became David’s ser¬
vants, and brought gifts. 3. David smote
also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of
Zobah, as he went to recover his border at
the river Euphrates. 4. And David took
from him a thousand chariots , and seven
hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand
footmen: and David houghed all the cha¬
riot horses , but reserved of them for a hun¬
dred chariots. 5. And when the Syrians
of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer
king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians
two and twenty thousand men. 6. Then
David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus:
and the Syrians became servants to David,
and brought gifts. And the Lord preser¬
ved David whithersoever he went. 7. And
David took the shields of gold that were on
the servants of Hadadezer, and brought
them to Jerusalem. 8. And from Betah,
and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer,
king David took exceeding much brass.
God had given David rest from all his enemies
that opposed him and made head against him; and
he, having made a good use of that rest, lias now
'■•cm mission given him to make war upon them, and ii
to act offensively for the avenging of Israel’s quar¬
rels and the recovery of their rights, for as yet they
were not in full possession of that country, which
by the promise of God they were entitled to.
I. He quite subdued the Philistines, v. 1. They
'had attacked him when they thought him weak,
( ch . 5. 17.) and went by the worse then; but when
he found himself strong, he attacked them, and
made himself master of their country. They had
long been vexatious and oppressive to Israel; Saul
got no ground against them, but David completed
Israel’s deliverance, which Samson had begun long
before, Judg. 13. 5. Metheg-ammah was Gafh ,
(the chief and royal city of the Philistines,) and the
towns belonging to it, among which there was a
constant garrison kept by the Philistines on the hill
Ammah, {ch. 2. 24.) which was Metheg, a bridle
(so it signifies) cr curb upon the people of Israel,
this David took out of their hand, and used it as a
curb upon them. Thus when the strong man is
disarmed, the armour wherein he trusted, is taken
from him, and used against him, Luke 11. 22. And
after the long and frequent struggles which the
saints have had with the powers of darkness, like
Israel with the Philistines, the Son of David shall
tread them all under their feet, and make the sain'*
more than concjw rors.
II. He smote the Moabites, and made them
tributaries to Israel, v. 2. He divided the country
into three parts; two of which he destroyed, casting
down the strong holds, and putting all to the sword;
the third part he spared, to till the ground, and be
servants to Israel. Dr. Lightfoot says, he laid
them on the ground, and measured them witn a
cord, who should be slain, and who should live, and
this is called meting out the valley of Succoth, Ps.
60. 6. The Jews say, he used this severity with
the Moabites, because that they had sla:n his pa¬
rents, and brethren, whom he put under the pro¬
tection of the king of Moab during his exile, 1 Sam.
22. 3, 4. He did it in justice, because they had
been, and in policy, because, if left in th.eir strength,
they still would have been, dangerous enemies to the
Israel of God. But observe, though it was neces¬
sary that two-thirds should be cut off, yet the line
that was to keep alive, though it was but one, is
ordered to be a full line. Be sure to give that
length enough; let the line of mercy be stretched to
the utmost, in favorem vitae — so as to favour life:
acts of indemnity must be construed so as to enlai ge
the favour. Now Balaam’s prophecy was fulfilled,
A sceptre shall arise out of Israel, and shall smite the
corners of Moab, to the utmost of which the fatal
line extended, Numb. 24-. 17. The Moabites con¬
tinued tributaries to Israel till after the death of
Ahab, (2 Kings 3. 4, 5.) then they rebelled and
were ne' er reduced.
III. He smote the Syrians, or Aramites: of them
there were two distinct kingdoms, as we find them
spoken of in the title of the 60th Psalm, Aram
Naharaim, Syria of the rivers, whose head city
was Damascus, (famed for its rivers, 2 Kings, 5.
12.) and Aram Zobah, which joined to it, but ex¬
tended to Euphrates. These were the two north¬
ern crowns. 1. David began with the Syrians of
Zobah, v. 3, 4. As he went to settle his border at
the river Euphrates, (for so far the land conveyed
by the divine grant to Abraham and his seed did
extend, Gen. 15. 18.) the king of Zobah opposed
him, being himself possessed of these countries
which belonged to Israel; but David routed his
forces, and took his chariots and horsemen. T'h-
horsemen are here said to be seven hundred, bur
1 Chren. 18. 4. seven thousand. If they divided
their horse bv ten in a company, as it is probable
they did, the captains and companies were 700, but
the horsemen were 7000. David heughed the
.390
II. SAMU
horses, cut the sine \ s of their hams, and so lamed |
them, and made them unserviceable, at least m j
war, God having forbidden them to multiply horses, j
Deut. 17. 16. David reserved only one hundred !
chariots out of one thousand for his own use; for he
placed his strength, not in chariots or horses, but
in the living God, (Ps 20. 7.) and wrote it from his
own observation, that a horse is a vain thing- for
safety, Ps. 33. 16, 17. 2. The Syrians of Damas¬
cus coming in to the relief of the king of Zobah,
fell with him: 22,000 were slain in the field; (v. 5.)
so that it was easy for David to make himself mas¬
ter cf the country, and garrison it for himself, v. 6.
The enemies of God’s church, that think to secure
themselves, will prove, in the end, to ruin them¬
selves, by their confederacies with each other.
Associate yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces,
Isa. 8. 9.
In all these wars, (1.) David was protected. The
Lord preserved him whithersoever he went. It
seems, he went in person, and, in the cause of God
and Israel, jeoparded his own life in the high places
of the field; but God covered his head in the day of
battle, which he often speaks of, in his Psalm, to
the glory of God. (2.) He was enriched. He took
the shields of gold which the servants of Hadadezer
had in their custody, (y. 7.) and much brass from
several cities of Syria, (tn 8.) which he was entitled
to not only jure belli — by the uncontrollable right
of the longest sword, (“ Get it, and take it,”) but
by commission from heaven, and the ancient entail
of these countries on the seed of Abraham.
9. When Toi king of Hamath heard that
David had smitten all the host of Hadade¬
zer, 10. Then Toi sent Joram his son unto
king David, to salute him, and to bless him,
because he had fought against Hadadezer,
and smitten him, (for Hadadezer had wars
with Toi :) and Joram brought with him
vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and
vessels of brass; 11. Which also king Da¬
vid did dedicate unto the Lord, with the
silver and gold that he had dedicated of all
nations which he subdued ; 1 2. Of Syria, and
of Moab, and of the children of Ammon,
and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and
of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob,
king of Zobah. 13. And David gat him
a name when he returned from smiting of
the Syrians in the valley of Salt, being eigh¬
teen thousand men. 14. And he put gar¬
risons in Edom ; throughout all Edom put
he garrisons : and all they of Edom became
David’s servants. And the Lord preserved
David whithersoever he went.
Here is,
1. The court made to David by the king of Ha¬
math, who, it seems, was at this time at war with
the king of Zobah. He, hearing of David’s success
against his enemy, sent his own son ambassador to
him, {v. 9, 10.) to congratulate him on his victory,
to return him thanks for the favour lie had done
him, in breaking the power of one he was in fear of,
and to beg his friendship; thus he not only secured
hut strengthened himself. And David lost nothing
bv taking this little prince under nis protection, any
more than the old Romans did by the like policy;
f'r the wealth he had from the countries he con- |
quered b> way of spoil, he had trom this by way of 1
EL, VIII.
present or gratuity: Vessels of silver and gold. Bet¬
ter get by composition than by compulsion.
2. The offering David made to God of the spoils
of the nations, and all the rich things that were
brought him. He dedicated all to the Lord, v. 11,
12. This crowned all his victories, and made them
far to outshine Alexander’s, or Caesar’s; that thev
sought their own glory, but he aimed at the glory
of God. All the precious things he was master of,
were dedicated things; that is, they were designed
for the building of the temple; and a good omen it
was of kindness to the Gentiles in the fulness of
time, and of the making of God’s house a house of
prayer for all people, that the temple was built of
the spoils and presents of Gentile nations. In allu¬
sion to which, we find the kings of the earth bring¬
ing their glory and honour into the new Jerusalem,
Rev. 21. 24. Their gods of gold David burnt,
( ch . 5. 21.) but their vessels of gold he dedicated;
thus, in the conquest of a soul, by the grace of the
Son of David, what stands in opposition to God
must be destroyed, every lust mortified and cruci¬
fied, but what may glorify him must be dedicated,
and the property of it altered: even the merchan¬
dise and the hire must be holiness to the Lord, (Isa.
23. 18.) the gun consecrated to the Lord of the
whole earth, (Mic. 4. 13.) and then it is truly our
own, and th 4 most comfortably.
3. The reputation he got, in a particular manner,
by his victory over the Syrians, and their allies the
Edomites, who acted in conjunction with them; as
appears by comparing the title of the 60th Psalm,
which was penned on this occasion, with v. 13, he
gat him a name, for all that conduct and courage
which are the praise of a great and distinguished
general. Something extraordinary, it is likely,
there was in that action, which turned very much
to his honour, yet he is careful to transfer the ho¬
nour to God, as appears by the psalm he penned on
this occasion, v. 12. It is through God, that we do
valiantly.
4. His success against the Edomites; they all be¬
came David’s servants, v. 14. Now, and not till
now, Isaac’s blessing was accomplished, by which
Jacob was made Esau’s lord; (Gen. 27. 37..40. )
and the Edomites continued long tributaries to the
kings of Judah, as the Moabites were to the kings
of Israel, till, in Joram’s time, they revolted,
(2 Chron. 21. 8.) as Isaac had there foretold that
Esau should, in process of time, break the yoke
from off his neck. Thus David, by his conquests,
(1.) Secured peace to his son, that he might have
time to build the temple. And (2.) Procured
wealth for his son, that he might have wherewith
to build it. God employs his servants variously;
some in one employment, others in another; s< me
in the spiritual battles, others in the spiritual build¬
ings; and one prepares work for the other, that
God may have the glory of all. All Da' id’s victo¬
ries were typical of the success of the g< spei against
the kingdom of Satan, in which the Son of David
rode forth, conquering and to conquer, and he shall
reign, till he has brought down all opposing rule,
principality, and power: and he has, as David had,
( v . 2.) a line to kill, and a line to save; for the same
gospel is to some a savour of life unto life, to others
a savour of death unto death.
15. And David reigned over all Israel;
and David executed judgment and justice
unto all liis people. 16. And Joabthe son of
Zeruiah was over the host ; and Jehoshaphat
the son of Ahilnd teas recorder; 17. And
Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimeleoh
the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and
391
11. SAMUEL, DC.
Seraiah teas the scribe; 13. And Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cher-
ethites and the Pelethites; and David’s
sons were chief rulers.
David vrns not so engage? nis wars abroad, as
to neglect the administration ot the government at
home.
1. Hit care extended itself to all parts of his do¬
minion. He reigned overall Israel; (v. 15.) not
only he had a right to reign over all the tribes, but
he did so; they were all safe under his protection,
and shared in the fruits of his good government.
2. He did justice with an unbiassed unshaken
hand; he executed judgment unto all his people;
neither did wrong, nor denied or delayed right to
any. It bespeaks, (1.) His industry, and close ap¬
plication to business; also his easiness of access, and
readiness to admit all addresses and appeals made
to him. All his people, even the meanest, and
those too of the meanest tribes, were welcome
to his council-board. (2.) His impartiality and the
equity of his proceedings, in administering justice;
he never perverted justice for favour or affection,
nor had respect of persons, in judgment. Herein
he was a type of Christ, who was faithful and true,
and who doth in righteousness both judge and make
war, Rev. 19. 11. See Ps. 72. I, 2.
3. He kept good order, and good officers, in his
court. David being the first king that had an es¬
tablished government, (for Saul’s reign was short
and unsettled,) he had the modelling of the admin-
istr ition : in Saul’s time, we read of no other great
officer than Abner, that was captain of the host; but
David instituted more officers. Here are, (1.) Two
military officers; Joab that was general of the forces |
in the field, and Benaiah that was over the Chere-
thites and Pelethites, who were either the city
train-bands, archers and slingers, so the Chaldee,
or rather the life-guard, or standing force, that at¬
tended the king’s person; the pretorian band, the
militia. They were ready to do service at home, to
assist in the administering of justice, and to preserve
the public peace: we find them employed in pro¬
claiming Solomon, 1 Kings 1. 38. (2.) Two eccle- :
siastical officers: Zadok and Ahimelech were
priests, that is, they were most employed in the !
priests’ work under Abiathar, the high priest. (3.)
T wo civil officers; one that was recorder, or remem¬
brancer, to put the king in mind of' business in its
season; he was prime minister of state, yet not in¬
trusted with the custody of the king’s conscience,
as they say of our lord chancellor, but only of the
king’s memory; let the king be put in mind of busi¬
ness, and he would do it himself. Another that
was scribe, or secretary of state, that drew up pub¬
lic orders and despatches, and recorded judgments
given. Lastly, David’s sons, as they grew up to be
fit for business, were made chief rulers; they had
places of honour and trust assigned them, either in
the household, or in the camp, or in the courts of
justice, according as their genius led them. Thev
were chief about the king; (so it is explained,
1 Chron. 18. 17.) employed near him, that they
might be under his eye. Our Lord Jesus has ap¬
pointed officers in his kingdom, for his honour and
the good of the community; when he ascended on
high, he gave these gifts, (Eph. 4. 8. 11.) to every
man hi s work, Mark 13. 34. David made his sons
chief rulers; but all believers, Christ’s spiritual
seed, are better preferred, for they are made to our
God kings and priests. Rev. 1. 6.
CHAP. IX.
Th“ inly thing recorded in this chapter, is, the kindness
David showed to Jonathan’s seed for his sake. I. The
kind inquiry he made after the remains of the house ol
Sau1, and his discovery of Mephibosheth, v. 1 . . 4. li
The kind reception he gave to Mephibosheth, when hu
was brought to him. v. 5.. 8. Ill. The kind provision
he made for him and his, v. 9 . . 13.
L A ND David said, Is there yet any that
XjL is left of the house of Saul, that I
may show him kindness for Jonathan’s
sake ? 2. And there teas of the house of
Saul a servant whose name ivas Ziba : and
when tiiey had called him unto David, the
king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. 3. And the
king said, Is there not yet any of the house
of Saul, that i may show the kindness of
God unto him ? And Ziba said unto the
king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is
lame on his leet. 4. And the king said un¬
to him, Where is he ? And Ziba said unto
the king, Behold, he is in the house of
Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.
5. Then king David sent, and fetched him
out of the house of Machir the son of Am¬
miel, from Lo-debar. G. Now when Me¬
phibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of
Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his
face, and did reverence. And David said,
Mephibosheth ! And he answered, Behold
thy servant. 7. And David said unto him.
Fear not : for 1 will surely show thee kind¬
ness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will
restore thee all the land of Saul thy father;
and thou shalt eat bread at my table con¬
tinually. 8. And he bowed himself, and
said, What/s thy servant, that thou shouldest
look upon such a dead dog as I am?
Here is,
I. David’s inquiry after the remains of the ruined
house of Saul, v. 1. This was a great while aftei
his accession to the throne, for it should seeifi that
Mephibosheth, who was but five years old when
Saul died, had now a son born, v. 12. David had
too long forgotten his obligations to Jonathan, but
now, at length, they are brought to his mind. It is
good sometimes to bethink ourselves, whether there
be any promises or engagements that we have ne-
g'ected to make good; better do it late than ne' er.
The compendium which Paul gives us of the life of
David, is this, (Acts 13. 36.) that he served his ge-
neration according to the will of God, that is, "he
was a man that made it his business to do good;
witness this instance, where we may observe,
1. That he sought an opportunity to do good. He
might perhaps have satisfied his conscience with
the performance of his promise to Jonath n, if he
had been only ready, upon request or application
made to him bv any of his seed, to help and succour
them. But he does more, he inquires of those about
him first, (v. 1.) and when he met with a person
that was likely to inform him, asked him particu¬
larly, “ Is there any yet left of the house of Saul,
that I may show him kindness? v. 3. Is there any,
not onlv to whom I may do justice, (Numb. 5. 8.)
but to wlrm I may show kindness ?” Note, Good
men should seek onpnrfrmitics of doing good. The
liberal deviseth liberal things, Isa. 32. 8. For the
most proper objects of our kindness and charity are
392
II. SAMUEL, IX.
such as wi.l not he frequently met with without 'I
inquiry. The most necessitous are the least cla- !|
morous.
2. Those he inquired after, were the remains of
the house of Saul, to whom he would show kindness
for Jonathan’s sake; Is there any left of the house of
Saul? Sau: had a \ery numerous family, (1 Chron.
8. 33.) enoug i to replenish a country, and yet so
emptied, that none of it appeared; but it was come
to this inquiry, Is there any left? See how the pro- 1
vidence of God can empty full families; see how the !
sin of man will do it! Saul’s was a bloodv house, no I
marvel it was thus reduced, ch. 21. 1. But though
God visited the iniquity of the father upon the chil¬
dren, David would not. “ Is there any left that I
can show kindness to, not for Saul’s own sake, but
for Jonathan’s ?”
(1.) Saul was David’s sworn enemy, and yet he
would show kindness to his house with all his heart,
and was forward to do it. He does not say, “Is
there any left of the house of Saul, that I may find
some wav to take them off, and prevent them giv¬
ing disturbance to me or my successor.” It was
against Abimelech’s mind, that any one was left of
the house of Gideon, (Judg. 9. 5.) and against
Athaliah's mind, that any one was left of the seed
royal; (2 Chron. 22. 10, 11.) those were usurped
governments. David’s needed no such vile sup¬
ports; he was desirous to show kindness to the house
of Saul, not only because he trusted in God and
feared not what they could do unto him, but be¬
cause he was of a ch u'itable disposition, and forgave
what they had done to him. Note, We must evi¬
dence the sincerity of our forgiving those that have
been any way unjust or injurious to us, by being
ready, as we have opportunity, to show kindness
both to them and their’s. We must not only not
avenge oursehes upon them, but we must love them,
and do them good, (Matth. 5. 44.) and not be back¬
ward to do any office of los e and good-will to those
that have done us many an injury, (1 Pet. 3. 9.)
but contrariwise, blessing. This is the way to o er-
come evil, and to find mercy f >r ourselves and ours,
when we or they need it.
(2.) Jonathan was David’s a worn friend, and
therefore he would show kindness to his house.
This teaches us, [1.] To be mindful of our cove¬
nant. The kindness we have promised, we must
conscientiously perform, though it should not be
claimed. God is faithful to us, let us not be un¬
faithful to one another. [2.] To be mindful of our
friendships, our old friendships. Note, Kindness
to our friends, even to them and theirs, is one of
the laws of our holy religion. He that has friends,
must show himself friendly, Prov. 18. 24. If Pro¬
vidence has raised us, and our friends and their
families are brought low, yet we must not forget
former acquaintance, but rather look upon that as
giving us so much the fairer opportunity of being
kind to them; then our friends have most need of
us, and we are in the best capacity to help them.
Though there be not a solemn league of friendship
tying us to this constancy of love, yet there is a sa¬
cred law of friendship no less obliging, that to him
that is in misery, pity should be showed by his
friend; (Job 6. 14.) A brother is born for adversity.
Friendship obliges us to take cognizance of the fa¬
milies and surviving relations of those we have
loved, who, when they left us, left behind them
their bodies, their names, and their posterity, to be
kind to.
3. The kindness he promised to show them, he
calls the kindness of God; not only great kindness,
hut, (1.) Kindness, in pursuance of the covenant
that was between him and Jonathan, to which God
was a witness. See 1 Sam. 20. 42. (2.) Kindness,
after God’s example; for we must be mercifql as he l
1 is. 1. He spares those whom he has advantage
I against, and so must we. Jonathan’s request to
David was, (1 Sam. 20. 14.) “ Show me the kind¬
ness of the Lord, that I die not, and the same to mv
seed. ” The kindness of God is some gt eater in¬
stance of kindness than one can ordinarily expect
from men. (3. ) It is kindness done after a godly
sort, and with an eye to God, and his honour ancl
favour.
II. Information given him concerning Mephibo-
sheth, the son of Jonathan. Ziba was an. old i etainer
to Saul’s family, and knew the state of it; he is sent
for and examined, and acquaints the king that Jo¬
nathan’s son was living, but lame, v. 3. How he
came to be so, we read before, (ch. 4. 4.) and that
he lived obscure, probably, among his mother’s
relations in Lo-debar, in Gilead, on the other side
Jordan, where he was forgotten as a dead man out
of mind, but bore it the more easily, because he
could remember little of the honour he fell from.
III. The bringing of him to court. The king sent
(Ziba, it is likely) to bring him up to Jerusalem with
all convenient speed, v. 5. Thus he eased Machir
of his trouble, and, perhaps, recompensed him for
what he had laid out on Mephibosheth’s account.
This Machir appears to have been a very generous
free-hearted man, and to have entertained Mephi-
bosheth, not out of any disaffection to David, or his
government, but in compassion to the reduced son
of a prince, for afterward we find him kind to Da¬
vid himself, when he fled from Absalom; he is
named (ch. 17. 27.) among those that furnished the
king with what he wanted at Mahanaim; though
when David sent for Mephibosheth from him, he
little thought that the time would come, when he
himself would gladly be beholden to him: and per¬
haps Machir was then the more ready to help Da¬
vid, in recompense for his kindness to Mephibo¬
sheth; therefore we should be forward to give,
because we know not but we ourselves may some¬
time be in want; (Eccl. 11. 2.) And he that w atereth,
shall be watered also himself. Prov. 11. 25.
Now, 1. Mephibosheth presents himself to Dud
with all the respect that was owing to his character.
Lame as he was, he fell on his face, and did revt-
rence, v. 6. David had thus made his honours to
Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan, when he was next
to the throne; (1 Sam. 20, 41.) he bowed himself to
him three times; and now Mephibosheth, in like
manner, addresses him, when affairs are so com¬
pletely reversed. Those who, when they are in
inferior relations, show respect, when they come to
be advanced, shall have respect shown them.
2. David received him with all the kindness that
could be. (1.) He spoke to him as one surprised,
but pleased to see him. '‘Mephibosheth! Why, is
there such a man living ?” He remembered his
name, for it is probable that he was born about the
time of the intimacy between him and Jonathan.
2.) He bade him not be afraid. Fear not, v. 7.
t is probable that the sight of David put him into
some confusion: to free him from which, he assures
him that he sent for him, not out of any jealousy he
had of him, or with any bad design upon him, but
to show him kindness. Great men should not take
a pleasure in the timorous approaches of their infe¬
riors, (for the great God does not,) but should en¬
courage them. (3.) He gives him, by grant from
the crown, all the land of Saul his father, that is,
his paternal estate, which was forfeited by Jsh-bo
sheth’s rebellion, and added to his own revenue.
This was a real favour, and more than gi\ ing him a
kind word. True friendship will be generous. (4.)
Though he had thus given him a good estate, suf¬
ficient to maintain him, yet, for Jonathan’s sake,
(whom perhaps he saw some res-- v n e of in
i Mephibosheth’s face,) he will take him to be a
393
II. SAMUEL, X.
constant guest at his own table, where he will not
only be comfortably fed, but have company and
attendance suitable to his birth and quality. Though
Mephibosheth was lame and unsightly, and does
not appear to ha\ e any great fitness for business,
yet, for his good father’s sake, David will take him
to be one of his family.
3. Mephibosheth accepts this kindness with great
humility and self-abasement. He was none of those
that take every favour as a debt, and think every
thing too Ltt.e that their friends do for them; but,
on the contrary, speaks as one amazed at the grams
David made him; '( v . 8.) What is thy servant, that
thou shouldest look u/ion such a dead dog as I am ?
How does he vilify himself ! Though the son of a
prince, and the grandson of a king, yet, his family
being under guilt and wrath, and himself poor and
lame, he calls himself a dead dog before David.
Note, It is good to have the heart humble under
humbling providences: if, when Divine Providence
brings our condition down, divine grace brings our
spirits down with it, we shall be easy. And those
who thus humble themselves, shall be exalted.
How does he magnify David’s kindness! It had
been easy to lessen it, if he had been so disposed.
Had David restored him his father’s estate, it was
but giving him his own. Did he take him to his
table ? That was policy, that he might have an eye
upon him. But Mephibosheth thinks all kind, that
David said and- did, and himself less than the least
of his favours. See 1 Sam. 18. 18.
9. Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s
servant, and said unto him, I have given
unto thy master’s son all that pertained to
Saul, and to all his house. 10. Thou there¬
fore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall
till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in
the fruits , that thy master’s son may have
food to eat : but Mephibosheth, thy mas¬
ter’s son, shall eat bread always at my ta¬
ble. Now Ziba had fifteen sons, and twenty
servants. 11. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath
commanded his servant, so shall thy servant
do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king , he
shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s
sons. 12. And Mephibosheth had a young
son, whose name was Micah. And all that
dwelt in the house of Ziba ivete servants
unto Mephibosheth. 1 3. So Mephibosheth
dwelt in Jerusalem : for he did eat continu- !
ally at the king’s table ; and was lame on
both his feet.
The matter is here settled concerning Mephi¬
bosheth.
1. This grant of his father’s estate is confirmed
to him, and Ziba called to be a witness to it; [y. 9. )
and, it should seem, Saul had a very good estate,
for his father was a mighty man of substance;
(1 Sam. 9. 1.) and he had fields and vineyards to
bestow, 1 Sam. 22. 7. Be it ever so much, Mephi¬
bosheth is now master of it all.
2. The management of the estate is committed
to Ziba, who knew what it was, and how to make :
the most of it, whom having been his father’s ser¬
vant, he might confide in, and who, having a nume¬
rous family of sons and servants, had hands sufficient
to be employed about it, v. 10. Thus Mephibosheth
is made very easy, having a good estate without |
VOL. II. — 3 I)
care, and is in a fair way of being very rich; having
much coming in, and little occasion to spend, him
self being kept at David’s table. Yet he must have
food to eat beside his own bread, provisions for his
son and servants, and Ziba’s sons and servants
would come in for their share of his revenue; for
which reason, perhaps, their number is here men¬
tioned, fifteen sons and twenty servants, who would
require nearly all there was; for as goods are in¬
creased, they are increased that eat them, and what
good has the owner thereof, save the beholding of
them with his eyes ? Eccl. 5. 11. All that dwelt in
the house of Ziba, were servants of Mefihibosheth;
( y . 12.) that is, they all lived upon him, and made
a prey of his estate, under pretence of waiting on
him, and doing him service. The Jew's have a
saying, “He that multiplies servants, multiplies
thieves.” Ziba is now pleased, for he loves wealth,
and will have abundance: As the king has com¬
manded, so shall thy servant do; (y. 11.) let me
.alone with the estate: and as for Mephibosheth,”
(they seem to be Ziba’s words,) “if the king please,
he need not trouble t^e court, he shall eat at my ta¬
ble, and be as well treated as one of the king’s sons.”
But David will have him to his own table, and Me¬
phibosheth is as tfell pleased with his post, as Ziba
with his; how unfaithful Ziba was to him, we shall
find afterward, ch. 16. 3.
Now because David was a type of Christ, his
Lord and Son, his Root and Offspring, let his kind¬
ness to Mephibosheth serve to illustrate the kind¬
ness and love of God our Saviour toward fallen man,
which yet he was under no obligation to, as David
was to Jonathan. Man was convicted of rebellion
against God, and, like Saul’s house, under a sen¬
tence of rejection from him, was not only brought
low and impoverished, but k.rne and impotent,
made so by the fall: the son of God inquires after
this degenerate race, that inquired not after him;
comes to seek and save them. To those cf them
that humble themselves before him, and commit
themselves to him, he restores the forfeited inherit¬
ance, he entitles them to a better paradise than that
which Adam lost, and takes them into communion
with himself, sets them with his children at his
table, and feasts them with the dainties of heaven.
Lord, what is man, that thou shouldest thus mag¬
nify him!
CHAP. X.
This chapter frives us an account of a war David had with
the Ammonites, and the Syrians their allies, with the
occasion and success of it. 1. David sends a friendly
embassy to Hanun king of the Ammonites, v. 1, 2. II.
He, upon a base surmise that it was ill-intended, abused
David’s ambassadors, v. 3, 4. III. David resenting it,
(v. 5.) the Ammonites prepared for war against him, v.
6. IV.^David carries the war into their own country,
sends Joab and Abishai against them, who address
themselves to the battle with a great deal of conduct and
bravery, v. 7 . . 12. V. The Ammonites, ard th*e Syrians
their allies, were totally routed, v. 13, 14. VI. The forces
of the Syrians, which rallied again, were a second time
defeated, v. 15. . 19. Thus did David advance his own
reputation for gratitude, in returning kindnesses; and
justice, in repaying injuries.
1 . 4 ND it came to pass after this, that the
1 jL king of the children of Ammon died,
and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. 2.
Then said David, T w ill show kindness un¬
to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father
showed kindness unto me. And David sent
to comfort him, by the hand of his servants,
for his father. And David’s servants came
into the land of the children of Ammon. 3.
And the princes of the children of Ammon
394
II. SAMUEL, X.
said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou
that David doth honour thy lather, that he
hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not
David rather sent his servants unto thee to
search the city, and to spy it out, and to ovei-
throw it? 4 Wherefore Hanun took Da¬
vid’s servants, and shaved off the one half
of their beards, and cut off their garments
in the middle, even to their buttocks, and
sent them away. 5. When they told it un¬
to David, he sent to meet them, because the
men were greatly ashamed : and the king
said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be
grown, and then return.
Here is,
I. The great respect David paid to his neighbour,
the king of the Ammonites, v. 1, 2. 1. The inducer
ment to it was, some kindnesses he had formerly
received from Nahash, the deceased king. He
showed kindness to me, says David; (y. 2.) and there¬
fore (hav ing lately had satisfaction in showing kind¬
ness to Mephibosheth, for his father’s sake) he re¬
solves to show kindness to his son, and to keep up a
friendly correspondence with him. Thus the plea¬
sure of doing one kind and generous action, should
excite us to another. Nahash had been an enemy
to Israel, a cruel enemy, (1 Sam. 11. 2.) and yet
had showed kindness to David, perhaps only in con¬
tradiction to Saul, who was unkind to him: how¬
ever, if David received kindness, he is not nice in
examining the grounds and principles of it, but re¬
solves gratefully to return it. If a Pharisee give
alms in pride, though God will not reward it, yet
he that receives the alms, ought to return thanks
for it: God knows the heart, but we do not. 2.
The particular instance of respect, was, sending an
embassy to condole with him on his father’s death,
as is common among princes in alliance with each
other. David sent to comfort him. Note, It is a
comfort to children, when their parents are dead,
to find that their parents’ friends are theirs, and
that they intend to keep up acquaintance with them.
It is a comfort to mourners, to find that there are
those who mourn with them, are sensible of their
loss, and share with them in it. It is a comfort to
those who are honouring the memory of their de¬
ceased relations, to find there are others who like¬
wise honour it, and had a value for those they
valued.
II. The great affront which Hanun the king of
the Ammonites put upon David in his ambassadors.
1. He hearkened to the spiteful suggestions of his
princes, who insinuated that David’s ambassadors,
under pretence of being comforters, were sent as
spies, v. 3. False men are ready to think others as
false as themselves; and they that bear ill-will to
their neighbours, are resolved not to believe that
their neighbours bear any good-will to them. They
-vould not thus have imagined that David dissem-
(lh'd, but that they were conscious to themselves
• hat they could have dissembled, to serve a turn.
Ill-founded suspicion argues a bad mind. Bishop
Patrick’s note on this, is, that there is nothing so
well meant, but it may be ill-interpreted, and is
wont to be so by men who love nobody but them¬
selves. Men of the greatest honour and \ irtue must
not think it strange if they be thus misrepresented.
Charity thinketh no evil. 2. Entertaining this vile
suggestion, he basely abused David’s ambassadors,
like a man of a sordid villanous spirit, that was fit¬
ter to rake a kennel than to wear a crown. If he
h d anv reason to suspect that David’s messengers
came on a bad design, he had done prudently
enough to be upon the reserve with them, and to
dismiss them as soon as lie could; but it is plain he
only sought an occasion to put the utmost disgrace
he could upon them, out of an antipathy to their
king and country. They were themselves men of
honour, and much more so, as they represented the
prince that sent them; they and their reputation
were under the special protection of the law of na¬
tions; they put a confidence in the Ammonites, and
came among them unarmed; yet Hanun used *-hem
like rogues and vagabonds, and worse; shaved off
the one half of their beards, and cut off their gar¬
ments in the midst, to expose them to the contempt
and ridicule of his servants, that they might make
sport with them, and that they might seem vile.
III. David’s tender concern for his serv ants that
were thus abused. He sent to meet them, and to
let them know how much he interested himself in
their quarrel, and how soon he would avenge it, and
directed them to stay at Jericho, a private place,
where they would not have occasion to come into
company, till that half of their beards, which was
shaved off, was grown to such a length that the
other half might be decently cut to it, v. 5. The
Jews wore their beards long, reckoning it an honour
to appear aged and grave; and therefore it was not
fit that persons of their rank and figuie should ap¬
pear at court unlike their neighbours. Change of
raiment, it is likely, they had with them, to put on,
instead of those which were cut off; but the loss of
their beards would not be so soon repaired; yet, in
time, those would grow again, and all would be well.
Let us learn not to lay too much to heart unjust re¬
proaches; after a while, they Will wear off of them¬
selves, and turn only to the shame of their authors,
while the injured reputation in a little time grows
again, as these beards did. God will bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, therefore ivcjt pa¬
tiently for him, Ps. 37. 6, 7.
Some have thought that David, in the indignity
he received from the king of Ammon, was but well
enough served for courting and complimenting that
pagan prince, whom he knew to be an inveterate
enemy to Israel, and might now remember how,
when he would have put out the right eye of the
men of Jabesh-gilead, he designed that, as he did
this, for a reproach upon all Israel, 1 Sam. 11. 2.
What better usage could he expect from such a
spiteful family and people? Why should he covet
the friendship of a people, which Israel must have
so little to do with, as that an Ammonite might not
enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the
tenth generation, Deut. 23. 3.
6. And when the children of Ammon saw
that they stank before David, the children
of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of
Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoha, twenty
thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a
thousand men, and of lsh-tob twelve thou¬
sand men. 7 . And when David heard of
it , he sent Joab, and all the host of the
mighty men. 8. And the children of Am
mon came out, and put the battle in airay
at the entering in of the gate : and the Sy¬
rians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and lsh-tob,
and Maacah, were by themselves in the
field. 9. When Joab saw that the front of
the battle was against him before and be¬
hind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel,
and put them in array against the Syrians:
10. And the rest of the people he delivered
II. SAMUEL, X.
396
into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he
might put them in array against the children
of Ammon. 11. And he said, If the Syri¬
ans be too strong for me, then thou shalt
help me ; but if the children of Ammon be
too strong for thee, then I will come1 and
help ihee. 1 2. Be of good courage, and let
us play the men for our people, and for the
cities of our God : and the Lord do that
which seemeth him good. 13. And Joab
drew nigh, and the people that were with
him, unto the battle against the Syrians:
and they fled before him. 14. And when
the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians
were fled, then fled they also before Abishai,
and entered into the city. So Joab return¬
ed from the children of Ammon, and came
to Jerusalem.
<
Here is,
I. The preparation which the Ammonites make
for war, v. 6. They saw they had made themselves
very odious to David, and obnoxious to his just dis¬
pleasure; this they might easily foresee, when they
abused his ambassadors, which was no other than a
challenge to war, and a bold defiance of him. Yet,
it seems, they had not considered how unable they
were, with their thousands, to meet his; for, now
they found themselves an unequal match, and were
forced to hire forces of other nations into their ser¬
vice. Thus sinners daringly provoke God, and ex¬
pose themselves to his wrath; and never consider
that he is stronger than they, 1 Cor. 10. 22. The
Ammonites gave the affront first, and they were the
first that raised forces to justify it. Had they hum¬
bled themselves, and begged David’s pardon, pro¬
bably an honorary s .tisfaction might have atoned
for the offence. But when they were thus despe¬
rately resolved to stand by what they Had done,
they courted their own ruin.
II. The speedy descent which David’s forces
made upon them, x>. 7. When David heard of their
military preparations, he sent Joab with a great
army to attack them, v. 7. They that are in war
with the Son of David, not only give the provoca¬
tion, but begin the war; for he waits to be gracious,
but they strengthen themselves against him, and
therefore, if they turn not, he will whet his sword,
Ps. 7. 12. God has forces to send against those that
set his wrath t defiance, (Isa. 5. 19. ) winch will
convince them, when it is too late, that none ever
hardened his heart against God and firospered. It
was David’s prudence to carry the war into their
own country, and fight them at the entering in of
the gate of their capital citv, Rabbah, as some
think, or Medeba, a city in their borders, before
which they pitched to guard their coast, 1 Chron.
19. 7. Such are the terrors and desolations of war,
that every good prince will, in love to his people,
keep it, as much as may be, at a distance from
them.
III. Preparations made on both sides for an en¬
gagement. 1. The enemy disposed themselves in¬
to two bodies, one of Ammonites, which, being their
own, were posted at the gate of the city; the other
of Syrians, whom they had taken into their pay,
and who were therefore posted at a distance in the
field, to charge the forces of Israel in the flank or
rear, while the Ammonites charged them in the
front, v. 8. 2. Joab, like a wise general, was soon
aware of the design, and accordingly divided his
forces: the choicest men he took under his own com¬
mand, to fight the Syrians, whom, probably, he
knew to be the better soldiers, and, being hired
men, better versed in the art of war, v. 9. The
rest of the forces he put under the command of
Abishai his brother, to engage the Ammonites, v,
10. It should seem, Joab found the enemy so well
prepared to receive them, that his conduct and
courage were never so tried as now.
IV. Joab’s speech before the battle, v. 11, 12. It
is not long, but pertinent and brave. 1. He pru¬
dently concerts the matter with Abishai his bro¬
ther, that the dividing of the forces might not be
the weakening of them; but that, which part soever
was borne hard upon, the other should come in to
its assistance. He supposes the worst, that one of
them should be obliged to give back; and, in that
case, upon a signal gi\en, the other should send a
detachment to relieve it. Note, Mutual helpfulness
is brotherly duty. If occasion be, thou shalt help
me, and I will help thee. Christ’s soldiers should
thus strengthen one another’s hands in their spirit¬
ual warfare. The strong must succour and' help
the weak. They that through grace are conquer¬
ors over temptation, must counsel, and comfort,
and pray for, those that are tempted: When thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren, Luke 22.
32. The members of the natural body help one
another, 1 Cor. 12. 21. 2. He bravely encourages
himself, and his brother, and the rest of the officers
and soldiers, to do their utmost. Great dangers put
an edge upon true courage. When Joab saw the
front of the battle was against him, both before and
behind, instead of giving orders to make an honour¬
able retreat, he animates his men to charge so much
the mo e furiously; Be of good courage, and let us
/day the men, not for pay and preferment, for ho-
n ur and fame, but for our people, and the cities of
our God; for the public safety and welfare, in which
the glory of God is so much interested. Goa and
our country, was the word. “Let us be valiant,
Tom a principle of love to Israel, that are cur peo-
p'e, descended from the same stock, for whom we
| are employed, and in whose peace we shall have
peace; and from a principle of love to God, for they
are his cities that we are fighting in the defence of.”
The relation which any person or thing stands in to
God, should endear it to us, and engage us to do our
utmost in its service. 3. He piously leaves the issue
with God: “When we have done our part, accord¬
ing to the duty of our place, let the Bare! do that
which seemeth him good . ” Let nothing be wanting
j in us, whatever the success be; let God’s work be
done by us, and then God’s will be done concerning
us. When we make conscience of doing our duty,
we may, with the greatest satisfaction, leave the
event with God; not thinking that our valour bids
him to prosper us, but that still he may do as he
pleases, yet hoping for his salvation in his own way
and time.
V. The victory Joab obtained over the confeder¬
ate forces of Syria and Ammon, v. 13, 14. He pro¬
vided for the worst, and put the case that the Sy¬
rians or Ammonites might prove too strong for him;
(re 11.) but he proved too strong for them both.
We do not hinder our success by preparing for dis¬
appointment. The Syrians- were first routed by
Joab, and then the Ammonites by Abishai ; the lat¬
ter seem not to have fought at all, but, upon the re¬
treat of the Syrians, to have fled into the city. It
is a temptation to soldiers to fiv, when they have a
city at their backs to fiv tn. It is one thing when
men may either fight or fiv, and another thing when
they must either fight or die.
1 5. And when the Syrians saw that they
were smitten before Israel, they gathered
themselves together. 16. And Hadanver
396
II. SAMUEL, XL
sent, and brought out the Syrians that were
beyond the river : and they came to Helam ;
and Shobach, the captain of the host of
Hadarezer, went before them. 17. And
when it was told David, he gathered all Is¬
rael together, and passed over Jordan, and
came to Helam. And the Syrians set them¬
selves in array against David, and fought
with him. 18. And the Syrians fled before
Israel ; and David slew the men of seven
hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty
thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the
captain of their host, who died there. 19.
And when all the kings that were servants
to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten
before Israel, they made peace with Israel,
and served them. So the Syrians feared to
help the children of Ammon any more.
Here is,
I. A new attempt of the Syrians to recover their
lost honour, and to check the progress of David’s
victorious arms. The forces that were lately dis¬
persed, rallied again, and gathered themselves to¬
gether, v. 15. Even the baffled cause will make
head as long as there is any life in it; the enemies
of the Son of David do so, Matth. 22. 34. Rev. 19.
19. These, being conscious of their insufficiency,
called in the aid of their allies and dependencies on
the other side the river, (v. 16.) and, being thus re-
cru ted, they hoped to make their part good against
Israel; but they knew not the thoughts of the Lord,
fur he gathered them as sheaves into the floor: see
Mi '. 4. 11 - .13.
The defeat of this attempt by the vigilance and
■valour of David, who, upon notice of their design,
resolved not to stay till they attacked him, but went
in person at the head of his army over Jordan, (x>.
17. ) and in a pitched battle routed the Syrians; (v.
18. ) slew 7000 men, who belonged to 700 chariots,
and 40,000 other soldiers, horse and foot, as appears
by comparing 1 Chron. 19. IS. Their general was
killed in the battle, and Dav id came home in tri¬
umph, no doubt.
3. The consequen e of this victory over the
Sy ians. (1.) David gained several tributaries, v.
19. _ The kings, or petty pr nces, that had been
subject to Hadarezer, when they saw how powerful
David was, very wisely made ficace with Israel,
whom thev found they could not make war with,
and served them who were able to give them pro¬
tection. Thus the promise made to Abraham,
(Gen. 15. 18.) and repeated to Joshua, {ch. 1. 4.)
that the borders of Israel should extend to the
river Euphrates, was performed at length. (2.)
The Ammonites lost their old allies. The Syrians
feared to hel/i the children of Ammon, not because
they had an unrighteous cause, (justifying a crime
which was a breach of the law of nations,) but be¬
cause they found it was an unsuccessful cause. It
is dangerous helping those that have God against
them; for when they fall, their helpers will fall
with them.
Jesus Christ, the son of David, sent his ambassa¬
dors, his apostles and ministers, after all his ser¬
vants the prophets, to the Jewish Church and
nation: but they treated them shamefully, as Hanun
did David’s ambassadors; mocked them, abused
them, slew them: and this was it that filled the
measure of their iniquity, and brought upon them
ruin without remedy; (Matth. 21. 35, 41. — 22. 7.
compare 2 Chron. 36. 16.) for Christ takes the
affronts and injuries done to his ministers, as done
to himself, and will avenge them accordingly.
CHAP. XI.
What David said of the mournful report of Saul’s death,
may more fitly be applied to the sad story of this chap¬
ter, the adultery and murder David was guilty of —Tell
it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Jlskelon.
We wish we could draw a veil over it, and that it might
never be known, might never be said, that David did such
things as are here recorded of him ; but it cannot, it
must not, be concealed : the scripture is faithful in re¬
lating the faults even of those whom it most applauds,
which is an instance of the sincerity of the penmen, and
an evidence that it was not written to serve any party;
and even such stories as these were written for <>ur
learning, that he that thinks he stands, may take heed
lest he Jail ; and that others’ harms may be our warn¬
ings. Many, no doubt, have been imboldened to sin,
and hardened in it, by this story, and to them it is a savour
of death unto death ; but many have by it been awakened
to a holy jealousy over themselves, and constant watch¬
fulness against sin, and to them it is a savour of life unto
life. They are very great sins, and greatly aggravated,
which here we find David guilty of. I. He committed
adultery with Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah, v. 1..5.
II. He endeavoured to father the spurious brood upon
Uriah, v. 6. .13. III. When that project failed, he plot¬
ted the death of Uriah by the sword of the children of
Ammon, and effected it, v. 14 . . 25. IV. He married Bath-
sheba, v. 26, 27. Is this David? Is this the man after
God’s own heart ? How is his behaviour changed,
worse than it was before Abimelech! How is this gold
become dim ? Let him that readeth, understand what
the best of men are, when God leaves them to them¬
selves.
I. A ND it came to pass, after the year
ajL was expired, at the time when kings
go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and
his servants with1 him, and all Israel ; and
they destroyed the children of Ammon,
and besieged Rabbah. Bat David tarried
still at Jerusalem. 2. And it came to pass
in an evening-tide, that David arose from
off his bed, and walked upon the roof of
the king’s house : and from the roof he saw
a woman washing herself ; and the woman
was very beautiful to look upon. 3. And
David sent and inquired after the woman.
And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the
daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite? 4. And David sent messengers,
and took her: and she came in unto him,
and he lay with her, (for she was purified
from her uncleanness,) and she returned
unto her house. 5. And the woman con¬
ceived, and sent and told David, and said,
I am with child.
Here is,
I. David’s glory in pursuing the war against the
Ammonites, v. 1. We cannot take that pleasure
in viewing this great action, which hitherto we have
taken in observing David’s achievements, because
the beauty of it was stained and sullied by sin;
otherwise we might take notice of David’s wisdom
and bravery in following his blow. Having routed
the army of the Ammonites in the field, as soon as
ever the season of the year permitted, he sent more
forces to waste the country, and further to avenge
the quarrel of his ambassadors. Rabbah, their
metropolis, made a stand, and held out a great
while; that city Joab laid close siege to, and it was
at the time of that siege, that David fell into this sin
II. David’s shame, in being himself conquered
397
II. SAMUEL, XL
and led captive, by his own lust. The sin he was
guilty of, was adultery, against the letter of the se¬
venth commandment, and (in the judgment of the
patriarchal age) a heinous crime, and an iniquity
to be furnished by the judges; (Job 31. 11.) a sin
which takes away the heart , and gets a man a
wound and dishonour, more than any other, and
the reproach of it is not wified away.
1. Observe the occasions of this sin, which led to it.
(1.) Neglect of his business. When he should
nave been abroad with his army in the field, fight-
ng the battles of the Lord, he devolved the care
upon others, and he himself tarried still at Jerusa¬
lem, v. 1. To the war with the Syrians David
went in person, ch. 10. 17. Had he been now at
his post at the head of his forces, he had been out
of the way of this temptation. When we are out
of the way of our duty, we are in temptation.
(2.) Love of ease, and the indulgence of a sloth¬
ful temper. He came off his bed at evening-tide ;
(y. 2. ) there he had dozed away the afternoon in
idleness, which he should have spent in some exer¬
cise, for his own improvement, or the good cf
others. He used to pray, not only morning and
evening, but at noon, in the day of his trouble: it is
to be feared he had, this noon, omitted it. Idleness
gives great advantage to the tempter. Standing
waters gather filth. The bed of sloth oft proves
the bed of lust.
(3.) A wandering eye. He saw a woman wash¬
ing herself, probably from some ceremonial pollu¬
tion, according to the law. This sin came in at the
eye, as Eve’s did. Perhaps, he sought to see her;
at least, he did not practice according to his own
prayer. Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity; and his son’s caution in a like case, Look
not thou on the wine when it is red. Either he had
not, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes, or, at
this time, he had forgotten it.
2. The steps of the sin. When he saw her, lust
immediately conceived, and, (1.) He inquired who
she was, (i>. 3.) perhaps, intending only, if she
were unmarried, to take her to wife, as he had
taken several; but if she were a wife, having no de¬
sign upon her. (2.) The corrupt desire growing
more violent; though he was told she was a wife,
and whose wife she was, yet he sent messengers for
her, and then, it may be, intended only to please
himself with her company and conversation. But,
(3. ) When she came, he lay with her, she too easi¬
ly consenting, because he was a great man, and
famed for his goodness too; surely (thinks she) that
can be no sin, which such a man as David is the
mover of. See how the way of sin is down-hill;
when men begin to do evil, they cannot soon sfvp
themselves. The beginning of lust, as of strife is
like the letting forth of water; it is therefore wis¬
dom to leave it off before it be meddled with. The
foolish fly fires her wings, and fools away her life,
at last, by playing about the candle.
3. The aggravations of the sin. (1.) He was
now in years, fifty at least, some think more, when
those lusts, which are more properly youthful, one
would think, should not have been violent in him.
(2.) He had many wives and concubines of his own;
this is insisted on', ch. 12. 8. (3.) Uriah, whom he
wronged, was one of his own worthies; a person of
honour and virtue, one that was now abroad in his
service, jeoparding his life in the high places of the
field, for the honour and safety of him and his king¬
dom, where he himself should have been. (4.)
Bath -sheba, whom he debauched, was a lady of
good reputation, and, till she was drawn by him’ and
his influence into this wickedness, no doubt, had
preserved her purity: little did she think that ever
she could have done so bad a thing, as to forsake the
guide of her youth, and forget the covenant of her
God; nor perhaps could any one in the world, but
David, have prevailed against her. The adulterer
not only wrongs and ruins his own soul, but as much
as he can, another’s soul too. (5.) David was a
king, whom God had intrusted with the sword of
justice, and the exec ution of the law upon other
criminals, particularly upon adulterers, who were,
by the law, to be put to death; for him therefore to
be guilty of those crimes himself, was to make
himself a pattern, when he should have been a ter¬
ror, to evil doers. With what face could he rebuke
or punish that in others, which he was conscious to
himself of being guilty of ? See Rom. 2. 22.
Much more might be said to aggravate the sin;
and I can think but of one excuse fi r it, which is,
that it was done but once, it was far from being his
practice; it was by the surprise of a temptation, that
he was drawn into it. He was none of those, of
whom the prophet complains, that they were as fed
horses, neighing every one after his neighbour’s
wife; (Jer. 5. 8.) but, this once, God left him to
himself, as he did Hezekiah, that he might know
what was in his heart, 2 Chrcn. 32. 31. Had he
been told of it before, he would have said, as Ha
zael, What! is thy servant a dog? But by this in¬
stance we are taught, what need we have to pray
every day, Father, in heaven, lead us not into
temptation, and to watch, that we enter not into it.
6. And David sent to Joab, saying, Send
me Uriah the Hittite. And .ioab sent
Uriah to David. 7. And when Uriah was
come unto him, David demanded of him
how Joab did, and how the people did, and
how the war prospered. 8. And David
said to Uriah, Go down to. thy house, and
wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out
of the king’s house, and there followed him
a mess of meat from the king. 9. But
Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house,
with all the servants of his lord, and went
not down to his house. 10. And when
they had told David, saying, Uriah went
not down unto his house, David said unto
Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey?
why then didst thou not go down unto thine
house? 11. And Uriah said unto David,
The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in
tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants
of my lord, are encamped in the open
fields : shall I then go into mine house, to
eat, and to drink, and to lie with my wife?
as tiiou livest, anu as thy soul liveth, I will
not do this thing. 12. And David said to
Uriah, Tarry here to-day also, and to-mor¬
row I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode
in Jerusalem that day and the morrow. 1 3.
And when David had called him, he did
eat and drink before him ; and he made
him drunk : and at even he went out to lie
on his bed with the servants of his lord, but
went not down to his house.
Uriah, we may suppose, had now been absent
from his wife for some weeks, making the cam¬
paign in the country of the Ammonites, and not in¬
tending to return till the end of it: the situation of
his wife would bring to light the hidden works of
darkness; and when Uriah, at h.s return, should
393
II. SAMUEL, XI.
find how he had been abused, and by whom, it
might well be expected, 1. That he would prose¬
cute his wife, according to law, and have her stoned
to death; for jealousy is the rage of a man , espe¬
cially a man of honour; and he that is thus injured,
will not s fiare in the day of vengeance, Prow 6. 34.
This Bath-sheba was apprehensive of, when she
sent to let, David know she was with child, intimat¬
ing that he was concerned to protect her, which, it
is likely, if he had not promised her so to do, (so
wretchedly abusing his royal power,) she would not
have consented to him. Hope of impunity is a great
encouragement to iniquity. 2. It might also be ex¬
pected that since he could not prosecute David by
law f r an offence of this nature, he would take his
revenge another way, and raise a rebellion against
him. There have been instances of kings, who, by
provocations of this nature, given to some of their
powerful subjects, have lost their crowns.
To prevent this double mischief, David endea¬
vours to father the child which should be born,
upon Uriah himself, and therefore sends for him
home, to stay a night or two in his own house. Ob¬
serve,
I. How the plot was laid. Uriah hiust come
home from the army, under pretence of bringing
David an account how the war prospered, and how
they went on with the siege of Rabbah, v. 7. Thus
does he pretend a more than ordinary concern for
his army, when that was, at present, the least
thing in his thoughts; if he had not another turn to
serve, an express, of much less figure than Uriah,
might have sufficed to bring him a report of the
state of the war. David, having had as much con¬
ference with Uriah as he thought requisite to cover
the design, sent him to his house, and, that he
might be the more pleasant there, sent a dish of
meat for the entertainment of himself and his wife,
v. 8. When that project failed the first night, and
Uriah, being weary of his journey, and more de¬
sirous of sleep than meat, lay all night in the guard-
chamber, the next night, he made him drunk, (z>.
13.) or made him merry; tempted him to drink
more than was fit, that he might forget h;s vow,
(v. 11.) and might be disposed to go home to his
own bed; to which, perhaps, if David could have
made him dead drunk, he would have ordered him
t . be carried. It is a very wicked thing, upon any
design whatsoever, to make a person drunk; Woe
to him that doth so, Hab. 2. 15, 16. God will put
into their hands a cup of trembling, who put into the
hands of others the cup of drunkenness. Robbing
a man of his reason, is worse than robbing him of
lais money; and drawing him into sin, worse than
drawing him into any trouble whatsoever. Every
good man, especially every magistrate, should en¬
deavour to prevent this sin, by admonishing, re¬
straining, and denying the glass to those whom they
see falling into excess; but to further it, is to do the
Devil’s work, to officiate as factor for him.
II. How this plot was defeated by Uriah’s firm
resolution not to lie in his own bed: both nights, he
slept with the life-guard, and went not down to his
house, though, it is probable, his wife pressed him
to do it as much as David, v. 9, 12. Now, 1. Some
think he suspected what was done, being informed
of his wife’s attendance at court, and therefore he
would not go near her. But if he had had any sus¬
picion of that kind, surely he would have opened,
the letter that David sent by him to Joab. 2.
Whether he suspected any thing or no. Providence
put this resolution into his heart, and kept him to
it, for the discovering of David’s sin, and that the
baffling of his design to conceal it might awaken
David’s conscience to confess it, and repent of it. 3.
The reason he gave to David of this strange in¬
stance of self-denial and mortification, was very
brave, v. 11. That while the army was encamped
; in the field, he would not lie at ease in h s own
house. The ark is in a tent, whether at In me, in
the tent David had pitched for it, or abroad, with
Joab in the camp, is not certain. “Joab, and all
the mighty men of Israel, lie hard and uneasy, and
much exposed to the weather, and to the enemy;
and shall I go take my ease and pleasure at my own
house?” No, he protests he will not do it. Now,
(1.) This was in itself a generous resolution, and
shows Uriah to be a man of a public spirit, bold
and hardy, and mortified to the delights of sense.
In times of public difficulty and danger, it does nc t
become us to repose ourselves in security, or roll
ourselves in pleasure; or, with the king and Haman,
to sit down to drink, when the city Shushan was
perplexed, Esth. 3. 15. We should voluntarily
endure hardness, when the church of God is con¬
strained to endure it. (2.) It might have been of
use to awaken David’s conscience, and make his
heart to smite him for what he had done. [1.]
That he had basely abused so brave a man as
Uriah was, a man so heartily concerned for him
and his kingdom, and that acted for him and it with
so much vigour. [2.] That he was himself so
much unlike him. The consideration of the public
hardships and hazards kept Uriah from lawful
pleasures, yet could not keep David, though more
nearly interested, from unlawful ones. Uriah’s se¬
verity to himself should have shamed David for his
indulgence of himself. The law was, When the
host goeth forth against the enemy, then, in a spe¬
cial manner, keep thyself from every wicked thing,
Deut. 23. 9. Uriah outdid that law, but David vi¬
olated it.
14. Ancl it came to pass in the morning,
that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent
it by the hand of Uriah. 1 5. And he wrote
in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the
fore-front of the hottest battle, and retire ye
from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16. And it came to pass, when Joab ob¬
served the city, that he assigned Uriah unto
a place where he knew that valiant men
were. 1 7. And the men of the city went
out and fought with Joab : and there fell
some of the people of the servants of David;
and Uriah the Hiltite died also. 13. Then
Joab sent and told David all the things con¬
cerning the war; 19. And charged the
messenger, saying, When thou hast made
an end o£ telling the matters of the war unto
the king, 20. And if so be that the king’s
wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Where¬
fore approached ye so nigh unto the city
when ye did fight? knew ye not that they
would shoot from the wall? 21. Who
smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth ?
did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone
upon him from the wall, that he died in
Thebez ? why went ye nigh the wall ? then
say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is
dead also. 22. So the messenger went,
and came and showed David all that Joab
had sent him for. 23. And the messenger
said unto David, Surely the men prevailed
against us, and came out unto us into the
399
II. SAMUEL, XI.
field, and we were upon them even unto
the entering of the gate. 24. And the
shooters shot from off the wall upon thy
servants, and some of the king’s servants be
dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is
dead also. 25. Then David said unto the
messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab,
Let not this thing displease thee ; for the
sword devoureth one as well as another:
make thy battle more strong against the
city, and overthrow it; and encourage thou
him. 26. And when the wife of Uriah
heard that Uriah her husband was dead,
she mourned for her husband. 27. And
when the mourning was past, David sent and
fetched her to his house, and she became
his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing
that David had done displeased the Lord.
When David’s project of fatheringthe child upon
Uriah himself failed, so that, in process of time,
Uriah would certainly know the wrong that had
been done him; to prevent the fruits of his revenge,
the Devil puts it into David’s heart to take him off,
and then neither he nor Bath-sheba would be in any
danger; what prosecution could there be, when
there was no prosecutor? And suggesting further,
that when he was out of the way, Bath-sheba might,
if he pleased, be his own for ever. Adulteries have
often occasioned murders, and one wickedness must
be covered and secured with another. The begin¬
nings of sin are therefore to be dreaded; for who
knows where they will end?
It is resolved, in David’s breast, (which one
would think could never possibly have harboured so
vile a thought,) that Uriah must die; that innocent,
valiant, gallant man, who was ready to die for his
prince’s honour, must die by his prince’s hand.
David has sinned, and Bath-sheba has sinned, and
both against him, and therefore he must die; David
determines he must. Is this the man whose heart
smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt?
Quantum mutatus ab illo! — But ah, how changed!
Is this he that executed judgment and justice to all
his people? How can he now do so unjust a thing?
See how fleshly lusts war against the soul, and what
devastations they make in that war: how they blind
the eyes, harden the heart, sear the conscience,
and deprive men of all sense of honour and justice.
IVh io so commit teth adultery with a woman, lacketh
understanding, and quite loses it; he that doth it, de¬
stroys his own soul, Pro. 6. 32.
But as the eye of the adulterer, so the hand of
the murderer, seeks concealment, Job 24. 14, 15.
Works of darkness hate the light. When David
bravely slew Goliath, it was done publicly, and he
gloried in it; but when he basely slew Uriah, it
must be done clandestinely, for he' is ashamed of it,
and well he may Who would do a thing that he
dared not own? The Devil having, as a poisonous
serpent, put it into David’s heart to murder Uriah,
ns a subtle serpent, he puts it into his head how to
do it. Not as Absalom slew Amnon, by command¬
ing his servants to assassinate him, or as Ahab slew
Naboth, by suborning witnesses to accuse him, but
by exposuig him to the enemy; a way of doing it,
which, perhaps, would not seem so odious to con¬
science and the world, because soldiers expose
themselves, of course: if Uriah had not been in that
dangerous post, another must; he has (as we say)
a chance for his life; if he fight stoutly, he may,
perhaps, come off; and if he die, it is in the field of
honour, where a soldier would choose to die; and
yet all this will not save it from being a wilful mur¬
der, of malice prepense.
I. Orders are sent to Joab to set Uriah in the
front of the hottest battle, and then to desert him,
and abandon him to the enemy, v. 14, 15. This
was David’s project to take off Uriah, and it suc¬
ceeded, as he designed. Many were the aggrava¬
tions of this murder. 1. It was deliberate. He
took time to consider of it; and though he had time
to consider of it, for he wrote a letter about it, and
though he had time to have countermanded the or¬
der afterward, before it could be put in execution,
yet he did not do it. 2. He sent the letter by Uriah
himself; than which nothing cruld be more base
and barbarous, to make him accessary to his own
death. And what a paradox was it, that he could
bear such a malice against him, in whom yet he
could repose such a confidence, as that he would
carry letters, which he must not know the purport
of. 3. Advantage must be taken of Uriah’s own
courage and zeal for his king and country, which
deserves the greatest praise and recompense, to be¬
tray him the more easily to his fate. If he had not
been forward to expose himself, perhaps he was
a man of such importance, that Joab could not
have exposed him; and that his noble fire should
be designedly turned upon himself, was a most
detestable instance of ingratitude. 4. Many must
be involved in the guilt; Joab, the general, to whom
the blood of his soldiers, especially the worthies,
ought to be precious, must do it; he, and all that
retire from Uriah, when they ought in conscience
to support and second him, become guilty of his
death. 5. Uriah cannot thus die alone, the party
he commands is in danger of being cut off with
him; and it proved so, some of the people, even the
servants of David, (so they are called, to aggravate
David’s sin, in being so prodigal of their lives,) fell
with him, v. 17. Nay, this wilful misconduct by
which Uriah must be betrayed, might be of fatal
consequence to the whole army, and, ha' mg obliged
them to raise the siege, 6. It will be the triumph
and joy of the Ammonites, the sworn enem'es of
God and Israel; it will gratify them exceedingly.
David prayed for himself, that he might not fall into
the hands of man, nor flee from his enemies, {ch.
24. 13, 14.) yet he sells his servant Uriah to the
Ammonites, and not for any iniquity in his hand.
II. Joab executes these orders. In the next as¬
sault that was made upon the city, Uriah has the
most dangerous post assigned him; is encouraged to
hope, that if he be repulsed by the besieged, he
shall be relieved by Joab, in dependence on which,
he marches on with resolution, but, succours not
coming on, the service proved too hot, and he was
slain in it, v. 16, 17. It was strange that Joab
would do such a thing merely upon a letter, without
knowing the reason. But, 1. Perhaps he supposed
Uriah had been guilty of some great crime, to in¬
quire into which, David had sent for him, and that,
because he would not punish him openly, he took
this course with him to put him to death. 2. Joab
had been guilty of blood, and we may suppose it
pleased him very well, to see David himself falling
into the same guilt, and he was willing enough to
serve him in it, that he might continue to be favour¬
able to him. It is common for those who have done
ill themselves, to desire to be countenanced therein
bv others doing ill likewise, especially by the sins
of those that are eminent in the profession of re¬
ligion. Or, perhaps, David knew that Joab had a
pique against Uriah, and would gladly be avenged
on him; otherwise Joab, when he saw cause, knew
how to dispute the king’s orders, asc/n 24. 3. — 19. 5.
Ill He sends an account of it to David. An ex¬
press is despatched away immediately, with a report
400 .
II. SAMUEL, XII.
of this last disgrace and loss which they had sus- !
tained, v. 18. And, to disguise the affair, 1. He i
supposes that David would appear to be angry at !|
his bad conduct, would ask why they came so near
the wall, v. 20. Did they not know that Abimelech j
lost his life by doing so? v. 21. We h..d the story, J
Judg. 9. 53. which book, it is likely, was published
as a part of the sacred history h. 'Samuel’s time:
and (be it noted to their praise, and for imitation)
even the soldiers were conversant with their Bibles,
and could readily quote the scripture-story, and
make use of it for admonition to themselves, not to
run upon the same attempts which there they found
to be fatal. 2. He slily orders the messenger to
soothe it with telling him that Uriah the Hittite was
dead also, which gave too broad an intimation to
the messenger, and by him to others, that David
would be secretly pleased to hear that: for murder
will out. And when men do such base things, they
must expect to be bantered and upbraided with
them, even by their inferiors. The messenger de¬
livered his message agreeably to orders, v. 22 . . 24.
He makes the besieged to sally out first upon the
besiegers, They came out unto us, into the field:
represents the besiegers as doing their parts with
great bravery, We ivere upon them, even to the
entering of the gate, we forced them to retire into
the city with precipitation; and so concludes with a
slight mention of the slau - liter made among them
by some shot from the wall, Some of the Icing’s ser¬
vants are dead; and particularly Uriah the Hittite,
an officer of note, stood first in the list of the slain.
IV. David receives the account with a secret satis¬
faction, x>. 25. Let not Joab be displeased, for Da¬
vid is not; he blames not his conduct, nor thinks
they did ill, in approaching so near the wall; all is
well, now that Uriah is got out of the way. This
point being gained, he can make light of the loss,
and turn it off easily with an excuse, The sword de¬
vours one as well as another; it was a chance of
war, nothing more common. He orders Joab to
make the battle more strong next time, while he,
by his sin, was weakening it, and provoking God to
blast the undertaking.
Lastly, He married the widow, in a little time.
She submitted to the ceremony of mourning for her
husband, as little time as custom would admit,
(v. 26.) and then David took her to his house as
his wife, and she bare him a son. Uriah’s revenge
was prevented by his death, but the birth of the
child, so soon after the marriage, published the
crime; sin will have shame; yet that was not the
worst of it, The thing that David had done, dis¬
pleased the Lord; the whole matter of Uriah, (as it
is called, 1 Kings 15. 5.) the adultery, falsehood,
murder, and this marriage, at last, it was all dis¬
pleasing to the Lord. He had pleased himself, but
displeased God. Note, God sees and hates sin in
his own people. Nay, the nearer any are to God
in profession, the more displeasing to him their sins
are; for in them there is more ingratitude, treachery,
and reproach, than in the sins of others. Let none
therefore encourage themselves in sin by the exam¬
ple of David; for they that sin as he did, will fall
under the displeasure of God as he did. Let us
therefore stand in awe, and sin not; not sin after the
similitude of his transgression.
CHAP. XII.
The foregoing chapter gave us the account of David’s sin,
this of his repentance; though he fell, he was not utterly
cast down, but by the grace of God, recovered himself,
and found mercy with God. Here is, I. His conviction,
by a message Nathan brought him from God, which was
a parable that obliged him to condemn himself, v. 1 . . 6.
And the interpretation of the parable, in which Nathan
charged him with the sin, (v. 7.. 9.) and pronounced
sentence upon him, v. 10. . 12. II. His repentance snl
remission, with a reserve of judgment, v. 13, 14. Hi.
The sickness and death of the child, and his behaviour,
while it was sick, and when it was dead; (v. Jo . . 23.) :a
both which, David gave evidences of his repentance. IV
The birth of Solomon, and God’s gracious message con¬
cerning him, in which God gave an evidence ofhis recon¬
ciliation to David, v. 24, 2d. V. The taking of Rabbah,
(v. 26.. 31.) which is mentioned as a further instance,
that God did not deal with David according to his sins.
I. A ND the Lord sent Nathan unto Da-
1 JL vid. And he came unto him, and
said unto him, There were two men in one
city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2
The rich man had exceeding many flock?
and herds : 3. But the poor man had no
thing save one little ewe lamb, which he
had bought and nourished up ; and it grew
up together with him, and with his children:
it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his
own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto
him as a daughter. 4. And there came a
traveller unto the rich man ; and he spared
to take of his own flock, and of his own
herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was
come unto him; but took the poor man’s
lamb, and dressed it lor the man that was
come to him. 5. And David’s anger was
greatly kindled against the man ; and he
said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the
man that hath done this thing shall surely
die: 6. And he shall restore the lamb four¬
fold, because he did this thing, and because
he had no pity. 7. And Nathan said to
David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king
over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul : 8. And I gave thee thy
master’s house, and thy master’s wives into
thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel
and of Judah ; and if that had been too little,
I would, moreover, have given unto thee
such and such things. 9. Wherefore hast
thou despised the commandment of the
Lord, to do evil in his sight ? Thou hast
killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast
slain him with the sword of the children of
Ammon. 10. Now therefore, the sword
shall never depart from thine house; be¬
cause thou hast despised me, and hast taken
the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
II. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will
raise up evil against thee out of thine own
house, and l will take thy wives before thine
eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and
he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of
this sun. 12. For thou didst it secretly:
but I will do this- thing before all Israel, and
before the sun. 13. And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said unto David, The Lord
401
II. SAMUEL, XII.
also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not
die. 14. Howbeit, because by this deed
thou hast given great occasion to the ene¬
mies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child
also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
It seems to have been a great wlfile after David
had been guilty of adultery with Bath-sheba, before
he was brought to repentance for it. For, when
Nathan was sent to him, the child was born, v. 14.
So that it was about nine months that David lay
under the guilt of that sin, and, for aught that ap¬
pears, unrepented of. What shall we think 6f Da¬
vid’s state all this while? Can we imagine his heart
never smote him for it? Or that he never repented
it in secret before God? I would willingly hope
that he did, and that Nathan was'sent to him, im¬
mediately upon the birth of the child, when the
thing by that means came to be publicly known and
talked of, to draw from him an open confession of
the sin, to the glory of God, the admonition of
others, and that he might receive, by Nathan,
absolution with certain limitations. But during
these nine months, we may well suppose his com¬
forts and the exercises of his graces suspended, and
his communion with God interrupted; during all
that time, for certain, he penned no Psalms, his
harp was out of tune, and his soul like a tree in
winter, that has life in the root only; therefore,
after Nathan had been with him, he prays, Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation, and often thou my
lifts, Ps. 51. 12, 15. Let us observe,
I. The messenger God sent to him. We were
told, by the last words of the foregoing chapter, that
the thing David had done, displeased the Lord,
upon which, one would think, it should have fol¬
lowed that the Lord sent enemies to invade him,
terrors to take hold of him, and the messenger of
death to arrest him. No, he sent a prophet to him,
Nathan, his faithful friend and confidant, to instruct
and counsel him, v. 1. David did not send for
Nathan, (though he had never had so much occa¬
sion as he had now for his counsellor,) but God sent
Nathan to David. Note, Though God may suffer
his people to fall into sin, he will not suffer them to
lie still in it. He went on frowardly in the way of
his heart, and, if left to himself, would wander end¬
lessly, but (saith God) I have seen his ways, and
will heal him, Isa. 57. 17, 18. He sends after us
before we seek after him, else we should certainly
be lost. Nathan was the prophet by whom God
had sent him notice of his kind intentions toward
him, ( ch . 7. 4. ) and now, by the same hand, he sends
him this message of wrath. God’s word in the
mouth of his ministers must be received, whether
it speak terror or comfort. Nathan was obedient to
the heavenly vision, and went on God’s errand to
David. He did not say, “ David has sinned, I will
not come near him no, Count him not as an enemy,
but admonish him as a brother, 2 Thess. 3. 15. He
did not say, “David is a king, I dare not reprove
him;” no, if God send him, he sets his face like a
flint, Isa. 50. 7.
II. The message Nathan delivered to him, in
order to his conviction.
1. He fetched a compass with a parable, which
seemed to David as a complaint made to him by
Nathan against one of his subjects that had wronged
his poor neighbour, in order to his righting the
injured, and punishing the injurious. Nathan, it is
likely, used to come to him upon such errands,
which made this the less suspected; it becomes
those who have interest in princes, and have free
a cess to them, to intercede for those that are
>. ronged, that they may have right done them.
(1.*) Nathan represented to David a notorious
VOL. II. — 3 E
injury, which a rich man had done to an honest
neighbour that was not able to contend with him.
The rich man hath many flocks and herds, (v. 2. J
the poor man had one only, so unequally is the
world divided; and yet infinite wisdom, righteous¬
ness, and goodness make the distribution, that the
rich may learn charity, and the poor contentment.
This poor man had but one lamb, a ewe-lamb, a
little ewe-lamb, having not wherewithal to buy or
keep more. But it was a cac/e-lamb, (as we will
call it) it grew u ft with his children, (v\ 3.) he was
fond of it, and it was familiar with him at all times.
The rich man having occasion for a lamb to enter¬
tain a friend with, took the poor man’s lamb from
him by violence, and made use of that; (v. 4.) either
out of covetousness, because he grudged to make
use of his own, or rather cut cf luxury, because he
fancied the lamb that was thus tenderly kept, and
ate and drank like a child; must needs be more
delicate food than any cf his own, and have a better
relish.
(2.), In this, he showed him the evil of the sin he
had been guilty of, in defiling Bath-shebn. He had
many wives and concubines, whom he kept at a
distance, as rich men keep their flocks in their
fields; had he had but one, and had she been dear
to him, as the ewe-lamb was to its owner, had she
been dear to him, as the loving hind and the ft/ea-
sant roe; her breasts would have rati fied him at all
times, and he would have looked no further, Prov.
5. 19. Marriage is a remedy against fornication,
but marrying many is not; for when once the law
of unity is transgressed, the indulged lust will hardly
stint itself. Uriah, like the poor man, had only
one wife, who was to him as his own soul, and
always lay in his own bosom, for he had no other,
he desired no other to lie there. The traveller cr
wayfaring man was, as Bishop Patrick explains it
from the Jewish writers, evil imagination, disposi¬
tion, or desire, which came into David’s heart,
which he might have satisfied with some of his
own, yet nothing would serve but Uriah’s darling.
They observe that this evil disposition is called a
traveller, for in the beginning it is rn’y so, but, in
time, it becomes a guest, and in conclusion, is mas¬
ter of the house. For he that is called a traveller ,
in the beginning of the verse, is called a man, ( ish,
a husband,') in the close of it. Yet some cbser\e,
that in David’s breast, lust was but as a wayfaring
man that tarries only for a night, !t did not con¬
stantly dwell and rule there.
(3.) By this parable, he drew firm David a sen¬
tence against himself. For David, supposing it to
be a case in fact, and not doubtmg the truth of it,
when he had it from Nathan himself, ga\ e judg¬
ment immediately against the offender, and con¬
firmed it with an oath, v. 5, 6. [I.] That, for his
injustice in taking away the lamb, he should restore
four-fold, according to "the law, (Exod. 22. 1.) Four
sheeft for a sheep. [2.] That for his tyranny and
cruelty, and the pleasure he took in abusing a poor
man, he should be put to death. If a poor man
steal from a rich man, to satisfy his soul when he is
hungry, he shall make restitution, though it cost
him all the substance of his house, Prov. 6. 30, 31.
and Solomon there compares the sin of adultery
with that, v. 32. But if a rich man steal for steal¬
ing sake, not for want but wantonness, merely that
he may be imperious and vexatious, he deserves to
die foi it; for to him restitution is no punishment, or
next to none. If the sentence be thought too severe,
it must be imputed to the present roughness of Da¬
vid’s temper, being under guilt, and not having
himself as yet received mercy.
2. He closed in with him, at length, in the appli-
r cation of the parable. In beginning with a parable,
1 he showed his prudence; and great need is there of
to:
II. SAMUEL, XII.
prudence in giving reproofs; it is well-managed if,
as here, the offender can be brought, ere he is
aware, to convict and condemn himself; but here,
in his application, he shows his faithfulness, and
deals as plainly and roundly with king David him¬
self, as if he had been a common person. In plain
terms, “ Thou art the man, who hast done this
wrong, and a much greater, to thy neighbour; and
therefore, by thine own sentence, thou deservest to
die, and shalt be judged out of thine own mouth.
Did he deserve to die, who took his neighbour’s
lamb, and dost not thou, who hast taken thy neigh¬
bour’s wife? Though he took the lamb, he did not
cause the owner thereof to lose his life, as thou hast
done, and therefore much more art thou worthy to
die.”
Now he speaks immediately from God, and, in
his name, begins with, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, a name sacred and venerable to David,
and which commanded his attention; Nathan now
speaks, not as a petitioner for a poor man, but as an
ambassador from the great God, with whom is no
respect of persons.
(1.) God, by Nathan, reminds David of the great
things he had done and designed for him, anointing
him to be king, and preserving him to the kingdom;
(v. 7.) giving him power over the house and house-
. hold of his predecessor, and of others that had been
his masters, Nabal for one: he had given him the
house of Israel and Judah; the wealth of the king¬
dom was at his service; every body was willing to
oblige him; and ready to bestow any thing upon
him, to make him easy: I would have given thee
such and such things, v. 8. See how liberal God is
in his gifts; we are not straitened in him. Where
he has given much, yet he gives more. And God’s
bounty to us is a great aggravation of our discontent,
and desire of forbidden fruit. It is ungrateful to
covet what God has prohibited, while we have
liberty to pray for what God has promised, and
that is enough.
(2.) He charges him with a high contempt of the
divine authority, in the sins he h id been guilty of.
Wherefore hast thou (presuming upon thy royal
dignity and power) despised the commandment of
the Lord ? v. 9. This is the spring, and this is the
malignity, of sin, that it is making light of the divine
law,' and the Law-maker; as if the obligation of it
were weak, the precepts of it trifling, and tho
threats not at all .formidable. Though no man
ever wrote more honourably of the law of God than
David did, yet, in this Instance, he is justly charged
with a contempt of it. His adultery with Bath-
sheba, which began the mischief, is not mentioned,
perhaps, because he was already convinced of that,
but, [1.] The murder of Uriah is twice mentioned.
rIhou hast killed Uriah with the sword; though not
hy sword, yet the sword of the children of Ammon,
by ordering him to be set in the forefront of the
battle. They that contrive wickedness and com¬
mand it, are as truly guilty of it as those that exe¬
cute it. It is repeated, with an aggravation, Thou
hast slain him with the sword of the children of
Ammon, those uncircumcised enemies of God and
Israel. [2.] The marrying of Bath-sheba is likewise
twice mentioned, because he thought there was no
harm in that; ( v . 9.) Thou hast taken his wife to he
{hy wife; and again, v. 10. To marry her whom he
ha'd before defiled, and whose husband he had slain,
was an affront upon the ordinance of marriage,
making that not only to palliate, but in a manner to
consecrate, such villanies. In all this, he despised
the word of the Lord, so it is in the Hebrew, not
only his commandment in general, which forbade
s\fch things, but the particular word of promise,
which God had, by N ithan, sent to him some time
before, that he would build him a house; which
sacred promise, if he had had a due value and
veneration for, he would not thus have polluted his
house with lust and blood.
(3.) He threatens an entail of judgments upon
his family for this sin; (y. 10.) “ The sword shall
never depart from thy house, not in thy time,
nor afterwar d, but, for the most part, thou and thy
posterity shall be engaged in war.” Or, it points
at the slaughters that should be among his children,
Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah, all falling by the
sword. God had promised that his mercy should
not depart from him and his house, (<7/. 7. 15.) yet
here threatens that the sword should net depart.
Can the mercy and the sword consist with each
other? Yes, those may lie under great and long
afflictions, who yet shall not be excluded from the
grace of the covenant. The reason gi\ en is, Be-
cause thou hast despised ?»e. Note, Those who
despise the word and law of God, despise God him¬
self; and shall be lightly esteemed.
It is particularly threatened, [1.] That his chil¬
dren should be his grief; I will raise up evil against
thee out of thine own house. Sin brings trouble into
a family, and one sin is often made the punishment
of another. [2.] That his wives should be his
shame; that by an unparalleled piece of villany
they should be publicly debauched before all Israel,
v. 11, 12. It is not said it should be done by his
own son, lest the accomplishment should have been
hindered by the prediction being too plain; but it
was done by Absalom, at the counsel of Ahithophel;
(c/z. 16. 21, 22.) He that defiled his neighbour’s
wife, should have his own defiled, for thus that sin
used to be punished, as appears by Job’s impreca¬
tion, (Job 31. 10.) Then let my wife grind unto an¬
other, and that threatening, Hos. 4. 14. The sin
was secret, and industriously concealed, but the
punishment should be open and industriously pro¬
claimed, to the shame of David, whose sin in the
matter of Uriah, though committed many years
before, would then be called to mind, and commonly
talked of upon that occasion. As face answers to
face in a glass, so does the punishment often answer
to the sin; here is blood for blood, and uncleanness
for uncleanness. And thus God would show how
much he hates sin, even in his own people, and that,
wherever he finds it, he will not let it go unpunished.
3. David’s penitent confession of his sin, here¬
upon. He says not a word to excuse himself or
extenuate his. sin, but freely owns it, I have sinned
against the Lord, v. 13. It is probable that he said
more to this purport; but this is enough to show
that he was truly humbled by what Nathan said,
and submitted himself to the conviction. He owns
his guilt, 1 have sinned; and aggravates it. It was
against the Lord: on this string he harps in the
Psalm he penned on this occasion; (Ps. 51. 4.)
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.
4. His pardon declared, upon this penitent con¬
fession, but with a reserve of judgment. When
David said, I have sinned, and Nathan perceived
that he was a true penitent, (1.) He did, in God’s
name, assure him that his sin was forgiven, (,The
Lord also has put away thy sin out of the sight of
his avenging eye; thou shalt not die;” that is, “not
die eternally, nor be for ever put away from God,
as thou woulaest have been, if he had not put away
the sin.” The obligation to punishment is hereby
cancelled and vacated. He shall not come into con¬
demnation; that is the nature of forgiveness. “ Thy
iniquity shall not be thy everlasting ruin, The sword
shall not depart from thy house, but,” [1.] “It
shall not cut thee off, thou shalt come to thy grave
in peace.” David deserved to die as an adulterer
and murderer, but God would not cut him off, as he
might justly have done. [2.] “ Though thou shall
all thy days be chastened of the Lord, yet thou shat
403
II. SAMUEL, XU.
not be condemned with the world.*' See how ready
God is to forgive sin. To this instance, perhaps,
D ivid refers, Ps. 32. 5, I said, I will confess , arid
thou forgavest. Let not great sinners despair of
finding mercy with God, if they truly repent; for
who is a God like unto him, pardoning iniquity?
(2.) Yet he pronounces a sentence of death upon
the child, v. 14. Behold the sovereignty of God!
The guilty parent lives, and the guiltless infant dies;
but all souls are his, and he may, in what way he
pleases, glorify himself in his creatures. [1.] Da¬
vid had, by his sin, wronged God in his honour; he
had given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme. The wicked people of that generation,
the infidels, idolaters, and profane, would triumph
in David’s fall, and speak ill of God and of his law,
when they saw one guilty of such foul enormities,
that professed such an honour both for him and it.
“ These are your professors! This is he that prays
and sings psalms, and is so very devout! What
good can there be in such exercises, if they will not
restrain men from adultery and murder?” They
would say, “ Was not Saul rejected for a less mat¬
ter? Why then must David live and reign still?”
Not considering that God sees not as man sees, but
searches the heart. To this day, there are those
who reproach God, and are hardened in sin, through
the example of David. Now, though it is true that
none have any just reason to speak ill of God, or of
his word and ways, for David’s sake, and it is their
sin that do so, yet he shall be reckoned with, that
laid the stumbling-block in their way, and gave,
though not cause, yet colour for the reproach.
Note, There is this great evil in the scandalous sins
of those that profess religion, and relation to God,
that they furnish the enemies of God and religion
with matter for reproach and blasphemy, Rom. 2.
24. [2.] God will therefore vindicate his honour,
by showing his displeasure against David for this
sin, and letting the world see that though he loves
David, he hates his sin; and he chooses to do it by the
death of the child. The landlord may distrain 6n any
part of the premises where he pleases. Perhaps,
the diseases and deaths of infants were not so com¬
mon in those days as they are now, which might
make this, as an unusual thing, the more evident
token of God’s displeasure; according to the word
he had often said, that he would visit the sins of the
fathers upon the children.
15. And Nathan departed unto his house.
And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s !
wife bare unto David, and it was very sick, I
16. David therefore besought God for the
child ; and David fasted, and went in and lay
all night upon the earth. 17. And the elders
of his house arose, and went to him, to raise
him up from the earth : but he would not,
neither did he eat bread with them. 1 8. And
it came to pass on the seventh day that the
child died. And the servants of David fear- i
ed to tell him that the child was dead : for
they said, Behold, while the child was yet
alive we spake unto him, and he would not
hearken unto our voice ; how will he then
vex. himself if we tell him that the child is
dead? 19. But when David saw that his
servants whispered, David perceived that
the child was dead : therefore David said
unto his servants, Is the child dead? And
they said, He is dead. 20. Then David I
arose from the earth, and washed, and
anointed himself and changed his apparel,
and came into the house of the Lord, and
worshipped: then he came to his own
house ; and when he required, they set
bread before him, and he did eat. 21. Then
said his servants unto him, What thing is
this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and
weep for the child while it was alive ; but
when the child was dead, thou didst rise
and eat bread. 22. And he said, While
the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept :
for I said, Who can tell whether God will
be gracious to me, that the child may live?
23. But now he is dead, wherefore should I
fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go
to him, but he shall not return to me. 24.
And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife,
and went in unto her, and lay with her: and
she bare a son, and he called his name So¬
lomon ; and the Lord loved him. And
he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet;
and he called his name Jedidiah, because
of the Lord.
Nathan having delivered his message, stayed not
at court but went home, probably, to pray lor Da¬
vid, to whom he had been preaching. God, in mak¬
ing use of him as an instrument to bring David to
repentance, and as the herald both of mercy and
judgment, put an honour upon the ministry, and
magnified his word above all his name. David nam¬
ed one of his sens by Bath-sheba, JValhan, in ho¬
nour of this prophet, (1 Chron. 3. 5.) and it was
that son, of whom Christ, the great Prophet, line-
ally descended, Luke 3. 31. When Nathan retired,
David, it is probable, retired likewise, and penned
the 51st Psalm, in which (though he had been as¬
sured that his sin was pardoned) he prays earnestly
for pardon, and greatly laments his sin; for then
will true penitents be ashamed of what they have
done, when God is pacified toward them, Ezek. 16.
63.
Here is,
I. The child’s illness. The Lord struck it, and
it was very sick, perhaps with convulsions, or some
other dreadful distemper, v. 15. The diseases and
death of infants, that have not sinned after the simi¬
litude of Adam's transgression, especially as they
are sometimes sadly circumstanced, are sensible
proofs of the original sin in which they are conceiv¬
ed.
II. David’s humiliation under this token of God’s
displeasure, and the intercession he made with God
for the life of the child; {v. 16, 17.) He fasted, and
lay all night upon the earth, and would not suffer
any of his attendants either to feed him, or help
him up. This was an evidence of the truth of his
repentance. For, 1. Hereby it appeared that he
was willing to bear the shame of his sin, to have it
ever before him, and to be continually upbraided
with it; for this child would be a continual memo¬
randum of it, both to himself and others, if he lived;
and therefore, he was so far from desiring its death,
as most, in such circumstances, do, that he.prayed
earnestly for its life. True penitents patiently bear
the reproach of their youth and of their youthful
lusts, Jer. 31. 19. 2. A very tender compassionate
spirit appeared in this, and great humanity, above
what is commonly found in men, especially men of
war, toward little children, even their own; and
404
II. SAMUEL, XII.
this was another sign of a broken contrite spirit: i
they that'are penitent, will be pitiful. , 5. He dis¬
covered, in this, a great concern for another world,
which is an evidence of repentance. Nathan had
told him that certainly the child should die; yet,
while it is in the reach of prayer, he earnestly in¬
tercedes with God for it, chiefly (as we may sup¬
pose) that its soul m'ght be safe and happy in an¬
other world, and that his sin might not come’ against
the child, and that it might not fare the worse for
that in the future state.* 4. He discovered, in this,
a holy dread of God and of his displeasure. He de¬
precated the de ith of the child, chiefly as it was a
token of God’s anger ag inst him and his house, and
was inflicted in performance of a threatening, there¬
fore he prayed thus earnestly, that, it it were the
will of God, the child might live, because that
would be to him a token of God’s being recon^ded
to him. Lord, chasten me not in thy hot displeasui e,
Ps. 6. 1.
III. The death of the child; it died on the seventh
day,(y. 18.) when it was seven days old, and there¬
fore not circumcised, which David might, perhaps,
interpret as a further token of God’s displeasure,
that it died before it was brought under the seal of
the covenant; yet he does not therefore doubt of its
being happy, for the benefits of the covenant do not
depend upon the seals. David’s servants, judging
of him by themselves, were afraid to tell him that
the child was dead, concluding that then he would
disquiet himself most of all; so that he knew not
till he asked ,.v. 19.
IV. David’s wonderful calmness, when he under¬
stood the child was dead. Observe,
1. What he did. (1.) He laid aside the expres¬
sions of his sorrow, washed and anointed himself,
and called for clean linen, that he might decently
appear before God in his house. (2. ) He went up
to the tabernacle, and worshipped like Job when he
heard of the death of his children. He went to ac¬
knowledge the hand of God in the affliction, and to
humble himself under it, and to submit to his holy
will in it; to thank God that he himself was spared,
and his sin pardoned; and to pray that God would
not proceed in his controversy with him, nor stir up
all his wrath. Is any afflicted? Let him firay.
Weeping must never hinder worshipping. (3.)
Then he went to his own house, and refreshed him¬
self, as one who found benefit by his religion in the
day of his affliction; for, having worshipped, he
did eat, and his countenance was no more sad.
2. The reason he gave for what he did. His
servants thought it strange that he should afflict
himself so for the sickness of the child, and yet take
the death of it so easily; and asked him the reason
of it, v. 21. In answer to which, he gives this plain
account of his conduct. (1.) That while the child
was alive, he thought it his dutv to importune the
divine favour towards it, v. 22. Nathan had indeed
said the child should die, but, for aught that he
knew, the threatening might be conditional, as that
concerning Hezekiah: upon his great humiliation
and earnest prayer, he that had so often heard the
voice of his weeping, might be pleased to reverse
the sentence, and spare the child; Who can tell
whether God will yet be gracious to me? God
gives us leave to be earnest with him in prayer for
particular blessings, from a confidence in his power
and general mercy, though we have no particular
promise to build upon: we cannot be sure, yet let
us pray, for who can tell but God will be gracious
to us, in this or that particular? When our rela¬
tions and friends have fallen sick, the prayer of faith
has prevailed much; while there is life, there is
hope, and while there is hope, there is room for
* Of the propriety of this suggestion, the reader will form a judg¬
ment for himself. — Ed. ’
prayer. (2. ) That, the child being dead, he thought
it as much his duty to be satisfied in the divine dis¬
posal concerning it; (v. 23. ) JVow, wherefore should
I fast? Two things checked his grief: [1.] I can¬
not bring him back again; and again, He shall not
return to me. Those that are dead, are out of the
reach of prayer; nor can our tears profit them; we
can neither weep nor pray them back to this life.
Wherefore then should we fast? . To what purpose
is this waste? Yet David fasted and wept for Jona¬
than when he was dead, in honour to him. [2.] 1
shall go to him; First, To him, to the grave. Note,
The consideration of our own death should mode¬
rate our sorrow at the death of our relations. It is
the common lot; instead of mourning for their death,
we should think of our own: and whatever loss we
have of them now, we shall die shortly, and go to
them. Secondly, To him, to heaven, to a state of
blessedness, which even the Old Testament saints
had some expectation of. Godly parents have great
reason to hope concerning their children that die in
infancy, that it is well with their souls in the other
world; for the promise is to us and to our seed, which
shall be performed to those that do not put a bar in
their own door, as infants do not. Favores sunt
ampliandif— Favours received should produce the
hope of more. God calls them his children, that
are born unto him; and if they be his, he will save
them. This may comfort us when our children are
removed from us by death; they are better provid¬
ed for, both in work and wealth, than they could be
in this world. We shall be with them shortly, to
part no more.
V. The birth of Solomon. Though David’s mar
rying Bath -sheba had displeased the Lord, yet he
was not therefore commanded to divorce her; so far
from this, that God gave him that son by her; on
whom the covenant of royalty should be entailed.
Bath-sheba, no doubt, was greatly afflicted with the
sense of her sin and the tokens of God’s displeasure.
But God having restored to David the joys of his
salvation, he comforted her with the same comforts
with which he himself was comforted of God, v.
24, He comforted Bath-sheba. And both he and
she had reason to be comforted in the tokens of
God’s reconciliation to them.
1. Inasmuch as, by his providence, he gave them
a son, not as the former, who was given in anger
and taken away in wrath, but a child graciously
given, and written among the living in Jerusalem.
They called him Solomon, peaceful, because his
birth was a token of God’s being at peace with them,
because of the prosperity which was entailed upon
him, and because he was to be a type of Christ, the
Prince of Peace. God had removed one son from
them, but now gave them another, instead of him,
like Seth, instead of Abel, Gen. 4. 25. Thus God
often balances the griefs of his people with com¬
forts, in the same thing wherein he hath afflicted
them, setting the one over-against the other. Da¬
vid had very patiently submitted to the will of God
in the death of the other child, and now God made
up the loss of that, abundantly to his advantage in
the birth of this. The way to have our creature-
comforts either continued or restored, or the loss of
them made up some other way, is, cheerfully to re¬
sign them to God.
2. Inasmuch as, by his grace, he particu'arly
owned and favoured that son; The Lord loved him,
(v. 24.) and (v. 25.) ordered him, by the prophet
Nathan, to be called Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord;
though a seed of evil-doers, (for such David and
Bath-sheba were,) yet so well ordered was the co¬
venant, and the crown entailed by it, that it took
away all attainders, and corruption of blood, signify-,
ing, that those who were by nature child’-en of
wrath and disobedience, should, by the covenant
405
II. SAMUEL, XIII.
of grace, not only be reconciled, but made favour¬
ites. And in this name, he typified Jesus Christ,
that blessed Jedidiah, the Son of God’s love, con¬
cerning .whom God declared again and again, This
is my beloved Son, in whom lam well pleased.
26. And Joab fought against Rabbah of
the children of Ammon, and took the royal
city. 27. And Joab sent messengers to Da¬
vid, and said, 1 have fought against Rab¬
bah, and have taken the city of waters. 28.
Now therefore gather the rest of the people
together, and encamp against the city, and
take it: lest I take the city, and it be called
after my name. 29. And David gathered
all the people together, and went to Rab¬
bah, and fought against it, and took it. 30.
And he took their king’s crown from off his
head, (the weight whereof teas a talent of
gold with the precious stones,) and it was
set on David’s head : and he brought forth
the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31.
And he brought forth the people that were
therein, and put them under saws, and un¬
der harrows of iron, and under axes of iron,
and made them pass through the brick-kiln :
and thus did he unto all the cities of the
children of Ammon. So David and all the
people returned unto Jerusalem.
We have here an account of the conquest of Rab¬
bah, and other cities of the Ammonites. Though
this comes in here, after the birth of David’s child,
yet it is most probable that it was effected a good
while before, and soon after the death of Uriah,
perhaps during the days of Bath-sheba’s mourning
for him.
Observe, 1. That God was very gracious in giv¬
ing David this great success against his enemies,
notwithstanding the sin he had been guilty of, (just
at that time when he was engaged in this war,) and
the wicked use he had made of the sword of the
children of Ammon in the murder of Uriah. Justly
might he have made that sword, from thencefor¬
ward, a plague to David and his kingdom; yet he
breaks it, and makes David’s sword victorious,
even before he repented; that this goodness of God
might lead him to repentance. Good reason had
David to own, that God dealt not with him accord¬
ing to his sins, Ps. 103. 10.
2. That Joab acted very honestly and honourably;
for when he had taken the city of waters, the roy¬
al city, where the palace was, and from which the
rest of the city was supplied with water, and which,
therefore, upon the cutting off of that, would be
obliged speedily to surrender, he sent to David to
come in person to complete this great action, that
he might have the praise of it, v. 26 . . 28. Here¬
in, he showed himself a faithful servant, that sought
his master’s honour, and his own only in subordina¬
tion to his, and left an example to the seiwants of
the Lord Jesus, in every thing they do, to consult his
honour: JVot u?ito us, but unto thy name, give glory.
3. That David was both too haughty, and too se¬
vere, upon this occasion, and neither so humble
nor so tender as he should have been. (1.) He
seems to have been too fond of the crown of the king
of Ammon, v. 30. because it was of extraordinary
value, by reason of the precious stones with which it
was set. David will have it set upon his head, though
it would have been better to have cast it at God’s feet, il
and, at this time, to have put his own gnouth in the
dust, under guilt. The heart that is truly humbled
for sin, is dead to worldly glory, and looks upon it
with a holy contempt. (2.) He seems to have
been too harsh with his prisoners of war. ( v . 31.)
taking the city by storm, after it had obstinately
held out against a long and expensive siege; if he
had put all to the sword in the heat of battle, whom
he found in arms, it had been severe enough; but to
kill them afterward, in cold blood, and by cruel tor¬
tures, with saws and harrows, tearing them to pieces,
did not become him, who, when he entered upon the
government, promised to sing of mercy as well as
judgment, Ps. 101. 1. Had he made examples of
those only, who had abused his ambassadors, ad¬
vised or assisted in it, that being a violation of the
law of nations, it might be looked upon as a piece
of necessary justice for terror to other nations; but
to be thus severe with all the cities of the children
of Ammon, (that is, the garrisons or soldiers of the
cities,) was extremely rigorous, and a sign that Da¬
vid’s heart was not yet made soft by repentance,
else the bowels of his compassion would not have
been thus shut up; a sign that he had not yet found
mercy, else he would have been more ready to
show mercy.
CHAP. XIII.
The righteous God had lately told David, by Nathan the
prophet, that, to chastise him for his sin, in the matter
of Uriah, he would raise up evil against him, out of his
own house, ch. 12. 11. And here, in the very next chapter,
we find the evil beginning to rise; from henceforward, he
was followed with one trouble after another, which made
the latter part of his reign less trlorious and pleasant
than the former part. Thus God chastened him with the
rod of men, yet assured him that his loving-kindness he
would not utterly take away. Adultery and murder were
David’s sins, and those sins, among his children, ( Amnon
defiling his sister Tamar, and Absalom murdering his
brother Amnon,) were the beginnings of his punishment,
and the more grievous, because he had reason to fear
that his bad example might help to bring them to these
wickednesses. In this chapter, we have, I. Amnon ra¬
vishing Tamar; assisted in his plot to do it by Jonadab
his kinsman, and villanously executing it, v. 1 . . 20. II.
Absalom murdering Amnon for it, v. 21 . . 39. Both,
great griefs to David, and the more, because he was un¬
wittingly made accessary to both, by sending4 Tamar to
Amnon, and Amnon to Absalom.
1. A ND it came to pass after this, that
Absalom, the son of Davfd, had a
fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and
Amnon the son of David loved her. 2.
And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick
for his sister Tamar ; for she teas a virgin :
and Amnon thought it hard for him to do
any thing to her. 3. But Amnon had a
friend, whose name teas Jonadab, the son
of Shimeah, David’s brother : and Jonadab
teas a very subtile man. 4. And he said
unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s
son, lean from day today? wilt thou not
tell me ? And Amnon said unto him, I love
Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. 5.
And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down)
on thy bed, and make thyself sick : and
when thy father cometh to see thee, say un¬
to him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar
come and give me meat, and dress the meat
in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at
her hand. 6. So Amnon lay down, and
1 made himself sick : and when the king was
406
II. SAMUEL, XIII.
come to see him, Amnon said unto the king,
I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come and
make me a couple of cakes in my sight,
that I may eat at her hand. 7. Then Da¬
vid sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to
thy brother Amnon’s house, and dress him
meat. 8. So Tamar went to her brother
Amnon’s house ; and he was laid down.
And she took flour, and kneaded it , and
made cakes in his sight, and did bake the
cakes. 9. And she took a pan, and pour¬
ed them out before him ; but he refused to
eat. And Amnon said, Have out all men
from me : and they went out every man
from him. 10. And Amnon said unto Ta¬
mar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that
I may eat of thine hand. And Tamar took
the cakes which she had made, and brought
them into the chamber to Amnon her bro¬
ther. 11. And when she had brought them
unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and
said unto her, Come, lie with me, my sister.
12. And she answered him, Nay, my bro¬
ther, do not force me ; for no such thing
ought to be done in Israel : do not thou this
folly. 13. And I, whither shall I cause my
shame to go ? and as for thee, thou shalt be
as one of the fools in Israel. Now there¬
fore, I pray thee, speak unto the king ; for
he will not withhold me from thee. 14.
Howbeit, he- would not hearken unto her
voice ; but, being stronger than she, forced
her, and lay w ith her. 15. Then Amnon
hated her exceedingly ; so that the hatred
wherewith he hated her teas greater than the
love wherewith he had loved her : and Am¬
non said unto her, Arise, begone. 16. And
she said ^into him, there is no cause : this
evil in sending me away is greater than the
other that thou didst unto me. But he
would not hearken unto her. 17. Then he
called his servant that, ministered unto him,
and said, Put now this woman out from me,
and bolt the door after her. 18. And she
had a garment of divers colours upon her:
for with such robes were the king’s daugh¬
ters that were virgins apparelled. Then
his servant brought her out, and bolted the
door after her. 19. And Tamar put ashes
on her head, and rent her garment of di¬
vers colours that was on her, and laid her
hand on her head, and went on crying. 20.
And Absalom her brother said unto her,
Hatli Amnon thy brother been with thee?
but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is
thy brother; regard not this thing. So Ta¬
mar remained desolate in her brother Absa¬
lom’s house;
We have here a particular account of the abom¬
inable wickedness of Anmon, in ravishing his sis¬
ter; a subject not fit to be enlarged upon, nor in¬
deed to be mentioned without blushing, that ever
! any man should be so vile, especially that a son of
j David should be so. Amnon’s character, -we have
reason to think, was bad in other things; if he had
not forsaken God, he had never been given up to
these vile affections. Godly parents have often
been afflicted with wicked children; grace does no*
run in the blood, but corruption does. We do not
find that David’s children imitated him in his devo¬
tion; but his false steps they trod in, and in those
did much worse, and repented .not. Parents know
not how fatal the consequences may be, if, in any
instance, they give their children bad examples
Observe the steps of Amnon’s sin.
I. The Devil, as an unclean spirit, put it into his
heart to lust after his sister Tamar. Beauty is a
snare to many, it was so to her, she was fair, and
therefore Amnon coveted her, v. 1. They that are
peculiarly handsome, have no reason, on that ac¬
count, to be proud, but great reason to stand upon
their watch. Amnon’s lust was, 1. Unnatural in
I itself; to lust after his sister, which even natural
conscience startles at, and cannot think of without
horror. Such a spirit of contradiction there is in
man’s corrupt nature, that still it desires forbidden
fruit, and the more strongly it is forbidden, the
J more greedily it is desired. Can he entertain the
thought of betraying that virtue and honour, of
which, as a brother, he ought to have been the pro-
I tector? But what wickedness so vile, as not to find
! admittance into an unsanctified unguarded heart,
left to itself? 2. It was very uneasy to him. He
was so vexed that he could not gain an opportunity
to solicit her chastity, (for innocent converse with
her Wjis not denied him,) that he fell nick, v. 2.
Fleshly lusts are their own punishment, and not
only war against the soul, but against the body too,
and are the rottemiess of the bones. See what a hard
master sinners serve, and how heavy his yoke is.
II. The Devil, as a subtle servant, put it into his
head how to compass this wicked design. Amnon
had a friend, (so he called him, but he was really
an enemy to him,) a kinsman that had in him more
of David’s blood (for he was his nephew) than of
David’s spirit, for he was a subtle man, cunning to
carry on any bad design, especially an intrigue of
this nature, v. 3.
1. He takes notice that Amnon looked ill, and
being a subtle man, concludes that he was lo\ e-sick,
(y. 4.) and asks him, “ Why art thou, being the
king's son, lean from day to day? Why dost thou
pine, being the king’s eldest son, and heir to the
crown? Being the king’s son,” (1.) “Thou hast
the pleasure of the court to div ert thee; take those
pleasures then, and with them drive away the sor¬
row, whatever it is.” Content and comfort are not
always to be found in royal palaces. With much
more reason may we ask dejected and disconsolate
saints, why they that are the children of the king
of kings, and heirs of the crown of life, are thus
lean from day to day. (2.) “Thou hast the pow¬
er of a prince to command what thou wantest and
wishest for; use that power therefore, and gratify
thyself. Pine not away for that which, lawful or
unlawful, thou, being the king’s son, mayest have.
Quicquid libet licet — Your will is law.” Thus
Jezebel to Ahab in a like case, (1 Kings 21. 7.)
Dost not thou govern Israel? The abuse ol pow¬
er is the most dangerous temptation of the great.
2. Amnon having the impudence to own his
wicked lust, miscalling it love, (7 love Tamar,)
Jonadab put him in a way to compass his desing-,
v. 5. Had he been what he pretended, (Amncn's
friend,) he would have startled at the mention ft
such horrid wickedness, would have hud before h: u
I the evil of it, what an offence it was to God, ci.d
407
II. SAMUEL. XIII.
what a wrong to his own soul, to entertain such a
vile thought; of what fatal consequence it would be
to him to cherish and prosecute it; he would have
used his subtilty to divert Amnon from it, by re¬
commending some other person to him, whom he
might lawfully marry. But he seems not at all sur¬
prised at it; objects not either the unlawfulness or
the difficulty, the reproach, or so much as his fa¬
ther’s displeasure; but puts him in the way to get
Tamar to his bed-side, and then he might do as he
pleased. Note, The case of those is very miserable,
whose friends, instead of admonishing and reprov¬
ing them, flatter them and forward them in their
sinful ways, and are their counsellors and contrivers
to do wickedly. Amnon is already sick, but goes
about; he must take upon him to be- so ill, (and his
thin looks will give colour enough to the pretence,)
as not to be able to get up, and to have no ppetite
to any thing but just that which pleases his fancy.
Dainty meat is abhorred; (Job 33. 20.) the best
dish from the king’s table cannot please him; but if
he can eat any thing, it must be from his sister Ta¬
mar’s fair hand. This is what he is advised to.
3. Amnon follows these directions, and thus gets
Tamar within his reach. He made himself sick, v.
6. Thus he lieth in wait secretly, as a lion in his
de?i, to catch the floor, and to dYaw them into his
net, Ps. 10. 8 . . 10: David was always fond of
his children, and concerned if any thing ailed
them; he no sooner hears that Amnon is sick, than
he comes himself to visit him. Let parents learn
hence to be tender 'of their children, and compas¬
sionate toward them. The sick child commonly
the mother comforteth, (Isa. 66. 13.) but let not
the father be unconcerned. We may suppose that
when David canje to see his sick son, he gave him
good counsel to make a right use of his affliction,
and prayed with him, which did not alter his wick¬
ed purpose. At parting, the indulgent father asks,
“ Is there any thing thou hast a mind to, that I can
procure for thee?” “Yes, Sir,” says the dissem¬
bling son, “my stomach is weak, and I know not
of any thing I can eat, unless it be a cake of my
sister’ Tamar’s making, and I cannot be satisfied
that it is so, unless I see her make it, and it will do
me the more good, if I eat it at her hand. ” David saw
no reason to suspect any mischief intended, God
hid his heart from understanding in this matter; he
therefore immediately orders T amar to go and attend
her sick brother, v. 7. He does it very innocently,
but afterward, no doubt, reflected upon it with great
regret. Tamar as innocently gees to her brother’s
chamber, neither of them dreading any abuse; why
should she from a brother, a sick brother? Not dis¬
daining, in obedience to her father, and love to her
brother, (though but her half-brother,) to be his
nurse, v. 8, 9. Though she was a king’s daughter,
a great beauty, ( v . l.)and well-dressed, ( v . 18.)
yet she did not think it below her to knead cakes
and bake them, nor had she done it now, if she had
not been used to it. Good housewifery is not a thing
below the greatest ladies, nor ought they to think
it a disparagement to them. The virtuous woman,
whose husband sits among the elders, yet works
willingly with her hands, Prov. 31. 13. Modern
ages have not been destitute of such instances, nor
is it so unfashionable as some would make it Pre¬
paring for the sick should be more the care and de¬
light of the ladies, than preparing for the nice;
charity more than curiosity.
4. Having gothertohim, he contrives to have her
alone; for the adulterer (much more, so vile an j
adulterer as this) is in care that no eye see him, Job
24. 15. The meat is ready, but he cannot eat while
he is looked at by those about him; they must all
be turned out, v. 9. The sick must be humoured,
and think they have a privilege to command. Ta- ,
mar is willing tc humeur him; her chaste and vir¬
tuous soul h s not the least thought of' that which
his polluted breast is full of; and therefore she
makes no scruple of being alone with him in the in¬
ner chamber, v. 10. And now the mask is thrown
off, the meat is thrown bv, and the wicked wretch
calls her sister, and vet impudently courts her to
come and lie with him, v. 11. It was a base affront
to her virtue, to think it possible to persuade her to
consent to such wickedness, when he knew her be¬
haviour to be always exemplary, modest, and virtu¬
ous. But it is common for those that live in un¬
cleanness, to think others such as themselves, at
least tinder to their sparks.
III. The Devil, as a strong tempter, deafens his
ear to all the reasonings with which she resisted his
assaults, and would have persuaded him to desist.
We max well imagine xvhat a surprise and terror it
was to the young lady, to be thus attacked, how she
blushed, and how she trembled; yet, in this great
confusion, nothing could be said more pertinently,
or with greater strength of argument, than what
she said to him.
1. She calls him brother, reminding him of the
nearness of the relationship, which made itunlaxvful
for him to marry her, much more to debauch her. It
xvas expressly forbidden, (Lev. 18. 9.) under a se¬
vere penalty. Lex-. 20. 17. Great care must be
taken, lest the love that should be among relations,
degenerate into lust.
2. She entreats him not to force her, which inti¬
mates that she would never consent to it in any
degree; and xvhat satisfaction could he take in offer¬
ing violence ?
3. She lays before him the great wickedness of it.
It is folly; all sin is so, especially uncleanness: it is
wickedness of the worst kind. Such abominations
ought not to be committed in Israel, among the pro¬
fessing people of God, that have better statutes than
the heathen have. We are Israelites; if we do such
things, xve are more inexcusable than others, and
our c.ondemnaticn xvill be more intolerable, for xve
reproach the Loid, and that worthy name'by which
we are called.
4. She represents to him the shame of it, which
perhaps might influence him more than the sin of
it. “ For my part, whither shall I cause my shame
to go ? If it should be concealed, yet I shall blush
to think of it as long as I live; and if ever it be
known, how shall I be able to lock any of my friends
in the face? For thy part, thou shall be as one of
the fools in Israel that is, “Thou shalt be looked
upon as an atrocious debauchee, the worst of men;
thou wilt lose thine interest in the esteem of all that
are xvise and good, and so wilt be set aside as unfit
to rule, though the first-born; for Israel xvill never
submit to the goxmmment of such a fool.” Prospect
of shame, especially everlasting shame, should deter
us from sin.
5. To divert him from his xvicked purpose at this
time, and (if possible) to get clear of him, she inti¬
mates to him, that, probably, the king, rather than
he should die for love of her, xvould dispense with
the divine laxv, and let him marry her; not as if she
thought he had such a dispensing poxver, or would
pretend to it; she xvas confident that, upon notice
given to the king by himself, of this xvicked desire,
xvhich he xvould scarcely have believed from any
one else, he xvould take an effectual course to pro¬
tect her from him.
But all her arts and all her arguments axrailed nrt.
His proud spirit cannot bear a denial; but her com¬
fort, and honour, and all that xvas dear to her, must
be sacrificed to his brutish and outrageous lust, v.
14. It is to be feared that Amnon, though young,
had long lived a lexvd life, xvhich his father either
knexv not, or punished not; f?r a man could not., of a
408
fl. SAMUEL, XIII.
■sudden, arrive at such a pitch of wickedness as this.
But is this his love to Tamar? Is this the recom¬
pense he gives her for her readiness to attend him
in his sickness ? Will he deal with his sister as with
a harlot ? Base \iilain! God deliver all that are
modest and virtuous from such wicked and unrea¬
sonable men.
IV. The Devil, as a tormentor and betrayer, im¬
mediately turns his love of her into hatred; ( v . 15.)
He hated her with great hatred, greatly, so it is in
the margin, and grew as outrageous in his malice,
as he had been in his lust; he basely turned her out
of doors by force; nay, as if he now disdained to
touch her with his own hands, he ordered his ser¬
vant to /lull her out, and bolt the door after her, v.
17. Now, 1. The innocent injured lady had reason
to resent this as a great affront, and in some respects,
(as she says, v. 16.) worse than the former; for no¬
thing could have been done more barbarous, or more
disgraceful to her. Had he taken care to conceal
what was done, her honour had been lost to herself
only. Had he gone down on his knees, and begged
her pardon, it might have been some little repara¬
tion. Had he given her time to compose herself
after the horrid confusion she was put into, she
might have kept her countenance when she went
out, and so have kept her counsel. But to dismiss
her thus hurried, thus rudely, as if she had done
some wi ked thing, obliged her, in her own defence,
to proclaim the wrong that had been done her. 2.
We may learn from it, both the malignity of sin,
unbridled passions are as bad as unbridled appetites,
and the mischievous consequences of sin, at last, it
bites like a serpent; for here we find, (1.) That
sins, sweet in the commission, afterward become
odious and p .infill, and the sinner’s own conscience
makes them s > to himself. Amnon hated Tamar,
because she would not consent to his wickedness,
and so take part of the blame upon herself, but, to
the last, resisted it, and reasoned against it, and so
threw it up n him. Had he hated the sin, and
loathed himself for it, we might have hoped he was
penitent: Godly sorrow worketh indignation; (2 Cor.
7. 11.) but to hate the person he had abused, show¬
ed that his conscience was terrified, but his heart
not at all humbled. See what deceitful pleasures
those of the flesh are, how soon they p iss away, and
turn into loathing; see Ezek. 23. 17. (2.) That
sins, secret in the commission, afterward become
open and public, and the sinners themselves often
make them so. Their own tongues fall upon them.
The Jewish doctors say, that, upon the occasion of
this wickedness of Amnon, a law was made, that a
young man and a young woman should never be
alone together; for, said they, if the king’s daughter
be so used, what will become of the children of pri¬
vate men?
We must now leave the criminal to the terrors of
his own guilty conscience, and inquire what becomes
of the poor victim.
[1.] She bitterly lamented the injury she had re¬
ceived; as it was a stain to her honour, though no
real blemish to her virtue. She tore her fine clothes
,n token of her grief, and put ashes upon her head,
;o deform herself, loathing her own beauty and or¬
naments, because they had occasioned Amnon’s
unlawful love; and she went on crying for another’s
sin, v. 19.
[2.] She retired to her brother Absalom’s house,
because he was her own brother, and there she lived
in solitude and sorrow, in token of her modesty, and
detestation of uncleanness. Absalom spoke kindly
to her, bid her pass by the injury; for the present,
designing himself to revenge it, v. 20. It should
seem, by Absalom’s question, (Has Amnon been
•with thee ?) that Amnon was notorious for such
lewd practices, so that it was dangerous for a mo-
; dest woman to be with him; this Absalom might
know, and yet Tamar be wholly ignorant of it.
21. But when king David heard of all these
things, he was very wroth. 22. And Absa¬
lom spake unto his brother Amnon neither
good nor bad : for Absalom hated Amnon,
because he had forced his sister Tamar.
23. And it came to pass, after two full y ears,
that Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal-
liazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absa¬
lom invited all the king’s sons. 24. And
Absalom came to the king, and said, Be¬
hold now, thy servant hath sheep-shearers ;
let the king, I beseech thee, and his ser¬
vants, go with thy servant. 25. And the
king said to Absalom, Nay, my son, let us
not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto
thee. And he pressed him: howbeit he
would not go, but blessed him. 26. Then
said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my
brother Amnon go with us. And the king
said unto him, Why should he go with thee?
27. But Absalom pressed him, that he let
Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.
28. Now Absalom had commanded his ser¬
vants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s
heart is merry with wine ; and when I say
unto you, Smite Amnon ; then kill him, fear
not : have not l commanded you ? be cou¬
rageous, and be valiant. 29. And the ser¬
vants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Ab¬
salom had commanded. Then all the king’s
sons arose, and every man gat him up upon
his mule and fled.
What Solomon says of the beginning of strife, is
as true of the beginning of all sin; it is as the letting
forth of water; when once the flood-gates are pluck¬
ed up, an inundation follows; one mischief begets an¬
other, and it is hard to say, what shall be in the end
thereof.
I. We are here told, how David resented the
tidings of Amnon’s sin; he was very wroth, v. 21.
So he had reason to be, that his own son should do
such a wicked thing, and draw him to be accessary
to it. It would be a reproach to him, for not giving
him a better education; it would be a blot upon his
family, the ruin of his daughter, a bad example to
his kingdom, and a wrong to his son’s soul. But
was it enough for him to be angry ? He ought to
have punished his son for it, and to have put him to
open shartie; both as a father, and as a king, he had
power to do it. But the Septuagint here adds these
words: But he saddened not the s/iirit of his son
Amnon, because he loved him, because he was his
first-born. He fell into Eli’s error, whose sons
made themselves vile, and he froiitned not on them.
If Amnon was dear to him, his punishing of him
would have been so much the greater punishment
to himself for his own uncleanness. But he cannot
bear the shame those must submit to, who correct
that in others, which they are conscious of in them¬
selves, and therefore his anger must serve instead
of his justice; this hardens sinners, Eccl. 8. 11.
II. How Absalom resented it. He resolves al¬
ready to do the part of a judge in Israel; and since
I his father will not punish Amnon, he will, from a
40;)
II. SAMUEL, XIII.
principle, not of justice, or zeal for virtue, but of
revenge, because he reckons himself affronted in
the abuse done to his sister. Their mother was
daughter to a heathen prince, (ch. 3. 3.) which
perhaps they were upbraided with sometimes by
their bret .ren, as children of a stranger; as such a
one Absalom thought his sister was now treated;
and if Amnon thought her fit to be made his harlot,
lie would think him fit to be made his slave; this
enraged him, and nothing less than the blood of
Amnon will quench his rage. Here we have,
1. The design conceived. Absalom hated Amnon,
(v. 22.) and he that hateth his brother, is a murderer
already, and, like Cain, is o f that wicked one, 1 John
3. 12* *15. Absalom’s hatred of his brother’s crime
had been commendab.e, and he might justly have
prosecuted him for it by a due course of law, for
example to others, and the making of some com¬
pensation to his injured s.ster; but to hate his person,
and design his death by assassination, w..s to put a
great affront upon God, by offering to rep hr the
breach of his seventh commandment by the viola¬
tion of his sixth, as if they were not all alike sacred;
But he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also,
Do not kill, James 2. 11.
2. The design concealed. He said nothing to
Amnon of this matter, either good or bad, appeared
as if he did not know it, and maintained toward
him his usual civility, only waiting for a fair oppor¬
tunity to do him a mischief. That malice is the
worst, (1.) Which is hidden close, and has no vent
given to it. If Absalom had reasoned the matter
with Amnon, he might have convinced him of his
sin, and brought him to repentance; but saying no^
thing, Amnon’s heart was hardened, and his own
more and more imbittered against him; therefore
rebuking oui neighbour is opposed to hating him in
our hearts. Lev. 19. 17. Let passion have vent,
and it will spend itself. (2.) Which is gilded over
with a show of friendship; so Absalom’s was, his
words smoother than butter, but war in his heart.
See Prov. 26. 26. (5.) Which is harboured long;
two full years Absalom nursed this root of bitter¬
ness, v. 23. It may be, at first, he did not intend
to kill his brother, (for if he had, he might have
had as fair an opportunity to do it as he had at last,)
he only waited for an occasion to disgrace him, or
do him some other mischief; but, in time, his hatred
ripened to this, that he would be no less than the
death of him. If the su/i going' down once ujion
the wrath, gives such a place to the Devil as is inti¬
mated, Eph. 4. 26, 27. what would the sun-sets of
two full years do ?
3. The design laid. (1.) Absalom has a feast at
his house in the country, as Nabal had, on occasion
of his sheep-shearing, v. 23. Attentive as Absalom
was to his person, (ch. 14. 26.) and as high as he
looked, he knew the state of his flocks, and looked
well to his herds. Those that have no other care
about their estates in the country, than how to spend
them in the town, take a ready way to see the end
of them. When Absalom had sheep-shearers, he
would himself be with them. (2.) To this feast he
invites the king, his father, and all the princes of
the blood, v. 24. Not only that he might have this
opportunity to pay his respects to them, but that he
might make h’mself the more respected among his
neighbours. Those that are akin to great folks, are
apt to value themselves too much on their kindred.
(3.) The king would not go himself, because he
would not put him to the expense of his entertain¬
ment, v. 25. It seems, Absalom had an estate in
his own hands, on which he lived like himself; the
king had given it him, but would have him to be a
good husband of it: in both these, he is an example
to parents, when their children are grown up, to
give them a competency to live upon, according to
Vol. ii. — 3 F
their rank, and then to take care that they do not
live above it, especially that they be no way acces¬
sary to their doing so. It is prudent for young
house-keepers to begin as they can hold out, and
not to spend the wool upon the shearing of it. (4.)
Absalom got lea\ e for Amnon, and all the rest ct
the king’s sons, to come and grace his table in the
country, v. 26, 27. Absalom had so effectually con¬
cealed his enmity to Amnon, that David saw no
reason to suspect any design upon him in that, par¬
ticular invitation, “'Let my brother Amnon go;”
but this would make the "stroke more cutting to
David, that he was himself drawn in to consent to
that which ga\ e the opportunity for it, as before,
v. 7. It seems, Dav id’s sons, though grown up, con¬
tinued to pay that deference to their father, as net
to go such a small journey as this, without his leave.
Thus ought children, even when they are become
men and women, to honour their pai ents, advise
with them, and do nothing material Without their
consent, much less against their mind.
4. The des.gn executed, v. 28, 29. (1.) Absa
lom’s entertainment was very plentiful; for he re¬
solves that they shall all be merry with wine; at
least, concludes that Amnon will be so, for he knew
that he was apt to drink to excess. But, (2.) The
orders he gave to h,s servants concerning Amnon,
that they should mingle his blood with his wine,
were very barbarous. Had he challenged him,
and, in reliance upon the goodness of his cause, and
the just it e of God, fought him himself, though that
had been bad enough, yet it had been more honour¬
able and excusable; (our ancient law, in some cases,
allowed trial by battle;) but to murder hi n, as he
did, was to copy Cain’s example, only that the rea¬
son made a difference; Abel was slain for his righte¬
ousness, Amnon for his wickedness. Observe the
aggravations of this sin: [1.] He would have Amnon
slain, when his heart was merry with wine, and he
was, consequently, least apprehensive of danger,
least able to resist it, and also least fit to go cut of
the world; as if Ids malice aimed to destroy both
soul and body, not giving him time to say, Lord
have mercy upon me. What a dreadful surprise
has death been to many, whose hearts have been
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness! [2.]
His servants must be employed to do it, and so in¬
volved in the guilt. He was to give the word of
comm ,nd, Smile Amnon; and then they, in obe¬
dience to h'm, and, upon presumption that his
authority would bear them out, must kill him.
What an impious defiance does he bid to the divine
law, when, though the command of God is express,
Thou shalt not kill, he bids them kill Amnon, with
this warrant, “ Have not I commanded you? That
is enough; Be courageous, and fear neither God nor
man.” Those servants are ill-taught, (and have
wicked masters,) who obey, in contradiction to God.
Those are too obsequious, that will damn their souls
to please their masters, whose big words cannot se¬
cure them from God’s wrath. Masters must always
command their servants, as those that know they
have also a Master in heaven. [3.] He did it in
the presence of all the king’s sons, of whom it is
said, (ch. 8. 18.) that they were chief rulers; so that
it was an affront to public, justice, which thev had
the administration of, and to the king his father
whom they represented, and a contempt of that
sword which should have been a terror to his evil
deeds; while his evil deeds, on the contrary, were
a terror to him that bare it. [4.] There is reason
to suspect that Absalom did this, not only to revenge
his sister’s quarrel, but to make way for himself to
the throne; which he was ambitious of, and which
he would stand fair for, if Amnon the eldest son was
taken off.
When the word of command was given, Absa
410
II. SAMUEL, XIV.
lom’s servants failed not to execute it, being buoyed
up with an opinion, that their rf aster, being now
next heir to the crown, (for Chileab was dead, as :
Bishop Patrick thinks,) would save them from j
harm. Now the threatened sword is drawn in Da¬
vid’s house, which should not depart from it.
First, His eldest son falls by it, himself being, by
his wickedness, the cause of it, and his father, by
his connivance, accessary to it. Secondly, All his
sons flee from it, and come home in terror, not
knowing how far their brother Absalom’s bloody
design might extend. See what mischief sin makes
in families.
30. And it came to pass, while they were
in the way, that tidings came to David, say¬
ing, Absalom hath slain all the king’s sons,
and there is not one of them left. 3 1 . Then
the king arose, and tare his garments, and
'ay on the earth ; and all his servants stood
by with their clothes rent. 32. And Jona-
dab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother,
answered and said, Let not my lord sup¬
pose that they have slain all the young men
the king’s sons; for Anmon only is dead:
for by the appointment of Absalom this
hath been determined from the day that he
forced his sister Tamar. 33. Now there¬
fore let not my lord the king take the thing
to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons
are dead for Amnon only is dead. 34.
But Absalom fled. And the young man
that kept the 'Watch lifted up his eyes and
looked, and, behold, there came much peo¬
ple by the way of the hill side behind him.
35. And Jonadab said unto the king, Be¬
hold, the king’s sons come : as thy servant
said, so it is. 36. And it came to pass, as
soon as he had made an end of speaking,
that, behold, the king’s sons came, and
lifted up their voice, and wept : and the
king also and all his servants wept very
sore.- 37. But Absalom fled, and went to
Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Ge-
shur. And David mourned for his son
every day. 38. So Absalom fled, and went
to Geshur, and was there three years. 39.
And the soul of king David longed lo go
forth unto Absalom : for he was comforted
concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
Here is,
I. The fright that David was put into by a false
report brought to Jerusalem, that Absalom had
slain all the king's sons, v. 30.' It is common for
fame to make bad worse; and the first news of such
a thing as this, represents it more dreadful than af¬
terward it proves. Let us not therefore be afraid*
of evil tidings, while they want confirmation, but
when we hear the worst, hope the best, at least,
hope better. However, this false news gave as
much affliction to David, for the present, as if it
had been true; he tare his garments, and lay on the
earth, while, as yet, it was only a flying story, v.
81. It was well that David had grace; he had need
enough ' f it, f n* he had strong passions.
II. The rectifying of the mistake, two ways. 1.
By the sly suggestions of J nadab, David’s nephew,
who could tell him, Amnon only is dead, and net all
: the king’s sons; (v. 32, 33.) and could tell him tor
[ that it was done by the appointment cf Absalom,
and designed from the day he forced his sister Ta¬
mar. What a wicked man was he, if he knew all
this, or had any cause to suspect it, that he did not
make David acquainted with it sooner, that means
might have been used to make up the quarrel,
(such was Jonadab’s duty had he acted as an honest
man,) or, at least, that David might not have
thrown Amnon into the mouth r-f danger, by letting
j him go to Absalom’s house. If we do net our ut¬
most to prevent mischief, we make ourselv es acces
sary to it. If we say, Behold, we know it not',
doth not he that /tondereih the heart, consider
; whether we did or no? See Prov. 24. 11, 12. It is
well, if Jonadab was not as guilty of Amncn’s death,
as he was of his sin; such friends do t/ny prove who
are hearkened to as counsellors to do wickedly: he
that would net be so kind as to prevent Amnon’s
sin, neither would he be so kind as to prevent his
ruin, when, it should seem, he might have done
both. 2. By the safe return of all the king’s sons,
except Amnon. They, and their attendants, were
speedily discovered by the watch, (v. 34, 35.) and
soon arrived, to show themselves alive, but to bring
the certain sad news that Absalom had murdered
their brother Amnon. The grief David had been
in for that which was not, made him the better able
to bear that which was, by giving him a sensibh
occasion, when he was undeceived, to thank God,
that all his sons were not dead: yet, that Amnon
was dead, and slain by his own brother, in such a
treacherous barbarous manner, was enough to put
the king and court, the king and kingdom, into real
mourning. Sorrow is never more reasonable, than
when there is sin in the case.
III. Absalom’s flight from justice. Absalom im¬
mediately fled, v. 34. He was now as much
afraid of the king’s sons, as they were of him; they
fled from his malice, he from their justice; no part
of the land of Israel could shelter him, the cities of
refuge gave no protection to a wilful murderer;
though David had let Amnon’s incest go unpunish¬
ed, Absalom could not promise himself h s pardon
for this murder; so express was the. law in this
case, and so well known David’s justice, and his
dread of blood-guiltiness. He therefore made- the
best of his way to his mother’s relations, and was
entertained by his grandfather, Talmai, king of
Geshur, ( v . 37.) and there he was protected three
years; (v. 38.) David not demanding him, and1
Talmai not thinking himself obliged to send him
back, unless he were demanded.
IV. David’s uneasiness for his absence. He
mourned for Amnon a good while, (r>. 37.) but he
being past recall, time wore off that grief; he was
comforted concerning ■ Amnon: it also wore off too
much his detestation of Absalom’s sin; instead of
loathing him, as a murderer, he longs to go forth to
him, v. 39. At first, he could not find in his heart
to do justice on him, now he can almost find in his
1 heart to take him into his favour again. This was
David’s infirmity; something God saw in his heart
that made a difference, else we should have thought
that he, as much as Eli, honoured his sons more
than God.
CHAP. XTV.
How Absalom threw himself out of his royal fathers pro
tection and favour, we read in the foregoing chapter,
which left him an exile, outlawed, and proscribed ; in
this chapter, we have the arts that were used to bring
him and his father together a^ain, and how, at last, if
was done ; which is here recorded, to show the folly of
David, in sparing him, and indulging him in his wicked-
411
II. SAMUEL, XIV.
ness, for which he was, soon after, severely corrected by
his unnatural rebellion. I. Joab, by bringing a feigned
issue (as the lawyers speak) to he tried before him, in
the case of a poor widow of Tekoah, gains from him a
judgment in general, That the case might be so, as that
the putting of a murderer to death ought to be dispensed
with, v. 1 . . 20. II. Upon the application of this, he
gains from him an order to bring Absalom back to Je¬
rusalem, while vet he was forbidden the court, v. 21 . . 24.
HI. Afier an account of Absalom, his person, and fa¬
mily, we arc told how, at length, he was introduced by
Joab into the king’s presence, and the king was tho¬
roughly reconciled to him, v. 25 . . 33.
!•. 'VJ'O W Joab the son of Zeruiah per-
ceived that the king’s heart was to¬
ward Absalom. 2. And Joab sent to Te¬
koah, and fetched thence a wise woman,
and said unto her, 1 pray thee, feign thyself
to be a mourner, and put on now mourning
apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but
be as a woman that had a long time mourn¬
ed for the dead ; 3. And come to the king,
and speak on this manner unto him. So
Joab put the words in her mouth. 4. And
when the woman of Tekoah spake to the
king, she fell on her face to the ground, and
did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. 5.
And the king said unto her, What aileth
thee ? And she answered, I am indeed a
widow woman, and my husband is dead.
6. And thy handmaid had two sons, and
they two strove together in the field, and
there was none to part them, but the one
smote the other, and slew him. 7. And,
behold, the whole family is risen against
thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him
that smote his brother, that, we may kill
him, for the life of his brother whom he
slew; and we will destroy the heir also:
and so they shall quench my coal which is
left, and shall not leave to my husband
neither name nor remainder upon the earth,
b. And the king said unto the woman, Go
to thine house, and I will give charge con¬
cerning thee. 9. And the woman of Te¬
koah said unto the king, My lord, O king,
the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s
house; and the king and his throne be
guiltless. 10. And the king said, Whoso¬
ever sailh aught unto thee, bring him to me,
and he shall not touch thee any more. 1 1.
Then said she, I pray thee, let the king re¬
member the Lord thy God, that thou
v ouldest not suffer the revengers of blood
to destroy any more, lest they destroy my
son. And he said, As the Lord liveth,
there shall not one hair of thy son fall to
the earth. 12. Then the woman said, Let
thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word
unto my lord the king. And he said, Say
on. 13. And the woman said, Wherefore
then hast thou thought such a thing against
the people of God ? for the king doth speak
this thing as one which is faulty, in that the
king doth not fetch home again his banish¬
ed. I 4 . Lor we must needs die, and are as
water spilt on the ground, which cannot be
gathered up again : neither doth God re¬
spect any person ; yet doth he devise means
that his banished be not expelled from him.
15. Now therefore that I am come to speak
| of this thing unto my lord the king, it is be¬
cause the people have made me afraid : and
thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto
the king; it may be that the king will per¬
form the request of his handmaid. 1G. For
the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid
out of the hand of the man that would
destroy me and my son together out of the
inheritance of God. 17. Then thine hand¬
maid said, The word of mv lord the king
shall now be comfortable : for as an angel of
j God, so is my lord the king, to discern good
and bad; therefore the Lord thy God will
be with thee. 18. Then the king answered
i and said unto the woman, Hide not from
me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask
thee. And the woman said, Let my lord
! the king now speak. 19. And the king
said. Is not the hand of Joab with thee in
all this? And the woman answered and
said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king,
none can turn to the right hand or to the
left from aught that my lord the king hath
spoken: for thy servant Joab, be bade me,
and he put all these words in the mouth
of thine handmaid: 20. To fetch about
this form of speech hath thy servant Joab
done this thing: and my lord is wise, ac-
j cording to the wisdom of an angel of God,
to know all things that are in the earth.
1 Here is,
I. Joab’s design to- get Absalom recalled cut of
banishment, his crime pardoned, and his attainder
reversed, v. 1. Joab made himself very busy in
this affair, 1. As a courtier, that was studious, by
all ways possible, to ingratiate himself with his
prince, and improve his interest in his favour; he
perceived that the king's heart was toward Absa¬
lom , and* that, the heat of his displeasu e being
t over, he still retained his old affection for him, and
only wanted a friend to court him to be reconciled,
1 and to contrive for him how he might do it, without
impeaching the honour of his justice. . Joab, finding-
how David stord affected, undertook this good
office. 2. As a friend to Absalom, whom, perhaps,
he had a particular kindness for, at least looked
upon as the rising sun, to whom it was his interest
to recommend himself. He plainly- foresaw that
his father would, at length, be reconciled to him.
and therefore thought he should make both his
friends, if he were instrument'll to. bring it about.
3. As a statesman, and one concerned for the public
welfare. He knew how much Absalom was the
darling of the people, and if David should die while
he was in banishment, it might occasion a civil war
between those that were for him and those that
were against him; for it is probable that though all
Israel loved his person, yet they were much divided
upon his case. 4. As one who was himself a delin
412
II. SAMUEL, XIV.
quent, by the murder of Abner; he was conscious to
himself of the guilt of blood, and that he was him¬
self obnoxious to public justice, and therefoi-e,
whate\ er favour he could procure to be shown to
Absalom, would corroborate his reprieve.
II His contrivance to do it, by laying somewhat
of a parallel case before the king, which was done
so dexterously by the person he employed, that the
king took it for a real case, and gave judgment upon
it, as he had done upon Nathan’s parable; and the
judgment being in favour of the criminal, the
manager might, by that, discover his sentiments so
far, as to venture upon the application of it, and to
show that it was the case of his own family, tvhich,
it is probable, she was instructed not to proceed to,
if the king’s judgment upon her case had been se¬
vere.
1. The person he employed, is not named, but is
s ud to be a woman of Tekoah, one whom he knew
to be fit for such an undertaking: and it was requi¬
site that the scene should be laid at a distance, that
David might not think it strange that he had not
heard of it before. It is said, She was a wise wo¬
man, one that had a quicker wit, and a readier
tongue, than most of her neighbours, v. 2. The
truth of the story would be the less suspected,
when it came, as was supposed, from the person’s
own mouth.
2. The character she put on, was, that of a dis¬
consolate widow, v. 2. Joab knew such a one
would have an easy access to the king, who was al¬
ways ready to comfort the mourners, especially the
mourning widows, having himself mentioned it
among the titles of God’s honour, that he is a Judge
of the widows, Ps. 68. 5. God’s ear, no doubt, is
more open to the cries of the afflicted, and his
heart too, then that of the most merciful princes on
earth could be.
3. It was a case of compassion which she had to
represent to the king, and a case in which she could
have no relief but from the chancery in the royal
breast; the law (and, consequently, the judgment
of all the inferior courts) being against her. She
tells the king that she had buried her husband; ( v .
5. ) that she had two sons that were the support and
comfort of her widowed state; that these two (as
young men are apt to do) fell out and fought, and
one of them unhappily killed the other; {y. 6.)
that, for her part, she was desirous to protect the
manslaver, for, as Rebekah argued concerning her
two sons, Why should she be deprived of them both
in one day? Gen. 27. 46. But though she, who was
nearest of kin to the slain, was willing to let fall the
demands of an avenger of blood, yet the other re¬
lations ins:sted upon it, that the surviving brother
should be put to death according to law, not out of
any affection, either to justice or to the memory of
the slain brother, but that, by destroying the heir,
(which thev had the impudence to own was the thing
they aimed at, ) the inheritance might be their’s:
and thus they would cut off (1.) Her comfort;
“ They shall quench my coal, deprive me of the
only support of my old age, and put a period to all
my joy in this world, which is reduced to this one
coal.” (2.) Her husband’s memory; “ His family
will be quite extinct, and they will leave him nei
ther name nor remainder ,” v. 7.
4. The king promised her his favour, and a pro¬
tection for her son. Observe how she grew upon
the king’s compassionate concessions. (1.) Upon
the representation of her case, he promised to con¬
sider of it, and to give orders about it, v. 8 This
was encouraging, that he did not dismiss her peti¬
tion with “ Currat lex — Let the law take its course;
blood calls for blood, and let it have what it calls
for;” but he will take time to inquire whether the
allegations of her petition be true. (2.) The wo¬
man is not content with this, but begs that he would
immediately give judgment in her favour; and, if
the matter of fact were not as she represented it,
and consequently a wrong judgment given upon it,
let her bear the blame, and free the king and his
throne from guilt, v. 9. Yet her saying this would
not acquit the king, if he should pass sentence with¬
out taking due cognizance of the case. (3. ) Being
thus pressed, he makes a further promise, that she
should not be injured or insulted by her adversaries,
but he would protect her from all molestation, v.
10. Magistrates ought to be the patrens of oppress¬
ed widows. (4. ) Yet this does not content her, un¬
less she can get her son’s pardon, and protection fc'r
him too. Parents are not easy, unless their-children
be safe, safe for both worlds, v. 11. “ Let not the
avenger of blood destroy my son, for I am undone
if I lose him; as good take my life as his. There¬
fore let the king remember the Lord thy God;” that
is; [1.] “Let him confirm this merciful sentence
with an oath, making mention of the Lord our God,
by way of appeal to him, that the sentence may be
indisputable, and irreversible; and then I shall be
easy.” See Heb. 6. 17, 18. [2.] “Let him con¬
sider what good reason there is for this merciful
sentence, and then he himself will be confirmed in
it. Remember how gracious and merciful the Lord
thy God is, how he bears long with sinners, and
does not deal with them according to their deserts,
but is ready to forgive. Remernber how the Lord
thy God spared Cain, who slew his brother, and
protected him from the avengers of blood, Gen. 4.
15. Remember how' the Lord thy .God forgave thee
the blood of Uriah, and let the king, that has found
mercy, show mercy.” Note, Nothing is more pro¬
per, or more powerful, to engage us to every duty,
especially to all acts of mercy and kindness, than to
remember the Lord our God. (5.) This importu¬
nate widow, by pressing the matter thus close, ob¬
tains, at last, a full pardon for her son, ratified with
an oath as she desired; As the Lord liveth, there
shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth; that
is, “ I will undertake he shall come to no damage
upon this account. ” The Son of David has assured
all that put themselves under his protection, that,
though they should be put to death for his sake, not
a hair of their head shall perish; (Luke 21. 16, 18.)
though they should lose for him, they should not
lose by him. Whether David did well, thus to un¬
dertake the protection of a murderer, whom the
cities of refuge would not protect, I cannot say.
But as the matter of fact appeared to him, there
was not only great reason for compassion to the mo¬
ther, but room enough for a favourable judgment
concerning the son: he had slain his brother, but
he hated him not in time past; it was upon a sudden
provocation, and, for aught that appeared, it might
be done in his own defence. He pleaded not this
himself, but the judge must be of counsel for the
prisoner; and therefore, Let mercy, at this time,
rejoice against judgment.
5. The case being thus adjudged in favour of her
son, it is now time to apply it to the king’s son, Ab¬
salom. The mask here begins to be thrown off,
and another scene opened; the king is surprised, but
not at all displeased, to find his humble petitioner,
of a sudden, become his reprover, his privy-coun¬
sellor, an advocate for the prince his son, and the
mouth of the people, undertaking to represent to
him their sentiments. She begs his pardon, and his
patience, for what she had further to say, (v. 12.)
and has leave to say it, the king being very well
pleased with her wit and humour.
(1.) She supposes Absalom’s case to be, in effect,
the same with that which she had put as her son’s;
and therefore, if the king would protect her son,
though he had slain his brother, much more ought
413
II. SAMUEL, XIV.
he to protect his own, and to fetch, home his banish¬
ed, v. 13. Mutato nomine dete fabula narratur —
Change but the names , to you the tale belongs. She
names not Absalom, nor needed she to name him;
David longed so much after him, and had him so
much in his thoughts, that he was soon aware whom
she meant bv his banished. And in those two words,
were two arguments which the king’s tender spirit
felt the force of: “ He is banished, and has, for
three years, undergone the disgrace and terror, and
all the inconveniences, of banishment: sufficient to
such a one is this punishment: but he is thy banish¬
ed, thy own son, a piece of thyself, thy dear son,
whom thou lovest. ”
It is true, Absalom’s case differed very much from
that which she had put. Absalom did not slay his
brother upon a hasty passion, but maliciously, and
upon an old grudge; not in the field, where there
were- no witnesses, but at table, before all his guests.
Absalom was not an only son, as her’s was; David
had many more, and one lately born, more likely to
be his successor than Absalom, for he was called
Jedidiah , because God loved him. But David was
himself too well affected to the cause, to be critical
in his remtirks upon the disparity of the cases, and
was more desirous than she could be, to bring that
favourable judgment to his own son, which he had
given concerning her’s.
(2. ) She reasons upon it with the king, to persuade
him to recall Absalom out of banishment, give him
his pardon, and t ike him into his favour again.
[1.] She pleads the interest which the people of
Israel had in him. “ What is done against him, is
done against the people of God, who have their eye
upon him as heir of the crown, at least, have their
eye upon the house of David in general, with which
the covenant is made, and which therefore they
cannot see the diminution and decay of, by the fail
of so many of its branches in the flower of their age.
Therefore the king speaks as one that is faulty, for
he will provide that my husband’s name and me¬
mory be not cut off, and yet takes no care, though
his own be in danger, which is of more value and
importance than ten thousand of our’s.”
[2.] She pleads man’s mortality; (v. 14.) “ We
must needs die, it is appointed for us, we cannot
avoid the thing itself, nor defer it till another time.
We are all under a fatal necessity of dying; and
when we are dead, we are past recall, as water spilt
upon the ground; nay, even when we are alive, we
are so, we have lost our immortality, past retrieve.
Amnon must have died, some time, if Absalom-had
not killed him; and if Absalom be now put to death
for killing him, that will not bring him to life again. ”
This was poor reasoning, and would serve against
the punishment of any murderer; but, it should
seem. Amnon was a man little regarded by the
people, and his death little lamented, and it was ge¬
nerally thought hard that so dear a life as Absalom’s
should go for one so little valued as Amnon’s.
[3.] She pleads God’s mercy and his clemency to¬
ward poor guilty sinners. “ God does not take away
the soul, or life, but devises means that his banished,
his children that have offended him, and are obnox¬
ious to his justice, as Absalom is to thine, be not for
ever expelled from him,” v. 14. Here are two
great instances of the mercy of God to sinners, pro¬
perly urged as reasons for showing mercy. First,
The patience he exercises toward them. His law
is broken, yet he does not immediatelv take away
the life of those that break it; does not strike sin¬
ners dead, as justly he might, in the act of sin, but
bears a ith them, and waits to be gracious. God’s
vengeance had suffered Absalom to live; why then
should not David’s justice suffer him? Secondly,
* The provision he had made for their restoration to
his favour, that though by sin they had banished
themselves from him, yet they might not be expel¬
led, or cast off, for ever. Atonement might be
made for sinners by sacrifice. Lepers, and others
ceremonially unclean, were banished, but provision
was made for- their cleansing, that, though for a
time excluded, they might not be finally expelled.
The state of sinners is a state of banishment from
God. Poor banished sinners are likely to be for
ever expelled from God, if some course be not ta¬
ken to prevent it: it is against the mind of God that
they should be so, for he is not willing that any
should perish: infinite wisdom has devised proper
means to prevent it; so th.it it is sinners’ own fault,
if they be cast off. This instance of God’s good
will towards us all, should incline us to be merciful
and compassionate one towards another, Matt. 18.
32, 33.
6. She concludes her address, with high compli¬
ments to the king, and strong expressions of her
assurance that he would do what was just and kind,
both in the one case and the other; ( v . 15* *17.) for,
as if the case had been real, still she pleads for her¬
self and her son, yet meaning Absalom.
(1.) She would not hace troubled the king thus,
but that the people made her afraid. Understand¬
ing it of her own case, all her neighbours made her
apprehensive of the ruin she and her son were up¬
on the brink of, from the avengers of blood, the
terror of which made her thus bold in her applica¬
tions to the king himself. Understanding it of Ab¬
salom’s case, she gives the king to understand, what
he did not know before, that the nation was disgust¬
ed at his severity towards Absalom, to that degree,
that she was really afraid it would occasion a gene¬
ral mutiny, or insurrection, for the preventing of
which great mischief, she ventured to speak to the
king himself. The fright she was in must excuse
her rudeness.
(2.) She applied herself to him with a great con¬
fidence in his wisdom and clemency. “I said, I
will speak to the king myself, and ask nobody to
speak for me; for the king will hear reason, even
from so mean a creature as I am, will hear the cries
of the oppressed, and will not suffer the poorest of
his subjects to be destroyed out of the inheritance
of God,” that is, “ driven out of the land of Israel,
to seek for shelter among the 'uncircumcised, as
Absalom is, whose case is so much the worse, that,
being shut out of the inheritance of God, he wants
God’s law and ordinances, which might help to
bring him to repentance, and is in danger of being
infected with the idolatiy of the heathen among
whom he sojourns, and of bringing home the infec¬
tion.” To engage the king to grant her request,
she expresses a confident hope, that his answer
would be comfortable, and such as angels bring, (as
Bishop Patrick explains it,) who are messengers of
divine mercy. What this woman says, by way of
compliment, the prophet says by way of’ promise,
(Zech. 12. 8.) that when the weak shall be as Da
i '.dd, the house of David shall be as the angel of iht
Lord. “ And, in order to this, the Lord thy Goa
shall be with thee, to assist thee in this and ever)
judgment thou givest.” Great expectations are
great engagements, especially to persons of honour,
to do their utmost not to disappoint those that de¬
pend upon them.
Lastly, The hand of Joab is suspected by the
king, and acknowledged by the woman, to be in all
this, v. 18* *20.
(1.) The king soon suspected it. For he could
not think that such a woman as this, would have
appealed to him, in a matter of such moment, of
her own head. And he knew none so likely to set
her on as Joab, who was a politic man, and a friend
of Absalom. •
(2.) The woman very honestly owned it. “ Th
414
II. SAMUEL, XIV.
servant Joab, he hade me. If it be well done, let
him have the thanks; if ill, let him bear the blame.”
Though site found it very agreeable to the king, yet
she would not take the praise of it to herself, but
speaks the truth as it was, and gives us an example
to do likewise, and never to tell a lie for the con¬
cealing of a well-managed scheme; Dare to be true ,
• o thing can need a lie.
21. And the king said unto Joab, Behold
now I have done this thing : go therefore,
brii g the young man Absalom again. 22.
And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and
bowed himself, and thanked the king : and
Joab said, To-day thy servant knoweth
that I have found grace in thy sight, my
lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled
the request of his servant. 23. So Joab
arose, and went to Geshur, and brought
Absalom to Jerusalem. 24. And the king
said, Let him turn to his own house, and let
him not see my face. So Absalom return¬
ed to his own house, and saw not the king’s
face. 25. But in all Israel there was none
to be so much praised as Absalom for his
beauty : from the sole of his foot even to
the crown of his head there was no blemish
in him. 26. And when he polled his head,
(for it was at every year’s end that he poll¬
ed it; because the hair was heavy on him,
therefore he polled it,) he weighed the hair
of his head at two hundred shekels, after
the king’s weight. 27. And unto Absalom
there were born three sons, and one daugh¬
ter, whose name teas Tamar : she was a
woman of a fair countenance.
Observe here,
I. Orders given for the bringing back of Absa¬
lom; the errand on which the woman came to Da¬
vid, was so agreeable, and her management of it so
very ingenious and surprising, that he was brought
into a peculiarly kind humour: Go, (says he to Joab,)
bring the young man Absalom again , v. 21. He
was himself inclined to favour him, yet, for the
honour of his justice, he would not do. it but upon
intercession made for him, which may illustrate the
methods of divine grace. It is true, God has thoughts
of compassion toward poor sinners, not willing that
any should perish, yet he is reconciled to them
through a Mediator, who intercedes with him on
their behalf, and to whom he has given these orders,
Go, bring them again. God ivas in Christ recon¬
ciling the world to himself, and he came to this land
of our banishment, to bring us to God.
Joab, having received these orders, 1. Returns
thanks to the king for doing him the honour to em¬
ploy him in an affair so universally grateful, v. 22.
Joab took it as a kindness to himself, and (some
think) as an indication that he would nevercall him
to an account for the murder he had been guilty of.
But if he meant so, he was mistaken, as we shall
find,. 1 Kings 2. 5, 6. 2. Delays not to execute Da¬
vid’s orders; he brought Absalom to Jerusalem, v.
23. I see not how David can be justified in suspend¬
ing the execution of the ancient law, (Gen. 9. 6. )
V\[hoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed, in which a righteous magistrate ought not to
acknowledge even his brethren, or know his own
children. God’s laws were never designed to be
like cobwebs which catch the little Hies, but suffer
the great ones to break through. Gi d justly made
Absalom a scourge to him, whom his foolish pity
thus spared. Rut though he allowed him to return
to his own house, he forbade him the court, and
would not see him himself, u. 24. He put him un¬
der this interdict, (1.) For his own honour, that he
might not seem to countenance so great a criminal,
nor to forgive him too easily. (2.) For Absalom’s
greater humiliation. Perhaps he had heard some¬
thing of his conduct, when Joab went to fetch him.
which gave him too much reason to think that he
was not truly penitent; he therefore put him under
this mark of his displeasure, that he might be
awakened to a sight of his sin, and to sorrow for it,
and might make his peace with God; upon the first
notice of which, no doubt, David would be forward
to receive him again into his favour.
II. Occasion taken from hence to give an account
of Absalom. Nothing is said of his wisdom and
piety; though he was the son of such a devout fa¬
ther, we read nothing of his devotion; parents can¬
not give grace to their children, though they give
them ever so good an education. All that is here
said of him, is, 1. That he was a very handsome
man; there was not his equal in all Israel for beau¬
ty, v. 25. A poor commerdation for a man that
had nothing else in him valuable. Handsome are
they that handsome do. Many a polluted deformed
soul dwells in a fair and comely body; witness Ab¬
salom’s, that was polluted with blood, and deformed
with unnatural disaffection to his father and prince.
In his body there was no blemish, but in his mind
nothing but wounds and bruises. Perhaps this was
one reason why his father was so fond of him, and
protected him from justice. Those have reason to
fear affliction in their children, who are better
pleased with their beauty than with their virtue. 2.
That he had a very fine head of hair. Whether it
was the length, or colour, or extraordinary softness
of it, something there was, which made it very
valuable, and \ ery much an ornament to him, v. 26.
This notice is taken of his hair, not as the hair of a
Nazarite, (he was far from that strictness,) but as
the hair of a beau. He let it grow, till it was a
burthen to him, and was heavy on him, nor would
he cut it, as long as ever he could bear it. As pride
feels no cold, so it feels no heat; and that which
feeds and gratifies it, is not complained of, though
very uneasy. When he did poll it at certain times,
for ostentation he had it weighed, that it might be
seen how much it excelled other men’s; and it
weighed two hundred shekels, which some reckon
to be' three pounds and two ounces of our weight;
and with the oil and powder, especially if it were
powdered (as Josephus says the fashion then was)
with gold-dust, Bishop Patrick thinks it is not at all
incredible that it should weigh so much. This fine
hair proved his halter, ch. 18. 9. 3. That his family
began to be built up. It is probable that it was a
good while before he had a child; and then it was,
that, despairing of having one, he set up that pillar
which is mentioned, ch. 18. 18. to bear up his name;
but afterward he had three sons, and one daughter,
v. 2 7. Or, perhaps, these sons, while he was
hatching his rebellion, were all cut off by the
righteous hand of God, and thereupon, he set up
that monument.
28. So Absalom dwelt two full years in
Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face. 29.
Thereford Absalom sent for Joab, to have
sent him to the king; but lie would not
come to him : and when he sent again the
U. SAMUEL, XV.
second time, he would not come. 30.
Therefore he said unto his servants, See,
'.Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath bar-
lev there; go and set it on fire. And Absa¬
lom’s servants set the field on fire. 31.
Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom
unto his house, and said unto him, Where¬
fore have thy servants set my field on fire?
32. And Absalom answered Joab, Behold,
1 sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that
I may send thee to the king, to say, Where¬
fore am I come from Geshur ? it had been
good for me to have been there still: now
therefore let me see the king’s face; and if
there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.
33. So Joah came to the king, and told him:
and when he had called for Absalom, he
came to the king, and bowed himself on his
face to the ground before the king : and the
king kissed Absalom.
Three years, Absalom had been an exile with his
father-in-law, and now, two years, a prisoner at
large in his own house, and, in both, better dealt
with than he deserved; yet his spirit was still
unhumbled, his pride unmortified, and, instead of
being thankful that his life is spared, he thinks
himself sorely wronged that he is not restored to all
his places at court. Had he truly repented of his
sin, his distance from the gaieties of the court, and
his solitude and retirement in his own house, espe¬
cially being in Jerusalem the holy city, would have
been very agreeable to him. If a murderer must
live, yet let him be for ever a recluse. But Absa¬
lom cannot bear this just and gentle mortification; he
longs to see the king’s face, pretending it was be¬
cause he loved him, but really because he wanted
an opportunity to supplant him. He cannot do his
f *.ther mischief, till he is reconciled to him; this
therefore is the first branch of his plot; this snake
cannot sting again, till he be warmed in his father’s
bosom. He gained this point, not by pretended
submissions and promises of reformation, but (would
you think of it?) by insults and injuries.
1. By his insolent carriage toward Joab, he
brought him to mediate for him. Once and again,
he sent to Joab to come and speak with him, for he
durst not go to him; but Joab would not come,
(v. 29.) probably, because Absalom had net owned
the kindness he had done him, in bringing him to
Jerusalem, so gratefully as he thought he should
have done; proud men take every service done them
for a debt. One would have thought that a person
m Absalom’s circumstances would have sent to
Joab a kindly message, and offered him a large
gratuity; courtiers expect it: instead of this, he bids
his servants set Joab’s corn-fields on fire; (v. 30.) as
spiteful a thing as he could do. Samson could not
think of a greater injury to do the Philistines than
this. Strange, that Absalom should think, by do¬
ing Joab a mischief, to prevail with him to do him
a kindness; or to recommend himself to the favour
of his prince or people, by showing himself so very
malicious and ill-natured, and such an enemv to the
public good, for the fire might spread to the corn
of others. Yet by this means he brings Joab to him,
v. 31 Thus God, by afflictions, brings those to
him, that kept at a distance from him. Absalom
was obliged by the law to make restitution, (Exod.
22. 6. ) yet we do not find that either he offered it,
or that Joab demanded it. Joab (it might be)
4 1.6
thought he could not justify his refusal to go and
speak with him; and therefore Absalom thought lie
could justify his taking this wav to fetch him. And
now Joab (perhaps frightened at the surprising
boldness and fury of Absalom, and apprehensive
that he had made an interest in the people strong
enough to bear him out in doing the most daring
things, else he would never have done this,) not
only puts up with this injury, but goes on his errand
to the king. See what some men can do, by threats,
and carrying things with a high hand.
2. By his insolent message (for I can gall it no
better) to the king, he recovered his place at court,
to see the king’s face, that is, to become a privy
counsellor, Esth. 1. 14. (1.) His message was
haughty and imperious, and very unbecoming either
a son cr a subject, v. 32. He undervalued the fa¬
vour that had been showed him, in recalling him
from banishment, and restoring him to his own
house and that in Jerusalem; Wherefore am 1 come
from Geshur? He denies his own crime, the ugh
most notorious, and will not own that there was any
iniquity in him, insinuating that therefore he had
been wronged in the rebuke he had been under.
He defies the king’s justice, “ Let him kill me, if he
can find in his heart;” knowing he lov ed him too
well to do it. (2.) Yet with this message he car¬
ried his point, v. 33. David’s strong affection for
him, construed all this to be the language of a great
; respect to his father, and an earnest desire of his
favour, when, alas, it was nothing like it. See how
easily wise and good men may be imposed upon by
| their own children that design ill, especiallv when
j they are blindly fond of them. Absalom, by the
i posture of his body, testified his submission to his
father, He bowed himself on his face to the ground;
and David, with a kiss, sealed his pardon. D d the
bowels of a father prevail to reconcile him to an
impenitent son, and shall penitent sinners question
the compassion of him who is the Father of mercy?
If Ephraim bemoan himself, God soon bemoans
him, with all the kind expressions of a fatherly ten¬
derness; He is a dear son, and a fileasant child,
Jer. 31. 20.
CHAP. XV.
Absalom’s name signifies the peace of his father, vet he
proves his greatest trouble; so often are we disappointed
in our expectations from the creature. The sword, en¬
tailed upon David’s house, had hitherto been among his
children, but now it begins to be drawn against himself,
with this aggravation, that he may thank himself for it,
for had he done justice upon the murderer, he had pre¬
vented the traitor. The story of Absalom’s rebellion be¬
gins with this chapter, but we must, go over (hreo or four
more before we see the end of it. In this chapter, we
have, I. The arts Absalom used to insinuate himself into
the people’s affection, v. 1 . . G. II. His open avowal of
his pretensions to the crown at Hebron, whither he went
under colour of a vow, and the strong party that, appear¬
ed for him there, v. 7 . . 12. III. The no* fee brought cf
this to David, and his flight from Jerusalem, 'hereupon,
v. 13. . IS. In his flight we are told, 1 What passed
between him and Ittai, v. 19 . . 22. 2. The concern of the
country for him, v. 23. 3. His conference with Zadok,
v- 24.. 29. 4. His tears and prayers upon this occasion,
v. 30, 31. 5. Matters concerted by him with Hushai, vj
32. . 37. Now the word of God was fulfilled, that he
would raise up evil against him out of Iris oion house,
ch. 12. 10.
l. A ND it came to pass. after this, that
- 1 lav Absalom prepared him chariots and
horses, and fifty men to rug before him. 2.
And Absalom rose up early, and stood be¬
side the way of the gate: and it was so , that
when any man that had a controversy came
to the king for judgment, then Absalom
416
II. SAMUEL, XV.
called unto him, and said, Of what city art
thou ? And he said, Thy servant is of one
of the tribes of Israel. 3. And Absalom
said unto him, See, thy matters are good and
right ; but there is no man deputed of the
king to hear thee. 4. Absalom said more¬
over, Oh that I were made judge ju the
land, that every man which hath any suit
or cause might come unto me, and I would
do him justice ! 5. And it was so, that when
any man came nigh to him to do him
obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took
him, and kissed him. 6. And on this manner
did Absalom to all Israel that came to the
king for judgment. So Absalom stole the
hearts of the men of Israel.
Absalom is no sooner restored to his place at
court, than he aims to be in the throne. He that
was unhumbled under his troubles, became insuf¬
ferably proud when they were over; and he cannot
be content with the honour of being the king’s son,
and the prospect of being his successor, but he must
be king now. His mother was a king’s daughter; on
that, perhaps, he valued himself, and despised his
father, who was but the son of Jesse. She was the
daughter of a heathen king, which made him the
less concerned for the peace of Israel. David, in
this unhappy issue of that marriage, smarted for
his being unequally yoked with an unbeliever.
When Absalom was restored to the king’s favour,
if he had had any sense of gratitude, he would have
studied how to oblige his father, and make him
easy ; but, on the contrary, he meditates how to un¬
dermine him, by stealing the hearts of the people
from him. Two things recommend a man to popu¬
lar esteem ; greatness, and goodness.
I. Absalom looks great, v. 1. He had learned of
the king of Geshu’\ ^hat was not allowed to the
kings of Israel, t ltiply horses; which make
him look desirable, while his father, on his mule,
looks despicable. The people desired a king like
the nations; and such a one Absalom will be, ap¬
pearing in pomp and magnificence, above what had
been seen in Jerusalem. Samuel had foretold that
this would be the manner of the king; He shall
have chariots and horsemen, and some shall run be¬
fore his chariots, (1 Sam. 8. 11.) and this is Absa¬
lom’s manner. Fifty footmen (in rich liveries we
may suppose) running before him, to give notice of
his approach, would highly gratify his pride and
the people’s foolish fancy. David thinks that it is
designed only to grace his court, and connives at it.
Those parents know not what they do, who indulge
a proud humour in their children; for I have seen
more young people ruined by pride than by any one
lust whatsoever.
II. Absalom will seem very good too, but with a
very bad design. Had he proved himself a good
son, and a good subject, and set himself to serve his
father’s interest, he had done his present duty, and
showed himself worthy of future honours, after his
father’s death. Those that know how to obey well,
know how to rule. But to show how good a judge,
and how good a king, he will be, is but to deceive
himself and others. Those are good indeed, that
are good in their o,wn place, not that pretend how
good they will be in other people’s places. But this
is all the goodness we find in Absalom.
1. He wishes that he were a judge in Israel, v. 4.
He had all the pomp and all the pleasure he could
wish; yet this will not content him, unless he have
power too; O that I were a judge in Israel! He
that should himself have been judged to death for
murder, has the impudence to aim at being a judge
of others. We read not of Absalom’s wisdom, vir¬
tue, or learning in the laws, nor had he given any
j) roofs of his lo\ e to justice, but the contrary: yet he
wishes he were a judge. Note, These are com¬
monly most ambitious of preferment, that are least
fit for it; the best qualified are the most modest and
self-diffident, while it is no better than the spirit of
an Absalom, that says, 0 that I were a judge in
Israel!
2. He takes a very bad course for the accr m-
plishing of his wish. Had he humbly petitioned his
father to employ him in the administration of jus¬
tice, and studied to qualify himself for it, (accord¬
ing to the rule, Exod. 18. 21.) no doubt, he had
been sure of the next judge’s place that fell ; but this
is too mean a post for his proud spirit. It is below
him to be subordinate, though to the king his father;
he must be supreme, or nothing. He wants to be
such a judge, that every man who has any cause,
shall come to him : in all causes, and over all per¬
sons, he must preside; little thinking what a fatigue
this would be, to have every man come to him.
Moses himself could not bear it. Those know
not what power is, that grasp at so much, so very
much.
To gain the power he aims at, he endeavours to
instil into the people’s minds,
(1.) A bad opinion of the present administration,
as if the affairs of the kingdom were altogether
neglected, and no care taken about them. He got
round him all he could, that had business at the
council-board, inquired what their business was;
and, [1.] Upon a slight and general inquiry into
their cause, he pronounced it good; Thy matters
are right. A fit man indeed to be a judge, who
would give judgment upon hearing one side only!
For he has a bad cause indeed, that cannot put a
good colour upon it, when he himself has the telling
of the story. But, [2.] He told them that it was to
no purpose to appeal to the throne, There is no man
deputed of the king to hear thee. The king is him¬
self old, and past business; or so taken up with his
devotions, that he never minds business; (his sens
were so addicted to their pleasures, that, though
they had the name of chief rulers, they took no care
of the affairs committed to them;) he further seems
to insinuate, what a great loss there was of him,
while he was banished and confined, and how much
the public suffered by it; what his father said truly
in Saul’s reign, (Ps. 75. 3.) he says falsely. The
land and all the inhabitants of it are dissolved, all
will go to wreck and ruin, unless I bear up the pil¬
lars of it. Every appellant shall be made to believe
that he will never have justice dene him, unless
Absalom be viceroy, or lord-justice. It is the way
of turbulent factious aspi’ing men, to reproach the
government they are under, presumptuous are
they, self-willed, and not afraid to speak evil of
dignities, 2 Pet. 2. 10. Even David himself, the
best of kings, and his administration, could not
escape the worst of censures. They that aim to
usurp, cry out of grievances, and pretend to design
nothing but the redress of them, as Absalom here.
2. A good opinion of his own fitness to rule. That
the people might say, “O that Absalom were a
judge!” (and they are apt enough to desire
changes,) he recommends himself to them, (1.) As
very diligent; he rose up early, and appeared in
public before the rest of the king’s sons were stir¬
ring, and he stood beside the way of the gate,
where the courts of judgment sat, as one mightily
concerned to see justice done, and public business
despatched. (2.) As very inquisitive and prying,
and desirous to be acquainted with every one’s case.
417
TI. SAMUEL, XV.
He would know of what city every one was, that
came for judgment, that he might inform himself
concerning every part of the kingdom, and the
state of it, v. 2. (3. ) As very familiar and humble.
If any Israelite offered to do obeisance to him, he
took him, and embraced him as a friend. No
man’s conduct could be more condescending, while
his heart was as proud as Lucifer’s. Ambitious
projects are often carried on by a show of humility,
Col. 2. 23. He knew what a grace it puts upon
greatness, to be affable and courteous, and how
much it wins upon common people: had he been
sincere in it, it had been his praise, but to fawn
upon the people, that he might betray them, was
abominable hypocrisy. He croucheth, and hum-
bleth himself, to draw them into his net, Ps. 10. 9,
10.
7. And it came to pass after forty years,
that Absalom said unto the king, I pray
thee, let me go and pay my vow which I
have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron. 8.
For thy servant vowed a vow while I
abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the
Lord shall bring me again indeed to Je¬
rusalem, then I will serve the Lord. 9.
And the king said unto him, Go in peace.
So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10. But
Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes
of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the
sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say,
Absalom reigneth in Hebron. 11. And
with Absalom went two hundred men out
of Jerusalem, that were called; and they
went in their simplicity, and they knew not
any thing. 12. And Absalom sent for
Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor,
from his city, even from Giloh, while he
offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was
strong ; for the people increased continually
with Absalom.
We have here the breaking out of Absalom’s re¬
bellion, which he had long been contriving. It is
said to be after forty years, v. 7. But whence that
is to be dated, we are not told, not from David’s
beginning his reign, for then it would fall in the last
year of his life, which is not probable, but either
from his first anointing by Samuel seven years be¬
fore, or rather, (I think,) from the people’s desir¬
ing a king, and the first change of the government
into a monarchy; which might be about ten years
before David began to reign; it is fitly dated from
thence, to show that the same restless spirit was
still working, and still they were given to change:
as fond now of a new man, as then of a new model.
So it fell about the thirtieth year of David’s reign,
Absalom’s plot being now ripe for execution.
I. The place he chose for the rendezvous of his
party, was Hebron; the place where he was born,
and where his father began his reign, and continued
it several years, which would give some advantage
to his pretensions. Every one knew Hebron to be
a royal city; and it lay in the heart of Judah’s lot,
in which tribe, probably, he thought his interest
strong.
II. The pretence he had both to go thither, and
to invite his friends to him there, was, to offer a
sacrifice to God, in performance of a vow he had
made during his banishment, v. 7, 8. We have
cause enough to suspect that he had not made any
Vol. ii. — 3 G
such vow, it does not appear that he was so re¬
ligiously inclined; but he that struck not at murder
and treason, would not make conscience of a lie to
serve his purpose. If he said he had made such a
vow, nobody could disprove him. Under this pre¬
tence,
1. He got leave of his father to go to Hebron. He
would be well pleased to hear that his son, in his
exile, was so desirous to return to Jerusalem, not
only his father’s city, but the city of the li\ ing God;
that he looked up to God, to bring him back; that
he had vowed, if he were brought back, to serve
the Lord, whose service he had hitherto neglected;
and that now, being brought back, he remembered
his vow, and resolved to perform it. If he think fit
to do it in Hebron, rather than in Zion or Gibeon,
the good king is so well pleased with the thing it¬
self, that he will not object against his choice of the
place. See how willing tender parents are to be¬
lieve the best concerning their children, and, upon
the least indication of good, to hope, even concern¬
ing those that have been untoward, that they will
repent and reform But how easy is it for children
to take advantage of their good parents’ credulity,
and to impose upon them with the show cf religion,
while still they are what they were! David was
overjoyed to hear that Absalom was incl.ned to
serve the Lord, and therefore readily gave. him
leave to go to Hebron, and to go thither with so¬
lemnity.
2. He got a good number of sober substantial citi¬
zens to go along with him, t>. 11. There went two
hundred men, probably, of the principal men of
Jerusalem, whom he invited to join with him in his
feast upon his sacrifice; and they went in their sim¬
plicity, not in the least suspecting that Absalom had
any bad design in his journey. He knew that it
was to no purpose to tempt them into his plot,
they were inviolably firm to David; but he drew
them in to accompany him, that the common peo¬
ple might think that they were in his interest, and
that David was deserted by some of his best friends.
Note, It is no new thing for v ery good men, and
very good things, to be made use of by designing
men, to put a colour upon bad practices. When
religion is made a stalking-horse, and sacrifice a
shoeing-hom, to sedition and usurpation, it is not to
be wondered at, if some that were well-affected to
religion, as these followers of Absalom here, are
imposed upon by the fallacy, and drawn in to give
conntenance to that, with their names, which in
their heart they abhor, not having known the
depths of Satan.
III. The project he laid, was, to get himself pro¬
claimed king throughout all the tribes of Israel,
upon a signal given, v. 10. Spies were sent abroad,
to be ready in every country to receive the notice
with satisfaction and acclamations of joy, and to
make the people believe that the news was both
very true and very good, and that they were all
concerned to take up arms for their new king.
Upon the sudden spreading of this proclamation,
Jlbsalom reigns in Hebron, some would conclude
that David was dead, others that he had resigned;
and thus they that were in the secret, would draw
in many to appear for Absalom, and come in to his
assistance, who, if they had rightly understood the
matter, would have abhorred the thought of it, but,
being drawn in, would adhere to him. See what
artifices ambitious men use for the compassing of
their ends; and in matters of state, as well as in mat¬
ters of religion, let us not be forward to believe
every spirit, but try the spirits.
IV. The person he especially courted and relied
upon in this affair, was, Ahithophel, a politic think
ing man, and one that had a clear head, and a great
compass of thought, that had been David’s coun
418
II. SAMUEL, XV. -
seller, his guide and his acquaintance, (Ps. 55. 13.)
his familiar friend, in whom he trusted, which did
eat of his bread, Ps. 41. 9. But, upon some dis¬
gust of David’s against him, or his against David,
he was banished, or retired from public business,
and lived privately in the country. How should a
man of such good principles as David, and such cor¬
rupt principles as Ahithophel, long agree? A fitter
tool Absalom could not find in all the kingdom,
than one that was so great a statesman, and yet waj
disaffected to the present ministry. While Absa¬
lom was offering his sacrifices, in performance of
his pretended vow, he sent for this man. So much
was his heart on the projects of his ambition, that
he could not stay to make an end of his devotion;
which showed what his eye was upon, in all, and
that it was but for a pretence that he made long
offerings.
V. The party that joined with him, proved, at
last, very considerable. The people increased con¬
tinually with Absalom, which made the conspiracy
strong and formidable. Every one whom he had
complimented and caressed, (pronouncing his mat¬
ters right and good, especially, if, afterward, the
cause went against him,) not only came himself, but
made all the interest he could for him, so that
he wanted not for numbers. The majority is no
certain rule to judge of equity by. All the world
wondered after the beast. Whether Absalom
formed this design merely in the height of his am¬
bition and fondness to rule, or whether there was
not in it also malice against his father, and revenge
for his banishment and confinement, though it was
so much less than he deserved, does not appear.
But, generally, that which aims at the crown, aims
at the head that wears it.
1 2. And there came a messenger to Da¬
vid, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel
are after Absalom. 14. And David said
unto all his servants that were with him at
Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we
shall not else escape from Absalom : make
speed to depart, lest he overtake us sudden¬
ly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the
city with the edge of the sword. 15. And
the king’s servants said unto the king, Be¬
hold, thy servants are ready to do whatso¬
ever my lord the king shall appoint. 16.
And the king went forth, and all his house¬
hold after him: and the king left ten wo¬
men, which were concubines, to keep the
house. 17. And the king went forth, and
all the people after him, and tarried in a
place that was far off. 18. And all his
servants passed on beside him ; and all the
Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all
the Gittites, six hundred men which came
after him from Gath, passed on before the
king. 19. Then said the king to Ittai the
Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us?
return to thy place, and abide with the king ;
for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.
20. Whereas thou earnest but yesterday,
should I this day make thee go up and
down with us ? Seeing I go whither I may,
return thou, and take back thy brethren :
mercy and truth be with thee. 21. And
Ittai answered the king, and said, As the
Lord liveth, and as my. lord the king liveih,
surely in what place my lord the king shall
be, whether in death or life, even there also
will thy servant be. 22. And David said
to Ittai, Go, and pass over. And Ittai the
Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all
the little ones that were with him. 23. And
all the country wept with a loud voice, and
all the people passed over: the king also
himself passed over the brook Kidron, and
all the people passed over toward the way
of the wilderness.
Here is,
I. The notice brought to David of Absalom’s re¬
bellion, v. 13. The matter was bad enough, and
yet it seems to have been made worse to him (as
such things commonly are) than really it was; for
he was told, that the hearts of the men of Israel
(that is, the generality of them, at least, the lead¬
ing men) were after Absalom. But David was the
more apt to believe it, because now he could call to
mind the arts Absalom had used to inveigle them,
and perhaps reflected upon it with regret, that he
had not done more to counterwork him, and secure
his own interest, which he had been too confident
of. Note, It is the wisdom of princes, to make
sure of the hearts of their subjects; for if they have
them, they have their purses, and arms, and all, at
their service.
II. The alarm this gave to Da\ id, and the reso¬
lutions he came to, thereupon. We may well im¬
agine him in a manner thunder-struck, when he
heard that the son he loved so dearly, and had been
so indulgent to, was so unnaturally, and ungrateful¬
ly, in arms against him. Well might he say with
Caesar, K<*/ <ru r — What, thou my son'll Let not
parents raise their hopes too high from their chil¬
dren, lest they be disappointed. Da\ id did not call
a council, but, consulting only with God and his
own heart, determined immediately to quit Jerusa¬
lem, v. 14. He took up this strange resolve, so
disagreeable to his character as a man of courage,
either, 1. As a penitent, submitting to the rod, and
laying down under God’s correcting hand. Con¬
science now reminded him of his sin in the matter
of Uriah, and the sentence he was under for it,
which was, that evil should raise against him out
of his own house. “Now,” thinks he,” “the
word of God begins to be fulfilled, and it is not for
me to contend with it, or fight against it: God is
righteous, and I submit.” Before unrighteous Ab¬
salom, he could justify himself, and stand it out; but
before the righteous God, he must condemn him¬
self, and yield to his judgments. Thus he accefits
the punishment of his iniquity. Or, 2. As a poli¬
tician. Jerusalem was a great city, but not tenable;
it should seem, by David’s prayer, (Ps. 51. 18.)
that the walls of it were not built up, much less was
it regularly fortified; it was too large to be garrison¬
ed by so small a force as David had now with him;
he had reason to fear that the generality of the in¬
habitants were too well-affected to Absalom, to be
true to him; should he fortify himself there, he
might lose the country, in which, especially among
those that lay furthermost from Absalom’s tamper¬
ing, he hoped to have the most friends. And he
had such a kindness for Jerusalem, that he was
loath to make that the seat of war, and expose it to
the calamities of a siege; he will rather quit it
tamely to the rebels. Note, Good men, when they
suffer themselves, care not how few are involved
with them in suffering.
419
II. SAMUEL, XV.
HI. His hasty flight from Jerusalem. His ser¬
vants agreed to the measures he took, faithfully
adhered to him, (t>. 15.) and assured him of their
inviolable allegiance. Whereupon, 1. He went out
of Jerusalem himself on foot, while his son Absalom
had chariots and horses. It is not always the best
man, nor the best cause, that makes the best figure.
See here, not only the servant, but the traitor, on
horseback, while the prince, the rightful prince,
walks as a servant upon the earth , Eccl. 10. 7.
Thus he chose to do, to abase himself so much the
more under God’s hand, and in condescension to his
friends and followers, with whom he would walk,
in token that he would live and die with them. 2.
He tcok his household with him, his wives and
children, that he might protect them in this day of
danger, and that they might be a comfort to him in
this day of grief. Masters of families, in their
greatest frights, must not neglect their households.
Ten women, that were concubines, he left behind,
to keep, the house, thinking that the weakness of
their sex would secure them from murder, and
their age and relation to him, would secure them
from rape; but God overruled this for the fulfilling
of his word. 3. He took his life-guard with him,
or band of pensioners; the Cherethites and Pe-
lethites, who were under the command of Benaiah;
and the Gittites, who were under the command of
Ittai, v. 18. These Gittites seem to have been, by
birth, Philistines of Gath, who came, a regiment
of them, 600 in all, to enter themselves in David’s
service, having known him in Gath, and being
greatly in love with him for his virtue and piety,
and having embraced the Jews’ religion. David
made them of his garde du corps — his body-guard,
and they adhered to him in his distress. The son
of David found not so great faith in Israel as in a
Roman centurion, and a woman of Canaan. 4. As
many as would, of the people of Jerusalem, he took
with him, and made a halt at some distance from
the city, to draw them up, v. 17. He compelled
none; they whose hearts were with Absalom, to
Absalom let them go, and so shall their doom be,
they will soon have enough of him. Christ enlists
none but volunteers.
IV. His discourse with Ittai the Gittite, who
commanded the Philistine proselytes. 1. David
dissuaded him from going along, with him, v. 19.
20. Though he and his men might be greatly ser¬
viceable to him, yet, (1.) He would try whether he
were hearty for him, and not inclined to Absalom:
he therefore bids him return to his post in Jerusa¬
lem, and serve the new king. If he were no more
than a soldier of fortune, (as we say,) he would be
for that side which would pay and prefer him best;
and to that side let him go. (2.) If he were faithful
to David, yet he would not have him exposed to the
fatigues and perils he now counted upon. David’s
tender spirit cannot bear to think that a stranger
and an exile, a proselyte and a new convert, who
ought, by all means possible, to be encouraged and
made easy, should at his first coming, meet with
such hard usage. “ Should I make thee go up and
down with us? No, return with thy brethren.”
Generous souls are more concerned at the shares
others have in their troubles, than at their own. Ittai
shall therefore be dismissed with a blessing, Mercy
and truth be with thee, that is, God’s mercy and
truth, mercy according to promise, the promise
made to those who renounce other gods, and put
themselves under the wings of the divine Majesty.
This is a very proper pious farewell, when we part
with a friend, “ Mercy and truth be with thee, and
then thou art safe, and mayest be easv wherever
thou art.” David’s dependence was upon the mer¬
cy and truth of God, for comfort and happiness,
both for himself and his friends; see Ps. 61. 7.
2. Ittai bravely resolves not to leave him, v. 21.
Where David is, whether in life or death, safe or in
peril, there will this faithful friend of his be; and he
confirms his resolution with an oath, that he might
not be tempted to break it: such a value has he for
David, not for the sake of his wealth and greatness,
(for then he would have deserted him, now that he
saw him thus reduced,) but for the sake of his wis¬
dom and goodness, which were still the same, that,
whatever comes of it, he will never' leave him.
Note, That is a friend indeed, who loves at all
times, and will adhere to us in adversity. Thus
should we cleave to the Son of David, with full pur¬
pose of heart, that neither life nor death shall sepa¬
rate usfrom his love.
V. The common people’s sympathy with David
in his affliction. When he and his attendants passed
over the brook Kidron, (the very same brock that
Christ passed over, when he entered upon his suf
ferings, John 18. 1.) toward the way of the wilder¬
ness, which lay between Jerusalem and Jericho, all
the country wept with a loud voice, v. 23. Cause
enough there was for weeping, 1. To see a prince
thus reduced; one that had lived so great forced
from his palace, and in fear of his life, with a small
retinue, seeking shelter in a desert; the city of Da¬
vid, which he himself won, built, and fortified, made
an unsafe abode for David himself: it would move
the compassion even of strangers, to see a man fall¬
en thus low from such a height, and this by the
wickedness of his own son; a piteous case it was.
Parents that are abused and ruined by their own
children, merit the tender sympathy of their friends,
as much as any of the sons or daughters of affliction.
Especially, 2. To see their own prince thus wrong¬
ed, who had been so great a blessing to their land,
and had not done any thing to forfeit the affections
of his people; to see him in this distress, and them¬
selves unable to help him, might well draw floods
of tears from their eyes.
24. And, lo, Zadok also, and all the Le-
vites were with him, bearing the ark of the
covenant of God : and they set down the
ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all
the people had done passing out of the city.
25. And the king said unto Zadok, Carry
back the ark of God into the city: if I shall
find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will
bring me again, and show me both it and his
habitation. 26. But if he thus say, I have
no delight in thee ; behold, here am I, let
him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
27. The king said also unto Zadok the
priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the
city in peace, and your two sons with you,
Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of
Abiathar. 28. See, I will tarry in the plain
of the wilderness, until there come word from
you to certify me. 29. Zadok therefore and
Abiathar carried the ark of God again to
Jerusalem ; and they tarried there. 30. And
David went up by the ascent of mount Oli¬
vet, and wept as he went up, and had his
head covered ; and he went barefoot : and
air the people that was with him covered
every man his head, and they went up,
weeping as they went up.
Here is,
I. The fidelity of the priests and Levites, and
420
II. SAMUEL, XV.
their firm adherence to David and his interest.
They knew David’s great affection to them and
their office, notwithstanding his failings; the me¬
thod Absalom took to gain people’s affections, made
no impression upon them; he had little religion in
him, and therefore they steadily adhered to David;
Zadok and Abiathar, and all the Levites, if he go,
will accompany him, and take the ark with them,
that, by it, they might ask counsel of God for him,
v. 24. Note, They that are friends to the ark in
their prosperity, shall find it a friend to them in
their adversity. Formerly, David would not rest,
till he had found a resting place for the ark; and
now, if the priests may have their mind, the ark
shall not rest, till David returns to his rest.
II. David's dismission of them back into the city,
v. 25, 26. Abiathar was High Priest, (1 Kings 2.
35.) but Zadok was his assistant, and attended the
ark most closely, while Abiathar was active in pub¬
lic business, v. 24. Therefore David directs his
speech to Zadok, and an excellent speech it is, and
shows him to be in a very good frame under his af¬
fliction, and that still he holds fast his integrity.
1. He is very solicitous for the safety of the ark;
“ By all means carry that back into the city, let not
that be unsettled and exposed with me, lodge that
again in the tent pitched for it; surely Absalom, bad
as he is, will do that no harm. ” David’s heart, like
Eli’s, trembled for the ark of God. Note, It argues
a good principle, to be more concerned for the
church’s prosperity, than for our own; to prefer Je¬
rusalem before our chief joy; (Ps. 137. 6.) the suc¬
cess of the gospel, and the flourishing of the church,
above our own wealth, credit, ease, and safety,
even when they are most in hazard.
2. He is very desirous to return to the enjoyment
of the privileges of God’s house. He will reckon it
the greatest instance of God’s favour to him, if he
may but once more be brought back to see it, and
his habitation; this will be more his joy than to be
brought back to his own palace and throne again.
Note, Gracious persons measure their comforts and
conveniences in this world, by the opportunity they
give them of communion with God. Hezekiah
wishes for the recovery of his health, for this rea¬
son, that he might go up to the house of the Lord,
Isa. 38. 22.
4. He is very submissive to the holy will of God,
concerning the issue of his present dark dispensa¬
tion. He hopes the best, (?;. 25.) and hopes for it
from the favour of God, which he looks upon to be
the fountain of all good; “If God favour me so far,
I shall be settled again as formerly but he pro¬
vides for the worst; “ If he deny me this favour, if
he thus say, I have no delight in thee, I know I de¬
serve the continuance of his displeasure, his holy
will be done:” see him here waiting to receive the
event; “ Behold , here am I, as a servant expecting
orders;” and see him willing to refer himself to God
concerning it, “ Let him do to me as seemeth good
to him, I have nothing to object, all is well that God
does.” Observe with what satisfaction and holy
complacency he speaks of the divine disposal: not
only, “He can do what he will,” subscribing to his
power, (Job 9. 12.) or, “ He may do what he will,”
subscribing to his sovereignty, (Job 33. 13.) or,
“ He will do what he will,” subscribing to his un¬
changeableness, (Job 23. 13, 15.) but, Let him do
what he will, subscribing to his wisdom and good¬
ness. Note, It is our interest, as well as duty,
cheerfully to acquiesce in the will of God, whatever
befalls us. That we may not complain of what is,
let us see God’s hand in all events; and that we may
not be afraid of what shall be, let us see all events
in God’s hand.
III. The confidence David put in the priests, to
serve his interest to the utmost of their power, in
his absence. He calls Zadok a seer, (y. 27.) that
is, a wise man, a man that can see into business,
and discern time and judgment; “Thou hast thine
eyes in thy head, (Eccl. 2. 14.) and therefore art
capable of doing me service, especially, by sending
me intelligence of the enemies’ motions and resolu¬
tions. ” One friend that is a seer, in such an exi¬
gence as this, was worth twenty that were not so
quick-sighted. For the settling of a private cor¬
respondence with the priests in his absence, he ap¬
points, 1. Whom they should send to him, their two
sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan, whose coat, it might
be hoped, would be their protection, and of whose
prudence and faithfulness, probably, he had had
experience. 2. Whether they should send. He
would encamp in the plain of the wilderness, till he
heard from them, ( v . 28.) and then would move ac¬
cording to the information and advice they should
send him. Hereupon, they returned to the city, to
wait the event; it was pity that any disturbance
should be given to a state so happy as this was,
when the prince and the priests had such an entire
affection for, and confidence in each other.
IV. The melancholy posture that David and his
men put themselves into, when, at the beginning of
their march, they went up the mount of Olives, v.
30. 1. David himself, as a deep mourner, covered
his head and face for shame and blushing, went
barefoot, as a prisoner or a slave, and for mortifica¬
tion, and went weeping. Did it become a man of
his reputation for courage and greatness of spirit,
thus to cry like a child, only for fear < f an enemy
at a distance, against whom he might easily have
made head, and perhaps with one bold stroke have
routed him? Yes, it did not ill become him, consi¬
dering how much there was in this trouble, (1.) Of
the unkindness of his son. He could not but weep,
to think that one who came out of his bowels, and
had so often lain in his arms, would thus lift up the
heel against him. God himself is said to be grieved
with the rebellions of his own children, (Ps. 95. 10.)
and even broken with their whorish heart, Ezek. 6.
9. (2.) There was much of the displeasure of his
God in it; this infused the wormwood and gall into
the affliction and misery, Lam. 3. 19. His sin was
ever before him, (Ps. 51. 3.) but never so plain, nor
ever appearing so black, as now. He never wept
thus when Saul hunted him, but a wounded con¬
science makes troubles lie heavy, Ps. 38. 4. 2.
When David wept, all his company wept likewise,
being much affected with his grief, and willing to
share in it. It is our duty to weep with those that
weep, especially our superiors, and those that are
better than we; for, if this be done in the green tree,
what shall be done in the dry? We must weep
with those that weep for sin. When Hezekiah
humbled himself for his sin, all Jerusalem joined
with him, 2. Chron. 32. 26. To prevent suffering
with sinners, let us sorrow with them.
31. And one told David, saying, Ahitho
phel is among the conspirators with Absa¬
lom. And David said, O Loro, I pray
thee, to turn the counsel of Ahithophel into
foolishness. 32. And it came to pass, that
when David was come to the top of the.
mount , where he worshipped God, behold,
Hushai the Archite came to meet him, with
his coat rent, and earth upon his head : 33.
Unto whom David said, If thou passest on
with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto
me: 34. But if thou return to the city, and
say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O
421
II. SAMUEL, XVI.
king; as 1 have been thy father’s servant
hitherto, so will [ now also be thy servant :
then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel
of Ahithpphel. 35. And hast thou not there
with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests ?
therefore it shall be, that what thing soever
thou shalthear out of the king’s house, thou
shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the
priests. 36. Behold, they have there with
them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son ,
and Jonathan, Abiathar’s sou ; and by them
ye shall send unto me every thing that ye
can hear. 37. So Hushai, David’s friend,
came into the city, and Absalom came into
Jerusalem.
Nothing, it seems, appeared to David more
threatening in Absalom’s plot, than that Ahitho-
phel was in it; for one good head, in such a design,
is worth a thousand good hands. Absalom was him¬
self no politician, but he had got one entirely in his
interest that was, and would be the more dangerous,
because he had been, all along, acquainted with
Dav id’s counsels and affairs: if therefore he can be
baffled, Absalom is as good as routed, and the head
of the conspiracy cut off. This David endeavours
to do.
1. By prayer. When he heard that Ahithophel
was in the plot, he lifted up his heart to God, in
this short prayer, Lord, turn the counsel of Ahith¬
ophel into foolishness, v. 31. He had not oppor¬
tunity for a long prayer, but he was none of those
that thought he should be heard for his much speak¬
ing. It was a fervent prayer, “Lord, I firay thee,
do this.” God is well pleased with the importunity
of those that come to him with their petitions. Da¬
vid was particular in this prayer; he names the per¬
son whose counsels he prays against. God gives us
leave, in prayer, to be humbly and reverently free
with him, and to mention the particular care, and
fear, and grief, that lies heavy upon us. He prays
not against Ahithophel’s person, but against his
counsel, that God would turn it into foolishness;
that though he was a wise man, he might, at this
time, give foolish counsel; or, if he gave wise coun¬
sel, that it might be rejected as foolish: or, if it
were followed, that, by some providence or other,
it might be defeated, and not attain the end. David
prayed this, in a firm belief that God has all hearts
in his hand, and tongues too; that, when he ple. ses,
he can take away the understandings of the aged,
and make the judges fools, (Job 12. 17. Isa. 3. 2, 3. )
and in hope that God would own and plead his just
and injured cause. Note, We may pray in faith,
and should pray with fervency, that God will turn
that counsel into foolishness, which is taken against
his people.
2. By policy. We must second our prayer with
our endeavours, else we tempt God. It is good ser¬
vice to countermine the policy of the church’s ene¬
mies. When David came to the top of the mount,
he worshipped God, v. 32. Note, Weeping must
not hinder worshipping, but quicken it rather.
Now he penned the third Psalm, as appears by the
title; and some think that his singing it, was the
worship he now paid to God. Just now Providence
brought Hushai to him; while he was yet speaking,
God heard, and sent him the person that should be
instrumental to befool Ahithophel. He came to
condole with David on his present trouble, with his
' - it rent, and earth upon his head; but David, hav¬
ing a great deal of confidence in his conduct and
faithfulness, resolved to employ him in the nature
of a spy upon Absalom: he would not take him with
him, ( v . 33.) for he had now more need of soldiers
than counsellors, but sent him back to Jerusalem,
to wait for Absalom’s arrival, as a deserter from
David, and to offer him his service, v. 34. Thus
he might insinuate himself into his counsels, and de¬
feat Ahithophel, either by dissuading Absalom frcm
following his advice, or by discovering it to David,
that he might know where to stand upon his guard.
How this gross dissimulation, which David put
Hushai upon, can be justified as a stratagem in war,
I do not see. The best that can be made of it, is,
that Absalom, if he rebel against his father, must
stand upon his guard against all mankind, and if he
will be deceived, let him be deceived. David re¬
commends him to Zadok and Abiathar, as persons
proper to be consulted with, ( v . 35.) and to their
two sons, as tnisty men to be sent on errands to Da¬
vid, v. 36. Hushai, thus instructed, came to Jeru¬
salem, (x>. 37.) whither also Absalom soon after
came with his forces. How soon do royal palaces
and royal cities change their masters'! But we look
for a kingdom which cannot be thus shaken, and in
the possession of which we cannot be disturbed.
CHAP. XVI.
In the close of the foregoing chapter, we left David flying
from Jerusalem, and Absalom entering into it; in this
chapter, I. We are to follow David in his melancholy
flight; and there we find him, 1. Cheated by Ziba, v. 1 . .
4. 2. Cursed by Shimei, which he bears with wonder¬
ful patience, v. 5. . 14. II. We are to meet Absalom in
his triumphant entry; and there we find him, 1. Cheated
by Hushai, v. 15. .19. 2. Counselled by Ahithophel to
go in unto his father’s concubines, v. £0 . . 23.
1. A ND when David was a little past the
f\. top of the hill, behold, Ziba the ser¬
vant of Mephibosheth met him, with a cou-
; pie of asses saddled, and upon them two
hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred
bunches of raisins, and a hundred of sum¬
mer fruits, and a bottle of wine. 2. And
the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou
by these ? And Ziba said, The asses be for
the king’s household to ride on ; and the
bread and summer fruit for the young men
to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint
in the wilderness may drink. 3. And the
king said, And where is thy master’s son ?
And .Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he
abide! h at Jerusalem: for he said, To-day
shall the house of Israel restore me the king¬
dom of my father. 4. Then said the king
to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained
unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, 1
humbly beseech thee that I may find grace
in thy sight, my lord, O king.
We read before how kind David was to Mephi
bosheth the son of Jonathan, how he prudently en
trusted his servant Ziba with the management of
his estate, while he generously entertained him at
his own table, ch. 9. 10. This matter was well set¬
tled; but, it seems, Ziba is not content to be mana¬
ger, he longs to be master, of Mephibosheth’s estate.
Now he thinks is his time to make himself so; if he
can procure a grant of it from the crown, he hopes,
whether David or Absalom get the better, it is all
one to him, he shall secure his prey, which he pro¬
mises himself by fishing in troubled waters. In or
der hereunto,
422
II. SAMUEL, XVI.
1. He makes David a handsome present of pro¬
visions, which was the more welcome, because it
came seasonably; ( v . 1.) and with this he designed
to incline him to himself; for a man’s gift maketh
room for him, and bringeth him before great men,
Prov. 18. 16, Nay, whithersoever it lumeth, it
prospereth, Prov. 17. 8. David inferred from this,
that Ziba was a very discreet and generous man,
and well affected to him, when, in all, he designed
nothing but to make his own market, and to get
Mephibosheth’s estate settled upon him. Shall the
prospect of advantage in this world, make men ge¬
nerous to the rich; and shall not the belief of an
abundant recompense in the resurrection of the just,
make us charitable to the poor ? Luke 14. 14. Ziba
was very considerate in the present that he brought
to David; it was what would do him some good in
his present distress, v. 2. Observe, The wine is
intended for those that were faint, not for the king’s
own drinking, or the courtiers; it seems, they did
not commonly use it, but it was for cordials for them
that were ready to perish, Prov. 31. 6. Blessed art
thou, O land, when thy princes use wine for strength,
as David did, and not for drunkenness, as Absalom
did, ch. 13. 28. See Eccl. 10. 17. Whatever Ziba
intended in this present, God’s providence sent it
in to David for his support very graciously. God
makes use of bad men for good purposes to his peo¬
ple, and sends them meat by ravens.
2. Having by his present insinuated himself into
David’s affection, and gained credit with him, the
next thing he has to do for the compassing of his
end, is, to incense him against Mephibosheth, which
he does by a false accusation, representing him as
ungratefully designing to raise himself by the pre¬
sent broils, and to recover the crown to his own
head, now that David and his son were contending
for it. David inquires for him as one of his family,
whic.i gives Ziba occasion to tell this false story of
him, v. 3. What immense damages do masters
often sustain by the lying tongues of their servants!
David knew Mephibosheth not to be an ambitious
man, but easy in his place, and well affected to him
and his government; nor could he be so weak as to
expect with his lame legs to climb the ladder of
preferment; yet he gives credit to the calumny,
and, without further inquiry or consideration, con-
\ ic.ts Mephibosheth of treason, seizes his lands as
f rfeited, and grants them to Ziba; Behold, thine
are all that pertained to Mephibosheth; (v. 4. ) a
rash judgment, and which afterward he was asham¬
ed of, when the truth came to light, ch. 19. 29.
Princes cannot help it, but they will be sometimes
(as our law speaks) deceived in their gran.ts; but
they ought to use all means possible to discover the
truth, and to guard against malicious designing men,
who would impose upon them, as Ziba did upon
David, who, having by his wiles gained his point,
triumphed over the king’s credulity, congratulated
himself on his own success, and parted, with a great
compliment upon the king, that he valued his fa¬
vour more than Mephibosheth’s estate, “ Let me
find grace in thy sight, O king, and I have enough. ”
Great men ought always to be jealous of flatterers,
and remember that nature has given them two ears,
that they may hear both sides.
5. And when king David came to Balm-
rim, behold, thence came out a man of the
family of the house of Saul, whose name
was Shimei, the son of Gera : he came
forth, and cursed still as he came. 6. And
he cast stones at David, and at all the ser¬
vants of king David : and all the people and
all the mighty men were on his right hand and
' on his left. 7. And thus said Shimei when
he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody
man, and thou man of Belial : 8. The
Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood
of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou
hast reigned ; and the Lord hath delivered
the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy
son : and, behold, thou art taken in thy mis¬
chief, because thou art a bloody man. 9.
Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto
the king, Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king ? let me go over, I pray
thee, and take off his head. 10. And the
king said, What have I to do with you, ye
sons of Zeruiah / So let him curse, because
the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.
Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou
done so ? 11. And David said to Abishai.
and to all his servants, Behold, my son.
which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my
life : how much more now may this Benja-
mite do it ? Let him alone, and let him
curse: for the Lord hath bidden him. 12.
It may be that the Lord will look on mine
affliction, and that the Lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day. 13. And
as David and his men went by the way,
Shimei went along on the hill’s side over
against him, and cursed as he went, and
threw stones at him, and cast dust. 1 4.
And the king, and all the people that icere
with him, came weary, and refreshed them¬
selves there.
We here find how David bore Shimei’s curses
much better than he had borne Ziba’s flatteries; by
those he was brought to pass a wrong judgment on
another, by these to pass a right judgment on him¬
self; the world’s smiles are more dangerous than its
frowns. Observe here,
I. How insolent and furious Shimei was, and how
his malice took occasion from David’s present dis¬
tress, to be so much the more outrageous. David,
in his flight, was come to Bahurim, a city of Benja¬
min, in or near which, this Shimei lived, who, be¬
ing of the house of Saul, (with the fall of which all
his hopes of preferment fell,) had an implacable
enmity to David, unjustly looking upon him as the
ruin of Saul and his family, only because, by the
divine appointment, he succeeded it. While Da¬
vid was in prosperity and power, Shimei hated him
as much as he did now, but durst not then say any
thing against him; (God knows what is in the hearts
of those that are disaffected to him and his govern¬
ment, earthly princes do not;) but now he came
forth, and cursed David with all the bad words and
wishes he could invent, v. 5. He took this oppor¬
tunity to give vent to his malice, 1. Because now he
thought he might do it safely; yet, if DaGd had
thought proper to resent the provocation, it had cost
Shimei his life. 2. Because now it would be most
grievous to David, would add affliction to his grief,
and pour vinegar into his wounds. He complains
of them as most barbarous, who talk to the grief of
those whom Clod has wounded, Ps. 69. 26. So Shi
mei did, loading him with curses, whom no generou.
eye could look upon without compassion. 3. Be¬
cause now he thought that Providence justified his
423
11. SAMUEL, XVI.
reproaches, and that David’s present afflictions
proved him to be as bad a man as he was willing to
represent him. Job’s friends condemned him upon
this false principle. They that are under the re¬
bukes of a gracious God, must not think it strange
if these bring upon them the reproaches of evil
men. If once it be said, God hath forsaken him,
presently it follows, Persecute and take him, Ps. 71.
11. But it is the character of a base spirit thus to
trample upon those that are down, and insult over
them.
See, (1.) What this wretched man did: He cast
stones at David, {y. 6.) as if his king had been a
dog, or the worst of criminals, whom all Israel must
stone with stones till he die. Perhaps he kept at
such a distance, that the stones he threw, could not
reach David, nor any of his attendants, yet he show¬
ed what he would have done, if it had been in his
power. He cast dust, [y. 13.) which, probably,
would blow into his own eyes, like the curses he
threw, which, being causeless, would return upon
his own head. Thus, while his malice made him
odious, the impotence of it made him ridiculous
and contemptible. They that fight against God,
though they hate him, cannot hurt him. If thou
sinnest, what doest thou against him? Job 35. 6.
It was an aggravation of his wickedness, that David
was attended with his mighty men on his right hand
and on his left, so that he was not in so forlorn a con¬
dition as he thought; ( fiersecuted , but not forsaken ;)
and that he continued to do it, and did it the more
passionately, for David’s bearing it patiently.
(2. ) What he said. With the stones he shot his
arrows, even bitter words, ( v . 7, 8.) in contempt of
that law, Thou shall not curse the gods, Exod. 22.
28. David was a man of honour and conscience,
and in great reputation for every thing that is just
and good; what could this foul mouth say against
him? Why truly, what was done long since to the
house of Saul, is the only thing which he can recall,
and with which he upbraids him, because that was
the thing that he himself was a loser by. See how
apt we are to judge of men and their character, by
what they are to us; and to conclude that those are
certainly evil men, that have ever so justly been, or
that we ever so unjustly think have been, instru¬
ments of evil to us. So partial are we to ourselves,
that no rule can be more fallacious than this. No
man could be more innocent of the blood of the
house of Saul than David was. Once and again he
spared Saul’s life, while Saul sought his. When
Saul and his sons were slain by the Philistines, Da¬
vid and his men were many miles off; and, when
they heard it, lamented it. From the murder of
Abner and Ish-bosheth he had sufficiently cleared
himself; and yet all the blood of the house of Paul
must be laid at his door: innocency is no fence
against malice and falsehood; nor are we to think it
strange, if we be charged with that which we have
been most careful to keep ourselves from. It is well
for us, that men are not to be our judges, but He,
whose judgment is according to truth.
The blood of the house of Saul is here most un¬
justly charged upon him, [1.] As that which gave
him his character, and denominated him a bloody
man, and a man of Belial, v. 7. And if a man of
blood, no doubt, a man of Belial, that is, a child of
the Devil, (who is called Belial, 2 Cor. 6. 15.) and
who was a murderer from the beginning. Bloody
men are the worst of men. [2.] As that which
brought the present trouble upon him; “ Now that
thou art dethroned, and driven out to the wilder¬
ness, the Lord has returned ufion thee the blood of
the house of Saul .” See how forward malicious
men are to press God’s judgments into the service
of their own passion and revenge. If any, who,
they think, has wronged them, come into trouble,
that must be made the cause of the trouble. But
we must take heed, lest we wrong God by making
his providence thus to patronize our foolish and un¬
just resentments. As the wrath of man works not
the righteousness of God, so the righteousness of
God serves not the wrath of man. [3.] As that
which would now be his utter ruin; for he endea¬
vours to make him despair of ever recovering his
throne again, (now they said. There is no help for
him in God, Ps. 3. 2.) The Lord hath delivered
the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, (not Mephi-
bosheth, the house of Saul never dreamed of making
him king, as Ziba suggested,) and thou art taken in
thy mischief; that is, “ the mischief that will be thy
destruction, and all, because thou art a bloody man.’’
Thus Shimei cursed.
II. See how patient and submissive David was,
under this abuse. The sons of Zeruiah, Abishai
particularly, were forward to maintain David’s ho¬
nour with their swords; they resented the affront
keenly, as well they might; Why should this dead
dog be suffered to curse the king? v. 9. If David
will but give them leave, they will put these lying
cursing lips to silence, and take off his head; for his
throwing stones at the king was an overt-act, which
abundantly proved that he compassed and imagined
his deathl But the king would by no means suffer
it, What have I to do with you? So let him curse.
Thus Christ rebuked the disciples, who, in zeal
for his honour, would have fire from heaven on
the town that affronted him, Luke 9. 55. Let
us see with what conside"ations David quieted him¬
self.
1. The chief thing that silenced him, was, that
he had deserved it: this is not mentioned indeed; for
a man may truly repent, and yet needs not, upon all
occasions, proclaim his penitent reflections. Shimei
unjustly upbraided him with the blood of Saul;
from that his conscience acquitted him, but, at the
same time, charged him with the blood of Uriah:
“The reproach is too true,” (thinks David,)
“ though false as he means it.” Note, A humble
tender spirit will turn reproaches into reproofs, and
so get good by them, instead of being provoked by
them.
2. He observes the hand of God in it; The l.ord
hath said unto him, Curse David; (i>. 10.) and
again, So let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden
him, v. 11. As it was Shimei’s sin, it was not frem
God, but fi'om the Devil, and his own wicked heart,
nor did God’s hand in it excuse or extenuate it,
much less justify it, any more than it did their sin,
who put Christ to death, Acts 2. 24. — 4. 28. But
as it was David’s affliction, it was from the Lord,
one of the evils which he raised up against him.
David looked above the instrument of his trouble to
the supreme director, as Job, when the plunderers
had stripped him, acknowledges, The Lord hath
taken away. Nothing more proper to quiet a
gracious soul under affliction, than an eye to the
hand of God in it : I opened not my mouth, be¬
cause thou didst it. The scourge of the tongue is
God’s rod.
3. He quiets himself under the lesser affliction,
with the consideration of the greater; ( v . 11.) My
son seeks my life, much more may this Benjamite.
Note, Tribulation works patience in those that ar e
sanctified. The more we bear, the better able
we should be to bear still more; what tries our
patience, should improve it. The more we are
inured to trouble, the less we should be surprised at
it, and not think it strange. Marvel not that ene •
mies are injurious, when even friends are unkind ;
nor that friends are unkind, when even children
are undutiful.
4. He comforts himself with hopes that God
would, some way or other, bring good to him cut of
424
II. SAMUEL, XVI.
his affliction, would balance the trouble itself, and
recompense his patience under it; “ The Lord will
requite me good for his cursing. If God bid Shimei
grieve me, it is that he himself may the more sen¬
sibly comfort me; surely he has mercy in store for
me, which he is preparing me for by this trial.” We
may depend upon God as our Paymaster, not only
for our services, but for our sufferings. Let them
curse, but bless thou. David, at length, is housed
at Bahurim, (v. 14.) where he meets with refresh¬
ment, and is hidden from this strife of tongues.
15. And Absalom, and all the people, the
men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and
Ahithophel with him. 3 6. And it came to
pass, when Hushai the Archite, David’s
friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hu¬
shai said unto Absalom, God save the king,
God save the king. 1 7. And Absalom said
to Hushai, Is this th}' kindness to thy friend?
why wentest thou not with thy friend? 18.
And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay ; but
whom the Lord, and this people, and all
the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and
with him will I abide. 19. And again,
whom should I serve? should I not serve in
the presence of his son? As I have served
in thy father’s presence, so will I be in
thy presence. 20. Then said Absalom to
Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what
we shall do. 21. And Ahithophel said un- 1
to Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concu- j
bines, which he hath left to keep the house ; |
and all Israel shall hear that thou art ab- 1
horred of thy father : then shall the hands |l
of all that are with thee be strong. 22. So |
they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of !l
the house ; and Absalom went in unto his
father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23. And the counsel of Ahithophel, which
he counselled in those days, was as if a man
had inquired at the oracle of God : so was
all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with
David and with Absalom.
Absalom had notice sent him speedily by some of
his friends at Jerus dem, that David was withdrawn,
and with what a small retinue he was gone; so that
the coasts wre clear, Absalom might take posses¬
sion of Jerusalem when he pleased. The gates were
open, and there were none to oppose him. Ac¬
cordingly, he came without delay, (r>. 15.) extreme¬
ly elevated, no doubt, with this success at first, and
that that, in which, when he formed his design,
probably, he apprehended the greatest difficulty,
was so easily and effectually done. Now that he is
master of Jerusalem, he concludes all his own, the
country will follow of course. God suffers wicked
men to prosper a while in their wicked plots, even
beyond their expectation, that their disappointment
mav be the more grievous and disgraceful.
The most celebrated politicians of that age, were,
Ahithophel and Hushai; the former Absalom brings
with him to Jerusalem, (y. 15. ) the other meets him
there; ( v . 16.) so that he cannot but think himself
sure of success, when he has both these to be his
counsellors; on them he relies, and consults not the
ark, though he had that with them. But miserable
counsellors were they both ; for.
I. Hushai would never counsel him to do wisely;
he was really his enemy, and designed to betray
him, while he pretended to be in his interest; so that
he could not have a more dangerous man about him.
1. Hushai complimented him upon his accession to
the throne, as if he were abundantly satisfied in his
title, and well pleased that he was come to the pos¬
session, v. 16. What arts of dissimulation are those
tempted to use, who govern themselves by fleshly
wisdom; and how happy are they, who have not
known these depths of Satan, but have their conver¬
sation in the world with simplicity and godly sincer
ity! 2. Absalom is surprised to find him for him,
who was known to be David’s intimate friend and
confidant. He asks him, Is this thy kindness to thy
friend? (y. 17.) pleasing himself with this thought,
that all would be his, since Hushai was. He doubts
not of his sincerity, but easily believes what he
wishes to be true, that David’s best friends were so
in love with him, as to take the first opportunity to
declare for him, though the pride of his heart de¬
ceived him, Obad. 3. 3. Hushai still makes him be¬
lieve he is hearty for him. For though David is his
friend, yet he is for the king in possession, v. 18.
Whom the people chose, and Providence smiles
upon, he will be faithful to; and he is for the king
in succession, (y. 19. ) the rising sun. It was true,
he loved his father; but he had had his day, and it
was over; and why should he not love his successor
as well? Thus he pretends to give reasons for a re¬
solution he abhorred the thought of.
II. Ahithophel did counsel him to do wickedly,
and so did as effectually betray him, as he did, who
was designedly false to him. For they that advise
men to sin, certainly advise them to their hurt; and
that government which is founded in sin, is founded
in the sand. It seems, Ahithophel was noted as a
deep politician; his counsel was as if a man had in¬
quired at the oracle of God, v. 23. Such reputa¬
tion was he in for subtilty and sagacity in public af¬
fairs, such reaches had he beyond other privy-coun¬
sellors, such reasons would he give for his advice,
and such success, generally, his projects had, that
all people, good and bad, both David and Absalom,
had a profound regard to his sentiments, too much
by far, when they regarded him as an oracle of God:
shall the prudence of any mortal compare with Him
who is only wise? Let us observe from this account
of Ahithophel’s fame for policy, 1. That many ex¬
cel in worldly wisdom, who are utterly destitute of
heavenly grace, because those who set up oracles
for themselves, are apt to despise the oracles of
God. God has chosen the foolish things of the
world, and the greatest statesmen are seldom the
greatest saints. 2. That frequently the great poli¬
ticians act most foolishly for themselves. Ahitho¬
phel is cried up for an oracle, and yet very unwise¬
ly takes part with Absalom, who was not only a
usurper, but a rash youth, never likely to come to
good; whose fall, and the fall of all that adhered to
him, anv one, with the tenth part of the policy that
Ahithophel pretended to, might foresee. Well, af¬
ter all, honesty is the best policy, and will be found
so in the long run.
Observe, (1.) The wicked counsel Ahithophel
gave to Absalom : finding that David had left his
concubines to keep the house, he advises him to lie
with them, {v. 21.) a very wicked thing; the divine
law had made it a capital crime, Lev. 20. 11. The
apostle speaks of it as a piece of villany, not so much
as named among the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 5. 1. Reuben
lost his birth-right for it. But Ahithophel advised
to it as a political thing, because it would give assu¬
rance to all Israel, [1. ] That he was in good ear-
I nest in his pretensions; no doubt, he resolved to
make himself master of all that belonged to his pre-
I decessor, when he began with his concubines. [2.]
425
II. SAMUEL, XVII.
That he was resolved never to make peace with his
father upon any terms; for, by this, he would ren¬
der himself so odious to his father, that he would
never be reconciled to him, which, perhaps, the
people were jealous of, and that they must be sacri¬
ficed to the reconciliation. Having drawn the
sword, he did, by this provocation, throw away the
scabbard, which would strengthen the hands of his
party, and keep them tight to him. This was his
tursed policy, which bespoke him rather an oracle
of the Devil, than of God.
(2.) Absalom’s compliance with this counsel. It
entirely suited his lewd and wicked mind, and he
delayed not to put it in execution, v. 2^. When an
unnatural rebellion was the opera, what fitter pro¬
logue could there be to it than such unnatural lust?
Thus was his wickedness all of a piece, and such as
a conscience, not quite seared, could not entertain
the thoughts of without the utmost horror. Nay,
the client outdoes what his counsel advises: Ahitho-
phel bid him do it, that all Israel might hear of it;
but as if that were not enough, so perfectly lost is
he to all honour and virtue, he will do it, and all Is¬
rael shall see it. A tent is, accordingly, spread on
the top of the house for the purpose ; so impudently
did he declare his sin as Sodom. Yet, in this, the
word of God was fulfilled in the letter of it: God
had thieaiened, by Nathan, that, for his defiling of
Bath- sheba, he should have his own wives publicly
debauched; ( ch . 12. 11, 12.) and some think that
Ahithophel, in advising it, designed to be revenged
on David for the injury done to Bath-sheba, who
was his grand-daughter: for she was the daughter
of Eliam, (ch. 11. 3.) who was the son of Ahitho¬
phel, ch. 23. 34. Job speaks of a circumstance like
this, as the just punishment of adultery, (ch. 31. 9,
10.) and the prophet, Hos. 4. 13, 14. What to
think of these concubines, who submitted to this
wickedness, it were easy to say; but how unrigh¬
teous soever Absalom and they are, we must say,
The Lord is righteous: nor shall any word of his
fall to the ground.
CHAP. XVII.
The contest between David and Absalom is now drawing
towards a crisis. It must be determined by the sword,
and preparation is made, accordingly, in this chapter.
I. Absalom calls a council of war, in which Ahithophel
urges to despatch, (v. 1..4.) but Hushai recommends
deliberation, (v. 5.. 13.) and Hushai’s counsel is agreed
to, (v. 14.) for vexation at which, Ahithophel hangs
himself, v. 23. II. Secret intelligence is sent to Da¬
vid, (but with much difficulty,) of their proceedings, v.
15.. 21. III. David marches to the other side Jor¬
dan, (v. 22. .24.) and there his camp is victualled by
some of his friends in that country, v. 27 . . 29. IV. Ab¬
salom and his forces march after him into the land of Gi¬
lead on the other side Jordan, v. 25, 26. There we shall,
in the next chapter, find the cause decided by a battle:
hitherto, every thing has looked black upon poor David,
but now the day of his deliverance begins to dawn.
1. TOREOVER, Ahithophel said unto
Absalom, Let me now choose out
twelve thousand men, and I will arise and
pursue after David this night : 2. And I
will come upon him while he is weary and
weak-handed, and will make him afraid :
and all the people that are with him shall
flee; and I will smite the king only. 3.
\nd I will bring back all the people unto
thee : the man whom thou seekest is as if all
returned : so all the people shall be in peace.
4. And the saying pleased Absalom well,
;uxl all the elders of Israel. 5. Then said
Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite
Von. ii.- 3 H
also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
6. And when Hushai was come to Absa¬
lom, Absalom spake unto him, saying,
Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner ;
shall we do after his saying? if not, speak
thou. 7. And Hushai said unto Absalom,
The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is
not good at this time. 8. For, said Hushai,
thou knowest thy father and his men, that
they be mighty men, and they be chafed in
their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps
in the field : and thy father is a man of war,
and will not lodge with the people. 9. Be¬
hold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some
other place: and it will come to pass, when
some of them be overthrown at the first, that
whosoever heareth it will say, There is a
slaughter among the people that follow Ab¬
salom. 10. And he also that is valiant,
whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall
utterly melt : for all Israel knoweth that thv
father is a mighty man, and they which be
with him are valiant men. 11. Therefore
I counsel, that all Israel be generally ga¬
thered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-
sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for
multitude, and that thou go to battle in thine
own person. 12. So shall we come upon
him in some place where he shall be found,
and we will light upon him as the dew fall-
eth on the ground : and of him and of all
the men that are with him there shall not
be left so much as one. 13. Moreover, if
he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel
bring ropes to that city, and we will draw
it into the river, until there be not one small
stone found there. 14. And Absalom and
all the men of Israel said, The counsel of
Hushai the Archite is better than the coun¬
sel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had ap¬
pointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahitho¬
phel, to the intent that the Lord might
bring evil upon Absalom.
Absalom is in peaceable possession of Jerusalem,
the palace-royal is his own, and the thrones of judg¬
ment , even the thrones of the house of David. His
good father reigned in Hebron, and only over the
tribe of Judah, above seven years, and was not hasty
to destroy his rival: his government was built upon
a divine promise, which he was sure of the per¬
formance of in due time, and therefore he waited
patiently in the mean time. But the young man,
Absalom, not only hastens from Hebron to jerusa-
lem, but is impatient there, till he has destroyed his
father; cannot be content with his throne till he has
his life; for his government is founded in iniquity,
and therefore feels itself tottering, and thinks itself
obliged to do every thing with violence. That so
profligate a wretch as Absalom should aim at the
throne of so good a father, is not so strange; (there
are here and there monsters in nature;) but that the
body of the people of Israel, to .vhom David had
been so great a blessing in all respects, should join
with him in it, is very amazing. But their fathers
426
II. SAMUEL, XVII.
often mutinied against Moses. The best of parents,
and the best of princes, will not think it strange, if
they be made uneasy by those who should be their
support and joy, when they consider what sons and
what subjects bavid himself had.
David, and all that adhered to him, must be cut
off. That is resolved, for aught that appears,
nemine contradicente — unanimously. None dares I
mention his personal merits, and great services
done to his country, in opposition to this resolve,
nor so much as ask, “ Why , what evil has he done,
co forfeit his crown, much less his head?” None
dares propose that his banishment suffice, lor the
present, or that agents be sent to treat with him to
resign the crown, which, having so tamely quitted
the city, they might think he would easily be per¬
suaded to do. It was not long since Absalom him¬
self fled for a crime, and David contented himself
with his being an exile, though he deserved death,
nay, he mourned and longed for him; but so per¬
fectly void of all natural affection is this ungrateful
Absalom, that he perfectly thirsts after his own fa¬
ther’s blood. It is past dispute, David must be de¬
stroyed, all the question is, how it may be done.
I. Ahithophel advises that he be pursued imme¬
diately, this very night, with a flying army, which
he himself undertakes the command of, that the
king only be smitten and his forces dispersed, and
then the people that were now for him, would fall
in with Absalom, of course, and there would not be
such a long war as had been between the house of
Saul and David, x1. 1 . . 3, The man whom thou
seekest, is as if all returned. By this, it appears
that Absalom had declared his design to be upon
David’s life, and Ahithophel concurs with him in it;
Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,
and be an easy prey to the wolf. Thus he contrives
to include the war in a little compass, by fighting
neither with small nor great, but the king of Israel
only, and to conclude it in a little time, by falling
upon him immediately. Nothing could have been
more fatal to David, than the taking of these mea¬
sures. It was too true, that he was weary and
weak-handed; that a little thing would make him
afraid, else he had not fled from, his house, upon
the first alarm of Absalom’s rebellion. It was pro¬
bable enough that, upon a fierce attack, especially
in the night, the small force he had, would be put
into confusion and disorder, and it would be an easy
thing to smite the king only< and then the business
was done, the whole nation would be reduced, of
course, and all the people, says he, shall be in peace.
See how a general ruin is called, by usurpers, a
general peace; but thus the Devil’s palace is in
peace, while he, as a strong man armed, keeps it.
Compare with this the plot of Caiaphas (that se¬
cond Ahithophel) against the Son of David, to crush
his interest by destroying him; Let that one man die
for the people, John 11. 50. Kill the heir, and the
inheritance shall be our’s. Matth. 21. 38. But the
counsel of them both was turned into foolishness.
Yet the children of light may, in their generation,
learn wisdom from the children of this world.
What our hand finds to do, let us do quickly, and
with all our might. It is prudence to be vigorous
and expeditious, and not to lose time. Particularly
in our spiritual warfare, if Satan flee from us, let us
follow our blow.
They that have quarrelled with crowned heads,
have generally observed the decorum of declaring
only against their evil counsellors, and calling them
to an account, the king himself can do no wrong, it
is they that do it; but Absalom’s bare -faced villany
strikes at the king directly, nay, at the king only;
for, (would you think it?) this saying, I will smite
the king only, pleased Absalom well; (x>. 4. ) nor
had he so much sense of honour and virtue left him#
as to pretend to startle at it, or even to be reluctant
in this barbarous and monstrous resolution. What
good can stand before the heat of a furious am¬
bition ?
II. Hushai advises that they be not too hasty in
pursuing David, but take time to draw up all their
force against him, and to overpower him with
numbers, as Ahithophel had advised to take him by
surprise. Now Hushai, in giving this counsel,
really intended to serve David and his interest; that
he might have time to send him notice of his pro¬
ceedings, and that David might gain time to gather
an army, and to remove into those countries beyond
Jordan, which, lying more remote, Absalom, pro¬
bably, had got least interest in. Nothing would be
of greater advantage to David in this juncture, than
time to turn himself in; that he may have that, Hu
shai counsels Absalom to do nothing rashly, but to
proceed with caution, and secure his success by se¬
curing his strength.
Now, 1. Absalom gave Hushai a fair invitation
to advise him. All the elders of Israel approved cf
Ahithophel’s counsel, yet God overruled the heart
of Absalom not to proceed upon it, till he had ad¬
vised with Hushai, (x\ 5.) Let us hear what hesaith.
Herein he thought he did wisely, (two heads are
better than one,) but God taketh the wise in their
own craftiness. See Mr. Poole’s note on this.
2. Hushai gave good reasons for what he said.
(1.) He argued against Ahithophel’s counsel, and
undertook to show the danger of following his ad¬
vice. It is with modesty, and all possible deference
to his settled reputation, that he begs leave to differ
from him, v. 7. The counsel of Ahithophel is
usually the best, and such as may be relied on; but,
with submission to that noble peer, he is of opinion
that his counsel is not good at this time, for it was
by no means safe to venture so great a cause as that
in which they were now engaged, upon so small a
number, and such a hasty sally, as Ahithophel ad¬
vised; remembering the defeat of Israel before Ai,
Josh. 7. 4. It has often proved of bad consequence
to despise an enemy, see how plausibly Hushai
reasons: [1.] He insists much upon it, that David
was a great soldier, a man of great conduct, cou¬
rage, and experience; all knew and owned this,
even Absalom himself: Thy father is a man of war,
( v . 8.) a mighty man , (x>. 10.) and not so weary
and weak-handed as Ahithophel imagines. Hi,
retiring from Jerusalem must be imputed, not to
his cowardice, but to his prudence. [2.] His at¬
tendants, though few, were mighty men, (v. 8.)
valiant men, (x;. 10.) men of celebrated bravery,
and versed in all the arts of war. Ahithophel, who
perhaps had worn the gown more than the sword,
would find himself an unequal match for them.
One of them would chase a thousand. [3.] They
were all exasperated against Absalom, who was
the author of all this mischief, were chafed in their
minds, and would fight with the utmost fury; so
that, what with their courage, and what with their
rage, there would be no standing before them, es¬
pecially for such raw soldiers as Abs lom’s general¬
ly were. Thus does he represent them as formi¬
dable as Ahithophel had made them despicable.
[4.] He suggests that, probably, David and some
of his men would lie in ambush, in some pit, or
other close place, and fall upon Absalom’s soldiers
before they were aware, the terror of which would
put them to flight; and the defeat, though but of a
small party, would dispirit all the rest, especially
their own consciences, at the same time accusing
them of treason against one that, they were sure,
was not only God’s anointed, but a man after his
own heart, v. 9. “ It will soon be given out, that
there is a slaughter among Absalom’s men, and
then they will all make the best of their way, and
427
11. SAMUEL, XVII.
the heart of Ahithophel himself, though now it
seems like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt
away. In short, he will not find it so easy a matter
to deal with David and his men as he thinks it is;
and if he be foiled, we are all routed.”
(2.) He offered his own advice; and gave his rea¬
sons; and,
[1.1 He counselled that which he knew would
gratify Absalom’s proud vain-glorious humour,
though it would not be really serviceable to his in¬
terest. First, He advises that all Israel should be
gathered together, that is, the militia of all the
tribes; his taking it for granted that they were all
for him, and gi'ing him an opportunity to see them
altogether under his command, would gratify him
as much as any thing. Secondly, He adv ises that
Absalom go to battle in his own person, as if he
looked upon him to be a better soldier than Ahitho¬
phel, more fit to give command, and have the ho¬
nour of the victory, insinuating that Ahithophel had
put a slight upon him, in offering to go without him:
see how easy it is to betray proud men, by applaud¬
ing them, and feeding their pride.
[2.] He counselled that which seemed to secure
the success, at last, infallibly, without running any
hazard. For if they could raise such vast numbers
as they promised themselves, wherever they found
him, they should not fail to crush him. First, If in
the field, they should fall upon him, as the dew
that covers the face of the ground, and cut off all
his men with him, v. 12. Perhaps, Absalom was
better pleased with the design of cutting off all the
men that were with him, having a particular an¬
tipathy to some of David’s friends, than with Ahith-
ophel’s project of smiting the king only. Thus
Hushai gained his point by humcuring his revenge,
as well as his pride. Secondly, If in a city, they
need not fear conquering him, for they should have
hands enough, if occasion were, to draw the city
itself into its river with ropes, v. 13. This strange
suggestion, how impracticable soever, being new,
served for an amusement, and recommended itself
by pleasing the fancy, for they would all smile at
the humour of it.
By all these arts, Hushai gained not only Absa¬
lom's approbat'on of his advice, but the unanimous
concurrence of this great council of war; they all
agreed that the counsel of Hushai was better than
the counsel of Ahithophel, v. 14. See here, First,
How much the policy of m in can do: if Hushai had
not been there, Ahithcphel’s counsel had certainly
prevailed; and though all had given their opinion,
nothing could be really more for Absalom’s interest
than that which he advised, yet Hushai, with his
management, brings them all over to his side; and
none of them are aware, that he says all this in fa¬
vour of David and his interest, but all say as he
says. See how the unthinking part are imposed
upon by the designing part of mankind; what tools,
what fools, great men make of one another by their
intrigues; and what tricks there are often in courts,
and councils, which they are happiest that are least
conversant with. Secondly, See how much more
the providence of God can do: Hushai managed the
plot with dexterity, yet the success is ascribed to
God, and his agency on the minds of those concern¬
ed; The Ford had afifiointed to defeat the good
counsel of Ahithophel. Be it observed, to the com¬
fort of all that fear God, he turns all men’s hearts
as the rivers of waters, though they know not the
thought r of the Lord. He Grinds in the congrega¬
tion of the mighty, has an overruling hand in all
counsels, and a negative voice in all resolves, and
laughs at men’s projects against his anointed.
15. Then said Hushai unto Zadok and
to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did
Anithophel counsel Absalom and the elders
of Israel ; and thus and thus have I counsel¬
led. 16. Now therefore send quickly, and
tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in
the plains of the wilderness, but speedily
pass over ; lest the king be swallowed up,
and all the people that are with him. 17.
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by
En-rogel, (for they might not be seen to
come into the city :) and a wench went and
told them ; and they went and told king Da¬
vid. 18. Nevertheless a lad saw them, and
told Absalom : but they went both of them
away quickly, and came to a man’s house
in Bahurim, which had a well in his court,
whither they went down. 19. And the wo¬
man took and spread a covering over the
well’s mouth, and spread ground corn there¬
on ; and the thing was not known. 20. And
when Absalom’s servants came to the wo¬
man to the house, they said, Where is
Ahimaaz and Jonathan ? And the woman
said unto them, They be gone over the
brook of water. And when they had sought
and could not find them , they returned to
Jerusalem. 21. And it came to pass, after
they were departed, that they came up out
of the well, and went and told king David,
and said unto David, Arise, and pass quick¬
ly over the water : for thus hath Ahithophel
counselled against you.
We must now leave David’s enemies pleasing
themselves with thoughts of a sure victory, by fol¬
lowing Hushai’s counsel, and sending a summons,
no doubt, to all the tribes of Israel, to come to the
general rendezvous at a place appointed, pursuant
to that counsel; and we next find David’s friends
consulting how to get him notice of all this, that he
might steer his course accordingly. Hushai tells
the priests what had passed in council, v. 15. But,
it should seem, he was not sure, but that yet Ahith
ophel’s counsel might be followed, and was there
fore jealous, lest, if he made not the best of his way,
the king would be swallowed up, and all the people
that were with him, v. 16. Perhaps, as he was
called in to give his advice, ( v . 5.) so he was dis¬
missed "before they came to that resolve, (v. 14.)
in favour of his advice. Or he feared they might
afterward change their mind. However, it was
good to provide against the worst, and therefore to
hasten those valuable lives out of the reach of these
destroyers.
Such strict guards did Absalom set upon all the
avenues to Jerusalem, that they had much ado to
get this necessary intelligence to David. 1. The
young priests that were to be the messengers, were
forced to retire secretly out of the city, bv En-rogel;
which signifies, as some say, the fountain of a spy.
Surely it went ill with Jerusalem, when two such
faithful priests as they were, might not be seen to
come into the city. 2. Instructions were sent to
them by a poor simple young woman, who, proba¬
bly, went to that well under pretence of fetching
water, v. 17. If she carried the message by word
of mouth, there was danger of her making some
mistake or blunder in it; but Providence can make
an ignoran* girl a trusty messenger, and serve its
428
[]. SAMUEL, XVII.
w’se counsels by the foolish things of the world
3. Vet, by the vigilance of Absalom’s spies, they
were discovered, and information bi-ought to Absa¬
lom of their motions. A lad sa w them, and told him,
v. 18. 4. They being aware that they were dis¬
covered, sheltered themselves in a friend’s house in
Bahurim.. where David had refreshed himself but
just before, ch. 16. 14. There they were happily
hid in a well, which now, in summer time, per¬
il ;ps, was dry, v. 18. The woman of the house
very ingeniously covered the mouth of the well
With a cloth, on which she spread corn to dry, so
that the pursuers were not aware that there was a
well; else they had searched it, v. 19. Thus far,
the woman did well; bat we know not how to jus¬
tify her further concealing them with a lie, v. 20.
We must not do evil that good may come of
it. However, hereby the messengers were pro¬
tected, and the pursuers were defeated, and return¬
ed to Absalom without their prey. It was well that
Absalom did not, hereupon, fall upon their two fa¬
thers, Zadok and Abiathar, as Saul on Ahimelech
for his kindness to David; but God restrained him.
Being thus preserved, they brought their intelli¬
gence very faithfully to David, ( v . 21.) with this
advice of his friends, that he should not delay to
pass over Jordan, near to which, it seems, he now
was. There, as some think, he penned the 42d
and 43d Psalms, looking back upon Jerusalem from
the land o f Jordan, Ps. 42. 6.
22. Then David arose, and all the peo¬
ple that were with him, and they passed
over Jordan : by the morning light there
lacked not one of them that was not gone
over Jordan. 23. And when Ahithophel
saw that his counsel was not followed, he
saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him
home to his house, to his city, and put his
household in order, and hanged himself, and
died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his
father. 24. Then David came to Maha-
naim. And Absalom passed over Jordan,
he and all the men of Israel with him. 25.
And Absalom made Amasa captain of the
host instead of Joab : which Amasa was a
man’s son whose name was Ithra, an Isra¬
elite, that went in to Abigail the daughter
of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, .Toab’s mother.
26. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the
land of Gilead. 27. And it came to pass,
when David was come to Mahanaim, that
Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the
children of Ammon, and Machir the son
of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the
Gileadite of Rogelim, 28. Brought beds,
and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat,
and barley, and flour, and parched corn ,
and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
29. And honey, and butter, and sheep, and
cheese of kine, for David, and for the peo¬
ple that ivere with him, to eat : for they said,
The people is hungry, and weary, and
thirsty, in the wilderness.
Here is,
I. The transporting of David and his forces over
Jordan, pursuant to the advice he had received
I from his friends at Jerusalem, v. 22. He, and all
1 that were with him, went over in the night, whether
in ferry boats, which, probably, always plied there,
or through the fords, does not appear. But special
notice may be taken of this, that there lacked not
one of them; none deserted him, though his distress
was great, none stayed behind sick or weary, noi
were any lost or cast away in passing the river.
Herein some make him a type of the Messiah, who
said, in a difficult day, Of all that thou hast given
me have I lost none. Being got over Jordan, he
marched many miles forward to Mahanaim, a Le-
vites’ city in the tribe of Gad, in the utmost bordei
of that tribe, and not far from Rabbah, the chief
city of the Ammonites. This city, which Ish-
bosheth had made his royal city, ( ch . 2. 8.) David
now made his head-quarters, v. 24. And now he
had time to raise an arm) wherewith to oppose the
rebels, and give them a warm reception.
II. The death of Ahithophel, v. 23. He died by
his own hands, felo de se-—a suicide: he hanged
himself for vexation that his counsel was not fol¬
lowed; for thereby, 1. He thought himself slighted,
and an intolerable slur cast upon his reputation for
wisdom. His judgment always used to sway at the
council-board, but now another’s opinion is thought
wiser and better than his; his proud heart cannot
bear the affront, it rises and swells, and the more
he thinks of it, the more violent his resentments
grow, till they bring him, at last, to this desperate
resolve, not to live to see another preferred before
him. All men think him a wise man, but he thinks
himself the only wise man; and therefore, to be
avenged upon mankind for not thinking so too, he
will die, that wisdom may die with him. The
world is not worthy of such an oracle as he is, and
therefore he will make them know the want of hint.
See what real enemies they are to themselves, that
think too well of themselves, and what mischiefs
they run upon, that are impatient of contempt.
That will break a proud man’s heart, that will not
break an humble man’s sleep. 2. He thought him¬
self endangered, and his life exposed. He con¬
cluded, that, because his counsel was not followed,
Absalom’s cause would certainly miscarry, and
then, whoever would find David’s mercy, he con¬
cluded, that he, who was the greatest criminal,
and had particularly advised him to lie with his
father’s concubines, must be sacrificed to his jus¬
tice; to prevent therefore the shame and terror of a
public execution, he does justice upon himself, and
after all his reputation for wisdom, by this, his last
act, puts a far greater disgrace upon himself than
Absalom’s privy counsel had put upon him, and
answers his name Ahithophel, which signifies, the
brother of a fool. Nothing indicates so much folly
as self-murder. Observe how deliberately he did
it, and of malice prepense against himself; not in a
heat, but he went home to his city, to his house, to
do it; and, which is strange, took time to consider
of it, and yet did it. And, to prove himself compos
mentis — in his senses, when he did it, he first put his
household in order, made his will as a man of sane
memory and understanding, settled his estate, ba¬
lanced his accounts; yet he that had sense and pru¬
dence enough to do this, had not consideration
enough to revoke the sentence his pride and passion
had passed upon his own neck, or so much as to
suspend the execution of it till he saw the event of
Absalom’s rebellion. Now herein we may see, f I. )
Contempt poured upon the wisdom of man; he Nat
was more renowned for policy than any man, plays
the fool with himself more abundantly. Let noi the
•wise man glory in his wisdom, when he sees him
that was so great an oracle, dying as a fool dies.
(2. ) Honour done to the justice of God. \Vhen the
wicked are thus snared in the work of their own
429
II. SAMUEL, XVII L
hands, and sunk in a flit of their own digging, the
Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth,
and we must say Higgaion, blelah; it is a thing to be
marked and meditated upon, Ps. 7. 15, 16. (3.)
Prayer answered, and an nonest cause served even
by its enemies. Now, as David had prayed, Ahith-
ophel’s counsel was turned into foolishness to him¬
self Dr. Lightfoot supposes that David penned the
55th Psalm, upon occasion of Ahithophers being in
the plot against him, and that he is the man com¬
plained of, (y. 13.) that had been his equal, his
guide, and his acquaintance; and if so, this was an
immediate answer to his prayer there, (x>. 15.) Let
death seize ufion them, let them go down quick into
hell. Ahithophel’s death was an advantage to Da¬
vid’s interest; for had he digested that affront, (as
those must resolve often to do, that will live in this
world,) and continued his post at Absalom’s elbow,
he might have given him counsel afterward, that
might have been of pernicious consequence to Da¬
vid. It is well that that breath is stopped, and that
head laid, from which nothing could be expected
but mischief. It seems, it was not then usual to
disgrace the dead bodies of self-murderers, for
Ahithophel was buried, we may suppose, honoura¬
bly buried, in the sefiulchre of his father, though he
deserved no better than the burial of an ass: see
Eccl. 8. 10.
III. Absalom’s pursuit of his father; he had now
got all the men of Israel with him, as Hushai ad¬
vised, and he himself at the head of them, passed
over Jordan, v. 24. Not content that he had driven
his good father to the utmost corner of his kingdom,
he resolved to chase him out of the world. He
pitched in the land of Gilead with all his forces,
ready to give David battle, v. 26. Absalom made
one Amasa his general, (v. 25. ) whose father was,
by birth, Jether, an Ishmaelite, (1 Chron. 2. 17.)
but, by religion, Ithra, (as he is here called,) an
Israelite; probably, he was not only proselyted, but,
having married a near relation of David’s, was, by
some act of the state, naturalized, and is therefore
called an Israelite. His wife, Amasa’s mother, was
Abigail, David’s sister, whose other sister, Zeruiah,
was Joab’s mother, 1 Chron. 2. 16. So that Amasa
was the same relation to David that Joab was. In
honour to his family, even while he was in arms
against his father, Absalom made him commander
in chief of all his forces. Jesse is here called JVa-
hash, for many had two names; or perhaps it was
his wife’s name.
IV. The friends David met with in this distant
country. Even Shobi, a younger brother of the
royal family of the Ammonites, was kind to him, v.
27. It is probable that he had detested the indig¬
nity which his brother Hanun had done to David’s
ambassadors, and, for that, had received favours
from David, which he now returns. Those that
think their prosperity most confirmed, know not
but, some time or other, they may stand in need
of the kindness of those that now lie at their mercy,
and may be glad to be beholden to them; which is
a reason, why we should, as we have opportunity,
do good to all men, for he that watereth, shall be
watered also himself, when there is occasion. Ma-
chir, the son of Ammiel, was he that maintained
Mephibosheth, ( ch . 9. 4.) till David eased him of
Jiat charge; and is now repaid for it by that gene¬
rous man, who, it seems, was the common patron
of d’stressed princes. Barzillai we shall hear of
again. These, compassionating David and his men,
now that they were weary with a long march,
brought him furniture for his house, beds and
basins; and provisions for his table, wheat and
barley, &c. v. 28, 29. He did not put them under
contribution, did not compel them to supply him,
much less, plunder them; but, in token of their
dutiful affection to him, their firm adherence to hi?
government, and their sincere concern for him in
his present straits, of their own good will they
brought in plenty of all that which he had occasion
for. Let us learn hence to be generous and open-
handed, according as our ability is, to all in distress,
especially great men, to wlu m it is most grievous,
and good men, who deserve better treatment. Ob¬
serve here, how Grd sometimes makes up to his
people that comfort from strangers, which they are
disappointed of in their own families.
CHAP. XVIII.
This chapter puts a period to Absalom’s rebellion and life,
and so makes way for David to his throne again, whither
the next chapter brings him back in peace and triumph.
We have here, I. David’s preparations to engage the
rebels, v. 1 . .5. II. The total defeat of Absalom’s party,
and their dispersion, v. 6. . 8. III. The death of Absa¬
lom, and his burial, v. 9 . . 18. IV. The bringing of the
tidings of it to David, who tarried at Mahanaim, v. 19..
32. V. His bitter lamentations of Absalom, v. 33.
1. 4 ND David numbered the people that
were with him, and set captains of
thousands and captains of hundreds over
them. 2. And David sent forth a third part
of the people under the hand of Joab, and a
third part under the hand of Abishai the son
of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part
under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the
king said unto the people, I will surely go
forth with you myself also. 3. But the people
answered, Thou shalt not go forth : for if
we flee away, they will not care for us :
neither if half of us die will they care for us:
but now thou art worth ten thousand of us:
therefore now it is better that thou succour
us out of the city. 4. And the king said
unto them, What seemeth you best I will
do. And the king stood by the gate side,
and all the people came out by hundreds
and by thousands. 5. And the king com¬
manded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying,
Deal gently for my sake with the young
man, even with Absalom. And all the peo¬
ple heard when the king gave all the cap¬
tains charge concerning Absalom. 6. So
the people went out into the field against
Israel : and the battle was in the wood of
Ephraim ; 7. Where the people of Israel
were slain before the servants of David;
and there was there a great slaughter that
day of twenty thousand men. 8. For the
battle was there scattered over the face of
all the country : and the wood devoured
more people that day than the sword de¬
voured.
Which way David raised an army here, and what
reinforcements were sent him, we are not told;
many, it is likely, from all the coasts of Israel, at
least, from the neighbouring tribes, came in to his
assistance, so that, by degrees, he was able to
make head against Absalom, as Ahithophel foresaw.
Now here we have,
I. His army numbered and marshalled, v. 1, 2.
430
II. SAMUEL, XVIII.
He had, no doubt, committed his cause to God by
prayer, for that was his relief in all his afflictions;
and then he took an account of his forces; Josephus
says they were, in all, but about four thousand:
these he divided into regiments, and companies, to
each of which he appointed proper officers, and
then disposed them, as is usual, into the right wing,
the left wing, and the centre, two of which he com¬
mitted to his two old experienced generals, Joab
and Abishai, and the third to his new friend Ittai.
Good order and good conduct may sometimes be as
serviceable in an army, as great numbers. Wis¬
dom teaches us to make the best of the strength we
have, and let it reach to the utmost.
II. Himself over-persuaded not to go in person
to the battle. He was Absalom’s false friend, that
persuaded him to go, and served his pride more
than his prudence; David’s true friends would not
let him go, remembering what they had been told
of Ahithophel’s design to smite the king only. Da¬
vid showed his affection to them by being willing to
venture with them; (in 2.) and they showed their’s
to him by opposing it. We must never reckon it
an affront to be gainsayed for our good, and by those
that therein consult our interest. 1. They would
by no means have him expose himself, for, (say
they,) Thou art worth ten thousand of us. Thus
ought good princes to be valued by their subjects,
who, for their safety, must be willing to expose
themselves. 2. They would not so far gratify the
enemy, who would rejoice more in his fall, than in
the defeat of the whole army. 3. He might be
more serviceable to them by tarrying in the city,
with a reserve of his forces there, whence he might
send them recruits. That may be a post of real
service, which yet is not a post of danger. The
king acquiesced in their reasons, and changed his
purpose; (v. 4.) What seemeth you best, I will do.
It is no piece of wisdom to be stiff in our resolutions,
but to be willing to hear reason, even from our in¬
feriors, and to be overruled by their advice, when
it appears to be for our own good. Whether the
people’s prudence had an eye to it or no, God’s
providence wisely ordered it, that David should not
be in the field of battle: for then his tenderness had
certainly interposed to save Absalom’s life, whom
God had determined to destroy.
III. The charge he gave concerning Absalom, v.
5. When the army was drawn out, rank and file,
Josephus says, he encouraged them, and prayed for
them, but withal bade them all take heed of doing
Absalom any hurt. How does he render good for
evil! Absalom would have David only smitten,
David would have Absalom only spared. What
foils are these to each other! Never was unnatural
hatred to a father more strong than in Absalom;
nor was ever natural affection to a child more strong
than in David; each did his utmost, and showed
what he could do; how bad it is possible for a child
to be to the best of fathers, and how good it is pos¬
sible for a father to be to the worst of children; as
if it were designed to be a resemblance of man’s
wickedness toward God, and God’s mercy toward
man, of which it is hard to say, which is more
amazing. “ Deal gently,” says David, “by all
means, with the young man, even with Absalom,
for my sake; he is a young man, rash and heady,
and his age must excuse him; he is mine, whom I
love; if ye love me, be not severe with him.” This
charge supposes David’s strong expectation of suc¬
cess, having a good cause, and a good God: he
doubts not but Absalom would lie at their mercy,
and therefore bids them deal gently with him, spare
his life, and reserve him for his judgment.
Bishop Hall thus descants on this; “What means
this ill-placed love? This unjust mercy? Deal
gently with a traitor? Of all traitors, with a son?
Of all sons, with an Absalom? That graceless
darling of so good a father? And all this, for thy
sake, whose crown, whose blood, he hunts after?
For whose sake must he be pursued, if forborne tV.r
thine? Must the cause of the quarrel be the m< live
of mercy? Even in the holiest parents, nature may
be guilty of an injurious tenderness, of a bloody in¬
dulgence. But was not this done in type of that
unmeasurable mercy of the true King and Redeemer
of Israel, who prayed for his persecutors, for his
murderers; Father, forgive them. Deal gently
with them for my sake.” When God sends an
affliction to correct his children, it is with this
charge, “Deal gently with them for my sake;” for
he knows our frame.
IV. A complete victory gained over Absalom’s
forces. The battle was fought in the wood of
Efihraim, {y. 6.) so called from some memorable
action of the Ephraimites there, though it lay in the
tribe of Gad. David thought fit to meet the enemy
with his forces at some distance, before they came
up to Mahanaim, lest he should bring that city into
trouble, which had so kindly sheltered him. The
cause shall be decided by a pitched battle. Jose
phus represents the fight as very obstinate, but the
rebels were at length totally routed, and 20,000 of
them slain, v. 7. Now they smarted justly for their
treason against their lawful prince, their uneasiness
under so good a government, and their base ingra¬
titude to so good a governor; and found what it was
to take up arms for an usurper, who with his kisses
and caresses, had wheedled them into their own
ruin. Now where are the rewards, the preferments,
the golden days, they promised themselves from
him ? Now they see what it is to take counsel
against the Lord, and his anointed, and to think of
breaking his bands asunder. And that they might
see that God fought against them, 1. They are con¬
quered by a few, an army, in all probability, much
inferior to their’s in number. 2. By that flight with
which they hoped to save themselves, they destroy¬
ed themselves; the wood, which they sought to for
shelter, devoured more than the sword: that the>
might see how, when they thought themselves safe
from David’s men, and said, Surely the bitterness
of death is past, yet the justice of God pursued
them, and suffered them not to live. What refuge
can rebels find from divine vengeance? The pits
and bogs, the stumps and thickets, and, as the Chal-
dee-paraphrast understands it, the wild beasts of
the wood, were, probably, the death of multitudes
of the dispersed distracted Israelites, beside the
20,000 that were slain with the sword. God herein
fought for David, and yet fought against him; for
all these that were slain were his own subjects, and
the common interest of his kingdom was weakened
by it. The Romans allowed no triumph for a vic¬
tory in a civil war.
9. And Absalom met the servants of Da¬
vid. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and
the mule went under the thick boughs of a
great oak, and his head caught hold of the
oak, and he was taken up between the hea¬
ven and the earth ; and the mule that was
under him went away. 10. And a certain
man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold,
I saw Absalom hanged in an oak. 1 1. And
Joab said unto the man that told him, And,
behold, thou sawest him ; and why didst
thou not smite him there to the ground ? and
I would have given thee ten shekels of silver
and a girdle. 1 2. And the man said unto
431
II. SAMUEL, XVI11.
Joab, Though I should receive a thousand
shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I
not put forth mine hand against the king’s
son : for in our hearing the king charged
thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware
that none touch the young man Absalom.
13. Otherwise I should have wrought false¬
hood against mine own life : for there is no
matter hid from the king, and thou thyself
wouldest have set thyself against me. 1 4.
Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with
thee. And he took three darts in his hand,
and thrust them through the heart of Absa¬
lom, while he was yet alive in the midst of
the oak. 1 5. And ten young men that bare
Joab’s armour compassed about, and smote
Absalom, and slew him. 16. And Joab
blew the trumpet, and the people returned
from pursuing after Israel : for Joab held
back the people. 1 7. And they took Absa¬
lom, and cast him into a great pit in the
wood, and laid a very great heap of stones
upon him : and all Israel fled every one to
his tent. 18. Now Absalom in his life-time
had taken and reared up for himself a pillar,
which is in the king’s dale : for he said, I
have no son to keep my name in remem¬
brance : and he called the pillar after his
own name : and it is called unto this day,
Absalom’s Place.
Here is Absalom quite at a loss; at his wit’s end,
first, and then at his life’s end. He that began the
fight, big with the expectation of triumphing over
David himself, with whom, if he had had him in his
power, he would not have dealt gently, is now in
the greatest consternation, when he meets the ser¬
vants of David, v. 9. Though they were forbid¬
den to meddle with him, he durst not look them in
the face; but, finding they were near him, he makes
the best of his way, and so rides headlong upon his
own destruction. Thus he that flies from the fear,
shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of
the pit, shall be taken in the snare, Jer. 48. 44. Da¬
vid is inclined to spare him, but divine justice passes
sentence upon him as a traitor, and sees it executed;
that he hang by the neck, be caught alive, be em-
bowelled, and his body disposed of disgracefully.
I. He is hanged by the neck. Riding furiously
under the thick boughs of a great oak which hung
low, and had been never cropped, either the twisted
branches, or some one forked bough of the oak,
caught hold of his head, either by his neck, or, as some
think, by his long hair, which had been so much his
pride, and was now justly made a halter for him,
and there he hung, astonished, that he could not
use his hands to help himself; or so entangled, that
his hands could not help him, but the more he strug¬
gled the more he was embarrassed. This set him
up for a fair mark to the servants of David, and he
had the terror and shame of seeing himself thus ex¬
posed, while he could do nothing for his own relief,
neither fight nor fly.
Observe concerning this, 1. That his mule went
away from under him, as if glad to get clear of such
a burthen, and resign it to the ignominious tree.
Thus the whole creation groans under the burthen
of man’s corruption, but shall shortly be delivered
from its load, Rom. 8. 21, 22. 2. That he hung
between heaven and earth, as unworthy of either,
as abandoned of both; earth would not keep him,
heaven would not take him, hell therefore opens
her mouth to receive him. 3. That this was a very
surprising unusual thing; it was fit that it should be
so, his crime being so monstrous: if, in his flight,
his mule had thrown him, and left him half dead
upon the ground, till the servants of David had come
and despatched him, the same thing had been done
as effectually; but that had been too common a fate
for so uncommon a criminal; God will here, as in
the case of those other rebels, Dathan and Abiram,
create a new thing, that it may be understood how
much this man has provoked the Lord, Numb. 16.
29, 30. Absalom is here hung up, in terrorem — to
frighten children from disobedience to their parents;
see Pro*. 30. 17.
II. He is caught alive by one of the servants of
David, who went straight, and told Joab in what
posture he found that arch rebel, v. 10. Thus was
he set up for a spectacle, as well as a mark, that
the righteous might see him, and laugh at him,
(Ps. 52. 6.) while he has this further vexation in
his breast, that of all the friends he had courted and
confided in, and thought he had sure in his interest,
though he hung long enough to have been relie\ ed,
yet he had none at hand to disentangle him. Joab
chides the man for not despatching him, {y. 11.)
telling him, if he had given that bold stroke, he
would have rewarded him with ten half crowns,
and a girdle, that is, a captain’s commission, which,
perhaps, was signified by the delivery of a belt or
girdle; see Isa. 22. 21. But the man, though zeal¬
ous enough against Absalom, justified himself in not
doing it: “Despatch him !” says he, “not for all
the world; it would have cost me my head: and
thou thyself wast witness to the king’s’charge con¬
cerning him, ( v . 12.) and, for all thy talk, wouldest
have been my persecutor if I had done it,” v. 13.
Those that love the treason, hate the traitor. Joab
could not deny this, nor blame the man for his cau¬
tion, and therefore makes him no answer, but
breaks off the discourse, under colour of haste; (v.
14.) I may not tarry thus with thee. Superors
should consider a reproof before they give it, lest
they be ashamed of it afterward, and find them¬
selves unable to make it good.
III. He is (as I may say) embowelled and quar¬
tered, as traitors are, so pitifully mangled is he as
he hangs there, and receives his death in such a
manner, as to see all its terrors, and feel all its
pains. 1. Joab throws three darts into his body,
which put him, no doubt, to exquisite torment,
while he is yet alive in the midst of the oak, v. 14.
I know not whether Joab can be justified in this di¬
rect disobedience to the command of his sovereign;
was this to deal gently with the young man? Would
David have suffered him to do it, if he had been
upon the spot ? Yet this may be said for him, that
while he broke the order of a too indulgent father,
he did real service both to his king and country,
and would have endangered the welfare of both, if
he had not done it. Salus populi suprema lex —
The safety of the people is the supreme law. 2.
Joab’s young men, ten of them, smite him, before
he is despatched, v. 15. They surrounded him,
made a ring about him in triumph, and then smote
him, and slew him. So let all thine enemies perish,
O Lord. Joab, hereupon, sounds a retreat; ( v . 16.)
the danger is over now that Absalom is slain; the
people will soon return to their allegiance to David,
and therefore no more blood shall be spilt; r.o pri¬
soners are taken, to be tried as traitors, and made
examples: let every man return to his tent; they
are all the king’s subjects, all his good subjects again.
IV. His body is disposed of disgracefully, v. 17,
432
11. SAMUEL, XVIIL
18. They cast it into a great fnt in the wood; they
would not bring it to his f ther, (for that circum¬
stance would but have added to his grief, ) nor would
they preserve it to be buried, according to his order,
but threw it into the next pit with indignation. Now
where is the beauty he nad been so proud of, and
for which lie had been so much admired? Where
are his aspiring projects, and the castles he had
built in the air? H.s thoughts perish, and he with
them. And, to signify how heavy his iniquity lay
upon his bones, as the prophet speaks, (Ezek. 32.
27.) they raised a great heap of stones upon him, to
oe a monument of his villany, and to signify that he
ought to have been stoned as a rebellious son, Deut.
21. 21. Travellers say, that the place is taken no¬
tice of to this day, and that it is common for pas¬
sengers to throw a stone to this heap, with words
to this purport; Cursed be the memory of rebellious
Absalom, and cursed for ever be all wicked children
that rise up in rebellion against their parents. To
aggravate the ignominy of Absalom’s burial, the
historian takes notice of a pillar he had erected in
the valley of Kidron, near Jerusalem, to be a monu¬
ment for himself, and keep his name in remem¬
brance, (z\ 18.) at the foot of which, it is probable,
he designed to be buried. What foolish insignificant
projects do proud men fill their heads with ! And
what care do many people take about the disposal
of their bodies, when they are dead, that have no
care at all what shall become of their precious souls!
Absalom had had three sons, ( ch . 14. 27. ) but, it
seems, now he had none; God had taken them away
by death; and justly is a rebellious son written child¬
less; to make up the want, he erects this pillar for
a memorial; yet, in this also, Providence crosses
him, and a rude heap of stones shall be his monu¬
ment instead of this marble pillar. Thus they that
exalt themselves, shall be abased. His care was, to
have his name kept in remembrance, and it is so, to
his everlasting dishonour. He could not be content
in the obscurity of the rest of David’s sons, of whom
nothing is recorded but their names, but would be
famous, and is therefore justly made for ever infa¬
mous. The pillar shall bear his name, but not to
his credit; it was designed for Absalom’s glory, but
proved Absalom’s folly.
19. Then said Ahimaaz the son of Za-
dok, Let me now run and bear the king
tidings, how that the Loud hath avenged
him of his enemies. 20. And Joab said
unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this
day, but thou shalt bear tidings another
day ; but this day thou shalt bear no tidings,
because the king’s son is dead. 21. Then
said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what
thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself
unto Joab, and ran. 22. Then said Ahi¬
maaz the son of Zadok, yet again to Joab,
But, howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also
run after Cushi. And Joab said, Where¬
fore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou
hast no tidings ready ? 23. But, howsoever,
said he , let me run. And he said unto him,
Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of
the plain, and overran Cushi. 24. And Da¬
vid sat between the two gates: and the
watchman went up to the roof over the gate
unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and, behold, a man running alone.
25. And the watchman cried, and told the
king. And the king said, If he be alone,
there is tidings in his mouth. And he came
apace, and drew near. 26. And the watch¬
man saw another man running, and the
watchman called unto the porter, and said,
Behold, another man running alone. And
the king said, He also bringeth tidings. 27.
And the watchman said, Methinketh the
running of the foremost is like the running
of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the
king said, He is a* good man, and cometh
with good tidings. 28. And Ahimaaz call¬
ed, and said unto the king, All is well. And
he fell down to the earth upon his face be¬
fore the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord
thy God, which hath delivered up the men
that lifted up their hand against my lord the
king. 29. And the king said, Is the young
man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered,
When Joab sent the king’s servant, and me thy
servant, I saw7 a great tumult, but I knew7 not
what it was. 30. And the king said unto him ,
Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned
aside, and stood still. 3 1 . And, behold, Cushi
came ; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the
king : for the Lord hath avenged thee this
day of all them that rose up against thee.
32. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the
young man Absalom safe ? And Cushi an¬
swered, The enemies of my lord the king,
and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt,
be as that young man is. 33. And the king
was much moved, and went up to the
chamber over the gate, and wept ; and as
he w7ent, thus he said, O my son Absalom 1
my son, my son Absalom ! would God I
had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my
son !
Absalom’s business is done; we are now told,
I. How David was informed of it. He stayed
behind at the city of Mahanaim, some miles from
the wood where the battle was, and in the utmost
border of the land: Absalom’s scattered forces all
made homeward toward Jordan, which was the
contrary way from Mahanaim, so that his watch¬
men could perceive nothing how the battle went,
till an express came on purpose to bring advice of
the issue, which the king sat in the gate expecting
to hear, v 24.
1. Cushi was the man Joab ordered to carry' the
tidings, (n. 21. ) an Ethiopian, so his name signifies,
and some think that he was so by birth; a black
that waited on Joab, probably one of the ten that
had helped to despatch Absalom, (i>. 15.) as some
think, though it was dangerous for one of those t1"
bring the news to David, lest his fate should be the
same Avith their’s that reported to him Sau ’s
death, and Ish-bosheth’s.
2. Ahimaaz, the young priest, (one of those who
brought David intelligence of Absalom’s motions,
ch. 17. 17.) was very forward to be the messenger
of these tidings, so transported was he with joy that
this cloud was blown over; let him go tell the king,
that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies, v
433
II. SAMUEL, XVIII.
19. This he desired, not so much in hope of a re¬
gard, (he was above that,) as that he might have
the pleasure and satisfaction of bringing the king,
whom he loved, this good news. Joab knew David
better than Ahimaaz did, and that the tidings of
Absalom’s death, which must conclude the story,
would spoil the acceptableness of all the rest; and
he loves Ahimaaz too well to let him be the mes¬
senger of those tidings, ( v . 20. ) they are fitter to be
brought by a footman than by a priest. However,
when Cushi was gone, Ahimaaz begged hard for
leave to run after him, and with great importunity
obtained it, v. 22, 23. One would wonder why he
should be so very fond of this office, when another
was employed in it. (1.) Perhaps it was to show
his swiftness; observing how heavily Cushi ran, and
that he took the worst way, though the nearest, he
had a mind to show how fast he could run, and that
he could go the furthest way about, and yet beat
Cushi. No great praise for a priest to be swift of
foot, yfet perhaps Ahimaaz was proud of it. (2.)
Perhaps it was in prudence and tenderness to the
king, that he desired it. He knew he could get be¬
fore Cushi, and therefore was willing to prepare
the king, with an amusing story, for the plain truth
Cushi was ordered to tell him. If bad news must
come, it is best that it come gradually, and will be
the better borne.
3. They are both discovered by the watchman on
the gate of Mahanaim; Ahimaaz first, (x>. 24.) for
though Cushi had the lead, he soon overran him ;
but, presently after, Cushi appeared, v. 26. (1.)
When the king hears of one running alone, he con¬
cludes he is an express; (x>. 25.) If he be alone,
there is tidings in his mouth ; for if they had been
beaten, and were flying back from the enemy, there
would have been many. (2.) When he hears it is
Ahimaaz, he concludes he brings good news, v. 27.
Ahimaaz, it seems, was so famous for running, that
he was known by it at a distance; and so eminently
good, that it was taken for granted, if he be the
messenger, the news must needs be good: he is a
good man, zealously affected to the king’s interest,
and would not bring bad news. It is a pity but the
good tidings bf the gospel should always be brought
by good men; and how welcome should they be to
us for their message-sake !
4. Ahimaaz is very forward to proclaim the vic¬
tory; (x;. 28.) cries at a distance, “Peace, there is
peace:” peace after war, which is doubly welcome.
“ All is well, my lord O king; the danger is over,
and we may return, when the king pleases, to Jeru¬
salem.” And when he comes near, he tells him
the news more particularly. They are all cut off,
that lifted up. their hand against the king; and, as
becomes a priest, while he gives the king the joy of
it, he gives God the glory of it, the God of peace
and war, the God of salvation and victory; “ Bless¬
ed be the Lord thy God, that has done this for thee,
as thy God, pursuant to the promises made to up¬
hold thy throne,” ch. 7. 16. When he said this,
he fell down upon his face, not only in reverence
to the king, but in humble adoration of God, whose
name he praises for this success. By directing Da¬
vid thus to give God thanks for his victory, he pre¬
pares him for the approaching news of its allay.
The more our hearts are fixed, and enlarged, in
thanksgiving to God for our mercies, the better
disposed we shall be to bear with patience the
afflictions mixed with them. Poor David is so
much a father, that he forgets he is a king, and
therefore cannot rejoice in the news of a victory,
till he know whether the young man Absalom be
safe; for whom his heart seems to tremble, almost
as Eli’s, in a like case, for the ark of God. Ahi¬
maaz soon discerns what Joab intimated to him,
that the death of the king’s son would make the
Vol. II. — 3 I
tidings of the day very unwelcome, and therefore
in his report leaves that matter doubtful; and
though he gives occasion to suspect how it was,
yet, that the thunderclap might not come too sud¬
denly upon the poor perplexed king, he refers him
to the next messenger, whom they saw coming, for
a more particular account of it. “When Joab
sent the king’s servant, namely, Cushi, and me thy
servant, to bring the news, I saw a great tumult ,
occasioned by something extraordinary, as you will
hear by and by; but I ba> e nothing to say about it,
I have delivered that which was my message,
Cushi is better able to inform you than I am. I will
not be the messenger of evil tidings; nor will I pre¬
tend to know that which I cannot give a perfect ac¬
count of.” He is therefore bid to stand by till
Cushi came; (xu 30.) and now, we may suppose, he
gives the king a more particular account of the vic¬
tory, which was the thing he came to bring the
news of.
5. Cushi, the slow post, proves the sure one, and
beside the confirmation of the news of the victory
which Ahimaaz had brought, v. 31, The Lord
has avenged thee of all them that rose up against
thee, he satisfies the king’s inquiry concerning Ab¬
salom, v. 32. Is he safe? says David; “Yes,” says
Cushi, “he is safe in his grave;” but he tells the
news so properly, that, how unwelcome soever the
message was, the messenger could have no blame.
He does not tell him plainly that Absalom was
hanged, and run through, and buried under a heap
of stones; but only that his fate was what he de¬
sired might be the fate of all that were traitors
against the king, his crown and dignity. “ The
enemies of my lord the king, whoever they are, and
all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that
young man is; I need wish them no worse.”
II. We are told how David received the intelli¬
gence; he forgets all the joy of his deliverance, and
is quite overwhelmed with the sorrowful tidings of
Absalom’s death, v. 33. As soon as he perceived
by Cushi’s expression that Absalom was dead, he
asked no more questions, but fell into a passion of
weeping, retired from company, and abandoned
himself to sorrow; as he was going up to his cham¬
ber, he was overheard to say, “ 0 my son Absa¬
lom, my son, my son Absalom; alas, for thee! I
lament thee: how art thou fallen! Would God I
had died for thee, and that thou hadst remained
alive this day;” so the Chaldee adds, O Absalom,
my son, my son. I wish I could see reason to think
that this arose from a concern about Absalom’s ever¬
lasting state, and that he wished to have died for
him, because he had good hopes of his own salva¬
tion, and of Absalom’s repentance, if he had lived:
it rather seems to have been spoken inconsiderate¬
ly, and in a passion, and it was his infirmity. He is
to be blamed, 1. For showing so great a fondness
for a graceless, however handsome and witty, son,
that was justly abandoned both of God and man. 2.
For quarrelling, not only with Divine Providence,
the disposals of which he ought silently to acquiesce
in, but divine justice, the judgments of which he
ought to adore and subscribe to: see how Bildad
argues, (Job 8. 3, 4.) If thy children have sinned
against him, and he have cast them away in their
transgression, thou shouldest submit, for doth God
pervert judgment? See Lev. 10. 3. 3. For op¬
posing the justice of the nation, which, as king, he
was intrusted with the administration of, and which,
with other public interests, he ought to prefer be¬
fore any natural affection. 4. For despising the
mercy of his deliverance, and the deliverance of his
family and kingdom, from Absalom’s wicked de¬
signs, as if this were no- mercy, nor worth giving
thanks for, because it cost the life of Absalom. 5.
For indulging a strong passion, and speaking unad-
134
[I. SAMUEL, XTX.
visedly with his lips. He now forgot his own rea¬
sonings upon the death of another child, ( Can I
bring him back again? ) and his own resolution to
keep, his mouth as with a bridle , when his heart was
hot within him; as well as his own practice at other
times, when he quieted himself as a child that was
weaned from his mother. The best men are not
always in a good frame; what we over-loved, we
are apt to over-grieve for: in each affection, there¬
fore, it is wisdom to have rule over our own spirits,
and to keep a strict guard upon ourselves when
that is removed from us, which was very dear to
us. Losers think they may have leave to speak;
but little said is soon amended. The penitent pa¬
tient sufferer sitteth alone, and keepeth silence;
^Lam. 3. 28.) or rather, with Job, says Blessed be
the name of the Lord.
CHAR XIX.
We left David’s army in triumph, and yet David himself
in tears : now here we have, I. His return to himself, by
the persuasion of Joab, v. 1 . . 8. II. His return to his
kingdom from his present banishment. 1. The men of
Israel were forward of themselves to bring him back, v.
9, 10. 2. The men of Judah were dealt with by David’s
agents to do it, (v. 11 . . 14.) and did it, v. 15. III. At
the king’s coming over Jordan, Shimei’s treason is par¬
doned, (v. 16.. 23.) Mephiboshelh’s failure is excused,
(v. 24.. 30.) and Barzillai’s kindness is thankfully
owned, and recompensed to his son, v. 31..40. IV.
The men of Israel quarrelled with the men of Judah for
not calling them to the ceremony of the king’s restora¬
tion, which occasioned a new rebellion in the next chap¬
ter, v. 41 . . 43.
1. A ND it was told Joab, Behold, the
1 Ik king weepeth and mourneth for Ab¬
salom. 2. And the victory that day was
turned into mourning unto all the people :
for the people heard say that day how the
king was grieved for his son. 3. And the
people gat them by stealth that day into
tiie city, as people being ashamed steal
away when they flee in battle. 4. But the
king covered his face, and the king cried
with a loud voice, O my son Absalom ! O
Absalom, my son, my son ! 5. And Joab
came into the house to the king, and said,
Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all
thy servants, which this day have saved thy
life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy
daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and
the lives of thy concubines; 6. In that
thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy
friends: for thou hast declared this day, that
thou regardest neither princes nor servants:
for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had
lived, and all we had died this day, then it
had pleased thee well. 7. Now therefore,
arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto
thy servants: for I swear by the Lord, if
thou go not forth, there will not tarry one
with thee this night: and that will be worse
unto thee than all the evil that befell thee
from thy youth until now. 8. Then the
king arose, and sat in the gate. And they
told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the
king doth sit in the gate. And all the peo¬
ple came before the king; for Israel had
fled, every man to his tent.
Soon after the messengers had brought the news
of the defeat and death of Absalom to the court of
Mahanaim, Joab and his victorious army followed,
to grace the king’s triumphs, and receive his fur¬
ther orders. Now here we are told,
I. What a damp it was to them to find the king
in tears for Absalom’s death, which they construed
as a token of his displeasure against them for what
they had done, whereas they expected him to have
met them with joy and thanks for their good se -
vices. It was told Joab, v. 1. The report of it ran
through the army, (v. 2. ) how the king was grieved
for his son. The people will take particular no
tice what their princes say and do: the more eyes
we have upon us, and the greater our influence is,
the more need we have to speak and act wisely,
and to govern our passions strictly.
When they came to the city, they found the king
in close mourning, v. 4. He covered his face, and
would not so much as look up, nor take any notice
of the generals, when they attended him. It could
not but surprise them to find, 1. How the king pro¬
claimed his passion, which he ought to have been
ashamed of, and which he should have striven to
smother and conceal, if he had consulted either his
reputation or courage, which was lessened by his
mean submission to the tyranny of so absurd a pas¬
sion, or his interest in the people, which would be
prejudiced by his discountenancing what was done
in zeal for his honour and the public safety. Yet
see how he avows his grief, He cries with a loud
voice, 0 my son Absalom. “ My servants are all
come home safe, but where is my son? He is dead;
and, dying in sin, I fear, he is lost for ever: I can¬
not now say, I shall go to him, for my soul shall not
be gathered with such sinners; what shall be done
for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 2. How
he prolonged his passion, even till the army was
come up to him, which must be some time after he
received the first intelligence. If he had contented
himself with giving vent to his passion for an hour
or two, when he first heard the news, it had been
excusable, but to continue it thus for so bad a son as
Absalom, like Jacob for so good a son as Joseph,
with a resolution to go to the grave mourning, and
to stain his triumphs with his tears, was veiy un¬
wise and very unworthy.
Now, see how ill this was taken by the people.
They were loath to blame the king, for whatever
he aid used to please them, ( ch . 3. 36. ) but they
took it as a great mortification to them. Their
victory was turned into mourning, v. 2. They
stole into the city as men ashamed, v. 3. In com¬
pliment to their sovereign, they would not rejoice
in that which they perceived so afflictive to him,
and yet they could not but be uneasy that they were
thus obliged to conceal their joy. Superiors ought
not to put such hardships as these on their inferiors.
II. How plainly and vehemently Joab reproved
David, for this indiscreet management of himself
in this critical juncture. David never more needed
the hearts of his subjects than now, nor was ever
more concerned to secure his interest in their affec¬
tions; and therefore, whatever tended to disoblige
them now, was the most impolitic thing he could
do, and the greatest wrong imaginable to his friends
that adhered to him. Joab therefore censures
him, v. 5* *7. where he speaks a great deal of rea¬
son, but not with the respect and deference which
he owed to his prince. Is it fit to say to a king.
Thou art wicked? A plain case may be fairly
pleaded with those that are above us, and they may
be reproved for what they do amiss, but it must "•*
be done with rudeness and insolence.
II. SAMUEL, XIX.
David did indeed need to be roused and alarmed;
and Joab thought it no time to dally with him. If
superiors do that which is foolish, they must nei¬
ther think it strange, nor take it ill, if their inferi¬
ors tell them of it, perhaps too bluntly. 1. Joab
magnifies the services of David’s soldiers; “ This
day they have saved thy life, and therefore deserve
to be taken notice of, and have reason to resent it,
if they be not.” It is implied, that Absalom, whom
he honoured with his tears, sought his ruin, and the
ruin of his family, while those, whom by his tears
he puts a slight upon, were such as preserved from
ruin him and all that was dear to him. Great mis¬
chiefs have arisen to princes from their contempt
of great merits. 2. He aggravates the discourage¬
ment David had given them; “ Thou hast shamed
their faces, for while they have shown such a value
for thy life, thou hast shown no value for their’s,
but preferrest a spoiled wicked youth, a false traitor
to his king and country, whom we are happily rid
of, before all thy wise counsellors, brave command¬
ers, and loyal subjects. What can be more absurd
than to love thine enemies and hate thy friends?”
3. He advises him to present himself immediately
at the head of his troops, to smile upon them, wel¬
come them home, congratulate their successes, and
return them thanks for their services. Even those
that may be commanded, yet expect to be thanked,
when they do well, and ought to be. 4. He threa¬
tens him with another rebellion if he would not do
this, intimating, that rather than serve so ungrateful
a prince, he himself would head a revolt from him,
and then, (so confident is Joab of his own interest in
the people,) “There will not tarty with thee one
man. If I go, they all go. Thou hast now nothing
to mourn for; but if thou persist in thy murmurs, I
will bring upon thee” (as Josephus expresses it)
“ real and more bitter sorrow.”
III. How prudently and mildly David took the
reproof and counsel given him, v. 8. He shook off
his grief, anointed his head, and washed his face,
that he might not appear unto men to mourn, and
then made his appearance in public in the gate,
which was as the guild-hall of the city. Hither the
people flocked to him to congratulate his and their
Sifety, and all was well. Note, When we are con¬
vinced of a fault, we must amend, though we are
told of it by our inferiors, and indecently, or in heat
and passion.
9. And all the people were at strife
throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying,
The king saved us out of the hand of our
enemies, and he delivered us out of the
hand of the Philistines ; and now he is fled
out of the land for Absalom. 10. And Ab¬
salom, whom we anointed over us, is dead
in battle. Now, therefore, why speak ye
not a word of bringing the king back? 11.
And king David sent to Zadok and to Abia-
thar the priests, saying, Speak unto the el¬
ders of Judah, saying, Why are ve the last
to bring the king back to his house? seeing
the speech of all Israel is come to the king,
even to his house. 12. Ye are my brethren,
ye are my bones and my flesh : wherefore
then are ye the last to bring back the king ?
13. And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of
my bone, and of my flesh ? God do so to me,
and more also, if thou be not captain of the
host before me continually in the room of
Joab. 14. And he bowed the heart of all
the men of Judah, even as the heart of one
man ; so that they sent this word unto the
king, Return thou, and all thy servants. 1 5.
So the king returned, and came to Jordan.
And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet
the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.
It is strange that David did not immediately, up¬
on the defeat and dispersion of Absalom’s forces,
march with all expedition back to Jerusalem, to re¬
gain the possession of his capital city, while the re¬
bels were all in confusion, and before they could
rally again. What occasion was there to bring him
back? Could not he himself go back with the victo¬
rious army he had with him in Gilead? He could,
no doubt; but, 1. He would come back as a prince,
with the consent and unanimous approbation of the
people, and not as a conqueror forcing his way: he
would restore their liberties, and not take occasion
to seize them, or encroach upon them. 2. He
would come back in peace and safety, and be sure
that he should meet with no difficulty or opposition
in his return; and therefore would be satisfied that
the people were well affected to him before he
wovdd stir. 3. He would come back in honour, and
like himself; and therefore would come back, not at
the head of his forces, but in the arms of his sub¬
jects; for the prince that has wisdom and goodness
enough to make himself his people’s darling, with¬
out doubt, looks greater, and makes a much better
figure, than the prince that has strength enough to
make himself his people’s terror.
It is resolved therefore that David must be
brought back to Jerusalem his own city, and his own
house there, with some ceremony, and here we
have that matter concerted.
I. The men of Israel (that is, the ten tribes)
were the first that talked of it, v. 9, 10. The peo¬
ple were at strife about it; it was the great subject
of discourse and dispute throughout all the country.
Some perhaps opposed it; “Let him either come
back himself, or stay where he is;” others appear¬
ed zealous for it, and reasoned as follows here, to
further the design; 1. That David had formerly
helped them, had fought their battles, subdued
their enemies, and done them much service, and
therefore it was a shame that he should continue
banished from their country, who had been so great
a benefactor to it. Note, Good services done to the
public, though they may be forgotten for a while,
yet will be remembered again when men come to
their right minds. 2. That Absalom had now dis¬
appointed them. “We were foolishly sick of the
cedar, and chose the branch to reign over us; but
we have had enough of him, he is consumed, and
we narrowly escaped being consumed with him : let
us therefore return to our allegiance, and think of
bringing the king back.” Perhaps this was all the
strife among them, not a dispute whether the king
should be brought back or no, (all agreed it was to
be done,) but whose fault it was, that it was not
done; as is usual in such cases, every one justified
himself, and blamed his neighbour. The people
laid the fault on the elders, and the elders on the
people, and one tribe upon another. Mutual ex¬
citements to the doing of a good work are laudable,
but not mutual accusations for the not doing of it;
for usually when public services are neglected, all
sides must share in the blame; each might do more
than he does, in reformation of manners, healing of
divisions, and the like.
II. The men of Judah, by David’s contrivance,
were the first that did it. It is strange that thev,
being David’s own tribe, were not so forward as the
430
II. SAMUEL, XIX.
rest. David had intelligence of the good disposition
of all the rest toward him, but nothing from Judah,
though he had always been particularly careful of
them. But we do not always find the most kind¬
ness from those whom we have most reason to ex¬
pect it. Yet David would not return till he knew
the sense of his own tribe, ( Judah was his law¬
giver, Ps. 60. 7.) that his way home might be the
more clear.
1. He employs Zadok and Abiathar, the two
chief priests, to treat with the elders of Judah, and
to excite them to give the king an invitation back to
his house, even to his house, which was the glory of
their tribe, v. 11, 12. No men more proper to ne¬
gotiate this affair than the two priests, who were
firm to David’s interest, were prudent men, and
had great influence with the people. Perhaps the
men of Judah were remiss and careless, and did it
not, because nobody put them on to do it, and then
it was proper to stir them up to do it. Many will
follow, who, in a good work, will not lead: it is a
pity that they should continue idle for want of being
spoken to. Or, perhaps, they were so sensible of
the greatness of the provocation they had given to
David,* by joining with Absalom, that they were
afraid to bring him back, despairing of his favour;
he therefore warrants his agents to assure them of
it, with this reason, “ Ye are my brethren, my bone
and my flesh, and therefore I cannot be severe with
you.” The Son of David has been pleased to call
us brethren, his bone and his Jlesh, which encou¬
rages us to hope that we shall find favour with
him. Or, perhaps, they were willing to see what the
rest of the tribes would do, before they stirred, with
which they are here upbraided; “The speech of all
Israel is come to the king to invite him back, and
shall Judah be the last, that should have been the
first? Where is now the celebrated bravery of that
royal tribe? Where its loyalty?” Note, We should
be stirred up to that which is great and good, by
the examples both of our ancestors and of our
neighbours, and by the consideration of our rank.
Let not the first in dignity be last in duty.
2. He particularly courts into his interest Amasa,
who had been Absalom’s general, but was his own
nephew as well as Joab, v. 13. He owns him for his
kinsman, and promises him that, if he would ap¬
pear for him now, he would make him captain-
general of all his forces in the room of Joab, would
not only pardon him, (which, it may be, Amasa
questioned,) but prefer him. Sometimes there is
nothing lost in purchasing the friendship of one that
has been an enemy. Amasa’s interest might do
David good service at this juncture. But if David
did wisely for himself in designating Amasa for this
post, (Joab being now grown intolerably haughty,)
he did not do kindly by Amasa in letting his design
be known, for it occasioned his death by Joab’s
hand, ch. 20. 10.
3. The point was hereby gained. He bowed the
heart of the men of Judah to pass a vote, nemine
contradicente — unanimously, for the recall of the
king, v. 14. God’s providence, by the priests’ per¬
suasions and Amasa’s interest, brought them to this
resolve. David stirred not till he received this in¬
vitation, and then he came as far back as Jordan, at
which river they were to meet him, v. 15. Our
Lord Jesus will rule in those that invite him to the
throne in their hearts, and not till he is invited.
He first bows the heart, and makes it willing in the
day of his power, and then rules in the midst of his
enemies, Ps. 110. 2, 3.
16. And Shimei the son of Gera, a Ben-
jamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted, and
came down with the men of Judah to meet
king David. 17. And there were a thousand
men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the
servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen
sons and his twenty servants with him ; and
they went over Jordan before the king. 18.
And there went over a ferry-boat to carry
over the king’s household, and to do what
he thought good. And Shimei the son of
Gera fell down before the king, as he was
come over Jordan; 19. And said unto the
king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto
me, neither do thou remember that which
thy servant did perversely the day that my
lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that
the king should take it to his heart. 20.
For thy servant doth know that I have sin¬
ned : therefore, behold, I am come the first
this day of all the house of Joseph, to go
down to meet my lord the king. 21. But
Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and
said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for
this, because he cursed the Lord’s anoint¬
ed ? 22. And David said, What have I to do
with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should
this day be adversaries unto me? Shall
there any man be put to death this day in
Israel ? For do not I know that I am this
day king over Israel ? 23. Therefore the
king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die.
And the king sware unto him.
Perhaps Jordan was never passed with so much
solemnity, nor with so many remarkable occur¬
rences, as it was now, since Israel passed it under
Joshua. David, in his afflictive flight, remembered'
God particularly from the land of Jordan, (Ps. 42.
6. ) and now that land, more than any other, was
graced with the glories of his return. David’s
soldiers furnished themselves with accommodations
for their passage over this river, but, for his own
family, a ferry boat was sent on purpose, v. 18. A
fleet of boats, say some; a bridge of boats was made ,
say others; the best convenience they had to serve
him with.
Two remarkable persons met him on the banks
of Jordan, who had abused him wretchedly when
he was in his flight.
I. Ziba, who had abused him with his fair tongue,
and, by accusing his master, had obtained from the
king a grant of his estate, ch. 16. 4. A greater
abuse he could not have done him, than, by imposing
upon his credulity, to draw him in to do a thing so
unkind to the son of his friend Jonathan. He comes
now, with a retinue of sons and servants, to meet the
king, ( v . 17.) that he might obtain the king’s fa¬
vour, and so come off the better, when Mephi-
bosheth would shortly undeceive him, and clear
himself, v. 26.
II. Shimei, who had abused him with hisjowj
tongue, railed at him, and cursed him, ch. 16. 5.
If David had been defeated, no doubt, he would
have continued to trample upon him, and have
gloried in what he had done; but now that he sees
him coming home in triumph, and returning to his
throne, he thinks it his interest to make his peace
with him. Those who now slight and abuse the
Son of David, would be glad to make their peace
too, when he shall come in his glory; but it will be
too late. Shimei, to recommend himself to the
king, 1. Came with good company, with the men
437
II. SAMUEL, XIX.
of Judah, as one in their interest 2. He brought a
regiment of the men of Benjamin with him, a thou¬
sand, of which, perhaps, he was chiliarch, or com¬
mander in chief, offering his own and their service
to the king; or, perhaps, they were volunteers,
whom by his interest he had got together to meet
the king, which was the more obliging, because of
all the tribes of Israel, there were none, except
these and Judah, that appeared to pay him this re¬
spect. 3. What he did, he hastened to do; he lost
no time; Agree with thine adversary quickly , while
thou art in the way.
Here is, (1.) The criminal’s submission; ( v .
18* *20. ) He fell down before the king, as a penitent,
as a supplicant; and that he might be thought sin¬
cere, he did it publicly before all David’s servants,
and his friends the men of Judah, yea, and before
his own thousand. The offence was public, there¬
fore the submission ought to be so. He owns his
crime, Thy servant doth know that I have sinned;
he aggravates it, I did fierversely; he begs the
king’s pardon, Let not the king impute iniquity to
thy servant, that is, deal with me as I deserve: he
intimates, that it was below the king’s great and
generous mind to take it to his heart; and pleads his
early return to his allegiance, that he was the first
of all the house of Joseph (that is, of Israel, who in
the beginning of David’s reign had distinguished
themselves from Judah, by their adherence to Ish-
bosheth (ch. 2. 10. ) that came to meet the king. He
came first, that by his example of duty, the rest
might be disposed, and by his experience of the
king’s clemency, the rest might be encouraged, to
follow.
(2.) A motion made for judgment against him;
( v . 21.) Shall not Shimei be put to death for a
traitor? Let him, of all men, be made an example.
Abishlai moved it, who would have ventured his
life to have been his death, then when he was cur¬
sing, ch. 16. 9. David did not think fit to have it
^one then, because his judicial power was cut short;
hut now that it was restored, why should not the
law have its course? Abishai herein consulted what
he supposed to be David’s feelings more than his
true interest. Princes have need to arm themselves
against temptations to severity.
(3.) His discharge by the king’s order, v. 22, 23.
He rejected Abishai’s motion with displeasure;
What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?
The less we have to do with those who are of an
angry revengeful spirit, and who put us upon doing
what is harsh and rigorous, the better. He looks
upon these prosecutors as adversaries to him,
though they pretended friendship and zeal for his
honour. Those who advise us to what is wrong, are
really Satan’s adversaries to us. [1.] They were
adversaries to his inclination, which was to clemen¬
cy. He knew that he was this day king in Israel,
restored to, and re-established in, his kingdom, and
therefore his honour inclined him to forgive. It is
the glory of kings to forgive those that humble and
surrender themselves: Satis est prostrasse leoni — It
suffices the lion, that he has laid his victim prostrate.
His joy inclined him to forgive: the pleasantness of
his spirit on this great occasion forbade the entrance
of any thing that was sour and peevish: joyful days
should be forgiving days. Yet this was not all; his
experience of God’s mercy in restoring him to his
kingdom, his exclusion from which, he attributed
to his sin, inclined him to show mercy to Shimei.
They that are forgiven, must forgive. David had
severely revenged the abuses done to his ambassa¬
dors by the Ammonites (ch. 12'. 31.) but easily pas¬
ses by the abuse done to himself by an Israelite.
That was an affront to Israel in general, and touch¬
ed the honour of his crown and kingdom; this was
purely personal, and therefore (according to the
usual disposition of good men) he could the more
easily forgive it. [2.] They were adversaries
to his interest: if he should put Shimei to death,
who cursed him, they would expect the same fate,
who had taken up arms, and actually levied war
against him, which would drive them from him,
while he was endeavouring to draw them to him.
Acts of severity are seldom acts of policy: 7 he
throne is established by mercy. Shimei, hereupon,
has his pardon signed and sealed with an oath; yet
bound, no doubt, to his good behaviour, and liable
to be prosecuted if he afterward misbehaved; and
thus he was reserved to be, in due time, as much a
monument of the justice of the government, as
he was now of its clemency, and in both of its
prudence.
24. And Mephibosheth the son of Saul
came down to meet the king, and had
neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his
beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day
the king departed until the day he came
again in peace. 25. And it came to pass,
when he was come to Jerusalem to meet
the king, that the king said to him, Where¬
fore wentest not thou with me, Mephibo¬
sheth ? 26. And he answered, My Lord,
O king, my servant deceived me: for thy
servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I
may ride thereon, and go to the king; because
thy servant is lame. 27. And he hath slan¬
dered thy servant unto my lord the king;
but my lord the king is as an angel of God :
do, therefore, what is good in thine eyes.
28. For all of my father’s house were but
dead men before my lord the king: yet
didst thou set thy servant among them that
did eat at thine own table. What right,
therefore, have I yet to cry any more unto
the king ? 29. And the king said unto him,
Why speakest thou any more of thy mat¬
ters? 1 have said, Thou and Ziba divide
the land. 30. And Mephibosheth said un¬
to the king, Yea, let him take all, foras¬
much as my lord the king is come again in
peace unto his own house.
The day of David's return was a day of bringing
to remembrance, a day of account, in which what
had past in his flight, was called over again; among
other things, after Shimei’s, comes Mephibosheth’s
case, to be inquired into, and he himself brings
it on.
1. He went down in the crowd to meet the king,
(v. 24. ) and, as a proof of the sincerity of his joy
in the king’s return, we are here told what a true
mourner he was for the king’s banishment. Dur¬
ing that melancholy time, when one of the greatest
glories of Israel was departed, Mephibosheth con¬
tinued in a very melancholy state. He was never
trimmed, nor put on clean linen, but wholly neg¬
lected himself, as one abandoned to grief for the
king’s affliction, and the kingdom’s misery. In
times of public calamity, we ought to abridge our¬
selves of the delights of sense, in conformity to the
season. There are times when God calls to weep¬
ing and mourning, and we must comply with the
call.
2. When the king came to Jerusalem, (since he
438
II. SAMUEL, XIX.
could not sooner have an opportunity,) he made his
appearance before him, v. 25. And when the king
asked him, why he, being one of his family, had
stayed behind, and not accompanied him in his ex¬
ile, he opened his case fully to the king. (1.) He
complains of Ziba, his servant, who should have
been his friend, but had been, two ways, his enemy:
for, first, he had hindered him from going along
with the king, by taking the ass himself, which he
was ordered to make ready for his master, (in 26. )
basely taking advantage of his lameness, and his
inability to help himself ; and, secondly, he had ac¬
cused him to David of a design to usurp the go¬
vernment, v. 27. How much mischief is it in the
po« er of a wicked servant to do to the best master!
(^2.) He gratefully acknowledges the king’s great
kindness to himself, when he and all his father’s
house lay at the king’s mercy, v. 28. When he
might justly have been dealt with as a rebel, he was
treated as a friend, as a child: Thou didst set thy
servant among them that did eat at thine own table.
This shows that Ziba’s suggestion was improbable:
for could Mephibosheth be so foolish as to aim
higher, when he lived so easily, so happily, as he
did? And could he be so very disingenuous as to
design any harm to David, of whose great kindness
to him he was thus sensible? (3.) He refers him¬
self to the king’s pleasure, Do what is good in thine
eyes, with me and my estate; depending on the
king’s wisdom, and his ability to discern between
truth and falsheood; My lord the king is as an angel
of God; and disclaiming all pretensions of his own
merit; “ So much kindness I have received above
what I deserved, and what right have I to cry any
more unto the king? Why should I trouble the
king with my complaints, who have already been
so troublesome to him? Why should I think any
thing hard that is put upon me, who have hitherto
been so kindly treated?” We were all as dead men
before God; yet he has not only spared us, but tak¬
en us to sit at his table. How little reason then have
we to complain of any trouble we are in: and how
much reason to take all well that God does.
3. David hereupon recalls the sequestration of
Mephibosheth’s estate; being deceived in his grant,
he revokes it, and confirms his former settlement
of it; I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land;
(v. 29.) that is, “ Let it be as I first ordered it, ( ch .
9. 10. ) the property shall still be vested in thee, but
Ziba shall have the occupancy, he shall till the
land, paying thee a rent.” Thus Mephibosheth is
where he was, no harm is done, only Ziba goes away
unpunished for his false and malicious information
against his master; David either feared him too
much, or loved him too well, to do justice upon him
according to that law, Deut. 19. 18, 19. and he was
now in the humour of forgiving, and resolved to
make every body easy.
4. Mephibosheth drowns all his cares about his
estate in his joy for the king’s return; (v. 30.) “ Yea,
let him take all, the presence and favour of the
king shall be to me instead of all.” A good man
can contentedly bear his own private losses and dis¬
appointments, while he sees Israel in peace, and the
throne of the Son of David exalted and established.
Ziba, take all, so that David may be in peace.
31. And Barzillai the Gileadite came
down from Rogelim, and went over .Iordan
with the king, to conduct him over Jordan.
32. Now Barzillai was a very aged man,
even fourscore years old : and he had pro¬
vided the king of sustenance while he lay
at Mahanaim ; for he was a very great man.
33. And the king said unto Barzillai, Come
thou over w ith me, and I will feed thee with
me in Jerusalem. 34. And Barzillai said
unto the king, How long have I to live, that
1 should go up with the king unto Jerusa¬
lem ? 35. 1 am this day fourscore years old ;
and can I discern between good and evil ?
can thy servant taste what 1 eat or what I
drink? can 1 hear any more the voice of
singing-men and singing-women ? wherefore
then should thy servant be yet a burden
unto my lord the king? 36. Thy servant
will go a little way over Jordan with the
king; and why should the king recompense
it me with such a reward? 37. Let thy
servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I
may die in mine own city, and be buried by
the grave of my father and of my mother :
but, behold, thy servant Chimham, let him
go over with my lord the king; and do to
him what shall seem good unto thee. 38.
And the king answered, Chimham shall go
over with me, and 1 will do to him that
which shall seem good unto thee : and
whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that
will 1 do for thee. 39. And all the people
went over Jordan. And when the king was
come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and
blessed him ; and he returned unto his own
place.
David had already graced the triumphs of his
restoration with the generous remission of the inju¬
ries that had been done him; we have him here,
gracing them with the no less generous reward of
the kindnesses that had been shown him. Barzil¬
lai, the Gileadite, who had a noble seat at Rogelim,
not far from Mahanaim, was the man who, of all
the nobility and gently of that country, had been
most kind to David in his distress. If Absalom had
prevailed, it is likely he might have suffered for it;
but now he and his shall be no losers by it.
Here is,
I. Barzillai’s great respect to David, not only as
a good man, but as his rightful sovereign. He pro¬
vided him vjith sustenance, for himself and family,
while he lay at Mahanaim, v. 32. God had given
him a large estate, for he was a very great man,
and, it seems, he had a large heart to do good with
it: what else but that, is a large estate good for?
To reduced greatness, generosity obliges us, and to
oppressed goodness, piety obliges us, to be in a par¬
ticular manner kind, to the utmost of our power.
Barzillai, to show that he was not weary of David,
though he was so great a charge to him, attended
him to Jordan, and went over with him, v. 31.
Let subjects learn hence, to render tribute to whom
tribute is due, and honour to whom honour, Rom.
13. 7.
II. The kind invitation David gave him to court,
(y. 33.) Come thou over with me. He invited him,
1. That he might have the pleasure of his compa¬
ny, and the benefit of his counsel; for we may sup¬
pose that he was very wise and good, as well as
v ery rich, else he had not been called here a very
reat man; for it is what a man is, more than what
e has, that bespeaks him truly great. 2. That he
might have an opportunity of returning h:s kind¬
ness; “ 7 will feed thee with me. thou sh dt fare as
sumptuously as I fare, and this, at Jerusalem, the
43£
II. SAMUEL, XIX.
royal and holy city. ” David did not take Barzillai’s
kindness to him as a debt, (he was none of those
arbitrary princes, who think that whatever their
subjects have, istheir’s when they please,) but ac¬
cepted it and rewarded it as a favour. We must
always study to be grateful to our friends, especi¬
ally to those who have helped us in distress.
III. Barzillai’s reply to this invitation, wherein,
1. He admires the king’s generosity in making
him this offer, lessening his service, and magnifying
the king’s return for it; Why should the king re¬
compense it with such a reward? v. 36. Will the
master thank that servant who only does what was
his duty to do? He thought he had done himself
honour enough, in doing the king any service.
Thus when the saints shall be called to inherit
the kingdom, in consideration of what they have
done for Christ in this world, they will be amazed
at the disproportion between the service and the
recompense; (Matth. 25. 37.) Lord when saw we
thee hungry, and fed thee?
2. He declines accepting the invitation, begs his
majesty’s pardon for refusing so generous an offer:
he should think himself very happy in being near
the king, but, (1.) He is old, and unfit to remove
at all, especially to court: old, and unfit for the
business of the court; “Why should I go up with
the king to Jerusalem? I can do him no service
there, in the council, the camp, the treasury, or the
courts of justice; for how long have I to live? v.
34. Shall I think of going into business, now that
I am going out of the world? Old, and unfit for the
diversions of the court, which will be ill-bestowed,
and even thrown away, upon one that can relish
them so little, v. 35. As it was in Moses’s time,
so it was in Barzillai’s, and it is not worse now, that
if men be so strong that they come to fourscore
years, their strength then is labour and sorrow, Ps.
90. 10. These were then, and are still, years of
which men say they have no pleasure in them, Eccl.
12. 1. Dainties are insipid, when desire fails; and
songs to the aged ear are little better than those
sung to a heavy heart; how should they choose, when
the daughters of music are brought low? Let those
that are old, learn of Barzillai to be dead to the de¬
lights of sense; let grace second nature, and make
a virtue of the necessity. Nay, Barzillai, being old,
thinks he shall be a burthen to the king, rather than
any credit to him; and a good man would not go
any where to be burthensome, or, if he must be so,
will rather be so to his own house than to another’s.
(2. ) He is dying, and must begin to think of his
long journey, his removal out of the world, v. 37.
It is good for us all, but it especially becomes old
people, to think and speak much of dying. “Talk
of going to court!” says Barzillai; “ let me go home
and die in my own city, the place of my father’s
sepulchre; let me die by the grave of my father,
that my bones may be quietly carried to the place
of their rest. The grave is ready for me, let me
go and get ready for it, go and die in my nest.”
3. He desires the king to be kind to his son Chim-
ham, Let him go over with my lord the king, and
have preferment at court; what favour is done to
him, Barzillai will take as done to himself. They
that are old must not grudge young people those de¬
lights which they themselves are past the enjoy¬
ment of, nor oblige them to retire as they do. Bar¬
zillai will go back himself, but he will not make
Chimham go back with him; though he could ill
spare Chimham, yet, thinking it would gratify and
improve him, he is willing to do it.
IV. David’s farewell to Barzillai. 1. He sends
him back into his country with a kiss and a bless¬
ing, ( v . 39.) signifying that, in gratitude for his
kindnesses, he would love him and pray for him ;
and with a promise that, whatever request he
should at any time make to hirn, he would be ready
to oblige him; (m 48.) W hatsoever thou shalt think
of, when thou comest home, to ask of me, that wil.
I do for thee. What is the chief excellency of pow¬
er, but this, that ghes men a capacity of doing the
more good? 2. He takes Chimham forward wit!
him, and leaves it to Barzillai to choose him his
preferment; I will do to him what shall seem good
u?ito thee, v. 38. And, it should seem, Barzillai,
who had experienced the innocency and safety of
retirement, begged a country-seat for him near Je¬
rusalem, but not in it; for, long after, we read of a
place near Beth-lehem, David’s city, which is call¬
ed, The habitation of Chimham, allotted him, pro¬
bably, not out of the crown-lands, or the forfeited es¬
tates, but David’s paternal estate.
40. Then the king went on to Gilgal, and
Chimham went on with him: and all the
people of Judah conducted the king, and
also half the people of Israel. 41. And, be¬
hold, all the men of Israel came to the king,
and said unto the king, Why have our breth¬
ren, the men of Judah, stolen thee away,
and have brought the king and his house¬
hold, and all David’s men with him, over
Jordan? 42. And all the men of Judah
answered the men of Israel, Because the king
is near of kin to us : wherefore then be ye
angry for this matter ? have we eaten at all
of the king’s cost ? or hath he given us any
gift? 43. And the men of Israel answered
the men of Judah, and said, We have ten
parts in the king, and we have also more
right in David than ye : why then did ye
despise us, that our advice should not be
first had in bringing back our king ? And
the words of the men of Judah were fiercer
than the words of the men of Israel.
David came over Jordan, attended and assisted by
the men of Judah; when he was advanced as far as
Gilgal, the first stage on this side Jordan, half the
people of Israel, that is, of their eldei s and great
men, were come to wait upon him, to kiss his hand,
and congratulate him on his return, but found they
came too late to witness the solemnity of his first
entrance. This put them out of humour, and oc
casioned a quarrel between them and the men of
Judah, which was a damp to the joy of the day, and
the beginning of further mischief.
Here is, 1. The complaint which the men of Is¬
rael brought to the king against the men of Judah,
( v . 41.) that they had performed the ceremony of
bringing the king over Jordan, and not given them
notice, that they might have come to join in it. This
reflected upon them, as if they were not so well af¬
fected to the king and his restoration as the men of
Judah were, whereas the king himself knew that
they had spoken cf it, before the men of Judah
thought of it, v. 11. It seemed likewise as if they
intended to monopolize the king’s favours when he
was come back, and to be looked upon as his only
friends. See what mischief comes from pride and
jealousy.
2. The excuse which the men of Judah made for
themselves, v. 42. (1.) They plead relation to the
king; “ He is near of kin to us, and therefore, in a
matter of mere ceremony, as this was, we may claim
precedency. It was into cur country that he was to
be brought, and therefore who so fit as we to bring
440
II. SAMUEL, XX.
him?” (2.) They deny the insinuated charge of
self-seeking in what they had done. “ Have we
eaten at all of the king's cost? No, we have all borne
our own charges. Hath he given us any gift? No,
we have no design to engross the advantages of his
return, you are come time enough to share in them.”
Too many that attend princes, do it only for what
they can get.
3. The men of Israel’s vindication of their charge,
v. 43. They pleaded, “ We have ten farts in the
king,” (Judah having Simeon only, whose lot lay
within his, to join with him,) “ and therefore it is a
slight upon us, that our advice was not asked about
bringing back the king.” See how uncertain the
multitude is; they were lately striving against the
king, to drive him out; now they are striving about
him, which shall honour him most; a good man and
a good cause will thus recover their credit and in¬
terest, though, for a time, they may seem to have
lost them. See what is commonly the origin of
strife; nothing so much as impatience of contempt,
or the least seeming slight. The men of Judah had
done better, if they had taken their brethren’s ad¬
vice and assistance; but since they did not, why
should the rnen of Israel lay it so much to heart?
If a good work be done, and well done, let us not
be displeased, nor the work disparaged, though we
had no hand in it.
Lastly, The scripture takes notice, by way of
blame, which of the contending parties managed the
cause with most passion: The words of the men of
Judah were fiercer than those of the men of Israel.
Though we have reason and right on our side, if we
speak it with fierceness, God takes notice of it, and
is much displeased with it.
CHAP. XX.
How do the clouds return after the rain! No sooner is one
of David’s troubles over, than another arises, as it were,
out of the ashes of the former, wherein the threatening
is fulfilled, that the sword should never depart from his
house. I. Before he reaches Jerusalem, a new rebellion
is raised by Sheba, v. 1, 2. II. Flis first work, when he,,
comes to Jerusalem, is, to condemn his concubines to
perpetual imprisonment, v. 3. III. Arnasa, whom he in¬
trusts to raise an army against Sheba, is too slow in his
motions, which puts him into a fright, v. 4 . . 6. IV. One
of his' generals barbarously murders the other, when
they were taking the field, v. 7 . . 13. V. Sheba is at
length shut up in the city of Abel, (v. 14, 15.) but the ci¬
tizens delivered him up to Joab, and so his rebellion was
crushed, v. 16. .22. This chapter concludes with a short
account of David’s great officers, v. 23 . . 26.
1. A ND there happened to be there a
J\ man of Belial, whose name was
Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite ; and
he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no
part in David, neither have we inheritance
in the son of Jesse : every man to his tents,
O Israel. 2. So every man of Israel went
up from after David, and followed Sheba the
son of Bichri : but the men of Judah clave
unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusa¬
lem. 3. And David came to his house at
Jerusalem ; and the king took the ten Wo¬
men his concubines, whom he had left to
keep the house, and put them in ward, and
fed them, but went not in unto them : so
they were shut up unto the day of their
death, living in widowhood.
David, in the midst of his triumphs, has here the
affliction to see his kingdom disturbed, and his fa¬
mily disgraced.
I. His subjects revolting from him at the instiga
tion of a man of Belial, whom they followed when
they forsook the man after God’s own heart. Ob¬
serve, 1. That this happened immediately upon the
crushing of Absalonrs rebellion. We must not
think it strange, while we are in this world, if the
end of one trouble be the beginning of another: deep
sometimes calls unto deep. 2. That the people
were now just returning to their allegiance, when,
of a sudden, they flew off from it. When a recon¬
ciliation is newly made, it ought to be handled with
great tenderness and caution, lest the peace break
again before it be settled. A broken bone, when it
is set, must have time to knit. 3. That the ring¬
leader of this rebellion was Sheba, a Benjamite by
birth, (y. 1.) who had his habitation in mount
Ephraim, v. 21. Shimei and he were both of Saul’s
tribe, and both retained the ancient grudge of that
house. Against the kingdom of the Messiah there
is an hereditary enmity in the serpent’s seed, and a
succession of attempts to overthrow it; (Ps. 2. 1, 2.)
but He that sits in Heaven, laughs at them all. 4.
That the occasion of it was that foolish quarrel,
which we read of in the close of the foregoing chap¬
ter, between the elders of Israel and the elders of
Judah, about bringing the king back. It was a
point of honour that was disputed between them,
which had most interest in David; “We are more
numerous,” say the elders of Israel; “ W e are near¬
er akin to him,” say the elders of Judah. Now
one would think David very safe and happy, when
his subjects are striving which shall love him best,
and be most forward to show him respect; yet even
that strife proves the occasion of a rebellion. The
men of Israel complained to David of the slight
which the men of Judah had put upon them; if he
had now countenanced their complaint, commended
their zeal, and returned them thanks for it, he might
have confirmed them in his interest; but he seemed
partial to his own tribe: their words prevailed above
the words of the men of Israel; as some read the
last words of the foregoing chapter. David inclined
to justify them; which when the men of Israel per¬
ceived, they flew off with indignation; “ If the king
will suffer himself to be engrossed by the men of
Judah, let him and them make the best of one ano¬
ther, and we will set up one for ourselves. We
thought we had ten parts in David, but that will not
be allowed us; the men of Judah tell us, in effect,
we have no part in him, and therefor e we will have
none, nor will we attend him any further, in his re¬
turn to Jerusalem, nor own him for our king.” This
Sheba proclaimed, (i;. 1.) who, probably, was a
man of note, and had been active in Absalom’s re¬
bellion; the disgusted Israelites took the hint, and
went up from after David to follow Sheba, (v. 2.)
that is, the generality of them did so, only the men
of Judah adhered to him.
Learn hence, (1.) That it is as impolitic for prin¬
ces to be partial in their attentions to their subjects,
as it is for parents to be so to their children; both
should carry it with an even hand. (2.) Those
know not what they do, that make light of the af¬
fections of their inferiors, by not countenancing and
accepting them. Their hatred may be feared,
whose love is despised. (3. ) The begimiing of strife
is as the letting forth of water; it is therefore wisdom
to leave it off before it be meddled with, Prov. 17.
14. How great a matter doth a little of this fire
kindle! (4.) The perverting of words is the sub¬
verting of peace: and much mischief is made by
forcing invidious constructions upon what is said and
written, and drawing consequences that were never
intended. The men of Judah said, The king is near
of kin to us, by which, say the men of Israel, you
mean, We have no part in him; whereas they meant
no such thing. (5. ) People are very apt to run into
441
II. SAMUEL, XX.
extremes, We have ten parts in David, said they;
and almost in the next breath, We have no part in
him. To-day, Hosanna, to-morrow, Crucify.
II. His concubines shut up and imprisoned for life,
and he himself under the necessity of doing it, be¬
cause they had been defiled by Absalom, v. 3.
D avid had multiplied wives, contrary to the law,
and they proved a grief and shame to him. Those
whom he had sinfully taken pleasure in, he was now,
1. Obliged, in duty, to put away, they being ren¬
dered unclean to him, by the vi'.'e uncleanness his
son nad committed with them. They whom he had
loved, must now be loathed. 2. Obliged, in pru¬
dence, to shut up in privacy, not to be seen abroad
for shame, lest the sight of them should give occa¬
sion to people to speak of what Absalom had done
to them, which ought not to be so much as named,
1 Cor. 5. 1. That that villany might be buried in
oblivion, they must be buried in obscurity. 3. Ob¬
liged, in justice, to shut up in prison, to punish them
for their easy submission to Absalom’s lust, despair¬
ing, perhaps, of David’s return, and giving him up
for gone. Let none expect to do ill, and fare
well.
4. Then said the king to Amasa, Assem¬
ble me the men of Judah within three days,
and be thou here present. 5. So Amasa
went to assemble the men of Judah ; but he
tarried longer than the set time which he
had appointed him. 6. And David said to
Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri
do us more harm than did Absalom : take
thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after
him, lest he get him fenced cities, and es¬
cape us. 7. And there went out after him,
Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the
Pelethites, and all the mighty men : and they
went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after She¬
ba the son of Bichri. 8. When they were
at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Ama¬
sa went before them. And Joab’s garment
that he had put on was girded unto him, and
upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon
his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he
went forth it fell out. 9. And Joab said to
Amasa, Art thou in health my brother?
And Joab took Amasa by the beard with
the right hand to kiss him. 10. But Ama¬
sa took no heed to the sword that was in Jo-
al>’s hand : so he smote him therewith in
the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the
ground, and struck him not again : and he
died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pur¬
sued after Sheba the son of Bichri. 11.
And one of Joab’s men stood by him, and
said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is
for David, let him go after Joab. 12. And
Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of
the highway. And when the man saw that
all the people stood still, he removed Amasa
out of the highway into the field, and cast
a cloth upon him, when he saw that every
one that came by him stood still. 1 3. When
he was removed out of the highway, all the
Vol. u. — 3 K
people went on after Joab, to pursue after
Sheba the son of Bichri.
We have here Amasa’s fall, just as he began to
rise. He was nephew to David, ( ch . 17. 25.) had
been Absalom’s general, and commander in chief
of his rebellious army. But that being routed, he
came over into David’s interest, upon a promise that
he should be general of his forces instead of Joab.
Sheba’s rebellion gives David an occasion to make
good that promise sooner than he could wish, but
Joab’s envy and emulation made it injurious both to
him and David.
I. Amasa has a commission to raise forces for the
suppressing of Sheba’s rebellion, and is ordered to
do it with all possible expedition, v. 4. It seems,
the men of Judah, though forward to attend the
king’s triumphs, were backward enough to fight his
battles; else, when they were all in a body attend¬
ing him to Jerusalem, they might immediately have
pursued Sheba, and have crushed that cockatrice in
the egg; but most love a loyalty, as well as a reli¬
gion, that is cheap and easy. Many boast of their
being akin to Christ, that yet are very loath to ven¬
ture for him. Amasa is sent to assemble the men
of Judah within three days; but he finds them so
backward and unready, that he cannot do it within
the time appointed, ( y . 5.) though the promotion
I of Amasa, who had been their general under Absa¬
lom, was very agreeable, and a proof of the cle¬
mency of David’s government.
II. Upon Amasa’s delay, Abishai, the brother of
Joab, is ordered to take the guards and standing
forces, and with them to pursue Sheba, ( v . 6, 7.)
for nothing could be of more dangerous consequence
than to give him time. David gives these orders to
Abishai, because he resolves to mortify Joab, and
degrade him, not so much, I doubt, for the blood
of Abner, which he shed basely, as for the blood of
Absalom, which he had shed justly and honourably.
“ Now,” (says Bishop Hall,) “ Joab smarteth fora
loyal disobedience. How slippery are the stations
of earthly honours, and subject to continual muta¬
bility! Happy are they who are in favour with
Him in whom there is no shadow of change.” Joab,
without orders, though in disgrace, goes along with
his brother, knowing he might be serviceable to the
public, or perhaps now meditating the removal of
his rival.
III. Joab, near Gibeon, meets with Amasa, and
barbarously murders him, v. 8- *10. It should seem,
the great stone in Gibeon was the place appointed
for the general rendezvous: there the rivals .met;
and Amasa, relying upon his commission, went be¬
fore, as general both of the new-raised forces which
he had got together, and of the veteran troops which
Abishai had brought in; but Joab there took an op-
portunity to kill him with his own hand; and, 1. He
did it subtilely and with contrivance, and not upon
a sudden provocation. He girds his coat about him,
that that might not hang in his way, and girds his
belt upon his coat, that his sword might be the rea¬
dier to him; he puts his sword in a sheath too big
for it, that, whenever he pleased, it might, upon a
little shake, fall out, as if it fell by accident, and so
he might take it into his hand, unsuspected, as if he
were going to return it into the scabbard, when he
designed to sheath it in the bowels of Amasa. The
more there is of plot in a sin, the worse it is. 2. He
did it treacherously, and under pretence of friend¬
ship, that Amasa might not be upon his guard. He
called him brother, (for they were own cousins) in¬
quired of his welfare, Art thou in health? and took
i him by the beard, as one he was free with, to kiss
him, while with the drawn sword in his other hand
I he was aiming at his heart. Was this done like a
•142
II. SAMUEL, XX.
gentleman, like a soldier, like a general? No, but
like a villain, like a base coward. Just thus he slew
Abner, and went unpunished for it, which encoura¬
ged him to do the like again. 3. He did it impu¬
dently, not in a corner, but at the head of his troops,
and in their sight, as one that was neither ashamed
nor afraid to do it, that was so hardened in blood
and murders, that he could neither blush nor trem¬
ble. 4. He did it at one blow, gave the fatal push
with a good will, as we say, so that he needed not
strike him again; with such a strong and steady hand
he gave this one stroke that it was fatal. 5. He
did t in contempt and defiance of David, and the
commission he had given to Amasa: for that com¬
missi m was the only ground of his quarrel with him,
so that David was struck at through the side of
Amasa; and it was, in effect, told to his face, that
Jo..b would be general, in spite of him. 6. He
did it very unseasonably, when they were going
against a common enemy, and were concerned to be
unanimous. This ill-timed quarrel might have
scattered their forces, or engaged them one against
another, and so have made them all an easy prey
to Sheba. So contentedly could Joab sacrifice the
interest both of king and kingdom to his personal
revenge.
IV. Joab immediately resumes his general’s place,
and takes care to lead the army on in pursuit of
Sheba, that, if possible, he might prevent any pre¬
judice to the common cause by what he had done.
1. He lea\es one of his men to make proclamation
to the forces that were coming up, that they were
still engaged in David’s cause, but under Joab’s
command, v. 11. He knew what an interest he
had in the soldiery, and how many favoured him,
rather than Amasa, that had been a traitor, was
now a turn-coat, and had never been successful; on
this he boldly relied, and called them all to follow
him. What man of Judah would not be for his old
king, and his old general? But one would wonder
witli what face a murderer could pursue a traitor;
and how, under such a heavy load of guilt, he had
courage to enter upon danger; his conscience was
seared with a hot iron. 2. Care is taken to remove
the dead body out of the way, because at that they
made a stand, (as ch. 2. 23.) and to cover it with a
cloth, v. 12, 13. Wicked men think themselves
safe in their wickedness, if they can but conceal it
from the eye of the world: if it be hidden, it is with
them as if it were never done. But the covering
of blood with a cloth cannot stop its cry in God’s
ear for vengeance, or make it the less loud. How¬
ever, since this was no time to arraign Joab for what
he had done, and the common safety called for ex¬
pedition, it was prudent to remove that which re¬
tarded the march of the army; and then they all
went on after Joab, while David, who, no doubt,
had notice soon brought him of this tragedy, could
not but reflect upon it with regret, that he had not
formerly done justice upon Joab for the death of
Abner, and that he now exposed Amasa by pre¬
ferring him. And, perhaps, his conscience remind¬
ed him of his employing Joab in the murder of Uri¬
ah, which had helped to harden him in cruelty.
1 4. And he went through all the tribes of
Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah,
and all the Berites; and they were gathered
together, and went also after him. 1 5. And
they came and besieged him in Abel of
Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank
against the city, and it stood in the trench:
and all the people that were with Joab bat¬
tered the wall, to throw it down. 16. Then
j cried a wise woman out of the city, Heai
hear ; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Lome
near hither, that I may speak w it h thee. 1 7.
And when lie was come near unto her. the
woman said, Art thou Joab l And he an¬
swered, 1 am he. Then she said unto him,
Hear the words of thine handmaid. And
he answered, I do hear. 18. Then shr
spake, saying, They were wont to speak in
old time, saying, They shall surely ask
counsel at Abul : and so they ended the mot
ter. 19. I am one of them that are peace
able and faithful in Israel : thou seekest to
destroy a city and a mother in Isiael: why
wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of
the Lord ? 20. And Joab answered and
said, Far be it, far be it from me, that 1
should swallow up or destroy. 21. The
matter is not so : but a man of mount
Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name,
hath lifted up his hand against the king, even
against David: deliver him only, and 1 will
depart from the city. And the woman said
unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown
to thee over the wall. 22. Then the wo¬
man went unto all the people in her wis¬
dom: and they cut off the head of Sheba the
son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And
he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the
city every man to his tent. And Joab re¬
turned to Jerusalem unto the king.
We have here the conclusion of Sheba’s attempt.
I. The rebel, when he had rambled over all the
tribes of Israel, and found them not so willing, upon
second thoughts, to follow him, as they had been,
upon a sudden provocation, to desert David, (hav¬
ing only picked up a few like himself, that sided
with him,) entered Abel Beth-maachah a strong
city in the north, in the lot of Naphtali, where we
find it placed, 2 Kings 15. 29. Here he took shel¬
ter, whether by force, or with consent, does not ap¬
pear, but his adherents were mostly Berites of Bee-
roth in Benjamin, v. 14. One bad man will find
and make more.
II. Joab drew up all his force against the city,
besieged it, battered the wall, and made ready fi ra
general storm, v. 15. Justly is that place attacked
with all this fury, which dares harbour a traitor;
nor will that heart fare better, which indulgesthose
rebellious lusts that will not ha1, e Christ to reign
over them.
III. A discreet good woman of the city of Abel
brings this matter, by her prudent management, to
a good issue, so as to satisfy Joab, and yet save the
city. Here is,
1. Her treaty with Joab, and her capitulation with
him by which he is engaged to raise the siege, up¬
on condition that Sheba be delivered up. It seems,
none of all the men of Abel, none of the elders or
magistrates, offered to treat with Joab, no, not when
they were reduced to the last extremity ; either they
were stupid, and unconcerned for the public safety,
or they stood in awe of Sheba, or they despaired oi
gaining any good terms with Joab, or they had not
wit enough to manage the treaty. But this one wo¬
man with her wisdom saved the city. Souls know
no difference of sexes; though the man be the head,
it does not therefore follow that he has the mono-
443
II. SAMUEL, XXI.
poly of the brains, and therefore he ought not, by
any salique law,* to have the monopoly of the
crown; many a masculine heart, and more than
masculine, has been found in a female breast; nor is
the treasure of wisdom the less valuable for being
lodged in the weaker vessel.
In the treaty between this nameless heroine and
Joab, ■
(1.) She gains his audience and attention, v. 16,
17. We may suppose it was the first time he had
ever treated with a woman in martial affairs.
(2. ) She reasons with him on behalf of her city,
and very ingeniously. [1.] That it was a city fa¬
mous for wisdom, (i>. 18.) as we translate it; she
pleads that this city had been long in such reputa¬
tion for prudent knowing men, that it was the com¬
mon referee of the country, and all agreed to abide
by the award of its elders. Their sentence was
an oracle; let them be consulted, and the matter is
ended, all sides will acquiesce. Now, shall such a
city as this be laid in ashes, and never treated with?
[2.] That the inhabitants were generally peacea¬
ble and faithful in Israel, v. 19. She could speak,
not for herself only, but for all those whose cause
she pleaded, that they were not of turbulent and
seditious spirits, but of known fidelity to their prince,
and peaceableness with their fellow-subjects; nei-
their seditious, nor litigious. [3.] That it was a
mother in Israel, a guide and nurse to the towns
and country about; and that it was a part of the in¬
heritance o f the Lord, a citv of Israelites ; not of hea¬
thens ; and the destruction of it would lessen and weak¬
en that nation which God had chosen for his heritage.
[4.] That they expected him to offer them peace,
before he made an attack upon them, according to
that known law of war, Deut. 20. 10. So the mar¬
gin reads, v. 18. They plainly spake in the begin¬
ning, (of the siege,) saying, Surely they will ask of
Abel; that is, “ The besiegers will demand the trai¬
tor, and will ask us to surrender him; and if they
do, we will soon come to an agreement, and so end
the matter.” Thus she tacitly upbraids Joab for ;
not offering them peace, but hopes it is not too late
to beg it.
(2.) Joab and Abel’s advocate soon agree that
Sheba’s head shall be the ransom of the citv. Joab,
though, in a personal quarrel, he had lately swal¬
lowed up and destroyed Amasa, yet, when he acts
as a general, will by no means bear the imputation,
“ Far be it from me that I should delight to swal¬
low up or destroy, or design it, but when it is neces¬
sary for the public safety, v. 20. The matter is not
so, our quarrel is not with your city, we would ha¬
zard our lives for its protection; our quarrel is only
with the traitor that is harboured among you; deli¬
ver him up, and we have done.” A great deal of
mischief would be prevented, if contending parties
would but understand one another. The city ob¬
stinately holds out, believing Joab aims at its ruin:
Joab furiously attacks it, believing the citizens all
confederates with Sheba; whereas both were mis¬
taken; let both sides be undeceived, and the mat¬
ter is soon accommodated. The single condition of
peace, is, the surrender of the traitor; it is so in
God’s dealing with the soul, when it is besieged by
conviction and distress; sin is the traitor; the belov¬
ed lust is the rebel: part with that, cast awav the
transgressions, and all shall be well. No peace on
any other terms. Our wise woman immediately
agrees to the proposal: Behold, his head shall be
thrown to thee presently.
2. Her treaty with the citizens. She went to them
in her wisdom, (and perhaps she had as much need
of it in dealing with them, as in dealing with Joab,)
and persuaded them to cut off Sheba’s head, proba-
* An ancient law of Franco, which debarred females from ruc-
ceediug to the throne. — Ed.
bly, by some public order of their government, and
it was thrown over the wall to Joab. He knew the
traitor’s face, and therefore looked no further, in¬
tending not that any of his adherents should suffer.
The public safety was secured, and he felt no wish
to gratify the public revenge. Joab, hereupon, rais¬
ed the siege, and marched back to Jerusalem, with
the trophies rather of peace than victory.
23. Now Joab was over all the host ol
Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
was over the Cherethites, and over the Pe-
lethites; 24. And Adoram was over the
tribute; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud
was recorder; 25. And Sheva was scribe :
and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:
26. And Ira also, the Jairite, was a chief
ruler about David.
Here is an account of the state of David’s court,
after his restoration. Joab was continued general,
being too great to be displaced, Benaiah, as before,
captain of the guards. Here is one new office
erected, which we had not, ch. 8. 16. that of trea¬
surer, or one over the tribute, for it was not till to
ward the latter end of his time, that he began to
raise taxes. Adoram was long in this office, but it
cost him his life at last, 1 Kings 12. 18.
CHAP. XXL
The date of the events of this chapter is uncertain. 1 in¬
cline to think that they happened as they are here placed,
after Absalom’s and Sheba’s rebellion, and toward the
latter end of David’s reign. That the battles with the
Philistines, mentioned here, were long after the Philis¬
tines were subdued, appears by comparing 1 Chron. 18.
1. with ch. 20 4. The numbering of the people was just
before the fixing of the place of the temple, (as appears,
1 Chron. 22. 1.) and that was toward the close of David’s
life; and, it should seem, the people were numbered just
before the three years’ famine for the Gibconites, foi
that which is threatened as three years’ famine, 1 Chron.
21. 12. is called seven years, 2 Sam. 24. 12, 13. Three
more, with the year current, added to those three. We
have here, I. The Gibeonites avenged, 1. By a famine in
the land, v. 1. 2. By the putting of seven of Saul’s poste¬
rity to death, (v. 2. .9.) care, however, being taken of
their dead bodies, and ofthe bones of Saul, v. 10. . 14. 11.
The giants of the Philistines slain in several battles, v.
15. .22.
1. I^IIAHEN there was a famine in the days
JL of David three years, year after
year; and David inquired of the Lord.
And the L,ord answered, It A for Saul, and
for his bloody house, because he slew the
Gibeonites. 2. And the king called the Gib¬
eonites, and said unto them ; (now the Gib¬
eonites were not of the children of Israel,
but of the remnant of the Amorites; and
the children of Israel had sworn unto them;
and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal
to the children of Israel and Judah ;) 3.
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites,
W hat shall I do for you ? and wherewith
shall 1 make the atonement, that ye may
bless the inheritance of the L,ord ? 4. And
the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have
no silver nor gold of Said, nor of his house ;
neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Is¬
rael. And he said, What you shall say,
that will I do for you. 5. And they an-
444
II. SAMUEL, XXL
swered the king, The man that consumed
us, and that devised against us that we
should be destroyed from remaining in any
of the coasts of Israel, 6. Let seven men
of his sons be delivered unto us, and we
will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah
of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And
the king said, I will give them. 7. But the
king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jona¬
than the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s
oath that was between them, between Da¬
vid and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8. But
the king took the two sons of Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul,
Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five
sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom
she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzil-
lai the Meholathite ; 9. And he delivered
them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and
they hanged them in the hill before the
Lord : and they fell all seven together, and
were put to death in the days of harvest, in
the first days , in the beginning of barley-har¬
vest.
Here,
I. We are told of the injury which Saul had, long
before this, done to the Gibeonites, which we had
no account of in the history of his reign, nor should
have heai-d of here, but that it came now to be
reckoned for. The Gibeonites were of the remnant
of the Amorites, (v. 2.) who by a wile had made
peace with Israel, and had the public futh pledged
to them by Joshua for their safety. We had the
story, Josh. 9. where it was agreed (t\ 23.) that
thev should be secured of their lives but deprived
of their lands and liberties, that they and their’s
should be tenants in villanage to Israel. It does not
appear that they had broken their part of the cove¬
nant, either by denying their service, or attempting
t ' recover their lands or liberties, nor was it pre¬
tended; but Saul, under colour of zeal for the honour
of Israel, that it might not be said that they had any
of the natives among them, aimed to root them out,
and, in order to that, slew many of them. Thus he
would seem wiser than his predecessors the judges,
and more zealous for the public interest; and per¬
haps he designed it for an instance of his royal pre¬
rogative, and the power which as king he assumed
to rescind the former acts of government, and to
disannul the most solemn leagues. It may be, he
designed, by this severity toward the Gibeonites, to
atone for his clemency toward the Amalekites.
Some conjecture that he sought to cut off the Gibe¬
onites at the same time when he put away the
witches; (lSam. 28. 3.) or perhaps many of them
were remarkably pious, and he sought to destroy
them when he slew the priests their masters. That
which made this an exceeding sinful sin, was, that
he not only shed innocent blood, but therein violated
the solemn oath by which the nation was bound to
protect them. See what brought ruin on Saul’s
house; it was a bloody house.
II. W e find the nation of Israel chastised with a
sore famine, long after, for this sin of Saul. Ob¬
serve, 1. Even in the land of Israel, that fruitful
land, and in the reign of David, that glorious reign,
there was a famine, not extreme, for then it would
sooner have been taken notice of, and inquiry made
into the cause of it, but great drought, and scarcity
of provisions, the consequence of it, for three years
together. If corn miss one year, commonly the
next makes up the deficiency;' but if it miss three
years successively, it will be a sore judgment; and
the man of wisdom will by it hear God’s voice cry¬
ing to the country, to repent of the abuse of plenty.
2. David inquired of God concerning it. Though
he was himself a prophet, he must consult the ora¬
cle, and know God’s mind in his own appointed
way. Note, When we are under God’s judgments,
we ought to inquire into the grounds of the contro¬
versy. Lord, show me wherefore thou contendest
with me. It is strange that David did not sooner
consult the oracle, not till the third year; but, per¬
haps, till then, he apprehended it not to be an ex¬
traordinary judgment for some particular sin. Even
good men are often slack and remiss in doing their
duty. We continue in ignorance, and under mis¬
take, because we delay to inquire. 3. God was
ready in his answer, though David was slow in his
inquiries, It is for Saul. Note, God’s judgments
often look a great way back, which obliges us to do
so, when we are under his rebukes. It is not for us
to object against the people’s smarting for the sin
of their king, perhaps they were aiding and abet¬
ting; nor against this generation’s suffering for the
sin of the last, God often visiteth the sins of the fa¬
thers ufion the children, and his judgments are a
great deefi ; he gives not account of any of his mat¬
ters. Time does not wear out the guilt of sin; nor
can we build hopes of impunity upon the delay of
judgments. There is no statute of limitation to be
pleaded against God’s demands. JVullum temfius
occurrit Deo — God may punish when he fileases.
III. We have vengeance taken upon the house of
Saul, for the turning away of God’s wrath from the
land, which, at present, smarted for his sin.
1. David, it is probable by divine direction, refer¬
red it to the Gibeonites themselves, to prescribe
what satisfaction should be given them for the
wrong that had been done them, v. 3. They had
many years remained silent, had not appealed to
David, nor given the kingdom any disturbance with
their complaints or demands; and now, at length,
God speaks for them; I heard not, for thou wilt
hear; (Ps. 38. 14, 15.) and they are recompensed
for their patience with this honour, that they are
made judges in their own cause, and have a blank
given them to write their demands on; What ye
shall say, that will I do, ( v . 4. ) that atonement may
be made, and that ye may bless the inheritance of
the Lord, v. 3. It is sad for any family or nation
to have the prayers of oppressed innocency against
them, and therefore the expense of a just restitu¬
tion is well bestowed for the retrieving of the bles¬
sing of those that were ready to perish, Job 29. 13.
“ Mv servant Job, whom you have wronged, shall
pray for you,” says God, “ and then I will be recon¬
ciled to you, and not till then.” Those understand
not themselves, that value not the prayers of the
poor and despised.
2. They desired that seven of Saul’s posterity
might be put to death, and David granted them
their demand.
(1.) They required no silver, nor gold, v. 4.
Note, Money is no satisfaction for blood; see Numb.
35. 31* *33. It is the ancient law, Blood calls for
blood; (Gen. 9. 6.) and those over-value money, and
under-value life, that sell the blood of their rela¬
tions for corruptible things, such as silver and gold.
The Gibeonites had now a fair opportunity to get a
discharge from their servitude, in compensation for
the wrong done them, according to the equity of
that law, (Exod. 21. 26.) If a man strike out his
servant’s eye, he shall let him go free for his eye’s
sake. But they did not insist on this; though the
covenant was broken on the other side, it should not
be broken on their’s. They were JVethinim, given
446
II. SAMUEL, XXL
to God and his people Israel, and they would not
seem weary of the service.
(2.) They required no lives but of Saul’s family;
he had done them the wrong, and therefore his chil¬
dren must pay for it. We sue the heirs for the pa¬
rent’s debts; men may not extend that so far as life,
Deut. 24. 16. The children, in an ordinary course
of law, shall never he put to death for the parents,
but this case of the Gibeonites was altogether ex¬
traordinary. God had made himself an immediate
party to the cause, and, no doubt, put it into the
heart of the Gibeonites to make this demand, for he I
owned what was done, ( v . 14. ) and his judgments
are not subject to the rules which men’s judg- |
ments must be subject to. Let parents take heed j
of sin, especially the sin of cruelty and oppression,
for their poor children’s sake, who may be smarting
for it by the just h.uid of God, when they are in
their graves. Guilt and a curse are a bad entail j
upon a family. It should seem, Saul’s posterity j
trod in his steps, for it is called a bloody house: it
was the spirit of the family, and therefore they are ;
justly reckoned with for his sin, as well as for their
own.
(3. ) They would not impose it upon David to do
this execution; “ Thou shall not for us kill any man,
(u. 4.) but we will do it ourselves, we will hang
them up unto the Lord,” (v. 6.) that if there were
any hardship in it, they might bear the blame, and
not David or his house. By our old law, if a mur¬
derer had judgment given against him upon an ap¬
peal, the relations that appealed, had the executing
of him.
(4.) They did not require this, out of malice
against Saul or his family, (had they been revenge¬
ful, they would have moved it themselves long be¬
fore,) but out of love to the people of Israel, whom 1
they saw plagued for the injury done to them. “ We
will hang them up unto the Lord, ( v . 6. ) to satisfy
his justice, not to gratify any revenge of our own; j
for the good of the public, not for our own reputa- j
tion. ”
(5.) The nomination of the persons they left to
David; who took care to secure Mephibosheth for |j
Jonathan’s sake, that while he was avenging the
breach of one oath, he might not himself break ano- i
ther; ( v . 7.) but he delivered up two of Saul’s sons
whom he had by a concubine, and five of his grand¬
sons, whom his daughter Merab bore to Ad riel, I
(1 Sam. 18. 19.) but his daughter Michal brought
up, v. 8. Now Saul’s treachery was punished, in
giving Merab to Adriel, when he had promised
her to David, with a design to provoke him. “It j
is a dangerous matter,” says Bishop Hall, upon this,
“ to offer injury to any of God’s faithful ones; if their
meekness hav e easily remitted it, their God will not
pass it over without a severe retribution, though it
may be long first. ”
(6.) The place, time, and manner, of their exe¬
cution, all added to the solemnity of their being
sacrificed to divine justice. [1.] They were hang¬
ed up as anathemas, under a peculiar mark of God’s
displeasure; for the law had said, He that is hang¬
ed, is accursed of God, Deut. 21. 23. Gal. 3. 13.
Christ, being made a curse for us, and dying to sa¬
tisfy for our sins, and to turn away the wrath of
God, became obedient to this ignominious death.
[2.] They were hanged up in Gibeah of Saul, (v.
6. ) to show that it was for his sin that they died.
They were hanged, as it were, before their own
door, to expiate the guilt of the house of Saul; and
thus God accomplished the ruin of that family, for
the blood of the priests, and their families, which,
doubtless, now came in remembrance before God,
and inquisition was made for it, Ps. 9. 12. Yet the
blood of the Gibeonites only is mentioned; because
that was shed, in’ violation of a sacred oath, which,
though sworn long before, though obtained by a
wile, and the promise made to Canaanites, yet is
thus severely reckoned for. The despising of the
oath, and breaking ot the covenant, will be recom¬
pensed on the head of those who thus profane God’s
s icred name, Ezek. 17. 18, 19. And thus God
would show, that with him rich and poor meet to¬
gether. Ev en royal blood must go to atone for the
blood of Gibeonites, who were but the vassals of the
congregation. [3.] They were put to death in the
days oj hai~vest, (r>. 9.) at the begirming of harvest,
(y. 10.) to show that they were thus sacrificed for
the turning away of that wrath of God,, which had
withheld from them their harvest mercies for some
years past, and to obtain his favour in the present
han est. Thus there is no way of appeasing God’s
anger, but by mortifying and crucifying our lusts
and corruptions. In vain do we expect mercy from
God, unless we do justice upon our sins. Those ex¬
ecutions must not be complained of as cruel, which
are become necessary to the public welfare. Bet¬
ter that seven of Saul’s bloody house be hanged,
than that all Israel be famished.
10. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah
took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon
the rock, from the beginning of harvest un¬
til water dropped upon them out of heaven,
and suffered neither the birds of the air to
rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the
field by night. 11. And it was told David
what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the con¬
cubine of Saul, had done. 12. And David
went and took the bones of Saul, and the
bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of
Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from
the street of Beth-shan, where the Philis¬
tines had hanged them, when the Philistines
had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13. And he
brought up from thence the bones of Saul
and the bones of Jonathan his son ; and
they gathered the bones of them that were
hanged. 14. And the bones of Saul and
Jonathan his son buried they in the country
of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of
Kish his father ; and they performed all that
the king commanded : and after that, God
was entreated for the land.
Here we have,
I. Saul’s sons not only hanged, but hanged in
chains, their dead bodies left hanging, and exposed,
till the judgment ceased, which their death was to
turn away, by the sending of rain upon the land.
They died as sacrifices, and thus they were, in a
manner, offered up, not consumed all at once by
fire, but gradually by the air. They died as ana¬
themas, and by this ignominious usage they were
represented as execrable, because iniquity was laid
upon them. When our blessed Saviour was made
sin for us, he was made a curse for us. But how shall
we reconcile this with the law, which expressly
obliged to bury those that were hanged, the same
day? Deut. 21. 23. One of the Jewish Rabbins
wished this passage of story were expunged, that
the name of God might be sanctified , which, he
thinks, is dishonoured by his acceptance of that
which was a violation of his law; but this was an ex¬
traordinary case, and did not fall within that law:
nay, the very reason for that law is a reason for this
446
If. SAMUEL, XXL
exception. He that is thus left hanged, is accursed,
therefore ordinary malefactors must not be so abus¬
ed; but therefore these must; because they were
sacrificed, not to the justice of the nation, but for the
crime of the nation, no less a c ime than the violat¬
ing of the public faith, and for the deliverance of the
nation from no less a judgment than a general fa¬
mine. Being thus made as the off-scouring of all
things, they were made a spectacle to the world;
(lCor. 4. 9, 13.) God appointing, or, at least, al¬
lowing it.
II. Their dead bodies watched by Rizpah, the
mother of two of them, v. 10. It was a great afflic¬
tion to her, now in her old age, to see her two sons,
who, we may suppose, had been a comfort to her,
and were likely to be the support of her declin¬
ing years, cut off in this dreadful manner. None
know what sorrow they are reserved for. She may
not see them decently interred, but they shall be
decently attended. She attempts not to violate the
sentence past upon them, that they should hang
there till God sent rain; she neither steals nor forces
away the dead bodies, though the divine law might
have been cited to bear her out; she patiently sub¬
mits, pitches a tent of sackcloth near the gibbets,
where, with her servants and friends, she protect¬
ed the dead bodies from birds and beasts of prey.
Thus, 1. She indulges her grief, as mourners are
too apt to do, to no good purpose. When sorrow,
in such cases, is in danger of growing excessive, we
should rather study how to divert and pacify it, than
how to humour and gratify it. Why should we thus
harden ourselves in sorrow? 2. She testified her
love. Thus she let the world know that her sons
died, not for any sin of their own, not as stubborn
and rebellious sons, whose eye had despised to obey
tneir mother; if that had been the case, she would
have suffered the ravens of the valley to pick it out,
and the young eagles to eat it, Prov. 30. 17. But
they died for their father’s sin, and therefore her
mind could not be alienated from them by their hard
fate. Though they must die, yet they shall die
pitied and lamented.
III. The solemn interment of their dead bodies,
with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the bury¬
ing- place of their family. David was so far from
being displeased at what Rizpah had done, that he
was himself stirred up by it to do honour to the
house of Saul, and to these branches of it among the
rest; thus it appeared that it was not out of any per¬
sonal disgust to the family that he delivered them
up, and that he had not desired the woful day, but
that he was obliged to do it for the public good. 1.
He now bethought himself of removing the bodies
of Saul and Jonathan from the place where the
men of Jabesh-gilead had decently, but privately
and obscurely, interred them, under a tree, 1 Sam.
31. 12, 13. Though the shield of Saul was vilely
cast away, as if he had not been anointed with oil,
yet let not royal dust be lost in the graves of the com- |
mon people. Humanity obliges us to respect hu¬
man bodies, especially of the great and good, in
consideration both of what they have been, and
what thev are to be. 2. With them he buried the
bodies of them that were hanged; for when God’s
anger was turned away, they were no longer to be
looked upon as a curse, v. 13, 14. When water
dropped upon them out of heaven, (y. 10.) that is,
when God sent rain to water the earth, (which,
perhaps, was not many days after they were hung
up,) then they were taken down, for then it appear¬
ed that God was entreated for the land. When jus¬
tice is done on earth, vengeance from heaven ceases.
Though Christ, who was hanged on a tree, and so
made a curse for us, to expiate our guilt, (though
he was himself guiltless,) God is pacified, and is
entreated for us: and it is said, (Acts 13. 29.) that
when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
in token of that and of God’s acceptance of it, they
took him down and laid him in a sepulchre.
1 5. Moreover, the Phili stines had yet war
again with Israel; anrl David went down,
and his servants with him, and fought
against the Philistines : and David waxed
faint. 16. And Ishbi-benob, which was of
the sons of the giant, (the weight of whose
spear weighed, three hundred shekels of brass
in weight,) he, being girded with a new
sivord, thought to have slain David : 1 7.
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured
him, and smote the Philistine, and killed
him. Then l he men of David sware unto
him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with
us to battle, that thou quench not the light
of Israel. 18. And it came to pass after
this, that there was again a battle with the
Philistines at Gob : then Sibbechai the
Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the
sons of the giant. 19. And there was again
a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where
El-hanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-
lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Git-
tite, the stall of whose spear was like a
weaver’s beam. 20. And there was yet a
battle in Gath, where was a man of great
stature, that had on every hand six fingers,
and on every foot six toes, four and twenty
in number ; and he also was born to the
giant. 21. And when he defied Israel, Jon¬
athan, the son of Shimeah, the brother of
David, slew him. 22. These four were born
to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand
of David, and by the hand of his servants.
We have here the story cf some conflicts with
the Philistines, which happened, as it should seem,
in the latter end of David’s reign. Though he had
so subdued them, that they could not bring any
great numbers into the field, yet, as long as they
had any giants among them to be their champions,
they would nev er be quiet, but took all occasions to
disturb the peace of Israel, to challenge them, or to
make incursions upon them.
I. David himself was engaged with one of the
giants: the Philistines began the war yet again, v.
15. The enemies of God’s Israel are restless in
their attempts against them. David, though old,
desired not a writ of ease from the public service,
but he himself went down in person, to fight against
the Philistines. Senescit, non segnescit — He grows
old, but not indolent. A sign that he fought not for
his own glory, (at this age he was loaded with that,
and needed no more,) but for the good of his king¬
dom. But in this engagement, 1. We find him in
distress and danger. He thought he could bear the
fatigues of war as well as he had done formerly; his
will was good, and he hoped he could do as at other
times; but he found himself deceived, age had cut
his hair, and, after a little toil, he waxed faint. His
body could not keep pace with his mind. The
champion of the Philistines was soon aware of his
advantage, perceived that David’s strength failed
him, and, being himself strong and well armed, he
thought to have slain David; but God was net in
his thoughts, and therefore in that very day they
II. SAMUEL, XXII.
447
all perished. The enemies of God’s people are
often \ ery strong, very subtle, and very sure of suc¬
cess, like" Ishbi-benob, but there is no strength, nor
counsel, nor confidence, against the Lord. 2. Won¬
derfully rescued by Abishai, who came seasonably
in to his relief, v. 17. Herein we must own Abi-
shai’s courage and fidelity to his prince, to save
whose life he bravely ventured his own; but, much
more, the good providence of God, which brought
him in to Da. id’s succour, in the minute of his ex¬
tremity. Such a cause and such a champion, though
distressed, shall not be deserted. When Abishai
succoured him, gave him a cordial, it may be, to re¬
lieve his fainting spirits, or appeared as his second,
he (namely, David, so I understand it) smote the
Philistine, and hilled him: for it is sai l, (v. 22.)
D ivid had himself a hand n slaying the giants.
David fainted, but he did not flee ; though his
strength failed him, he bravely kept his ground,
and then God sent him this help in the time of need,
which, though brought him by his junior and infe¬
rior, he thankfully accepted, and, with a little re¬
cruiting, gained his point, and came off a conqueror.
Christ, in his agonies, was strengthened by an angel.
In spiritual conflicts, ev en strong saints sometimes
wax faint; then Satan attacks them furiously; but
they that stand their ground and resist him, shall
be relieved, and made more than conquerors. 3.
David’s servants, hereupon, resolved that he should
never expose himself thus any more. They had
easily persuaded him not to fight against Absalom,
(ch. 18. 3.) but against the Philistines he would go,
till, having had this narrow escape, it was resolved
in council, and confirmed with an oath, that the light
of Israel (its guide and glory, so David was) should
never be put again into such hazard of being blown
cut Such valuable lives as Dav id’s was, ought to
be preserved with a double care, both by them¬
selves and others.
II. The rest of the giants fell by the hand of
David’s servants. 1. Saph was slain by Sibbechai,
one of David’s worthies, v. 18. 1 Chron. 11. 29.
2. Another, who was brother to Goliath, was slain
by El-hanan, who is mentioned, ch. 23. 24. 3. An¬
other, who was of such an unusual bulk, that he had
more fingers and toes than other people, ( v . 20.)
and such an unparalleled insolence, that, though he
had seen the fall of other giants, yet he defied Israel,
was slain by Jonathan the son of Shimea. Shimea
had one son named Jonadab, 2 Sam. 13. 3. I should
have taken it for the same with this Jonathan; but
that was noted for subtilty, this for bravery. These
giants, probably, were the remains of the sons of
Anak, who, though long feared, fell at last.
Now observe, (1.) It is folly for the strong man to
glory in his strejigth; David’s servants were no
larger or stronger than other men; yet thus, by di¬
vine assistance, they mastered one giant after an¬
other. God chooses by the weak things to confound
the mighty. (2.) It is common for those to go down
slain to the pit, who have been the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living, Ezek. 32. 27. (3.)
The most powerful enemies are often reserved for
the last conflict. David began his glory with the
conquest of one giant, and here concludes it with
the conquest of four. Death is a Christian’s last
enemy, and a son of Anak; but through Him that
triumphed for us, we hope, even over that enemy,
to be more than conquerors at last.
CHAP. XXII.
This chapter is a psalm, a psalm of praise; we find it after¬
ward inserted among David’s psalms, (Ps. 18.) with some
little variation. We have it here, as it was at first com¬
posed for his own closet, and his own harp, but there we
have it, as it was afterward delivered to the chief musi¬
cian for the service of the church; a second edition with
some amendments; for though it was calculated prima¬
rily for David’s case, yet it might indifferently serve the
devotion of others, in giving thanks for their deliverances:
or, it was intended that his people should thus join with
him in his thanksgivings, because, being a public person,
his deliverances were to be accounted public blessings,
and called for public acknowledgments. The inspired
historian, having largely related David’s deliverances, in
this and the foregoing book, and one particularly in the
close of the foregoing chapter, thought fit to record this
sacred poem as a memorial of all that had been before
related. Some think that David penned this psalm when
he was old, upon a general review of the mercies of his
life, and the many wonderful preservations God had bless¬
ed him with, from first to last. We should, in our praises,
look as far back as we can, and not suffer time to wear
out the sense of God’s favours. Others think that he
penned it when he was young, upon occasion of some of
his first deliverances, and kept it by him for his use after¬
ward, and that, upon every new deliverance, his practice
Was to sing this song. But the book of Psalms shows
that he varied, as there was occasion, and confined not
himself to one form. Here is, I. The title of the psalm,
v. 1. II. The psalm itself : in which, with a very warm
devotion, and very great fluency and copiousness of ex¬
pression, 1. He gives glory to God. 2. He takes comfort
in him; and he finds matter for both, (1.) In the expe¬
riences he had of God’s former favours. (2.) In the
expectations he had cf his further favours. These are
intermixed throughout the whole psalm.
1. A ND David spake unto the Lord the
ill words of this song, in the day that
the Lord had delivered him out of the hand
of all his enemies, and out of the hand of
Saul:
Observe here, 1. That it has often been the lot ot
God’s people to have many enemies, and to be in
imminent danger of falling into their hands. David
was a man after God’s heart, but not after men’s
heart: many were those that hated him, and sought
his ruin; Saul is particularly named, either, (1.)
As distinguished from his enemies of the heathen
nations; Said hated David, but David did not hate
Saul, and therefore would not reckon him among
his enemies; or, rather, (2.) As the chief of his
enemies, that was more malicious and powerful than
any of them. Let not those whom God loves, mar¬
vel if the world hate them.
2. They that trust God in the way of duty, shall
find him a present Help to them in their greatest
dangers. David did so; God delivered him out of
the hand of Saul: he takes special notice of that.
Remarkable preservations should be mentioned in
our praises with a particular emphasis. He deli¬
vered him also out of the hand of all his enemies, one
after another; sometimes in one way, sometimes in
another: and David, from his own experience, has
assured us, that though many are the troubles of the
righteous, yet the Lord delivers them out of them
all, Ps. 34. 19. We shall never be delivered from
all our enemies till we get to heaven; and to that
heavenly kingdom God will preserve all his, 2 Tim.
4. 18.
3. Those that have received many signal mer¬
cies from God, ought to give him the glory of them.
Every new mercy in our hand should put a new
song into our mouth, even praises to our God.
Where there is a grateful heart, out of the abun¬
dance of that the mouth will speak; David spake,
not to himself, only for his own pleasure, orto those
about him, only for their instruction; but to the
Lord, for his honour, the words of this son g. Then
we sing with grace, when we sing to the Lord. In
distress he cried with his voice, (Ps. 142. 1.) there¬
fore with his voice he gave thanks: that is the
sweetest music.
4. We ought to be speedy in our th nkful returns
to God: in the day that God delivered him, he sang
448
II. SAMUEL, XXII.
this song. While the mercy is fresh, and we are
most att'ected with it, let ihe tnank-offering be II
brought, to be kindled with the fire of that affection.
I
2. And he said, The Lord is my rock,
and my fortress, and my deliverer ; 3.
The God of my rock; in him will 1 trust:
he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my high lower, and my refuge, my saviour ;
thou savest me from violence. 4. J will call
on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised :
so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 5.
When the waves of death compassed me,
the floods of ungodly men made me afraid ;
6. The sorrows of hell compassed me about;
the snares of death prevented me. 7. In
my distress I called upon the Lord, and
cried to my God ; and he did hear my voice
out of his temple, and my cry did enter into
his ears. 8. Then the earth shook and trem¬
bled ; the foundations of heaven moved and
shook, because he was wroth. 9. There
went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire
out of his mouth devoured: coals were
kindled by it. 1 0. He bowed the heavens
also and came down ; and darkness teas
under his feet. 11. And he rode upon a
cherub, and did fly : and he was seen upon
the wings of the wind. 12. And he made
darkness pavilions round about him, dark
waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 1 3.
Through the brightness before him were
coals of fire kindled. 14. The Lord thun¬
dered from heaven, and the Most High ut¬
tered his voice. 1 5. And he sent out arrows,
and scattered them ; lightning, and discom¬
fited them. 16. And the channels of the
sea appeared, the foundations of the world
were discovered, at the rebuking of the
Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nos¬
trils. 1 7. He sent from above, he took me ;
he drew me out of many waters ; 1 8. He
delivered me from my strong enemy, and
from them that hated me : for they were too
strong for me. 19. They prevented me in
the day of my calamity : but the Lord was
my stay. 20. He brought me forth also in¬
to a large place ; he delivered me, because
he delighted in me. 21 . The Lo rd reward¬
ed me according to my righteousness : ac¬
cording to the cleanness of my hands hath
he recompensed me. 22. For 1 have kept
the ways of the Lord, and have not wicked¬
ly departed from my God. 23. For all his
judgments were before me: and as for his
statutes, I did not depart from them. 24.
I was also upright before him, and have kept
myself from mine iniquity. 25. Therefore
the Lord hath recompensed me according
to my righteousness; according to my clean¬
ness in his eye-sight. 26. With the merci-
! ful thou wilt show thyself merciful, and vvitn
j the upright man thou wilt show thyself up-
i right. 27. W ith the pure thou wilt show
thyself pure ; and with the fro ward thou wilt
show thyself unsavoury. 28. And the af¬
flicted people thou wilt save : but thine eyes
are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring
them down. 29. For thou art my lamp, O
Lord ; and the Lord will lighten my daik-
ness. 30. For by thee I have run through
a troop : by my God have 1 leaped ovei a
wall. 31. As for God, his way is perfect,
the word of the Lord is tried : he is a buck¬
ler to all them that trust in him. 32. For
who is God, save the Lor.d ? and who is a
rock, save our God ? 33. God is my strength
and power : and he maketh my way perfect.
34. He maketh my feet like hinds’ jfre/; and
setteth me upon my high places. 35. He
teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow
of steel is broken by mine arms. 36. Thou
hast also given me the shield of thy salva¬
tion : and thy gentleness hath made me
great. 37. Thou hast enlarged my steps
under me ; so that my feet did not slip. 38.
I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed
them ; and turned not again until I had con¬
sumed them. 39. Ancl I have consumed
them, and wounded them, and they could
not arise : yea, they are fallen under my feet.
40. For thou hast girded me with strength
to battle : them that rose up against me hast
thou subdued under me. 41 . Thou hast al¬
so given me the necks of mine enemies, that
t I might destroy them that hate me. 42.
They looked, but there was none to save ;
even unto the Lord, but he answered them
not. 43. Then did I beat them as small as
the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as
the mire of the street, and did spread them
abroad. 44. Thou also hast delivered me
from the strivings of my people, thou hast
kept me to be head of the heathen : a people
which I knew not shall serve me. 45. Stran¬
gers shall submit themselves unto me : as
soon as they hear, they shall be obedient
unto me. 46. Strangers shall fade away,
and they shall be afraid out of their close
places. 47. The Lord liveth ; and blessed
be my rock; and exalted be the God of the
rock of my salvation. 48. It is God that
avengeth me, and that bringeth down the
people under me, 49. And that bringeth
me forth from mine enemies : thou also hast
lifted me up on high above them that rose up
against me : thou hast delivered me from the
violent man. 50. Therefore I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and
I will sing praises unto thy name. 51. He
is the tower of salvation for his king; and
449
II. SAMUEL, XXII.
showeth meicy to his anointed, unto David,
and to his seed tor evermore.
Let us observe, in this song of praise,
I. How David adores God, and ghes him the
glory of his infinite perfections. There is none like
him, nor any to be compared with him; (n. 32.)
Who is God, save the Lord'd All others that are
adored as deities, are counterfeits and pretenders.
None are to be relied on besides. Who is a rock,
save our God ? They are dead, but the Lord liveth,
v. 4 7. They disappoint their worshippers, when
they most need them. But as for God, his way is
perfect, v. 31. Men begin in kindness, but end not,
promise, but perform not; but God will finish his
work, and his word is tried, and what we may
trust.
II. How he triumphs in the interest he had in
this God, and his relation to him, which he lays
down as the foundation of all the benefits he had re¬
ceived from him. He is my God ; as such he cries
to him, (r. 7.) and cleaves to him; (y. 22.) and if
my God, then, my Rock; {v. 2.) that is, my
Strength and my Power, ( y . 33.) the Rock under
which I take shelter, and who is to me as the sha¬
dow of a great rock in a weary land; the Rock on
which I build my hope, v. 3. Whatever is my
strength and support, it is the God of my rock that
makes it so; nay, he is the God of the rock of my
salvation, (y. 47.) my saving strength is in him and
from him. Da', id often hides himself in a rock,
(1 Sam. 24. 2.) but God was his chief Hiding-place.
"He is my Fortress, in whom I am safe, and think
myself so, my high Tower, or Strong-hold, in
which I am out of the reach of real evils; the Tow¬
er of salvation, (t». 51.) which can neither be scal¬
ed, nor battered, n^r undermined; salvation itself
saves me. Am I in distress? He is my Deliverer:
Struck at? Shot at? He is my Shield: Pursued? He
is my Refuge: Oppressed? He is my Saviour, that
rescues me out of the hand of those that seek my
min. Nay, he is the Horn of my salvation, by
which I am strongly protected, and my enemies
strongly pushed.” Christ is spoken of as the Horn
of salvation in the house of David, Luke 1. 69.
" Am I burthened, and ready to sink? The Lord is
my Stay, ( v . 19.) by whom I am supported. Am I
in the dark, benighted, at a loss? Thou art my
lamp, 0 Lord, to show me my way, and wilt light¬
en my darkness,” v. 29. If we sincerely take the
Lord for our God, all this, and much more, he will
be to us, all we need and can desire.
III. What improvement he makes of his interest
in God. If he be mine, 1. hi him will I trust; {y.
3.) that is, " I will resign myself to him, and then
depend upon his power, and wisdom, and goodness,
to conduct me well. 2. On him will I call, (v. 4.)
for he is worthy to be praised. What we have
found in God, that is worthy to be praised, should en¬
gage us to pray to him, and thereby we do, in effect,
praise him, and give glory to him. 3. To him will
I give thanks, (y. 50.) and that publicly; when he
was among the heathen, he would neither be afraid
nor ashamed to own his obligations to the God of
Israel.
IV. The full and large account he keeps for
nimself, and gives to others, of the great and kind
things God had done for him. This takes up most
of the song. He gives God the glory both of his de¬
liverances, and of his successes; showing both the
perils he was delivered from, and the power he
was advanced to.
1. He magnifies the great salvations God had
wrought for him. God sometimes brings his people
into very great difficulties and dangers, that he may
have the honour of saving them, and they the com-
Vol. ii. — 3 L
fort of being saved by him. He owns. Thou hast
saved me from violence, {y. 3.) from mine enemies,
(n. 4.) from my strong enemy , meaning Saul, who,
if God had not succoured him, would have been too
hard for him, v. 18. Thou hast given me the
shield of thy salvation, v. 36. To magnify the sal¬
vation, he observes,
(1.) That the danger was very great and threat¬
ening, out of which he was delivered. Men rose up
against him, (v. 40, 49.) that hated him; (y. 41.) a
violent man, (x\ 49.) namely, Saul, who was ma¬
licious in his designs against him, and vigorous in
his pursuits. This is expressed figuratively, v. 5. 6.
He was surrounded with death on every side,
threatened to be overwhelmed, and saw no way of
escape. So violently did the waves of death beat
upon him, so strongly did the cords and snares cf
death hold him, that he could not help himself, any
more than a man in the grave can. The floods of
Belial, the wicked one, and his wicked instruments,
made him afraid; he trembled to see not only earth,
but death and hell, in arms against him.
(2.) That his deliverance was in answer to pray¬
er, v. 7. He has here left us a good example,
when we are in distress, to cry unto God with im¬
portunity, as children, in a fright, cry to their
parents; and great encouragement to do so, in that
he found God ready to answer prayer out of his
temple in heaven, where he is continually served
and adored.
(3.) That God appeared in a singular and extraor¬
dinary manner for him, and against his enemies: the
expressions are borrowed from the descent of the
Divine Majesty upon mount Sinai, to 8, 9, &c.
We do not find that in any of David’s battles, God
fought for him, either with thunder, as in Samuel’s
time, or with hail, as in Joshua’s time, or with the
stars in their courses, as in Deborah’s time: but
those lofty metaphors are used, [1.] To set forth
the glory of God, which was manifested in his de¬
liverance. His wisdom and power, his goodness and
faithfulness, his justice and holiness, and his sove¬
reign dominion over all the creatures and all the
counsels of men, which appeared in favour of Da¬
vid, were as clear and bright a discovery of God’s
glory to an eye of faith, as those would have been to
an eye of sense. [2.] To set forth God’s displea¬
sure against his enemies. God so espoused his
cause, that he showed himself an Enemy to all his
enemies. His anger is set forth by a smoke out of
his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth; (v. 9.) coals
kindled, (v. 13.) arrows, v. 15. Who knows the
power and terror of his wrath? [3.] To set forth
the vast confusion which his enemies were put into,
and the consternation that seized them; as if the
earth had trembled, and the foundations of the
world had been discovered, v. 8, 16. Who can
stand before God, when he is angry ? [4.] To show
how ready God was to help him; he rode upon a
cherub, and did fly, v. 11. God hastened to his
succour, and came in to him with seasonable relief,
though he had seemed at a distance. Yet he was
a God hiding himself, (Isa. 45. 15.) for he made
darkness his pavilion, (y. 12.) for the amazement of
his enemies, and the protection of his own people.
(4.) That God manifested his particular favour
and kindness to him in these deliverances; (v. 20.)
He delivered me, because he delighted in me. The
deliverance came not from common providence, but
covenant-love; he was herein treated as a favourite;
so he perceived by the communications of divine
grace and comfort to his soul, with these deli¬
verances, and the communion he had with God in
them. Herein he was a type of Christ, whom God
upheld, because he delighted in him, Isa. 42. 1, 2.
2. He magnifies the great successes God had
crowned him with; he had not only preserved, but
450
II. SAMUEL, XXII.
prospered him. He was blest, (1.) With liberty
and enlargement. He was brought into a large
place, (i>. 20.) where he had room to thrive; and
his steps were enlarged under him , so that he had
room to stir, ( v . 37. ) no longer straitened and con¬
fined. (2.) With military skill, and strength, and
swiftness: though he was bred up to the crook, he
was well instructed in the arts of war, and qualified
for the toils and perils of it. God, having called him
to fight his battles, qualified him for the service,
made him very ingenious: He teacheth my hands to
war; {y. 35.) and this ingenuity was as good as
strength, for it follows, so that a bow of steel is
broken by my arms, not so much by main force, as
by dexterity. He was also very vigorous and va¬
liant: Thou hast girded me with strength to battle,
v. 40. He gives God the glory of all his courage
and ability for service. He was very expeditious
too: He maketh my feet swift like hinds' feet, (v
34.) which is of great advantage, both in charging
and retreating. (3.) With victory over his enemies,
not only Saul and Absalom, but the Philistines,
Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians, and other neigh¬
bouring nations, whom he subdued, and made tribu¬
taries to Israel. His wonderful victories are here
described, v. 38- *43. They were speedy victories;
I turned not again till I had consumed them; (x>.
38.) and complete victories: the enemies of Israel
were wounded, destroyed, consumed, fell under his
feet, trampled upon, and disabled to rise, and their
necks lay at his mercy. They cried both to earth
and heaven for help, but in vain, there was none to
save, none that durst appear for them; God an¬
swered them not, for they were not on his side, nor
did they c.rv unto him, till they were brought to the
last extremity; being thus abandoned, they became
an easy prey to David’s righteous and victorious
sword, so that he beat them as small as the dust of
the earth, which is scattered by the wind, and trod¬
den on by every foot. (4.) With advancement to
honour and power. To this he was anointed before
his troubles began, and at length, post tot discrimina
rermn — after all his dangers and disasters, he gain¬
ed his point. God made his way perfect, (y. 33.)
gave him success in all his undertakings, set him
upon his high places, (v. 34.) denoting both safety
and dignity. God’s gentleness, his grace, and ten¬
der mercy, made him great, (y, 36.) gave him
great wealth, and great authority, and a name like
that of the great men of the earth. He was kept to
be the head of the heathen; ( v . 44.) his signal pre¬
servations evinced that he' was designed and re¬
served for something great — to rule over all Israel,
notwithstanding the strivings of the people, and so
that they whom he had not known, should sei~ve
him, manv of the nations that lay remote. Thus he
was lifted up on high, as high as the throne, above
those that rose up against him, v. 49.
V. The comfortable reflections he makes upon his
own integrity, which God, by those wonderful de¬
liverances, had graciously owned, and witnessed to,
v. 21- -25. He means especially his integrity with
reference tp Saul and Ish-bosheth, Absalom and
Sheba, and those who either opposed his coming to
the crown, or endeavoured to dethrone him; they
falsely accused him, and misrepresented him, but
he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that
he was not an ambitious aspiring man, a false and
bloody man, as they called him; that he had never
taken any indirect unlawful courses to secure or
raise himself, but in his whole conduct lv’d kept in
the way of his duty: and that in the wV le course
of his conversation he had, for the main, made re¬
ligion his business, so that he could take God’s fa¬
vours to him, as the rewards of his righteousness,
not of debt, but of grace; God had recompensed
him, though not for his righteousness, as if that had
merited any thing at the hand of God, yet accord¬
ing to his righteousness, which he was well pleased
with, and had an eye to.
His conscience witnessed for him, 1. That he
had made the word of God his rule, and had kept
to it, v. 23. W herever he was, God’s judgments
were before him as his guide; whithersoever he
went, he took his religion along with him; and
though he was forced to depart from his country,
and sent, as it were, to serve other gods, yet, as for
God’s statutes, he did not depart from them, but
kept the way of the Lord, and walked in it. 2.
That he had carefully avoided the by-paths of sin.
He had not wickedly departed from his God; he
could not say but that he had taken some falsr
steps, but he had not deserted God, or forsaken his
way. Sins of infirmity he could not acquit himself
from, but the grace of God had kept him from pre¬
sumptuous sins. Though he had sometimes weakly
departed from his duty, he had never wickedly de¬
parted from his God. By this it appeared that he
was upright before God, or to God, in his sight, and
with an eye to him — that he kept himself from his
own iniquity: not only from that particular sin of
killing Saul, when it was in the power of his hand
to do it, but, in general, he was afraid of sin, and
watchful against it, and made conscience of what he
said and did. The matter of Uriah is an exception,
(1. Kings 15. 5.) like that in Hezekiah’s character,
2 Chron. 32. 31. Note, A careful abstaining from
our own iniquity, is one of the best evidences of our
own integrity; and the testimony of our conscience
for us that we have done so, will be such a rejoicing,
as will not only lessen the griefs of an afflicted state,
but increase the comforts of an advanced state. Da¬
vid reflected with more comfort upon his victories
over his own iniquity, than upon his conquest of
Goliath and all the hosts of the unc.ircumcised Phi¬
listines; and the witness of his own heart to his up¬
rightness, was sweeter, though more silent music,
than their’s that sang, David has slain his ten thou¬
sands. If a great man be a good man, his goodness
will be much more his satisfaction than his great-
! ness. Let favour be shown to the upright, and his
uprightness will sweeten it, will double it.
j VI. The comfortable prospects he has of God’s
further favour; as he looks back, so he looks for¬
ward, with pleasure, and assures himself of the
kindness God had in store for all the saints, for
i himself and his seed.
1. For all good people, v. 26- *28. As God had
dealt with him according to his uprightness, so he
will with all others. He takes occasion here to lay
down the established rules of God’s proceedings
with the children of men: (1.) That he will do
good to those that are upright in their hearts. As
we are found toward God, he will be found toward
us. [1.] God’s mercy and grace will be the joy of
those that are merciful and gracious: even the mer¬
ciful need mercy, and they shall obtain it. [2.]
God’s uprightness, his justice and faithfulness, will
be the joy of those that are upright, just, and faith¬
ful, toward God and man. [3.] God’s purity and
holiness will be the joy of those that are pure and
holy, who therefore give thanks at the remem¬
brance of it. And if any of these good people be
afflicted people, he will save them, either out of
their afflictions, or by and after them. On the
other hand, (2.) That those who turn aside to
crooked ways, he will lead forth with the workers
of iniquity, as he says in another psalm, With the
froward he will wrestle; and those with whom God
wrestles, are sure to be foiled. Woe unto him that
strives with his Maker! He will walk contrary to
those that walk contrary to him, and be displeased
with those that are displeased with him. As for the
haughty, his eyes are upon them, marking them
II. SAMUEL, XXIII.
out, as it were, to be brought down: for he resists
the firoud.
2. For himself. He foresees that his conquests
and kingdom should be yet further enlarged, v. 45,
46. Even the sons of the stranger, that should hear
the report of his victories; and the tokens of God’s
presence with him, should be possessed with a fear
of him, should be forced to submit to him, though
feignedly, and should be obedient to him. The suc¬
cesses which he had had, he looked upon as earnests
of more, and means of more: who durst oppose him,
whom so many had been overcome by? Thus the
Son of David goes on, conquering and to conquer.
Rev. 6. 2. His gospel, which has been victorious,
shall be so more and more.
3. For his seed. He showeth mercy to his Mes¬
siah, (z>. 51.) not only to David himself, but to that
Seed of his for evermore. David was himself
anointed of God, not an usurper, but duly called to
the government, and qualified for it, therefore he
doubted not but God would show mercy to him:
that mercy he had promised not to take from him,
nor from his posterity; ( ch . 7. 15, 16.) on that pro¬
mise he depends, with an eye to Christ, who alone
is his Seed for evermore, whose throne and kingdom
still continue, and will, to the end, whereas the seed
and lineage of David are long since extinct. See
Ps. 89. 28, 29. Thus all his joys and all his hopes
terminate, as our’s should, in the great Redeemer.
CHAP. XXIII.
The historian is now drawing toward a conclusion of Da¬
vid’s reign, and therefore gives us an account here, I.
Of some of his last words, which he spake bv inspiration,
and which seem to have reference to his Seed that ivas
to be for evermore, spoken of in the close of the foregoing
chapter, v. 1 . . 7. II. Of the great men, especially the
military men, that were employed under him; the first !
three, (v. 8.. 17.) two of the next three, (v. 18.. 23.)
and then the thirty, v. 24 . . 39.
1. these be the last words of Da-
vid. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who urns raised up on high, the
anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet
psalmist of Israel, said, 2. The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was
in my tongue. 3. The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
fear of God : 4. And he shall be as the
light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds ; as the ten¬
der grass springing out of the earth by clear
shining after rain. 5. Although my house
be not so with God ; yet he hath made w ith
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
things, and sure : for this is all my salvation,
and all my desire, although he make it
not to grow 6. But the sons of Belial shall
be all of them as thorns thrust away, because
they cannot be taken with hands. 7. But
the man that shall touch them must be
fenced with iron, and the staff of a spear ;
and they shall be utterly burned with fire
in fie same place.
We have here the last will and testament of king
David, or a codicil annexed to it. after he had
settled the crown upon Solomon, and his treasures
451
upon the temple which was to be built. The last
words of great and good men are thought worthy
to be, in a special manner, remarked and remem
bered; David would have those taken notice of, and
added, either to his Psalms, (as they are here to
that in the foregoing chapter,) or to the chronicles
of his reign. These words especially, v. 5. though
recorded before, we may suppose he often repeated
for his own consolation, even to his last breath, and
therefore they are c:.lled his last words. When
we find death approaching, we should endeavour
both to honour God, and to edify those about us,
with our last words. Let those that have had long
experience of God’s goodness, and the pleasantness
of wisdom, when they come to finish their course,
leave a record of that experience, and bear their
testimony to the truth of the promise. We have
upon record the last words of Jacob and Moses, and
here of David, designed, as those, for a legacy to
them that were left behind. We are here told,
I. Whose last will and testament this is. This
is related, either, as is usual, by the testator him¬
self, or, rather, by the historian, v. 1. He is de¬
scribed, 1. By the meanness of his original: he was
the son of Jesse. It is good for those who are ad¬
vanced to be corner-stones and top-stones, to be
reminded, and often to remind themselves, of the
rocf out of which they were hewn. 2. By the
height of his elevation: he was raised up on high,
as one favoured of God, and designed for something
great; raised up as a prince, to sit higher than his
neighbours, and as a prophet, to see further; for,
(1.) He was the anointed of the God of Jacob, and
so was serviceable to the people of God in their
civil interests, the protection of their country, and
the administration of justice among them. (2. ) He
was the sweet psalmist of Israel, and so was ser¬
viceable to them in their religious exercises: he
penned the psalms, set the tunes, appointed both
the singers and the instruments of music, by which
the devotions of good people were much excited
and enlarged. Note, Singing of psalms is a sweet
I ordinance, very agreeable to those that delight in
j praising God. It is reckoned among the honours to
| which David was raised up, that he was a psalmist:
■ in that he was as truly great, as in his being the
; anointed of the God of Jacob. Note, It is true pre¬
ferment to be serviceable to the church in acts of
devotion, and instrumental to promote the blessed
work of prayer and praise. Observe, Was David
a prince? He was so for Jacob. Was he a psalm¬
ist? He was so for Israel. Note, The dispensation
of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,
and therefore, as every man has received the gift,
so let him minister the same.
II. What the purport of it is. It is an account
of his communion with God. Observe,
1. What God said to him, both for his direction
and for his encouragement as a king, and to be, in
like manner, of use to his successors. Pious persons
take a pleasure in calling to mind what they have
heard from God, in recollecting his word, and re¬
voking it in their minds. Thus what God spake
once, David heard twice, yea often.
See here, (1.) Who spake; The Spirit of the
Lord; the God of Israel, and the Rock of Israel;
which, some think, is an intimation of the Trinity
of persons in the Godhead; the Father, the God of
Israel, the Son, the Rock of Israel, and the Spirit,
proceeding from the Father and the Son, who spake
by the prophets, and particularly by David, and
whose word was not only in his heart, but in his
tongue, for the benefit of others. David here
avows his divine inspiration, that in his Psalms, and
in this composition here, the Spirit of God spake by
him. He, and other holy men, spake and wrote as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This puts an
452
II. SAMUEL, XXTIT.
honour upon the book of Psalms, and recommends
them to our use in our devotions, that they are
words which the Holy Ghost teaches.
(2.) What was spoken. Here seems to be a dis¬
tinction made between what the Spirit of God spake
by David, which includes all his Psalms, and what
the Rock of Israel spake to David, which concerned
himself and his family. Let ministers obsen e, that
those by whom God speaks to others, are concerned
to hear and heed what he speaks to themselves.
They whose office it is to teach others their duty,
must be sure to learn and do their own.
Now that which is here said, (v. 3, 4.) may be
considered,
[1.] With application to David and his royal
family. And so here is, First, The duty of magis¬
trates enjoined them. When a king was spoken to
from God, he was not to be complimented with the
height of his dignity, and the extent of his power,
but to be told his duty; he must be just, ruling in
the fear of God; and "so must all inferior magistrates
in their places. Let rulers remember that they
rule over men; not over beasts whom they may
enslave and abuse at pleasure, but over reasonable
creatures, and of the same rank with themselves.
They rule over men that have their follies and in¬
firmities, and therefore must be borne with. They
rule over men, but under God, and for him; and
therefore, 1. They must be just, both to those over
whom they rule, in allowing them their rights and
properties; and between those over whom they rule,
using their power to right the injured against the
injurious; see Deut. 1. 16, 17. It is not enough
that they do no wrong, but they must not suffer
wrong to be done. 2. They must rule in the fear
of God; that is, they must themselves be possessed
with a fear of God, by which they will be effectually
restrained from all acts of injustice and oppression:
Nehemiah was so; ( ch . 5. 15.) So did not I, because
of the fear of God; and Joseph, Gen. 42. 18. They
must also endeavour to promote the fear of God,
that is, the practice of religion, among those over
whom they rule. The magistrate is to be the
keeper of both tables, and to protect both godliness
and honesty. Secondly, Prosperity promised them,
if they do this duty. He that rules in the fear of
God, shall be as the light of the morning, v. 4.
Light is sweet and pleasant, and he that does his
duty, shall have the comfort of it; his rejoicing will
be the testimony of his conscience. Light is bright,
and a good prince is illustrious; his justice and piety
will be his honour. Light is a blessing, nor are
there greater and more extensive blessings to the
Jublic, than princes that rule in the fear of God.
t is like the light of the morning, which is most
welcome after the darkness of the night; so was
David’s government after Saul’s; (Ps. 75. 3.) and
which is increasing, shines more and more to the
perfect day: such is the growing lustre of a good
government. It is likewise compared to the tender
grass, which the earth produces for the service of
man; it brings with it a harvest of blessings. See
Ps. 72. 6, 16. which were also some of the last
words of David, and seem to refer to these here.
[2. ] With application to Christ, the Son of Da¬
vid, and then it must all be taken as a prophecy,
and the original will bear it; There shall be a rul-er
among men, or over men, that shall be just, and
shall rule in the fear of God, that is, shall order
the affairs of religion, and divine worship, accord¬
ing to his father’s will; and he shall be as the light
of the morning, &c. for he is the Light of the world,
and as the tender grass, for he is the Branch of the
Lord, and the Fruit of the earth, Isa. 4. 2. Com¬
pare this with those promises of Christ, which
speak of his reigning in righteousness, and being
of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, Isa.
| 11. 1. . 5.-32. 1, 2. Ps. 72. 2. God, by the Spirit,
! gave David the foresight of this, to comfort him
! under the many calamities of his family, and the
melancholy prospects he had of the degeneracy of
his seed.
2. What comfortable use he made of this which
God spake to him, and what were his devout medi¬
tations on it, by way of reply, v. 5. It is not unlike
his meditation, on occasion of such a message, 2
Sam. 7. 18, &c. What goes before, the Rock of
Israel spake to him; this the Spirit of God spake
by him, and it is a most excellent confession of his
faith and hope in the everlasting covenant.
Here is,
(1.) Trouble supposed. Although my house be
not so with God, and although he make it not to
grow. David’s family was not so with God, as is
described, ( v . 3,4.) and as he could wish; not so
good, not so happy; it had not been so while he
lived, he foresaw it would not be so when he was
gone; that his house would be neither so pious nor
so prosperous as one might ha\ e expected the off¬
spring of such a father to be. [1.J Not so with
God. Note, We and our’s are that really, which
we are with God. This was it that David’s heart
was upon concerning his children, that they might
be right with God, faithful to him, and zealous for
him. • But the children of godly parents are often
neither so holy nor so happy as might be expected.
We must be made to know, that it is corruption,
not grace, that runs in the blood; that the race is
not to the swift, but that God gives the Spirit as a
free Agent. [2.] Not made to grow, in number,
in power; it is God that makes families to grow, or
not to grow, Ps. 107. 41. Good men have often the
melancholy prospect of a declining family. David’s
house was typical of the church of Christ, which
is his house, Heb. 3. 3. Suppose this be not so
with God as we could wish, suppose it be dimin¬
ished, distressed, disgraced, and weakened, by
errors and corruptions, yea, almost extinct, yet
God has made a covenant with the church’s Head,
the Son of David, that he will preserve to him a
seed, that the gates of hell shall never prevail
against his house. This our Saviour comforted
himself with, in his sufferings, that the covenant
with him stood firm, Isa. 53. 10. . 12.
(2.) Comfort insured. Yet he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant. Whatever trouble a
child of God may have the prospect of, still he has
some comfort or other to balance it with, (2 Cor.
4. 8, 9.) and none like this here. [1.) It may be
understood of the covenant of royalty, (in the type,)
which God made with David and his seed, touching
the kingdom, Ps. 132. 11, 12. But, [2.] It must
look further, to the covenant of grace, made with
all believers, that God will be, in Christ, to them a
God, which was signified by the covenant of royal¬
ty, and therefore the promises of the covenant are
called, the sure mercies of David, Isa. 55. 3. It is
this only that is the everlasting covenant, and it
cannot be imagined that David, who, in so many of
his Psalms, speaks so clearly concerning Christ,
and the grace of the gospel, should forget it in his
last words. God has made a covenant of grace
with us in Jesus Christ, and we are here told, First,
That it is an everlasting covenant, from everlasting,
in the contrivance and counsel of it, and to everlast¬
ing, in the continuance and consequences of it.
Secondly, That it is ordered, well-ordered in all
things, admirably well, to advance the glory of
God, and the honour of the Mediator, together
with the holiness and comfort of believers. It is
herein well-ordered, that whatever is required in
the covenant, is promised, and that every trans¬
gression in the covenant does not throw us out cf
covenant, and that it puts our salvation, not in our
453
II. SAMUEL, XXI11.
own keeping, but in the keeping of a Mediator.
Thirdly, That it is sure, and therefore sure, be¬
cause well-ordered; the general offer of it is sure,
the promised mercies are sure, on the performance
of the conditions. The particular application of it
to true believers is sure, it is sure to all the seed.
Fourthly, That it is all our salvation: nothing but
this will sa\ e us, and this is sufficient: it is this only
upon which cur salvation depends. Fifthly, That
therefore it must be all our desire. Let me have
an interest in this covenant, and the promises of it,
and I have enough, I desire no more.
3. Here is the doom of the sons of Belial read,
v. 6, 7. (1.) They shall be thrust away as thorns,
rejected, abandoned; they are like thorns, not to be
touched with hands, so passionate and furious that
they cannot be managed or dealt with by a wise
and faithful reproof, but must be restrained by law,
and the sword of justice, (Ps. 32. 9.) and therefore
like thorns. (2.) They shall, at length, be utterly
burnt with fire in the same place, Heb. 6. 8. Now
this is intended either, [1.] As a direction to magis¬
trates, to use their power for the punishing and
suppressing of wickedness. Let them thrust away
the sons of Belial; see Ps. 101. 8. Or, [2.] Asa
caution to magistrates, and particularly to David’s
sons and successors, to see that they be not them¬
selves sons of Belial, (as too many of them were,)
for then neither the dignity of their place, nor their
relation to David, would secure them from being
thrust away by the righteous judgments of God.
Though men could not deal with them, God would.
Or, [3.] As a prediction of the ruin of all the im¬
placable enemies of Christ’s kingdom. There are
enemies without, that openly oppose it, and fight
against it; and enemies within, that secretly betray
it, and are false to it; both are sons of Belial, the
children of the wicked one, of the serpent’s seed:
both are as thorns, grievous and vexatious: but both
shall be so thrust away, as that Christ will set up
his kingdom, in despite of their enmity, will go
through them, (Isa. 27. 4. ) and will, in due time,
bless his church with such peace, that there shall
be no pricking brier, nor grieving thorn. And
those that will not repent, to give glory to God,
shall, in the judgment-day, (to which the Chaldee
araphrast refers this,) be burnt with unquencha-
le fire. See Luke 19. 27.
8. These be the names of the mighty men
whom David had : The Tachmonite that
sat in the seat, chief among the captains;
the same was Adino the Eznite; he lifted
up his spear against eight hundred, whom
he slew at one time. 9. And after him
was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite,
one of the three mighty men with David,
when they defied the Philistines that were
there gathered together to battle, and the
men of Israel were gone away : 1 0. He
arose, and smote the Philistines until his
hand was weary, and his hand clave unto
the sword: and the Lord wrought a great
victory that day ; and the people returned
after him only to spoil. 1 1. And after him
ivas Shammah the son of Agee the Hara-
rite : and the Philistines were gathered to¬
gether into a troop, where was a piece of
ground full of lentiles; and the people fled
from the Philistines: 12. But he stood in
the midst of the ground, and defended it,
and slew the Philistines: and the Lord
wrought a great victory. 13. And three
of the thirty chief went down, and came to
David in the harvest-time unto the cave of
Adullam : and the troop of the Philistines
pitched in the valley of Rephaim. 1 4. Ann
David was then in a hold, and the garrison
of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.
15. And David longed, and said, Oh that
one would give me drink of the water of the
well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate!
1 6. And the three mighty men brake through
the host of the Philistines, and drew water
out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by
the gate, and took it, and brought it to Da¬
vid : nevertheless he would not drink thereof,
but poured it out unto the Lord ; 1 7. And
he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I
should do this : is not this the blood of the
men that went in jeopardy of their lives ?
Therefore he would not drink it. These
things did these three mighty men. 1 8. And
Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Ze-
ruiah, was chief among three : and he lifted
up his spear against three hundred, and slew
them , and had the name among three. 19.
Was he not most honourable of three !
therefore he was their captain : howbeit he
attained not unto the first three. 20. And
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a
valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done
many acts; he slew two lion-like men of
Moab : he went down also and slew a lion
in the midst of a pit in time of snow. 21.
And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man :
and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand ;
but he went down to him with a staff, and
plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s
hand, and slew him with his own spear.
22. These things did Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada, and had the name among three
mighty men. 23. He was more honourable
than the thirty, but he attained not to the
first three: and David set him over his
guard. 24. Asahel the brother of Joab teas
one of the thirty ; Elhanan the son of Dodo
of Beth-lehem, 25. Shammah the Harod-
ite, Elika the Harodite, 26. Helez the
Paltite, Ira the son of lkkesh the Tekoite,
27. Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the
Hushathite, 28. Zalmon the Ahohite, Ma-
harai the Netophathite, 29. Heleb the son
of Baanah, a Netpohathite ; Ittai the son
of Ribai, out of Gibeah of the children of
Benjamin, 30. Benaiah the Pirathonite,
Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, 31. Abi-
albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Bar-
humite, 32. Eliahba the Shaalbonite; of
the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33. Sham¬
mah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar
454
II. SAMUEL, XXIII.
the Hararite, 34. Eliphelet the son of
Ahashai,the son of the Maachathite; Eliam
tiie son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35.
Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
36. Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani
the Gadite, 37. Zelek the Ammonite ; Na-
iiarai the Beerothite, armour-bearer to Joab
the son of Zeruiah, 38. Ira an Ithrite,
Gareb an Ithrite, 39. Uriah the Hittite :
thirty and seven in all.
The catalogue which the historian has here left
upon record of the greatest soldiers that were in
David’s time, is intended, 1. For the honour of
David, who trained them up in the arts and exer¬
cises of war, and set them an example of conduct
and courage. It is the reputation, as well as the
advantage, of a prince, to be attended and served
by such brave men as are here described. 2. For
the honour of those worthies themselves, who were
instrumental to bring David to the crown, settle and
pr tect him in the throne, and enlarge his con¬
quests. Note, Those that in public stations venture
themselves, and lay out themselves, to serve the
interests of their country, are worthy of double
honour, both to be respected by those of their own
age, and to be remembered by posterity. 3. To
excite those that come after, to’ a generous emula¬
tion. 4. To show how much religion contributes
to the inspiring of men with true courage. Dav'd,
both by his Psalms, and by his offerings for the ser¬
vice of the temple, greatly promoted piety among
the grandees of the kingdom; (1 Chron. 29. 6.) and
when they became famous for piety, they became
famous for bravery.
Now these mighty men are here divided into
three ranks.
I. The first three, who had done the greatest
exploits, and thereby gained the greatest reputa¬
tion. Adino, (v. 8.) Eleazar, ( v . 9, 10.) and Sham-
mah, v. 11, 12. I do not remember that we read
of any of these, or of their actions, any where in all
the story of David, but here, and in the parallel
place, 1 Chron. 11. Many great and remarkable
events are passed by in the ann Is, which relate
rather the blemishes, than the glories, of David’s
reign, especially after his sin in the matter of Uriah;
so that we may conclude it to have been more illus¬
trious than it has appeared to us while reading the
records of it.
The exploits of this brave triumvirate are here
recorded. They signalized themselves in the wars
of Israel against their enemies, especially the Philis¬
tines. 1. Adino slew eight hundred at once, with
his spear. 2. Eleazar defied the Philistines, as
they, by Goliath, had defied Israel, but with better
success, and greater bravery; for when the men of
Israel were gone away, he not only kept his ground,
but arose, and smote the Philistines, on whom God
struck a terror, equal to the courage with which
this great hero was inspired. His hand was weary,
and yet it clave to his sword; as long as he had any
strength remaining, he held his weapon, and fol¬
lowed his blow. Thus, in the service of God, we
should keep up the willingness and resolution of the
spirit, notwithstanding the weakness and weariness
of the flesh: faint, yet pursuing, (Judg. 8. 4.) the
hand weary, yet not quitting the sword. Now that
Eleazar had beaten the enemy, the men of Israel,
who were gone away from the battle, (7'. 9.) re¬
turned to spoil, v. 10. It is common for those who
quit the field, when any thing is to be done, to
hasten to it, when any thing is to be gotten. 3.
Shammah met with a party of the enemy, that
were foraging, and routed them, v. 11, 12. But
observe both concerning this exploit and the for¬
mer, it is here said, The Lord wrought a great
victory. Note, How great soever the bravery of
the instruments is, the praise of the achievement
must be given to God. These fought the battles,
but God wrought the victory. Let not the stre ng
man then glory in his strength, or any of his mili¬
tary operations, but let him that glories, glory v
the Lord.
II. The next three were distinguished from, and
dignified above, the thirty, but attained not to the
first three, v. 23. All great men are not of the
same size. Many a bright and benign star there
is, which is not of the first magnitude; and many a
good ship not of the first rate: of this second trium¬
virate, two only are named, Abishai and Benaiah,
whom we have often met with in the story of Da¬
vid; and who seem to have been not inferior in ser
viceableness, though they were in dignity, to the
first three.
Here is,
1. A brave action of these three in conjunction.
They attended David in his troubles, when he ab¬
sconded in the cave of Aduilam, (xu 13. ) suffered
with him, and therefore were afterward preferred
by him. When David and his brave men who at¬
tended him, who had acted so vigorously against
the Philistines, were, bv the iniquity of the times,
in Saul’s reign, dri\ en to shelter themselves from
his rage in caves and strong holds, no marvel that
the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim,
and put a garrison even in Beth-lehem itself, v. 13,
14. If the church’s guides are so misled, as to
persecute some of her best friends and champions,
the common enemy will, no doubt, get advantage
by it. If David had had his liberty, Beth-lehem
would not have been now in the Philistine’s hands.
But being so, we are here told, (1.) How ear¬
nestly David longed for the water of the well of
Beth-lehem. Some make it a public-spirited wish,
and that he meant, “O that we could drive the
garrison of the Philistines out of Beth-lehem, and
make that beloved city of mine our own again;”
the well being put for the city, as the river often
signifies the country it passes through. But if he
meant so, those about him did not understand him;
therefore it seems rather to be an instance of his
weakness. It was harvest-time, the weather was
hot, he was thirsty, perhaps good water was scarce,
and therefore he earnestly wishes, “O that I could
but have one draught of the water of the well of
Beth-lehem !” With the water of that well he had
often refreshed himself when he was a youth, and
nothing now will serve him but that, though it is
almost impossible to come at it. He strangely in¬
dulged a humour which he could give no reason
for. Other water might quench his thirst as well,
but he had a fancy for that above any. It is folly
to entertain such fancies, and greater folly to insist
upon the gratification of them. We ought to check
our appetites, when they go out inordinately toward
those things that really are more pleasant and
grateful than other things. Be not desirous of
dainties, much more, when they are thus set upon
such things as only please a humour. (2.) How
bravely his three mighty men, Abishai, Benaiah,
and another not named, ventured through the camp
of the Philistines, upon the very mouth of danger,
and fetched water from the well of Beth-iehem,
without David’s knowledge. When he wished for
it, he was far from desiring that any of his men
should venture their lives for it; but those three
did, ("u. 16.) to show, [1.] How much they valued
their prince, and with what pleasure they could
run the greatest hazards, and undergo the greatest
hardships, in his service. David, though anointed
455
II. SAMUEL, XXIV.
ting, was, as yet, an exile, a poor prince that had
no external advantages to recommend him to the
affection and esteem of his attendants, nor was he
in any capacity to prefer or reward them; yet those
three were thus zealous for his satisfaction, firmly
believing the time of recompense would come.
Let us be willing to venture in the cause of Christ,
even when it is a suffering cause, as those who are
assured that it will prevail, and that we shall not
lose by it at last. Were they so forward to expose
themselves, upon the least hint of their prince’s
mind, and so ambitious to please him? And shall
not we covet to approve curse ves to our Lord
Jesus, by a ready compliance with every intimation
of his will, given us by his word, Spirit, and provi¬
dence? [2.] How little they feared the Philistines.
They were glad of an occasion to defy them.
Whether they broke through the host clandes¬
tinely, and with such art that the Philistines did
not discover them, or openly, and with such terror
in their looks that the Philistines durst not oppose
them, is not certain; it should seem, they forced
their way, sword in hand. But see, (3.) How self-
denyingly David, when he had this far-fetched,
dear-bought water, floured it before the Lord, v. 16.
[1.] Thus he would show the tender regard he had
to the lives of the soldiers, and how far he was
from being prodigal of their blood, Ps. 72. 14. In
God’s sight, the death of his saints is precious.
[2.] Thus he would testify his sorrow for speaking
that foolish word which occasioned those men to
put their lives in their hands. Great men should
take heed what they say, lest any bad use be made
of it by those about them. [3.J Thus he would
f (revent the like rashness in any of his men for the
uture. [4.] Thus he would cross his own foolish
fancy, and punish himself for entertaining and in¬
dulging it, and show that he had sober thoughts to
correct his rash ones, and knew how to deny him¬
self even in that which he was most fond of. Such
generous mortifications become the wise, the great,
and the good. [5.] Thus he would honour God,
and give glory to him; the water purchased at this
rate, he thought too precious for his own drinking,
and fit onlv to be poured out to God as a drink-
offerirg. If it was the blood of these men, it was
God’s due, for the blood was always his. [6.]
Bishop Patrick speaks of some who think that Da¬
vid hereby showed that it was not material water
he longed for, but the Messiah, who had the water
of life; who, he knew, should be bom at Beth-lehem,
which the Philistines therefore should not be able
to destroy. Lastly, Did David look upon that
water as very precious, which was got at the
hazard of these men’s blood, and shall not we much
more value those benefits, for the purchasing of
which our blessed Saviour shed his blood? Let us
not undervalue the blood of the covenant, as they
do, that undervalue the blessings of the covenant.
2. The brave actions of two of them on other |
occasions. Abishai slew three hundred men at
once, v. 18, 19. Benaiah did many great things:
( 1. ) He slew two Moabites that were lion-like men,
so bold and strong, so fierce and furious. (2.) He
slew a lion in a pit, either in his own defence, as
Samson, or, perhaps, in kindness to the country, a
lion that had done mischief. It being in a time of
snow, he was more stiff, and the lion more fierce
and ravenous, and yet he mastered him. (3.) He
slew an Egyptian, on what occasion it is not said; he
was well armed, but Benaiah attacked him with
no other weapon than a walking-staff, dexterously
wrested his spear out of his hand, and slew him
with it, v. 21. For these, and the hke exploits,
David preferred him to be capt tin of the life-guard
of standing forces, v. 23.
III. Inferior to the second three, but of great
note, were the thirty-one here mentioned by name,
v. 24, &c. Asahel is the first, who was slain by
Abner in the beginning of David’s reign, but lost
not his place in this catalogue. Elhanan is the
next, brother to Eleazar, one of the first three, v. 9.
The surnames here given them, are taken, as it.
should seem, from the places of their birth or
habitation, as many surnames with us originally
were. From all parts of the nation, ‘the most wise
and valiant were picked up to serve the king.
Several of these here named, we find captains of
the twelve courses which David appointed, one for
each month in the year, 1 Chron. 27. They that
did worthily, were preferred according to their
merits. One cf them was the son of Ahithophel;
(v. 34. ) the sen famous in the camp, as the father
at the council-board. But to find Uriah the Hittite
bringing up the rear of these worthies, as it revives
the remembrance of David’s sin, so it aggravates
it; that a man who deserved so well of his king and
country should be so ill treated. Joab is not men¬
tioned among all these, either, 1. Because he was
so great, that he did not need to be mentioned; the
first of the first three, sat chief among the captains,
but Joab was over them as general. Or, 2. Be¬
cause he was so bad, that he did not deserve to be
mentioned; for though he was confessedly a great
soldier, and one that had so much religion in him
as to dedicate of his spoils to the house of God,
(1 Chron. 26. 28.) yet he lost as much honour by
slaying two of David’s friends, as ever he got by
slaying his enemies.
Christ, the Son of David, has worthies too, who,
like David’s, are influenced by his example, fight
his battles against the spiritual enemies of his king¬
dom, and in his strength are more than conque¬
rors. Christ’s apostles were his immediate attend-
| ants, did suffer great things for him, and, at length,
came to reign with him. They are mentioned
with honour in the New Testament, as these in the
Old, especially, Rev. 21. 14. Nay, all the good
soldiers of Jesus Christ have their names better
preserved than even these worthies have; for they
are written in heaven. This honour have all his
saints.
CHAR XXIV.
The last words of David, which we read in the chapter be¬
fore, were admirably good, but in this chapter we read
some of his last uwrks, which were none of the best;
yet he repented, and did his first works again, and so he
finished well. We have here, I. His sin, which was,
numbering the people in the pride of his heart, v. I . . 9.
II. His conviction of the sin, and repentance for it, v.
10. HI. The judgment inflicted upon him for it, v. 11 . .
15. IV. The staying of the judgment, v. 16, 17. V.
The erecting of an altar in token of God’s reconcilia¬
tion to him and his people, v. 18. .25.
1. A ND again the anger of the Lord
jC3 l was kindled against Israel, and he
moved David against them - to say, Go,
number Israel and Judah. 2. For the
king said to Joab the captain of the host,
which was with him, Go now through all the
tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba,
and number ye the people, that I may know
the number of the people. 3. And Joab
said unto the king, Now the Lord thy
God add unto the people, how many soever
they be, a hundred fold, and that the eyes of
my lord the king may see it : but why doth
my lord the king delight in this thing ? 4.
Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed
456
II. SAMUEL, XXIV.
agninst Joab, and against the captains of
the host: and Joab and the captains of the
host went out. from the presence of the king,
to number the people of Israel. 5. And
they passed over Jordan, and pitched in
Aroer, on l lie right side of the city that lieth
in the midst of the river of Gad, and to¬
ward Jazer: 6. Then they came to Gil¬
ead, and to the land of T ahtim-hodshi ; and
they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zi-
don, 7. And came to the strong hold of
Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites,
and of the Canaanites : and they went out
to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.
8. So when they had gone through all the
land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of
nine months and twenty days. 9. And
Joab gave up the sum of the number of the
people unto the king: and there were in
Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men
that drew the sword ; and the men of Ju¬
dah were five hundred thousand men.
Here we have,
I. The orders which David gave to Joab to num¬
ber the people of Israel and Judah, v. 1, 2. Two
things here seem strange.
1. The sinfulness of this. What harm was there
in it? Did not Moses twice number the people,
without any crime? Does not political arithmetic
come in among the other policies of a prince?
Should not the shepherd know the number of his
sheep? Does not the Son of David know all his
own by name? Might not he make good use of
this calculation? What evil has he done, if he do
this? Answer. It is certain that it was a sin, and a
great sin; but where the evil of it lay is not so cer¬
tain. (1.) Some think that the fault was, that he
numbered them that were under twenty years old,
if they were but of stature and strength able to
bear arms; and that was the reason why this ac¬
count was not enrolled, because it was illegal, 1
Chron. 27. 23, 24. (2.) Others think the fault
was, that he did not require the half-shekel which
was to be paid for the service of the sanctuary,
whenever the people were numbered, as a ransom
for their souls , Exod. 30. 12. (3.) Others think
that he did it with a design to impose a tribute upon
them for himself, and to be put into his treasury;
th:s by way of poll, which, when he knew their
numbers, he could tell what it would amount to:
but nothing of this appears, nor was David ever a
raiser of taxes. (4.) This was the fault, that he
had no orders from God to do it, nor was there any
occasion for the doing of it. It was a needless
trouble both to himself and to his people. (5.)
Some think that it was an affront to the ancient pro¬
mise which God made to Abraham, that his seed
should be innumerable as the dust of the earth: it
savoured of distrust of that promise, or a design to
show that it was not fulfilled in the letter of it. He
would number those of whom God had said that
they could not be numbered. Those know not
what they do, that go about to disprove the word
of God. (6.) That which was the worst thing in
numbering the people, was, that David did it in the
pride of his heart, which was Hezekiah’s sin in
showing his treasures to the ambassadors. [1.] It
was a proud conceit of his own greatness, in having
the command of so numerous a people, as if their
increase had been owing to any conduct of his.
which was to be ascribed purely to the blessing of
God. [2. ] It was a proud confidence in his own
strength. By publishing among the nations the
number of his people, he thought to appear the
more formidable; and doubted not, if he should
have any war, that he should overpower his ene¬
mies with the multitude of his forces; trusting in an
arm of flesh, more than he should have done, who
had written so much of trusting in God only. God
judges not of sin as we do. What appears to us
harmless, or, at least, but a small offence, may be a
great sin in the eye of God, who sees men’s princi¬
ples, and is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. But his judgment, we are sure, is ac¬
cording to truth.
2. The spring from which it is here said to arise,
is yet more strange, v. 1. It is not strange that
the anger of the Lord should be kindled against
Israel; there was cause enough for it, they were
unthankful for the blessings of David’s government,
and strangely drawn in to take part with Absalom
first, and afterward with Sheba: we have reason to
think that their peace and plenty made them se¬
cure and sensual, and for this, God was displeased
with them; but that, in this displeasure, he should
move David to number the people, is very strange.
We are sure that God is not the author of sin: he
tempts no man: we are told (1 Chron. 21. l.)that
Satan provoked David to number Israel; Satan, as
an enemy, suggested it for a sin, as he put it into
the heart of Judas to betray Christ. God, as a
righteous Judge, permitted it, with a design, from
this sin of David, to take an occasion to punish
other sins of Israel, which he might justly have
punished them for without this. But, as before, he
brought a famine upon them for the sin of Saul, so
now, a pestilence for the sin of David; that princes
may, from these instances, learn, when the judg¬
ments of God are abroad, to suspect that their sins
are the ground of the controversy, and may there¬
fore repent and reform themselves, which should
have a great influence upon national repentance
and reformation; and that people may learn to pray
for those in authority, that God would keep them
from sin; because if they sin, the kingdom smarts.
II. The opposition which Joab made to these or¬
ders. Even he was aware of David’s folly and vain¬
glory in this design. He observed that David gave
no reason for it, only, Number the people , that I
may know the number of the people; and therefore
endeavours to divert his pride, and in a much more
decent manner than he had before endeavoured to
divert his passion upon the death of Absalom; then
he spake rudely and insolently, [eh. 19. 5* *7.) but
now, as became him, ( v . 3.) Now the Lord thy
God add unto the people a hundred fold. There
is no occasion either to tax them, or enlist them, or
make any distribution of them. They are all e sy
and happy; and it is his wish, both that their num¬
ber might increase, and that the king, though old,
might live to see it, and have the satisfaction of it.
But why doth my lord the king delight in this
thing ? What need is there of doing it? Pauperis
est numerare pecus — Leave it to the poor to count
their flocks. Especially, why should David, who
speaks so much of delighting in God, and tbe exer¬
cises of devotion, and who, being old, one would
think, should have put away childish things, take
a pleasure (so he calls it modestly, but means tak¬
ing a pride) in a thing of this nature? Note, Many
things, not in themselves sinful, turn into sin to us
by our inordinate delighting in them. Joab was
aware of David’s vanity herein, but he himself was
not. It would be good for us to have a friend that
would faithfully admonish us, when we say or do
any thing proud or vain-glorious, for we often do so,
and are not ourselves aware of it.
457
U. SAMUEL, XXIV.
III. The orders executed notwithstanding. The
king’s word, firevailed ; (v. 4.) he would have it
done; Joab must not gainsay it, lest he be thought
to grudge his time and pains in the king’s service.
It is an unhappiness to great men, to have those
about them, that will aid them and serve them in
that which is evil; Joab, according to order, applied
himself with some reluctancy to this unpleasing
‘ask, and took the captains of the host to help him.
They bbgan in the must distant places; in the east
first, on the other side Jordan; (ta 5.) then they
went toward Dan in the north; (t>. 6.) so to Tyre
on the east, and thence to Beer-sheba in the south,
v. 7. Above nine months were spent in taking this
account; a great deal of trouble and amazement was
occasioned by it in the country; (x>. 8.) and the sum
total was, at length, brought to the king at Jerusa¬
lem, v. 9. Whether the numbers answered Da¬
vid’s expectation or no, we are not told, nor
whether the account fed his pride or mortified it.
They were very many, but, it may be, not so many
as he thought they were. They had not increased
in Canaan as they had in Egypt, nor were much
more than double to what they were when they
came into Canaan under Joshua, about 400 years
before; yet it is an evidence that Canaan was a very
fruitful land, that so many thousands were main¬
tained within so narrow a compass.
10. And David’s heart smote him after
that he had numbered the people. And
David said unto the Lord, I have sinned
greatly in that I have done: and now, 1 be¬
seech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity
of thy servant; for I have done very fool¬
ishly. 1 1. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto
the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 1 2.
Go and say unto David, Thus saith the
Lord, I offer thee three things ; choose
thee one of them, that I may do it unto
thee. 13. So Gad came to David, and
told him, and said unto him, Shall seven
years of famine come unto thee in thy
land ? or wilt thou flee three months before
thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or
that fV're be three days’ pestilence in thy
land l Now advise, and see what answer
I shall return to him that sent me. 14.
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait: let us fall now into the hand of the
Lord, (for his mercies are great,) and let
me not fall into the hand of man. 1 5. So
the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel,
from the morning even to the time appoint¬
ed : and there died of the people, from Dan
even to Beer-sheba, seventy thousand men.
16. And when the angel stretched out his
hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the
Lord repented him of the evil, and said
to the angel that destroyed the people, It is
enough; stay now thine hand. And the
angei of the Lord was by the threshing-
place of Araunah the Jebusite. 17. And
David spake unto the Lord, when he saw
the angel that smote the people, and said,
Vol. II.— 3 M
Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wick¬
edly : but these sheep, what have they done?
Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me,
and against my father’s house.
We have here David repenting of the sin, and
yet punished for it; God repenting of the judgment,
and David thereby made more penitent.
I. Here is David’s penitent reflection upon, and
confession of, his sin in numbering the people.
. While the thing was in doing, during all those nine
: months, we do not find that David was sensible of
his sin, (for then he would have countermanded the
orders he had given,) but when the account was
finished, and laid before him, that very night, his
conscience was awakened, and he felt the pain of
it, just then when he promised himself the pleasure
of it. When he was about to feast on the satisfac¬
tion of the numbers of his people, it was turned into
the gall of asps within him; sense of the sin cast a
damp upon the joy, v. 10. 1. He was convinced of
his sin; his heart smote him, before the prophet
came to him, (I think it should not be read for, v.
11. but, and when David was up,, so it is in the
original,) his conscience showed him the evil of
what he had done; now that appeared sin, and ex¬
ceeding sinful, which, before, he saw no harm in.
He reflected upon it with great regret, and his
heart reproached him for it. Note, It is a good
thing, when a man has sinned, to have a heart with¬
in him to smite him for it; it is a good sign of a
principle of grace in the heart, and a good step to¬
ward repentance and reformation. 2. He confessed
it to God, and begged earnestly for the forgiveness
of it. (1.) He owns he had sinned, sinned greatly,
though to others it might seem no sin at all, or a
very little one. True penitents, whose consciences
are tender and well informed, see that evil in sin,
which others do not see. (2.) He owns he had
done folishly, very foolishly, because he had done
it in the pride of his heart; and it was folly for him
to be proud of the numbers of his people, when
they were God’s people, not his, and as many as
they were, God could soon make them fewer. (3.)
He cries to God for pardon : I beseech thee, O Lord,
take away the iniquity of thy sen>ant. If we con~
fess our sins , we may pray in faith that God will
forgive them, and take away, by pardoning mercy,
that iniquity which we cast away by sincere re¬
pentance.
II. The just and necessary correction which he
suffered for this sin. David had been full of toss¬
ings to and fro, all night, under the sense of this
sin, no rest in his bones because of it, and he arose
in the morning, expecting to hear of God’s dis¬
pleasure against him for what he had done, or de¬
signing to speak with Gad his seer concerning it:
Gad is called his seer, because he had him always
at hand to advise with in the things of God, and
made use of him as his confessor and counsellor,
but God prevented him, and directed the prophet
Gad what to say to him; ( v . 11.) and it is taken for
granted, 1. That David must be corrected for this
fault; it is too great a crime, and reflects too much
dishonour upon God, to go unpunished, even in Da¬
vid himself: of the seven things that God hates,
pride is the first, Prov. 6. 17. Note, These who
truly repent of their sins, and have them pardoned,
yet are often made to smart for them in this world.
2. The punishment must answer to the sin. He
was proud of the numbers of his people, and there¬
fore the judgment he must be chastised with for
this sin, must be such as will make them fewer.
Note, What we make the matter of our pride, it is
just with God to take from us, or imbitter to us;
and, some way or other, to make the matter of our
458
II. SAMUEL, XXIV.
punishment. 3. It must be such a punishment as 1
the people must have a large share in, for God’s
anger was kindled against Israel, v. 1. Though it
was David’s sin that immediately opened the
sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the '
deluge.
Now as to the punishment that must be inflicted,
(1.) David is bid to choose what rod he will be
bea en with, v. 12, 13. His heavenly Father must
correct him, but, to show that he does not do it will¬
ingly, he gives David leave to make choice whether
it shall be by war, famine, or pestilence, three sore
judgments, and which greatly weaken and diminish
a people. God, by putting him thus to his choice,
designed, [1.] To humble him the more for his sin,
which he would see to be exceeding sinful, when
he came to consider each of these judgments as ex¬
ceeding dreadful. [2.] To upbraid him with the !
f roud conceit he had of his own sovereignty oyer |
srael: he that is so great a prince, begins to think
he may have what he will; “Come,” says God,
“ then, which wilt thou have of these three things?”
Compare Jer. 34. 17, I proclaim a liberty for you, '
but it is such a liberty as this of David’s, to the
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and Jer.
15. 2, Such as are for death, to death. Or, [3.]
To give him some encouragement under the cor¬
rection, letting him know that God did not cast him
out of communion with himself, but that still his
seA’et was with him, and in afflicting him, he con¬
sidered his frame, and what he could best bear. Or,
[4.] That he might the more patiently bear the
rod, when it was a rod of his own choosing. The
prophet bids him advise with himself, and then tell
him what answer he should return to him that sent
him. Note, Ministers are sent of God to us, and
they must give an account of the success of their
embassy; it concerns us therefore to consider, what
answer they shall return from us, that they may
give up their account of us with joy.
(2. ) He excepts only against the judgment of the
sword, and, for the other two, he refers himself to
God, but intimates his choice of the pestilence rath¬
er; ( v . 14.) I am in a great strait, and well he
might be, when fear, aud the pit, and the snare are
before him, and if he escape one, he inevitably falls
into the other, Jer. 48. 43, 44. Note, Sin brings
men into straits; wise and good men often distress
themselves by their own folly. [1.] He begs that
he may not fall into the hand of man; whatever
comes, Let us not flee three months before our ene¬
mies; that will sully all the glory of David’s tri¬
umphs, and give occasion to the enemies of God
and Israel to behave themselves proudly. See Deut.
32. 26, 27. Their tender mercies are cruel; and in
three months they will do that damage to the na¬
tion, which many years will not repair. But, [2.]
He casts himself upon God; Let us fall now into the
hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great. Men
are God’s hand, so they are called, Ps. 17. 14. the
sword of his sending, yet there are some judgments
which come more immediately from his hand than
others, as famine and pestilence; and which of j
these shall be the scourge, he refers it to God, who
chooses the shortest, that he might the sooner tes-
tifv his being reconciled. But some think that Da¬
vid, by these words, intimates his choice of the
pestilence. The land had not yet recovered the fa¬
mine under which it smarted three years upon the
Gibeonites* account, and therefore let us not be cor¬
rected with that rod, for that also will be the tri¬
umph of our neighbours; hence we read of the re¬
proach of famine; (Ezek. 36. 30.) but, if Israel
must be diminished, let it be by the pestilence, for
that is falling into the hands of the Lord, who usu¬
ally inflicted that judgment by the hand of his own
immediate servants, the angels, as in the death of j
the first-born of Egypt. Tnat is a judgment to
which David himself, and his own family, lie as
open as the meanest subject, but not so, either to
famine or sword, and therefore David, tenderly
conscious of his guilt, chooses that. Swoi d and fa¬
mine will devour one as well as another, bm, .t may
be thought, the destroying angel will ch w his
sword against those who are known to G« d to be
most guilty. This will be of the shortest continuance,
and he dreads the thought of lying long under the
tokens ol God’s displeasure. It is a dreadful thing,
the apostle says, to Jail into the hunds of the living
God; (Heb. 10. 31.) a fearful thing indeed for sin¬
ners that have, by their impenitency, shut them¬
selves out from all hope of his mercy: but David, a
penitent, dares cast himself into God’s hand, know¬
ing he shall find that his mercies are great. Good
men, even when they are under God’s frowns, yet
will entertain no other than good thoughts of him.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
(3.) A pestilence is, accordingly, sent, (r. 15.)
from Dan to Beer-sheba, from one end of the king¬
dom to the other, which shows it to come immedi¬
ately from God’s hand, and not from any natural
causes: David has his choice, he suffers by miracle,
and not by ordinary means. For the continuance
of it, it lasted from morning (this very morning on
which it was put to David’s choice) to the time ap¬
pointed, that is, to the third day, so Mr. Poole: or
only to the evening of the first day, the time ap¬
pointed for the evening sacrifice, so Bishop Patrick
and others, who reckon that the pestilence lasted
but nine hours, and that, in compassion to David,
God shortened the time he had first mentioned.
The execution the pestilence did, was very severe,
there died seventy thousand men, that were all well,
and sick, and dead, in a few hours. What a great
cry, may we suppose, was there now throughout all
the land of Israel, as there was in Egypt when the
first-born were slain: but that was at midnight, this,
in the day-time, Ps. 91. 6. See the power of the
angels, when God gives them commission, either to
sa\ e or to destroy : Joab is nine months in passing
with his pen, the angel but nine hours in passing
with his sword, through all the coasts and corners
of the land of Israel. See how easily God can bring
down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe
daily to the divine patience. David’s adultery is
punished, for the present, only with the death of
one infant, his pride, with the death of all those
thousands, so much does God hate pride. The
number slain amounts almost to a half decimation;
seventy thousand was about one in twenty: now we
may suppose, David’sflesh trembled for fear of God ,
and he was afraid of his judgments, Ps. 119. 120.
III. God’s gracious relaxation of the judgment,
when it began to be inflicted upon Jerusalem, v. 16,
The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem,
as if he intended to do greater executir n there than
any where else, even to destroy it; the country had
drunk of the bitter cup, but Jerusalem must drink
the dregs: it should seem, that was last numbered.,
and therefore was reserved to be last plagued; per¬
haps there was more wickedness, especially more
pride, (and that was the sin now chastised,) in Je¬
rusalem than elsewhere, therefore the hand of the
destroyer is stretched out upon that: but then the
Lord repented him of the evil, changed not his
mind, but his way, and said to the destroying angel,
It is enough; stay now thine hand, and let mercy
rejoice against judgment. Jerusalem shall be spared
for the ark’s sake, for it is the place God hath cho¬
sen to put his name there. See here how ready
God is to forgive, and how little pleasure he takes
in punishing; and let it encourage us to meet him
by repentance in the way of his judgments. This
was on mount Moriah.' Dr. Lightfoot observes.
459
II. SAMUEL, XXIV.
that in the very place where Abraham, by a coun¬
termand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his
son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed
from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of
the great Sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are pre¬
served from the destroying angel.
IV. David’s renewed repentance for his sin upon
this occasion, v. 17. He saw the angel, (God
opening his eyes for that purpose,) saw his sword
stretched out to destroy, a flaming sword; saw him
ready to sheath it, upon the orders given him to
stay proceedings; seeing this, he spoke, not to the
angel, (he knew better than to address himself to
the servant in the presence of the Master, or to give
that honour to the creature, which is the Creator’s
due,) but to the Lord, and said, Lo, I have sinned.
Note, True penitents, the more they receive of
God’s sparing pardoning mercy, the more humbled
they are for sin, and the more resolved against it.
They shall be ashamed, when I am pacified toward
them, Ezek. 16. 63. Observe, 1. How he crimi¬
nates himself, as if he could never speak ill enough
of his own fault; “ I have sinned, and I have done
wickedly, mine is the crime, and therefore on me
be the cross; Let thy hand be against me, and my
father’s house; I am the sinner, let me be the suf¬
ferer;” so willing was' he to accept the punishment
of his iniquity, though he was worth ten thousand
of them. 2. How he intercedes for the people,
whose bitter lamentations made his heart to ache,
and his ears to tingle; These sheep, what have they
done? Done! Why they had done much amiss; it
was their sin that provoked God to leave David
himself to do as he did; yet, as became a penitent,
he is severe upon his own faults, while he extenu¬
ates their’s. Most people, when God’s judgments
are abroad, charge others with being the cause of
them, and care not who falls by them, so they can
escape; but David’s penitent and public spirit was
otherwise affected. Let this remind us. of the grace
of our Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins,
and was willing that God’s hand should be against
him, that we might escape. The shepherd was
smitten, that the sheep might be spared.
18. And Gad came that day to David,
and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar un¬
to the Lord in the threshing-floor of Arau-
nah the Jebusite. 1 9. And David, accord¬
ing to the saying of Gad, went up, as the
Lord commanded. 20. And Araunah look¬
ed, and saw the king and his servants com¬
ing on toward him: and Araunah went out,
and bowed himself before the king on his
face upon the ground. 21. And Araunah
said, Wherefore is my lord the king come
to his servant? And David said, To buy
the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar
unto the Lord, that the plague may be
stayed from the people. 22. And Araunah
said unto David, Let my lord the king take
and offer up what seemet/i good unto him :
behold, here he oxen for burnt-sacrifice, and
threshing instruments and other instruments
of the oxen for wood. 23. All these things
did Araunah, os a king, give unto the king :
and Araunah said unto the king, The Lord
thy God accept thee. 24. And the king
said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely
buy it of thee at a price : neither will I offer
burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of
that which doth cost me nothing. So Da¬
vid bought the threshing-floor and the oxen
for fifty shekels of silver. 25. And David
built there an altar unto the Lord, and
offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
So the Lord was entreated for the land,
and the plague was stayed from Israel.
Here is,
I. A command sent to David, to erect an altar in
the place where he saw the angel, v. 18. This was
to intimate to David, 1. That, upon his repeated
submission and humiliation, God was now tho¬
roughly reconciled to him; for if the Lord had been
pleased to kill him, he would not have accepted an
offering, and therefore would not have ordered him
to build an altar. God’s encouraging us to offer
to him spiritual sacrifices, is a comfortable evidence
of his reconciling us to himself. 2. That peace is
made between God and sinners by sacrifice, and not
otherwise, even by Christ t.he great Propitiation, of
whom all the legal sacrifices were types. It is for
his sake, that the destroying angel is bid to stay his
hand. 3. That when God’s judgments are gra¬
ciously stayed, we ought to acknowledge it with
thankfulness, to his praise. This altar was to be
for thank-offerings. See Isa. 12. 1.
II. Thepurchuse which Da', id madeof theground,
in order hereunto. It seems, the owner was a Jebu¬
site, Araunah by name, proselyted, no doubt, to the
Jewish religion, though by birth a Gentile, and
therefore allowed, not only to dwell among the ls-
; raelites, but to have a possession of his own in a
city, Lev. 25. 29, 30. The piece of ground was a
threshing-floor, a mean place, yet thus dignified;
a place of labour, therefore thus dignified. Now,
1. David went in person to the owner, to treat
with him. See his justice, that he would not so
much as use it in the present exigence, though the
proprietor was an alien, though himself was a king,
and though he had express orders from God to
rear an altar there, till he had bought it, and paid
for it. God hates robbery for burnt-offering. See
his humility, how far he was from taking state;
though a king, he was now a penitent, and there¬
fore, in token of his self-abasement, he neither sent
for Araunah to come to him, nor sent another to
deal with him, but went himself; (i». 19.) and,
though it looked like a diminution of himself, he
lost no honour by it; Araunah, when he saw him,
went and bowed himself to the ground before him,
v. 20. Great men will be never the less respected
for their humility, but the more.
2. Araunah, when he understood his business,
( v . 21.) generously offered him, not only the ground
to build his altar on, but oxen for sacrifices, and
other things that might be of use to him in the ser¬
vice,^. 22.) and all this, gratis, and a good prayer
into the bargain; The Lord thy God accept thee!
This he did, (1.) Because he had a generous spirit
with a great estate. He gave as a king, ( v . 23.)
though an ordinary subject, he had the spirit of a
prince. In the Hebrew it is, He gave, even the
king to the king, whence it is supposed that Arau¬
nah had been king of theJebusites in that place; or
was descended from their royal family, though now
a tributary to David. (2.) Because he greatly hon¬
oured David, though his conqueror, upon the score
of his personal merits, and never thought he could
do too much to oblige him. (3.) Because he had an
affection for Israel, and earnestly desired that the
plague might be stayed; and the honour of its being
stayed at his threshing-floor he would account a val¬
uable consideration for all he now tendered to David.
160
II. SAMUEL, XXIV.
3, David resolves to pay the full value of it, and
does so, v. 24. Here were two generous souls well
met. Araunah is very willing to give; but David
is determined to buy, and for a good reason — he will
not offer that to God, which cost him nothing. He
would not take advantage of the pious Jebusite’s
generosity; he thanks him, no doubt, for his kind
offer, but pays him now fifty shekels of silver, for
the floor and the oxen, for the present service, and
afterward 600 shekels of gold for the ground adjoin¬
ing, to build the temple on. Note, Those know not
what religion is, all whose care it is, to make it
cheap and easy to themselves, and who are best
pleased with that which costs them least pains or
money. What have we our substance for, but to ho¬
nour God with it; and how can it be better bestowed?
III. The building of the altar, and the offering
of the proper sacrifices upon it; ( v . 25. ) burnt-offer-
ings, to the glory of God’s justice in the execution
that had been done; and peace-offerings, to the glo¬
ry of his mercy in the seasonable staying of the pro¬
cess. Hereupon, God showed (it is supposed by
fire from heaven consuming the sacrifices) that he
was entreated for the land, and that it was m mercy,
that the plague was removed, and in token of God’s
being reconciled both to prince and people. Christ
is our Altar, our Sacrifice; in him alone we may ex¬
pect to find favour with God, to escape his wrath,
and the sword, the flaming sword, of that cherubim,
which keeps the way of the tree of life.
AN '
E X P O S I
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE FIRST BOOK OF
KINGS.
Many nistories are books of kings and their reigns, to which the affairs of their kingdoms are reduced; it
is a piece of honour that has commonly been paid to crowned heads. The holy Scripture is the history
of the kingdom of God among men, under the several administrations of it; but there, the King is one,
and his Name one. The particular history now before us, accounts for the affairs of the kingdoms of
Judah and Israel, yet with special regard to the kingdom of God among them; for still it is a sacred his¬
tory, much more instructive, and not less entertaining, than any of the histories of the kings of the earth,
to which (those of them that are of any certainty) it is prior in time; for though there were kings in
Edom before there was any king in Israel, Gen. 36. 31. (foreigners, in that point of state, got the pre¬
cedency,) yet the history of the kings of Israel lives, and will live, in holy writ, to the end of the world,
whereas that of the kings of Edom is long since buried in oblivion : for the honour that comes from God,
is durable, while the honour of the world is like a mushroom, which comes up in a night, and perishes
in a night.
The Bible began with the story of the Patriarchs, and Prophets, and Judges, men whose converse with
heaven was more immediate, (the record of which strengthens our faith,) but is not so easily accom¬
modated to our case, now that we expect not visions, as the subsequent history of affairs like ours, under
the direction of common providence; and here also we find, though not many types and figures of the
Messiah, yet great expectations of him: for not only prophets, but kings, desired to see the great mys¬
teries of the gospel, Luke 10. 24. . .
The two books of Samuel are introductions to the books of the Kings, as they. relate the origin of the royal
government in Saul, and of the royal family in David. These two books give us an account of David s
successor, Solomon, the division of his kingdom, and the succession of the several kings both of Judah
and Israel, with an abstract of their history down to the captivity. And as from the book of Genesis
we may collect excellent rules of economics, for the good governing of families; so from these books, of
politics, for the directing of public affairs. There is in these books special regard had to the house and
lineage of David, from which Christ came. Some of his sons trod in his steps, and others did not. The
characters of the kings of Judah may be thus briefly given: — David the devout, Solomon the wise , Re-
hoboam the simple, Abijah the valiant,. Asa the upright, Jehoshaphat the religious, Jehoram the wicked,
Ahaziah the profane, Joash the backslider, Amaziah the rash, Uzziah the mighty, Jotham the peace¬
able, Ahaz the idolater, Hezekiah the reformer, Manasseh the penitent, Amon the obscure, Josiah the
tender-hearted, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, all wicked, and such as brought ruin
quickly on themselves and their kingdom. The number of the good and bad is nearly equal, but the
reigns of the good were generally long, and those of the bad, short. The consideration of which will
maike the state of Israel not altogether so bad in this period as, at first, it seems. In this first book,
we have,
I. The death of David, ch. 1. and 2.
II. The glorious reign of Solomon, and his building of the temple; (ch. 3* *10.) but the cloud his sun set
under, ch. 11. . ,
III. The division of the kingdoms in the reign of Rehoboam, and his reign and Jeroboam s, ch. 12* •14.
IV. The reigns of Abijah and Asa over Judah, Baasha and Omri over Israel, ch. 15. and 16.
miracles ch 17 • • 19.
VI. Ahab’s success against Ben-hadad, his wickedness and fall, ch. 20- *22. And in all this history ;t
appears that kings, though gods to us, are men to God, mortal and accountable.
462
I. KINGS, I.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter, we have, I. David declining' in his health,
v. 1..4. II. Adonijah aspiring to the kingdom, and
treating his party, in order to it, v. 5 . . 10. III. Nathan
and Bath-sheba contriving to secure the succession to
Solomon, and prevailing for an order from David for that
purpose, v. 11 . .31. IV. The anointing of Solomon ac¬
cordingly, and the people’s joy therein, v. 32. . 40. V.
The effectual stop this put to Adonijah’s usurpation, and
the dispersion of his party, thereupon, v. 41 . . 49. VI.
Salomon’s dismission of Adonijah upon his good beha¬
viour, v. 50 . . 53.
1 "VTOW king David was old and strick-
en in years ; and they covered him
with clothes, but he gat no heat. 2. Where¬
fore his servants said unto him, Let there be
sought for my lord the king a young virgin ;
and let her stand before the king, and let her
cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom,
that my lord the king may get heat. 3. So
they sought for a fair damsel throughout all
the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a
Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
4. And the damsel was very fair, and cherish¬
ed the king, and ministered to him : but the
king knew her not.
David, in the foregoing chapter, had, by the great
mercy of God, escaped the sword of the destroying
angel; but our deliverances from or through diseases
and dangers, are but reprieves; if the candle be not
blown out, it will burn out of itself. We have Da¬
vid here sinking under the infirmities of old age,
and brought by them to the gates of the grave. He
that cometh up. out of the flit, shall fall into the
snare; and, one way or other, we must needs die.
1. It would have troubled one to see David so in¬
firm. He was old, and his natural heat so wasted,
that no clothes could keep him warm, v. 1. David
had been a valiant active man, and a man of busi¬
ness, and verv vehement had the flame always been
in his breast; and vet now his blood is chilled and
stagnated, he is confined to his bed, and there can
get no heat. He was now 70 years old. Many, at
that age, are as lively and fit for business as ever:
but David was now chastised for his former sins,
especially that in the matter of Uriah, and felt from
his former toils, and the hardships he had gone
through in his youth, which then he made nothing
of, but was now the worse for. Let not the strong
man glory in his strength, which may soon be weak¬
ened by sickness, or, at last, will be weakened by
old age. Let young people remember their Creator
in the days of their youth, before these evil days
come. What our hand finds to do for God, and our
sou’s, and our generation, let us do with all our
might, because the night comes, the night of old
age, in which no man can work; and when our
strength is gone, it will be a comfort to remember
that we used it well.
2. It would have troubled one to see his physi¬
cians so weak and unskilful, that they knew no other
way of relieving him, than by outward applications.
No cordials, no spirits, but, (1.) They covered him
with clothes , which, where there is any inward heat,
will keep it in, and so increase it; but, where it is
not, they have none to communicate, no, not royal
clothing. Elihu makes it a difficulty to understand
how our garments are warm upon us; (Job 37. 17.)
but if God deny his blessing, men clothe them, and
there is none warjn; (Hag. 1. 6.) David here was
not. (2. ) They foolishly prescribed nuptials to one
that should rather have been preparing for his fune¬
ral; (y. 2* *4. ) but they knew what would gratify
their own corruptions, and perhaps were too wi.l.ng
to gratify his, under colour of consulting his health;
his prophets should have been consulted as well as
his physicians, in an affairof this nature. However,
this might be excused then, when even good men
ignorantly allowed themselves to have many wives.
We now have not so learned Christ, but are taught,
that one man must have but one wife; (Matth. 19.
5. ) and further, that it is good for a man not to touch
a woman, 1 Cor. 7. 1. That Abishag was married
to David before she lay with him, and was his se¬
condary wife, appears from its being imputed as a
great crime to Adonijah, that he desired to marry
her, ( ch . 2. 22.) after his father’s death.
5. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith ex¬
alted himself, saying, 1 will be king : and he
prepared him chariots and horsemen, and
fifty men to ntn before him. 6. And his fa¬
ther had not displeased him at any time in
saying, Why hast thou done so ? and he also
was a very goodly man ; and his mother bare
him after Absalom. 7. And he conferred
with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with
Abiathar the priest: and they, following
Adonijah, helped him. 8. But Zadok the
priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
and Nathan the prophet, anti Shimei, and
Rei, and the mighty men wnich belonged to
David, were not with Adonijah. 9. And
Adonijah slew7 sheep and oxen and fat cat¬
tle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by
En-rogel, and called all his brethren the
king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the
king’s servants : 10. But Nathan the pro¬
phet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and
Solomon his brother, he called not.
David had much affliction in his children; Amnon
and Absalom had both been his grief; the one his
first-born, the other his third: (2 Sam. 3. 2, 3.) his
second, whom he had by Abigail, we will suppose
he had comfort in; his fourth was Adonijah, (2 Sam.
3, 4.) he was one of those that were born in He¬
bron; we have heard nothing of him till now, and
here we are told that he was a comely person, and
that he was next in age, and (as it proved) next in
temper, to Absalom, v. 6. And further, that in his
father’s eyes he had been a jewel, but was now a
thorn.
I. His father had made a fondling of him, v. 6.
He had not displeased him at any time. It is not
said, He never displeased his father; it is probable
that he had done so frequently, and his father was
secretly troubled at his misconduct, and lamented
it before God: but his father had not displeased
him, either by crossing him in his humours, or de¬
nying him any thing he had a mind to, or by calling
him to an account, as to what he had done, and
where he had been, or by keeping him to his book
or his business, or reproving him for what he saw
or heard of, that he did amiss; he never said to him,
Why hast thou done so? Because he saw it was un¬
easy to him, and he could not bear it without fret¬
ting. It was the son’s fault that he was displeased
at reproof, and took it for an affront, whereby he lost
the benefit of it. And it was the father’s fault, that,
because he saw it displeased him, he did not re¬
prove him ; and now he justly smarted for indulging
him. They who honour their sons more than God
463
1. KINGS, 1.
as t hey do, who keep them not under good discipline,
thereby forfeit the honour they might expect from 1
the ir sons.
II. He, in return, made a fool of his father: be¬
cause he was old, and confined to his bed, he
thought no notice was to be taken of him, and there¬
fore exalted himself, and said, I will be king, v. 5.
Children that are indulged, learn to be proud and
ambitious, and that is the ruin of a great many
young people. The way to keep them humble, is,
to keep them under. Observe Adonijah’s insolence.
1. He looks upon the days of mourning for his fa¬
ther to be at hand, and therefore he prepares to
succeed him, though he knew that by the designa¬
tion both of God and David, Solomon was to be the
man, for public notice had been given of it by David
himself, and the succession settled, as it were, by
act of parliament, in pursuance of God’s appoint¬
ment, 1 Chron. 22. 9. — 23. 1. This entail Adoni-
jah attempted by force to cut off, in contempt both
of God and his father. Thus is the kingdom of
Christ opposed, and there are those that say, “We
will not have him to reign over us. ” 2. He looks
upon his father as superannuated, and good for no¬
thing, and therefore he enters immediately upon the
{>ossession of the throne. He cannot wait till his
ather’s head be laid low, but it must now be said,
Adonijah reigns, {v. 18. ) and Clod save king Ado -
nijah, v. 25. His father is not fit to govern, for he
is old and past it; nor Solomon, for he is young, and
not come to it; and therefore Adonijah will take it
upon him. It argues a very base and wicked mind,
for children to insult over their parents, because of
the infirmities of their age.
In pursuance of this ambitious prospect, (1.) He
got a great retinue, (i\ 5.) chariots and horsemen,
both for state and strength; to wait on him, and to
fight for him. (2.) He made great interest with no
less than Joab, the general of the army, and Abia-
thar the High Priest, v. 7. That he should make
his court to those, who, bv their influence in church
and camp, were capable of doing him great service,
is not strange; but we may well wonder by what
arts thev could be drawn to follow him, and help
him. They were old men, who had been faithful
to David, in the most difficult and troublesome of
his times; men of sense and experience, who, one
would think, would not easily be wheedled. They
could not propose any advantage to themselves by
it, for they we e both at the top of their preferment,
and stood fast in it. They could not be ignorant of
the entail of the crown upon Solomon, which it was
not in their power to cut off, and whom therefore it
was their interest to oblige. But God, in this mat¬
ter, left them to themselves, perhaps, to correct
them for some former misconduct, with a scourge of
their own making. We are told (r. 8.) who they
were, that they were of such approved fidelity to
David, that Adonijah had not the confidence so much
as to propose it to them; Zadok, Benaiah, and Na¬
than. A man that has given proofs of his resolute
adherence to that which is good, shall not be asked
to do a bad thing. (3.) He prepared a great enter¬
tainment (v. 9.) at En-rogel, not far from Jerusa¬
lem; his guests were the king’s sons, and the king’s
servants, whom he feasted nd caressed, to bring
them over to his party; but Solomon was not invit¬
ed, either because he despised him, or because he
despaired of him, v. 10. Such as serve their own
belly, and will be in the interest of those that will
feast them, what side soever they are of, are an easy
prey to seducers, Rom. 16. 18. Some think that
Adonijah slew these sheep and oxen, even fat ones,
for sacrifice, and that it was a religious feast he
made, beginning his usurpation with a show of de¬
votion, as Absalom, under the colour of a vow, (2
Sam 15. 7. ) which he might do the more plausibly,
when he had the High Priest himself on his side.
It is pity that any occasion should e\er be given to
say, In nomine Domini inci/iit omne malum — In the
name of the Lord begins all evil, and that religious
exercises should be made to patronise unrighteous
practices.
• 1 1. Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-
sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast
thou not heard that Adonijah the son of
Haggith doth reign, and David our lord
knoweth it not ? 12. Now therefore come,
let me, 1 pray thee, give thee counsel, that
thou mayest save thine own life, and the life
of thy son Solomon. 13. Go and get thee
in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst
not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine
handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy
son shall reign after me, and he shall sit up¬
on my throne ? why then doth Adonijah
reign ? 14. Behold, while thou yet talkest
there with the king, I also will come in after
thee, and confirm thy words. 1 5. And Bath-
sheba went in unto the king into the cham¬
ber: and the king was very old ; and Abi-
shag the Shunammite ministered unto the
king. 16. And Bath-sheba bowed, and did
obeisance unto the king. And the king said,
What wouldest thou ? 17. And she said
unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the
Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saying.
Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after
me, and he shall sit upon my throne: 18.
And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth ; and
now, my lord the king, thou knowest it not :
19. And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle
and sheep in abundance, and hath called all
the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest,
and Joab the captain of the host : but So¬
lomon thy servant hath he not called. 20.
And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all
Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell
them who shall sit on the throne of my le d
the king after him. 21. Otherwise it shall
come to pass, when my lord the king shall
sleep with his fathers, that I and my son
Solomon shall be counted offenders. 22.
And, lo, while she yet talked with the king,
Nathan the prophet also came in. 23. And
they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan
the prophet. And when he was come in
before the king, he bowed himself before the
king with his face to the ground. 24. And
Nathan said, My lord,0 king, hast thou said,
Adonijah shall reign- after me, and he shall
sit upon my throne ? 25. For he is gone
down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat
cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath
called all the king’s sons, and the captains
of the host, and Abiathar the priest : and,
behold, they eat and drink before him, and
say, God save king Adonijah. 26 But me
464
I. KINGS, I.
even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest,
and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy
servant Solomon, hath he not called. 27.
Is this thing done by my lord the king, and
thou hast not showed it unto thy servant,
who should sit on the throne of my lord the
king after him ? 28. Then king David an¬
swered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And
she came into the king’s presence, and stood
before the king. 29. And the king sware,
and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath re¬
deemed my soul out of all distress, 30.
Even as f sware unto thee by the Lord God
of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son
shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon
my throne in my stead ; even so will I cer¬
tainly do this day. 31. Then Bath-sheba.
bowed with her face to the earth, and did
reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord
king David live for ever.
We have here the effectual endeavours that were
used by Nathan and Bath-sheba, to obtain from David
a ratification of Solomon’s succession, for the crushing
of Adonijah’s usurpation. 1. David himself knew
not what was doing. Disobedient children think
that they were well enough off, if they can but keep
their good old parents ignorant of their bad courses;
but a bird of the air will carry the voice. 2. Bath-
sheba lived retired, and knew nothing of it, till Na¬
than informed her. Many get very comfortably
through this world, that know little how the world
oes. 3. Solomon, it is likely, knew of it, but was a
eaf man that heard not. Though he had years,
and wisdom above his years, yet we do not find that
he stirred to oppose Adonijah, but quietly composed
himself, and left it to God and his friends to order
the matter. Hence David, in his Psalm for Solo¬
mon, observes, that while men, in pursuit of the
world, in vain rise early and sit up late, God giveth
his beloved (his Jedidiahs ) sleep, in giving them to
be easy, and gain their point without agitation, Ps.
127. 1, 2. How then is the design brought about?
I. Nathan the prophet alarms Bath-sheba, by ac¬
quainting her with the case, and puts her in a way
to get an order from the king, for the confirming of
Solomon’s title. He was concerned, because he
knew God’s mind, and David’s and Israel’s interest;
it was by him that God had named Solomon Jedi-
diah, (2 Sam. 12. 25.) and therefore he could not
sit still, and see the throne usurped, which he knew
was Solomon’s right, by the will of Him from whom
promotion cometh. When crowns were disposed
of by immediate direction from heaven, no marvel
that prophets were so much interested and employ¬
ed in that matter; but now that common providence
rules the affairs of the kingdom of men, (Dan. 4.
32.) the subordinate agency must be left to common
persons, and let not prophets intermeddle in them,
but keep to the affairs of the kingdom of God among
men. Nathan applies himself to Bath-sheba, as one
that had the greatest concern for Solomon, and
could have the freest access to David. He acquaints
her with Adonijah’s attempt, (v. 11.) and that it
was not with David’s consent or knowledge. He
suggests to her, that not only Solomon was in dan¬
ger of losing the crown, but that he and she too were
in danger of losing their lives, if Adonijah prevailed.
A humble spirit may be indifferent to a crown, and
may be content notwithstanding the prospect of it,
to sit down short of the possession of it. But the
law of self-preservation, and the sixth command¬
ment, obliges us to use all possible endeavours to
secure our own life and the life of others. Now,
says Nathan, let me give thee counsel how to save
thy own life, and the life of thy son, v. 12. Such
as this, is the counsel that Christ’s ministers give us
in his name, to give all diligence, not only that no
man take our crown, f Rev. 3. 11.) but that -we save
our lives, even the lives of our souls. He directs
her, (t>. 13.) to go to the king, to remind him of his
word and oath, that Solomon should be his succes¬
sor; and to ask him in the most humble manner.
Why doth Adonijah reign? He thought David was
not so cold, but this would warm him. Conscience,
as well as a sense of honour, would put life into him,
upon such an occasion as this; and he promises, (v.
14. ) that while she was reasoning with the king up¬
on this matter, he would come in and second her,
as if he came accidentally, which perhaps the king
might look upon as a special providence, (and he
was one that took notice of such evidences, 1 Sam.
25. 32, 33. ) or, however, it would help to awaken
him so much the more.
II. Bath-sheba, according to his advice and direc¬
tion, loses no time, but immediately makes her ap¬
plication to the king, on the same errand that Esther
came to king Ahasuerus, to intercede for her life.
She needed not wait for a call, as Esther did, she
knew she should be welcome at any time; but it is
remarked that when she visited the king Abishag
was ministering to him, (z>. 15.) and Bath-sheba
took no displeasure either at him or her for it. Also
that she bowed, and did obeisance to the king, ( y .
16.) in token of her respect to him, both as her
prince and as her husband; such a genuine daugh¬
ter was she of Sarah, who obeyed Abraham, calling
him lord. They that would find favour with supe¬
riors, must show them reverence, and be dutiful to
those whom they expect to be kind to them. Her
address to the king, on this occasion, is very dis¬
creet. 1. She reminds him of his promise made to
her, and confirmed with a solemn oath, that Solo¬
mon should succeed him, v. 17. She knew how
fast this would hold such a conscientious man as
David was. 2. She informs him of Adonijah’s at¬
tempt, which he was ignorant of; (y. 18.) “ Adoni¬
jah reigns in competition with thee for the present,
and in contradiction to thy promise for the future.
The fault is not thine, for thou knewest it not; but
now that thou knowest it, thou wilt, in pursuance
of thy promise, take care to suppress it. ” She tells
him who were his guests, and who were in his inter¬
est, but Solomon thy servant has he not called,
which plainly shows he looks upon him as his rival,
and aims to undermine him, v. 19. It is not an
oversight, but a contempt of the act of settlement,
that Solomon is neglected. 3. She pleads that it was
very much in his power to obviate this mischief; (z>.
20.) The eyes of all Israel are upon thee, not only
as a king, for we cannot suppose it to be the prero¬
gative of any prince to bequeath his subjects bv will,
(as if they were his goods and chattels,) to whom
he pleases, but as a prophet. All Israel knew that
David was not only himself the anointed of the God
of Jacob, but that the Spirit of the Lord spake by
him, (2 Sam. 23. 1, 2.) and therefore waiting for,
and depending upon, a divine designation, in a mat¬
ter of such importance, David’s word would be an
oracle and a law to them ; this therefore (says Bath-
sheba) they expect, and it will end the controversy,
and effectually quash all Adonijah’s pretensions. A
divine sentence is in the lips of the king. Note,
Whatever power, interest, or influence, men have,
they ought to improve it to the utmost, for the pre¬
serving and advancing of the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah, of which Solomon’s kingdom was a type. 4.
She suggests the imminent peril which she and her
466
I. KINGS, 1.
son would be in, if this matter was not settled in
David’s life-time, v. 21. If Adonijah prevail, as he
is likely to do, (having Joab the general, and Abia-
thar the High Priest, on his side,) Solomon and all
his friends will be looked upon as traitors, and dealt
with accordingly ; usurpers are most cruel. If Ado¬
nijah had got into the throne, he would not have
dealt so fairly with Solomon, as Solomon did with
him. Those hazard every thing, who stand in the
way of such as, against right, force their entrance.
III. Nathan the prophet, according to his pro¬
mise, seasonably stepped in, and seconded her,
while she was speaking, before the king had given
his answer, lest, if he had heard Bath-sheba’s re¬
presentation only, his answer should have been dila¬
tory, and only that he would consider of it: but out
of the mouth of two witnesses, two such witnesses,
the word would be established, and he would imme¬
diately give positive orders. The king is told that
Nathan the prophet is come, and he is sure to be
always welcome to the king, especially, when either
he is not well, or has any great affair upon his
thoughts, for, in either case, a prophet will be, in a
articular manner, serviceable to him. Nathan
nows he must render honour to whom honour is
due, and therefore pays the king the same respect
now that he finds him sick in bed, as he would have
done, if he had found him in his throne; he boived
himself with his face to the ground, v. 23. He deals
a little more plainly with the king than Bath-sheba
had done, in which his character would support him,
and the present languor of the king’s spirits made
it necessary that they should be roused. 1. He
makes the same representation of Adonijah’s at¬
tempt, as Bath-sheba had made, (v. 25, 26.) adding,
that his party were already got to that height of as¬
surance, as to shout God save king Adonijah, as if
king David were already dead, taking notice also,
that they had not invited him to their feast, Me,
thy servant, has he Jiot called; thereby intimating,
that they resolved not to consult either God or Da¬
vid in the matter, for Nathan was a secretioribus
consiliis — intimately acquainted with the mindofboth.
He makes David sensible how much he was con¬
cerned to clear himself from having a hand in it.
Hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me? v.
24. And again, (v. 27.) “ Is this thing done by my
lord the king? If it be, he is not so faithful either to
God’s word or to his own, as we all took him to be;
if it be not, it is high time that we witness against
the usurpation, and declare Solomon his successor.
If it be, why is not Nathan made acquainted with
it, who is not only, in general, the king’s confidant,
but is particularly concerned in this matter, having
been employed to notify to David the mind of God
concerning the succession ; but if my lord the king
know nothing of the matter, (as certainly he does
not,) what daring insolence are Adonijah and his
party guilty of!” Thus he endeavours to incense
David against them, that he might act the more vi¬
gorously for the support of Solomon’s interest.
Note, Good men would do their duty, if they were
reminded of it, and put upon it, and told what oc¬
casion there is for them to appear: and those who
thus are their remembrancers, do them a real kind¬
ness, as Nathan here did to David.
IV. David, hereupon, made a solemn declaration
of his firm adherence to his former resolution, that
Solomon should be his successor; Bath-sheba is call¬
ed in, ( v . 28.) and to her, as acting for and on be¬
half of her son, the king gives these fresh assu¬
rances. 1. He repeats his former promise and oath,
owns that he had sworn unto her, by the Lord God
of Israel, that Solomon should reign after him, v.
30. Though he is old, and his memory begins to
fail him, yet he remembers this. Note, An oath is
so sacred a thing, that the obligations of it cannot
Vol. II.— 3 N
be broken, and so solemn a thing, that the impres¬
sions of it, one would think, cannot be forgotten.
2. He ratifies it with another, because the occasion
called for it; As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed
my soul out of all distress, even so will I certainly
do this day, without dispute, without delay. His
form of swearing seems to be what he commonly
used on solemn occasions, for we find it, 2 Sam. 4.
9. And it carries in it a grateful acknowledgment
of the goodness of God to him, in bringing him safe
through the many difficulties and hardships which
had lain in his way; and \yhich he now makes men¬
tion of, to the glory of God, as Jacob, when he lay
a dying; (Gen. 48. 16. ) thus setting to his seal, from
his own experience, that that was true, which the
Lord spake by him; (Ps. 34. 22.) The Lord redeem-
eth the soul of his serx'ants. Dying saints ought to
be witnesses for God, and speak of him as they have
found. Perhaps, he speaks thus, on this occasion, for
the encouragement of his son and successor, to trust
in God in the distresses he also might meet with.
Bath-sheba receives these assurances, (x>. 31.)
(1.) With great complaisance to the king’s person;
she did reverence to him, while Adonijah and his
party affronted him. (2.) With hearty good wishes
for the king’s health, Let him live. So far was she
from thinking that he li\ ed too long, that she prayed
he might live for ever, if it were possible, to adorn
the crown he wore, and to be a blessing to his peo¬
ple. We should earnestly desire the prolonging of
useful lives, however it may be the postponing of
any advantages of our own.
32. And king David said, Call me Zadok
the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they
came before the king. 33. The king also
said unto them, Take with you the ser¬
vants of your lord, and cause Solomon my
son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring
him down to Gihon: 34. And let Zadok
the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint
him there king over Israel: and blow ye
with the trumpet, and say, God save king
Solomon. 35. Then ye shall come up af¬
ter him, that he may come and sit upon my
throne ; for he shall be king in my stead :
and I have appointed him to be ruler over
Israel and over Judah. 36. And Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and
said, Amen : the Lord God of my lord the
king say so too. 37. As the Lord hath
been with my lord the king, even so be he
with Solomon, and make his throne greater
than the throne of my lord king David.
38. So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the
prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites,
went down, and caused Solomon to ride
upon king David’s mule, and brought him
to Gihon. 39. And Zadok the priest took
a horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and
anointed Solomon. And they blew the
trumpet ; and all the people said, God save
king Solomon. 40. And all the people
came up after him ; and the people piped
with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy,
466
I. KINGS, l
that the earth rent with the sound of
them.
We have here the effectual care David took, both
to secure Solomon’s right, and to preserve the pub¬
lic peace, by crushing Adonijah’s project in the bud.
Observe,
I. The express orders he gave for the proclaim¬
ing of Solomon. The persons he entrusted with this
great affair, were, Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah,
men of power and interest, whom David had al¬
ways reposed a confidence in, and found faithful to
him, and whom Adonijah had passed by in his invi-
tati' n, v. 10. David orders them forthwith, with
all possible solemnity, to proclaim Solomon; they
must take with them the servants of their lord, the
life-guards, and all the servants of the household;
they must set Solomon on the mule the king used to
ride, for he kept not such stables of horses as his
son afterward did; he appoints them, whither to go,
(• v . 33.) and (v. 34, 35.) what to do. 1. Zadok and
Nathan, the two ecclesiastical persons, must, in
God’s name, anoint him king: for though he was
not the first of his family, as Saul and David were,
yet he was a younger son, was made king by divine
appointment, and his title was contested, which made
it necessary that hereby it should be settled. This
unction was typical of the designation and qualifica¬
tion of the Messiah, or Christ, the anointed One, .
on whom the Spirit, that oil of gladness, was pour¬
ed without measure, Heb. 1. 9. Ps. 89. 20. And all
real Christians, being heirs of the kingdom, (Jam. 2.
5.) do from him receive the anointing, 1 John 2. 27. j
2. The great officers, civil and military, are ordered 1
to give public notice of this, and to express the pub¬
lic joy upon this occasion, by sound of trumpet, by
which the law of Moses directed the gracing of
great solemnities; to this must be added the accla¬
mations of the people, “ Let king Solomon live, let
him prosper, let his kingdom be established and ;
perpetuated, and let him long continue in the enjoy¬
ment of it ;” so it had been promised concerning
him, (Ps. 72. 15.) He shall live. 3. They must
then bring him in state to the city of David, and he J
must sit upon the throne of his father, as his substi- ]
tute now, or viceroy, to despatch public business j
during his weakness, and be his successor after his !
death; He shall be king in my stead. It would be j
a great satisfaction to David himself, and to all par¬
ties concerned, to have this done immediately, that,
upon the demise of the king, there, might be no dis¬
pute, or agitation, in the public affairs. David was
far from grudging his successor the honour of ap¬
pearing such in his life-time, and yet perhaps was
so taken up with his devotions on his sick bed, that
if he had not been put in mind of it by others, this
great good work, which was so necessary to the
public repose, had been left undone.
II. The great satisfaction which Benaiah, in the
name of the rest, professed in these orders. The
king said, “Solomon shall reign for me, and reign
after me;” “Amen,” (says Benaiah, heartily,) “as
the king says, so say we, we are entirely satisfied in
the nomination, and concur in the choice; we give
our vote for Solomon, nemine contradicente — unani¬
mously, .and since we can bring nothing to pass,
much less establish it, without the concurrence of a
propitious providence, the Lord God of my lord
the kinst say so too /” v. 36. This is the language
of his faith in that promise of God, on which Solo¬
mon’s government was founded. If we say as God
says in his word, we may hope that he will say as
we say by his providence. To this he adds a prayer
for Solomon, ( \v . 37. ) that God would be with him as
he had been with David, and make his throne
greater. He knew David was none of those that
fnvy their children’s greatness, and therefore that
he would not be disquieted at this prayer, nor take
it as an affront, but would heartily say Amen to it.
The wisest and best man in the world desires his
children may be wiser and better than he, for he
himself desires to be wiser and better than he is;
and wisdom and goodness are true greatness.
III. The immediate execution of these orders,
v. 38 . . 40. No time was lost, but Solomon was
brought in state to the place appointed, and there
Zadok (who, though he was not as yet High Priest,
was, we may suppose, the Suffragan, the Jews called
him the Sagan, or second priest) anointed him by
the direction of Nathan the prophet, and David the
king, "u. 39. In the tabernacle, where the ark was
now lodged, was kept, among other sacred things,
the holy oil, for many religious services; thence
Zadok took a horn of oil, which denotes both power
and plenty, and therewith anointed Solomon. We
do not find that Abiathar pretended to anoint Ado¬
nijah, he was made king by a feast, not by an unc¬
tion; whom God calls he will qualify, which was
signified by the anointing; usurpers had it not.
Christ signifies anointed, and he is the King whom
God hath set ufion his holy hill of Zion, according
to the decree, Ps. 2. 6, 7. Christians also are made
to our God (and by him) kings, and they have an
unction from the Holy One, 1 John 2. 20.
The people, hereupon, express their great joy
and satisfaction in the elevation of Solomon, sur¬
round him with their Hosannas, God save king Sol¬
omon, and attend him with their music and shouts
of joy, v. 40. Hereby they declared their concur¬
rence in the choice, and that he was not forced upon
them, but cheerfully accepted by them. The power
of a prince can be little satisfaction to himself, un¬
less he knows it to be a satisfaction to his people.
Ev ery Israelite indeed rejoices in the exaltation of
the Son of David.
41. And Adonijah, and all the guests
that were with him, heard it , as they had
made an end of eating. And when Joab
heard the sound of the trumpet, he said,
Wherefore is this noise of the city being in
an uproar ? 42. And while he yet spake,
behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the
priest came: and Adonijah said unto him,
Come in ; for thou art a valiant man, and
bringest good tidings. 43. And Jonathan
answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our
lord king David hath made Solomon king.
44. And the king hath sent with him Zadok
the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cher-
ethites, and the Pelethites, and they have
caused him to ride upon the king’s mule :
45. And Zadok the priest and Nathan the
prophet have anointed him king in Gihon ;
and they are come up from thence rejoicing,
so that the city rang again. This is the
noise that ye have heard. 46. And also
Solomon sitteth on the throne of the king¬
dom. 47. And moreover, the king’s ser¬
vants came to bless our lord king David,
saying, God make the name of Solomon
better than thy name, and make his throne
greater than thy throne. And the king
bowed himself upon the bed. 48. And
also thus said the king, Blessed be the
•167
I. KINGS, I.
Lord God of Israel, which hath given one
to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even
seeing it. 49. And all the guests that were
with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up,
and went every man his way. 50. And
Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and
arose, and went, and caught hold on the
horns of the altar. 51. And it was told
Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth
king Solomon : for, lo, he hath caught hold
on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king
Solomon swear unto me to-day, that he will
not slay his servant with the sword.* 52.
And Solomon said, If he will show himself
a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him
fall to the earth : but if wickedness shall be
found in him, he shall die. 5 5. So king
Solomon sent, and they brought him down
from the altar. And lie came and bowed
himself to king Solomon : and Solomon
said unto him, Go to thine house.
We have here,
I. The tidings of Solomon’s inauguration brought
to Adonijah and his party in the midst of their
jollity. They had made an end of eating, and, it
should seem, it was a great while before they made
an end, for all the affair of Solomon’s anointing was
ordered, done, and finished, while they were at din¬
ner, glutting themselves. Thus they who serve not
our Lord Christ, but oppose him, are commonly
such as serve their own belly, (Rom. 16. 18.) and
make a god of it, Philip 3. 19. Their long feast in¬
timates likewise that they were very secure, and
confident of their interest, else they would not have
lost so much time. The old world and Sodom were
eating and drinking, secure and sensual, when their
destruction came, Luke 17. 26, &c. When they
had made an end of eating, and were preparing
themselves to proclaim their king, and bring him in
triumph into the city, they heard the sound of the
trumpet, ( v . 41.) and a dreadful sound it was in
their ears. Job 15. 21. Joab was an old man, and was
alarmed at it, apprehending the city to be in an up¬
roar; but Adonijah is very confide! t that the mes¬
senger, being a worthy man, brings good tidings, v.
42. Usurpers flatter themselves with the hopes of
success, and those are commonly least timorous,
whose condition is most dangerous. But how can
those who do evil deeds, expect to have good tidings?
No, the worthiest man will bring them the worst
news, as the priest’s son did here to Adonijah, v. 43.
“ Verily, the best tidings I have to bring you, is,
that Solomon is made king, so that your pretensions
are all quashed.”
He relates to them very particularly, 1. With
what great solemnity Solomon was made king, (v.
44, 45.) and that he was now sitting on the throne
of the kingdom, v. 46. Adonijah thought to have
stepped into the throne before him, but Solomon
was too quick for him. 2. With what general satis¬
faction Solomon was made king, so that that which
was done, was not likely to be undone again. (1.)
The people were pleased, witness their joyful ac-
clamations, v. 45. (2.) The courtiers were pleased; j
The king's servants attended him with an address |
of congratulation upon this occasion, v. 47. We
have here the heads of their address; they blessed I
king David, applauded his prudent care for the |i
public welfare, acknowledged their happiness under II
ins government, and prayed heartily for his re- j|
covery. They also prayed for Solomon, that God
would make his name better than his father’s, which
it might well be, when he had his father’s founda¬
tion to build upon; a child, on a giant’s shoulders,
is taller than the giant himself. (3.) The king him¬
self is pleased; he bowed himself upon the bed, not
only to signify his acceptance of his servants’ ad¬
dress, but to offer up his own address to God; (y.
48.) “ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who, as
Israel’s God, for Israel’s good, has brought this
matter to such a happy issue, mine eyes even seeing
it.” Note, it is a great satisfaction to good men,
when they are going out of the world, to see the
affairs of their families in a good posture, their chil¬
dren rising up in their stead to serve God and their
generation, and especially to see peace upon Israel,
and the establishment of it.
II. The effectual crush which this gave to Ado-
nijah’s attempt; it spoiled their sport, dispersed
their company, and obiiged every man to shift for
his own safety. 7 he triumphing of the wicked is
short. They were building a castle in the air,
which, having no foundation, would soon fall, and
crush them; they were afraid of being taken in the
fact, while they were together hatching their trea¬
son, and therefore each one made the best of his
way.
III. The terror Adonijah himself was in, and the
course he took to secure himself; he was now as
much depressed as he had been elevated; ( v . 42,
50.) he had despised Salomon, as not worthy to be
his guest, (t\ 10.) but now he dreads him as his
judge; he feared because of Solomon. Thus they
who opp se Christ and his kingdom, will shortly be
made to tremble before him, and call, in vain, to
rocks and mountains to shelter them from his
wrath. He took hold on the horns of the altar,
which was always looked upon as a sanctuary, or
place of refuge; (Exod. 21. 14.) intimating hereby,
that he durst not stand a trial, but threw himself
upon the mercy of his prince, in suing for which,
he relied upon no other plea than the mercy of
God, which was manifested in the institution, and
acceptance of the sacrifices that were offered on
that altar, and the remission of sin thereupon.
Perhaps Adonijah had formerly slighted the ser¬
vice of the altar, yet now he courts the protection
of it. Many who, in the day of their security, neg¬
lect the great salvation, under the arrest of the
terrors of the Lord, would gladly be beholden to
Christ and his merit, and, when it is too late, will
catch hold of the horns of that altar.
IV. His humble address to Solomon for mercy.
By those who brought Solomon tidings where he
was, he sent a request for his life; {y. 51.) Let
king Solomon swear to me that he will not slay his
servant. He owns Solomon for his prince, and
himself his servant; dares not justify himself, but
makes supplication to his judge. It was a great
change with him; he that, in the morning, was
grasping at a crown, is, before night, begging for
his life. Then Adonijah reigns, now Adonijah
trembles, and cannot think himself safe, unless
Solomon promise, with an oath, not to put him to
death.
V. The orders Solomon gave concerning him.
He discharged him, upon his good behaviour, v.
52, 53. He considers he is his brother; it was the
first offence, perhaps: being so soon made sensible
of his error, and then not persisting in his rebellion,
he might prove, not only a peaceable, but a ser¬
viceable subject, and therefore, if he will conduct
himself well for the future, what is past shall be
pardoned: but, if he be found disaffected, turbulent,
and aspiring, this offence shall be remembered
against him, he shall be called up upon his former
conviction, (as our law speaks,) and execution shall
468
I. KINGS, II.
be a war ,’ed against him. Thus the sen of David
receives those to mercy, that have been rebellious:
if they will return to their allegiance, and be faith¬
ful to their Soveieign, their former crimes shall not
be mentioned against them; but if still they continue
in the interests of the world and the flesh, that will
be their ruin. Adonijah is sent for, and told upon
what terms he stands, which he signifies his grate¬
ful submission to, and then is bid to go to his house,
and live retired there. Solomon not only gave him
his life, but his estate, thus establishing his throne
by mercy.
CHAP. II.
In this chapter, we have David setting-, and Solomon, at
the same time, rising. I. The conclusion of David’s
reign with his life. 1. The charge he gives to Solomon
upon his death-bed, in general, to serve God ; (v. 1 . . 4. )
in particular, concerning Joab, Barzillai, and Shimei, v.
5 . . 9. 2. His death and burial, and the years of his
reign, v. 10, 11. II. The beginning of Solomon’s reign,
v. 12. Though he was to be a prince of peace, he
began his reign with some remarkable acts of justice, 1.
Upon Adonijah, whom he put to death for his aspiring
pretensions, v. 13.. 25. 2. Upon Abiathar, whom he
deposed from the high priesthood for siding with Adoni¬
jah, v. 26, 27. 3. Upon Joab, whom he put to death for
his late treason and former murders, v. 28 . .35. 4.
Upon Shimei, whom, for cursing David, he confined to
Jerusalem, (v. 36.. 38.) and, three years after, for trans¬
gressing the rules, put to death, v. 39 . . 46.
l.^^TOW the days of David drew nigh
j3l that he should die : and he charged
Solomon his son, saying, 2. I go the way
of all the earth : be thou strong therefore,
and show thyself a man; 3. And keep the
charge of the Lord thy God, to walk "in
his ways, to keep his statutes, and his com¬
mandments, and his judgments, and his
testimonies, as it is written in the law of
Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that
thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest
thyself; 4. That the Lord may continue
his word, which he spake concerning me,
saying, If thy children take heed to their
way, to walk before me in truth with all
their heart and with all their soul, there
shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the
throne of Israel. 5. Moreover, thou know-
est also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did
to me, and what he did to the two captains
of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son
of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether,
whom he slew, and shed the blood of war
in peace, and put the blood of war upon
his girdle that teas about his loins, and in
his shoes that were on his feet. 6. Do there¬
fore according to thy wisdom, and let not
his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.
7. But show kindness unto the sons of Bar¬
zillai the Gileadite, and let them be of
those that eat at thy table : for so they
came to me when I fled because of Absa¬
lom thy brother. 8. And, behold, thou hast
with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benja-
mite of Bahunm, which cursed me with a
grievous curse in the day when I went to
Mahanaim : but he came down to meet me
at Jordan, and I sware to him by the Lord
saying, I will not put thee to death with the
sword. 9. Now therefore hold him not
guiltless ; for thou art a wise man, and
knowest what thou oughtest to do unto
him ; but his hoar head bring thou down to
the grave with blood. 10. So David slept
with his fathers, and was buried in the city
of David. 11. And the days that David
reigned over Israel were forty years: seven
years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and
three years reigned he in Jerusalem.
David, that great and good man, is here a dying
man, (t;. 1.) and a dead man, v. 10. It is well
there is another life after this, for death stains all
the glory of this, and lays it in the dust. We have
here,
I. The charge and instructions which David,
when he was dying, gave to Solomon, his son, and
declared successor. He feels himself declining,
and is not backward to own it, nor afraid to hear or
speak of dying: I go the way of all the earth , v. 2.
Heb. Iam walking in it. Note, 1. Death is a way;
not only a period of this life, but a passage to a bet¬
ter. 2. It is the way of all the earth , of all man¬
kind who dwell on earth, and are themselves earth,
and therefore must return to their earth. Even
the sons and heirs of heaven must go the way of all
the earth, they must needs die; but they walk with
pleasure in this way, through the valley of the
shadow of death, Ps. 23. 4. Prophets, and even
kings, must go this way to brighter light and honour
than prophecy or sovereignty. David is going this
way, and therefore gives Solomon directions wk at
to do.
(1.) He charges him, in general, to keep God’s
commandments, and to make conscience of his
duty, v. 2- -4. He prescribes to him, [1.] A good
rule to act by, the divine will; “Govern thyself by
that.” David’s charge to him, is, to keep the
charge of the Lord his God. The authority of a
dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living
God. There are great trusts which we are
charged with by the Lord our God, let us keep
them carefully, as those that must give account;
and excellent statutes, which we must be ruled by,
let us also keep them. The written word is cur
rule; Solomon must himself do as was written in the
law of Moses. [2.] A good spirit to act with; Be
strong, and show thyself a man, though, in years,
but a child. Those that would keep the charge
of the Lord their God, must put on resolution.
[3.] Good reasons for all this; this would effectu¬
ally conduce, First, To the prosperity of his king¬
dom; it is the way to prosper in all thou doest, and
to succeed with honour and satisfaction in every un¬
dertaking. Secondly, To the perpetuity of it; that
the Lord may continue, and so confirm, his word
which he spake concerning me. Those that rightly
value the treasure of the promise, that sacred depo-
situm, cannot but be solicitous to preserve the entail
of it, and very desirous that those who come after
them, may do nothing to cut it off. Let each, in his
own age, successively,, keep God’s charge, and then
God will be sure to continue his word. We never
let fall the promise, till we let fall the precept.
God had promised David that the Messiah should
come from his loins, and that promise was absolute:
but the promise, that there should not fail him a
man on the throne of Israel, was conditional; if his
seed behave themselves as they should. If Solo¬
mon, in his day, fulfil the condition, he does ms
part toward the perpetuating of the promise. The
469
1. KINGS, II.
condition is, that he walk before God in all his in¬
stitutions, in sincerity, with Zealand resolution; and
in order hereunto, that he take heed to his way. In
order to our constancy in religion, nothing is more
necessary than caution and circumspection.
(2.) He gives him directions concerning some
particular persons what to do with them, that he
might make up his deficiencies, in justice to some,
and kindness to others.
[1.] Concerning Joab, v. 5. David was now
conscious to himself, that he had not done well to
spare him, when he had made himself once and
again obnoxious to the law, by the murder of Ab¬
ner first, and afterwards of Amasa, both of them
great men, captains of the hosts of Israel: he slew
them treacherously, shed the blood of war in peace:
and injuriously to David; Thou knowest what he
did to me therein. The murder of a subject is a
wrong to the prince, it is a loss to him, and is
against the peace of our sovereign lord the king.
These murders were particularly against David,
reflecting upon his reputation, he being, at that
time, in treaty with them, and hazarded his inter¬
est, which they were v ery capable of serving. Ma¬
gistrates are the avengers of the blood of those they
have the charge of. It aggravated Joab’s crime,
that he was neither ashamed of the sin, nor afraid
of the punishment, but daringly wore the girdle and
shoes that were stained with innocent blood, in de¬
fiance of the justice both of God and the king.
David refers him to Solomon’s wisdom, (x\ 6.)
with an intimation that he left him to his justice.
Say not, “ He has a hoary head, it is a pity it should
be cut off, for it will shortly fall of itself;” no, let it
not go down to the grave in peace. Though he has
been long reprieved, he shall be reckoned with at
last; time does not wear out the guilt of any sin,
particularly, not of murder.
[2. ] Concerning Barzillai’s family, whom he or¬
ders him to be kind to for Barzillai’s sake, who, we
may suppose, by this time, was dead, v. 7. When
David, upon his death-bed, was remembering the
injuries that had been done, he could not forget the
kindnesses that had been shown, but leaves it as a
charge upon his son to retui'n them. Note, The
kindnesses we have received from our friends,
must not be buried, either in their graves or our’s,
but our children must return them to their’s.
Hence, perhaps, Solomon fetched that rule, (Prov.
27. 10.) Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend,
forsake not. Paul prays for the nouse of Onesi-
phorus, who had often refreshed him.
[3.] Concerning Shimei, v. 8, 9. First, His
crime is remembered; He cursed me with a griev¬
ous curse; the more grievous, because he insulted
him when he was in misery, and poured vinegar
into his wounds. The Jews say, that one thing
which made this a grievous curse, was, that beside
all that is mentioned, ( 2 Sam. 16.) Shimei upbraided
him with his descent from Ruth the Moabitess.
Secondly, His pardon is not forgotten. David
owns he had sworn to him, that he would not him¬
self put him to death; because he seasonably sub¬
mitted, and cried Peccavi — I have sinned, and he
was not willing, especially at that juncture, to use
the sword of public justice for the avenging of
wrongs done to himself. But, Thirdly, His case,
as it now stands, is left with Solomon, as one that
knew what was fit to be done, and would do as he
found occasion. David intimates to him, that his
pardon was not designed to be perpetual, but only
a reprieve for David’s life; “ Hold him not guiltless:
do not think him any true friend to thee or thy gov¬
ernment, or fit to be trusted; he has no less malice
than he had then, though he has more wit to con-,
real it. He is still a debtor to the public justice,
for what he did then; and though I promised him
that I would not put him to death, I never pro¬
mised that my successor should not. His turbulent
spirit will soon give thee an occasion, which thou
shouldest not fail to take, for bringing of his hoary
head to the grave with blood.” This proceeded
not from personal revenge, but a prudent zeal for
the honour of the government, and the covenant
God had made with his family, the contempt of
which ought not to go unpunished. Even a hoary
head, if a guilty and forfeited head, ought not to be
any man’s protection from justice, The sinner, being
a hundred years old, shall be accursed, Isa. 65. 20.
11. David’s death and burial, v. 10. He was bu¬
ried in the city of David ; not in the burying place
of his father, as Saul was, but in his own city,
which he was the founder of. There were set the
thrones, and there the tombs, of the house of Da¬
vid. Now, David, after he had served his own
generation, by the will of God, fell asleep, and was
laid to his fathers, and saw corruption. Acts 13. 36.
and see Acts 2. 39. His epitaph may be taken
from 2 Sam. 23. 1. Here lies David the son of
Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the
anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalm¬
ist of Israel; adding his own words, (Ps. 16. 9.) My
flesh also shall rest in hope. Josephus says, that
beside the usual magnificence with which his son
Solomon buried him, he put into his sepulchre a
vast deal of money; and that 1300 years after, (so
he reckons,) it was opened by Hircanus the High
Priest, in the time of Antiochus, and 3000 talents
taken out for the public service. The years of his
reign are here computed (y. 11.) to be forty years;
the odd six months which he reigned above seven
years in Hebron, are not reckoned, but the ev en
sum only.
12. Then sat Solomon upon the throne
of David his father; and his kingdom was
established greatly. 13. And Adonijah the
son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the
mother of Solomon. And she said, Contest
thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.
1 4. He said moreover, I have somewhat to
say unto thee. And she said, Say on. 15.
And he said, Thou knowest that the king¬
dom was mine, and that all Israel set theii
faces on me, that I should reign : howbeit
the kingdom is turned about, and is become
my brother’s; for it was his from the Lord.
16. And now I ask one petition of thee,
deny me not. And she said unto him, Say
on. 1 7. And he said, Speak, I pray thee,
unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say
thee nay,) that he give me A bishag the
Shunammite to wife. 1 8. And Bath-sheba
said, Well ; I will speak for thee unto the
king. 19. Bath-sheba therefore went unto
king Solomon, to speak unto him for Ado¬
nijah. And the king rose up to meet her,
and bowed himself unto her, and sat down
on his throne, and caused a seat to be set
for the king’s mother; and she sat on his
right hand. 20. Then she said, I desire one
small petition of thee; I pray thee , say me
not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask
on, my mother; for I will not say thee nay
21. And she said, Let Abishag the Shu-
470
r. KINGS, II.
nammite be given to Adonijah thy brother j
to wife. 22. And king Solomon answered
and said unto his mother, And why dost
thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Ado¬
nijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he
is mine elder brother; even for him, and for
Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of
Zeruiah. 23. Then king Solomon sware
by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and
more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this
word against his own life. 24. Now there¬
fore, as the Lord liveth, which hath esta¬
blished me, and set me on the throne of
David my father, who hath made me a
house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be
put to death this day. 25. And king Solo¬
mon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada ; and he fell upon him that he
died.
Here is,
I. Solomon’s accession to the throne, v. 12. He
came to it much more easily and peaceably than
David did, and much sooner saw his government
established. It is happy for a kingdom, when the
end of one good reign is the beginning of another,
as it was here.
II. His just and necessary removal of Adonijah
his rival, in order to the establishment of his throne.
Adonijah had made some bold pretensions to the
crown, but was soon obliged to let them fall, and
throw himself upon Solomon’s mercy, who dismiss¬
ed him upon his good behaviour, and had he been
easy, he might have been safe. But here we have
him betraying himself into the hands of Solomon’s
justice, and falling by it; the righteous God leaving
him to himself, that he might be punished for his
former treason, and that Solomon’s throne might be
established. Many thus ruin themselves, because
they know not when they are well off, nor well done
to; and sinners, by presuming on God’s patience,
treasure up wrath to themselves. Now observe,
1. Adonijah’s treasonable project, which was, to
marry Abishag, David’s concubine; not because he
was in love with her, but because, by her, he hoped
to renew his claim to the crown, which might stand
him in stead, or because it was then looked upon as
a branch of the government, to have the wives of the
predecessor, 2 Sam. 12. 8. Absalom thought his
pretensions much supported by lying with his
father’s concubines. Ad'uiij dr flatters himself, that
if he may succeed him in his bed, especially with
the best of his wives, he may by that means step up
to succeed him in his throne. Restless and turbulent
spirits reach high. It was but a small game to play
at, as it should seem, yet he hopes to make it an ai-
ter-game for the kingdom, and now to gain that by
a wife, which he could not gain by force.
2. The means he used to compass this. He
durst not make suit to Abishag immediately, (he
knew she was at Solomon’s disposal, and he would
justly resent it, if his consent were not first obtain¬
ed, as even Ish-boshcth did, in a like case, 2 Sam.
3. 7.) nor durst he apply himself immediately fo
Solomon, knowing that he lay under his displeasure;
but he engaged Bath-sheba to be his friend in this
matter, who would be forward to believe it a matter
of love, and not apt to suspect it a matter of policy.
Bath-sheba was surprised to see Adonijah in her
apartment, and asked him it' he did not come with a
design to do her a mischief, because she had been
instrumental to crush his late attempt. “No,”
says he, “I come peaceably, {y. 13.) and to beg a
favour;” (y. 14. ) that she would use the great in¬
terest she had in her son, to gain his consent that he
might marry Abishag; (v. 16, 17.) and if he may
but obtain this, he will thankfully accept it, (1.) As
a compensation for his loss of the kingdom. He in¬
sinuates, (t>. 15.) “ Thou knowest the kingdom was
mine, as my father’s eldest son, living at the time
of his death, and all Israel set their faces on me.”
That was false, they were but a few that he had on
his side; yet thus he would represent himself as an
object of compassion, that had been deprived of a
crown, and therefore he might well be gratified in
a wife: if he may not inherit his father’s throne,
yet let him have something valuable that was his
father’s, to keep for his sake, and let it be Abishag.
(2. ) As his reward for his acquiescence in that loss.
He owns Solomon’* right to the kingdom. “ It was
his from the Lord, I was foolish in offering to con¬
test it; and now that it is turned about to him, I am
satisfied.” Thus he pretends to be well pleased
with Solomon’s accession to the throne, when he is
doing all he can to give him disturbance. His words
were smoother than butter, but war was in his
heart.
2. Bath-sheba’s address to Solomon on his behalf.
She promised to speak to the king for him, (xu 18.)
and did so, v. 19. Solomon received her with all
the respect that was owing to a mother, though he
himself was a king; he rose up to meet her, bowed
himself to her, and caused her to sit on his right
hand, according to the law of the fifth command¬
ment. Children, not only when grown up, but
when grown great, must give honour to their pa¬
rents, and behave dutifully and respectfully toward
them. Despise not thy mother, when she is old. As
a further instance of the deference he paid to his
mother’s wisdom and authority, when he under¬
stood she had a petition to present to him, he
promised not to say her nay. A promise which
both he and she understood with this necessary
limitation, provided it be just and reasonable, and fit
to be granted; but if it were otherwise, he was sure
he should convince her that it was so, and that then
she would withdraw it. She tells him her errand,
at last, ( v . 21.) Let Abishag be given to Adonijah
thy brother. It was strange that she did not suspect
the treason, but more strange that she did not abhor
the incest, that was in the proposal: but either she
did not take Abishag to be David’s wife, because
the marriage was not consummated, or she thought
it might be dispensed with, to gratify Adonijah, in
consideration of his tame submission to Solomon.
This was her weakness and folly; it was well that
she was not regent. Note, They that have the ear
of princes and great men, as it is their wisdom not
to be too prodigal of their interest, so it is their duty
never to use it for the assistance of sin, or the
furtherance of any wicked design. Let not princes
be asked that which they ought not to grant. It ill
becomes a good man to prefer a bad request, or ap¬
pear in a bad cause.
4. Solomon’s just and judicious rejection of the
request. Though his mother herself was the advo¬
cate, and called it a small petition, and, perhaps, it
was the first that she had troubled him with since
he was king, yet he denied it, without violation of
the general promise he had made her, v. 20. If
Herod had not had a mind to cut off John Baptist’s
head, he would not have thought himself obliged
to do it by a general promise, like this made to
Herodias. The best friend we have in the world
must not have such an interest in us as to bring us
to do a wrong thing, either unjust or unwise. (1.)
Solomon convinces his mother of the unreasonable¬
ness of the request, and shows her the tendency < f
it, which before she was not aware of. His reply
471
I. KINGS, II.
is somewhat sharp, Ask for him the kingdom also,
v. 22. To ask that he may succeed the king in his
bed, is, in effect, to ask that he may succeed him in
his throne, for that is it he aims at. Probably, he
had information, or cause for a strong suspicion,
that Adonijah was plotting with Joab and Abiathar
to give him disturbance, which warranted him to
put this construction upon Adonijah’s request. (2.)
He convicts and condemns Adonijah for his preten¬
sions, and both with an oath. He convicts him out
of his own mouth, v. 23. His own tongue shall fall
upon him ; and a heavier load a man need not fall
under. Bath-sheba may be imposed upon, but So¬
lomon cannot; he plainly sees what he aims at, and
concludes, “He has s/ioken this word against his
own life; he is snared in the words of his own lips;
now he shows what he would be at.” He condemns
him to die immediately; He shall be } lut to death
this day, z>. 24. God had interposed himself with
an oath, that he would establish David’s throne,
(Ps. 89. 35.) and therefore Solomon pledges the
same assurance to secure that establishment, by cut¬
ting off the enemies of it. “ As God liveth, that es¬
tablished! the government, Adonijah shall die, that
would unsettle it.” Thus the ruin of the enemies
of Christ’s kingdom is as sure as the stability of his
kingdom, and both as sure as the being and life of
God, the Founder of it. The warrant is imme¬
diately signed for his execution, and no less a man
than Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, general of the ar¬
my, is ordered to be the executioner, v. 25. It is
strange that Adonijah may not be heard to speak
for himself: but Solomon’s wisdom did not see it
needful to examine the matter any further; it was
plain enough that Adonijah aimed at the crown,
and Solomon cannot be safe while he lives. Ambi¬
tious turbulent spirits commonly prepare for them¬
selves the instruments of death. Many a head has
been lost by catching at a crown.
26. And unto Abiathar the priest said
the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto
thine own fields ; for thou art worthy of
death : but I will not at this time put thee
to death, because thou barest the ark of
the Lord God before David my father, and
because thou hast been afflicted in all
wherein my father was afflicted. 27. So
Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being
priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil
the word of the Lord, which he spake con¬
cerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28.
Then tidings came to Joab: (for Joab had
turned after Adonijah, though he turned not
after Absalom :) and Joab fled unto the
tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on
the horns of the altar. 29. And it was told
king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the
tabernacle of the Lord ; and, behold, he is by
the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada, saying, Go fall upon him.
30. And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of
the Lord, and said unto him, Thus saith
the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay ;
but I will die here. And Benaiah brought
the king word again, saying, Thus said
Joab, and thus he answered me. 31. And
the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, :
and fall upon him, and bury him ; tha* thou
| mayest take away the innocent blood, which
Joab shed, from me, and from the house of
my father. 32. And the Lord shall return
his blood upon his own head, who fell upon
two men more righteous and better than
he, and slew them with the sword, my
father David not knowing thereof \ to wit ,
Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host
of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, cap¬
tain of the host of Judah. 33. Their blood
shall therefore return upon the head of Joab,
and upon the head of his seed for ever : but
upon David, and upon his seed, and upon
his house, and upon his throne, shall there
be peace for ever from the Lord. 34. So
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and
fell upon him, and slew him ; and he was
buried in his own house in the wilderness.
Abiathar and Joab were both aiding and abetting
in Adonijah’s rebellious attempt, and, it is probable,
were at the bottom of this new motion made by
Adonijah for Abishag, and, it should seem, Solomon
knew it, v. 22. This was, in both, an intolerable
affront, both to God and to the government; and the
worse, because of their high station, and the great
influence their examples might have upon many.
They therefore come next to be reckoned with:
they are both equally guilty of the treason, but, in
the judgment passed upon them, a difference is
made, and with good reason.
I. Abiathar, in consideration of his old services, is
only degraded, v. 26, 27. 1. Solomon convicts him,
and by his great wisdom finds him guilty; “ Thou
art worthy of death, for joining with Adonijah,
when thou knewest on whose head God intended to
set the crown.” 2. He calls to mind the respect he
had formerly showed to David his father, and that
he had both ministered to him in holy things, had
borne before him the ark of the Lord, and also had
tenderly sympathized with him in his afflictions,
and been afflicted in them all, particularly when he
was in exile and distress, both by Saul’s persecu¬
tion, and Absalom’s rebellion. Note, Those that
show kindness to God’s people, shall have it re¬
membered to their advantage, one time or other. 3.
For this reason, he spares Abiathar’s life, but de¬
poses him from his offices, and confines him to his
country-seat at Anathoth, forbids him the court, the
city, the tabernacle, the altar, and all intermeddling
in public business, with an intimation likewise, that
he was upon his good behaviour, and that though
he did not put him to death, at this time, he might,
another time, if he did not conduct himself well.
But, for the present, he was only thi-ust out from
being priest, as rendered unworthy of that high sta
tion, by the opposition he had given to that which
he knew to be the will of God. Saul, for a sup¬
posed crime, had barbarously slain Abiathar’s
father, and 85 priests, their families, and city; Solo¬
mon spares Abiathar himself, though guilty of a
real ciime: thus was Saul’s government ruined, and
Solomon’s established. As men are to God’s minis¬
ters, thev will find him to them. 4. The depriving
of Abiathar was the fulfilling of the threatening
against the house of Eli, (1 Sam. 2. 30.) for he was
the last High Priest of that family. It was now
above 80 years, since the ruin was threatened; but
God’s judgments, though not executed speedily,
wdl be executed surely.
II. Joab, in consideration of his old sins, is put to
death.
472
I. KINGS, II.
3. IPs gu'lty conscience sent him to the horns of
the altar, fie heard that Adonijah was executed,
and Abiathar deposed, and therefore, fearing his
turn would be next, he flies for refuge to the altar.
Many that, in the day of their security, care not for
the service of the altar, in the day of their distress,
will be glad of the protection of it. Some think
Joab designed thereby to devote himself for the fu¬
ture to a constant attendance upon the altar, hoping
thereby to obtain his pardon: as some that have
lived a dissolute life, all their days, have thought to
atone for it, by retiring into a monastery when
they are old, leaving the world when it has left
them.
2. Solomon orders him to be put to death there
for the murder of Abner and Amasa; for these are
the crimes upon which he thought fit to ground the
sentence, rather than upon his treasonable ad¬
herence to Adonijah. Joab was indeed worthy of
death for turning after Adonijah, in contempt of
Solomon, and his designation to the throne, though
he had not turned after Absalom, v. 28. Former
fidelity will not serve to excuse for any after
treacheiy, beside that, Joab had merited well of the
house of David, to which, and to his country, he
had done a great deal of good service in his day, in
consideration of which, it is probable, Solomon
would have pardoned him his offence against him,
(for clemency gives great reputation and establish¬
ment to an infant government,) and would have
only displaced him, as he did Abiathar; but he must
die for the murders he had formerly been guilty of,
which his father had charged him to call him to an
account for. The debt he owed to the innocent
blood that was shed, by answering its cries with the
blood of him that shed it, he could not pay himself,
but left it to his son to pay it, who having power
wherewithal, failed not to do it. On this he grounds
the sentence, aggravating the crime, (x». 32.) that
he fell upon two men more righteous, and better,
than he, that had done him no wrong, nor meant
him any, and, had they lived, might probably have
done David better service; if the blood shed, be not
only innocent, but excellent, the life more valuable
than common lives, the crime is the more heinous:
that David knew n at of it, and yet the case was such,
that he would be suspected as privy to it; so that
Joab endangered his prince’s reputation, in taking
away the life of his rivals, which was a further ag¬
gravation.
For these crimes, (1.) He must die, and die by
the sword of public justice. By man must his blood
be shed, and it lies upon his own head, (v. 32.) as
their’s does, whom he had murdered, v. 33. Woe
to the head that lies under the guilt of blood! Ven¬
geance for murder was long in coming upon Joab;
but when it did come, it remained the longer, being
here entailed u/ion the head of his seed for ever, (y.
33.) who, instead of deriving honour, as otherwise
they might have done, from his heroic actions, de¬
rived guilt, and shame, and a curse, from his vil-
lanous actions. The seed of such evil doers shall
never be renowned. (2.) He must die at the altar,
rather than escape. Joab resolved not to stir from
the altar, (v. 30.) hoping thereby either to secure
himself, or else to render Solomon odious to the
people, as a profaner of the holy place, if he should
put him to death there. Bcnaiah made a scruple
of either killing him there, or dragging him thence;
bat Solomon knew the law, that the altar of God
should give no protection to wilful murderers; (Exod.
21. 14.) Thou shalt take him from mine altar, that
he may die, may die a sacrifice. In case of such
sms, as the blood of beasts would atone for, the altar
was a refuge, but not in Joab’s case; he therefore
orders him to be executed there, if he would not be
got thence, to show that he feared not the censure
of the people in doing his duty, but would rectify
their mistake, and let them know that the adminis¬
tration of justice is better than sacrifice, and that
the holiness of any place should never countenance
the wickedness of any person. They who, by a
lively faith, take hold on Christ and his righteous¬
ness, with a resolution, if they perish, to perish
there, shall find in him a more powerful protection
than Joab found at the horns of the altar. Benaiah
slew him, (x/. 34. ) with the solemnity, no doubt, of
a public execution. The law being thus satisfied,
he was buried in his own house in the wilderness,
privately, like a criminal, not pompously, like a
soldier; yet no indignity is done to his dead body;
it is not for man to lay iniquity upon the bones,
whatever God does.
Lastly, Solomon pleases himself with this act of
justice, not as it gratified any personal revenge,
but as it was the fulfilling of his father’s orders, and
a real kindness to himself and his own government.
1. Guilt was hereby removed, v. 31. By returning
the innocent blood, that had been shed, upon the
head of him that shed it, it was taken away from
him, and from the house of his father; which im¬
plies, that the blood which is not required from the
murderer, will be required from the magistrate, at
least, there is danger lest it should. They that
would have their houses safe and built up, must put
away iniquity far from them. 2. Peace was hereby
secured ( v . ’33.) upon David; he does not mean his
person, but, as he explains himself in the next
words, Upon his seed, his house, and his throne ,
shall there be peace for ever from the Lord; thus
he expresses his desire that it may be so, and his
hope that it shall be so. Now that justice is done,
and the cry of blood is satisfied, the government will
prosper. Thus righteousness and peace kiss each
other. Now that such a turbulent man as Joab, is
removed, there shall be peace. Take away the
wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be
established in righteousness, Prov. 25. 5. Solomon,
in this blessing of peace upon his house and throne,
piously looks upward to God as the Author of it,
and forward to eternity as the perfection of it; “It
shall be peace from the Lord, and peace for ever,
from the Lord.” The Lord of peace himself give
us that peace which is everlasting.
35. And the king put Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada in his room over the host; and
Zadok the priest did the king put in the
room of Abiathar. 36. And the king sent
and called for Shimei, and said unto him,
Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell
there, and go not forth thence any whither.
37. For it shall be, that on the day thou
goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron,
thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt
surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine
own head. 38. And Shimei said unto the
king, The saying is good: as my lord the
king hath said, so will thy servant do. And
Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. 39.
And it came to pass, at the end of three
years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran
away unto Achish son of Maachah, king of
Gath: and they told Shimei, saying, Behold,
thy servants be in Gath. 40. And Shimei
arose, and saddled his ass, and went to
| Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants: and
| Shimei went, and brought his servants from
473
I. KINGS, II.
Gath. 41. And it was told Solomon that
Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath,
and was come again. 42. And the king
sent and called for Shimei, and said unto
him, Did I not make thee to swear by the
Loro, and protested unto thee, saying,
Know for a certain, that on the day thou
goest out, and walkest abroad any whither,
that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst
unto me, The word that I have heard is
good. 43. Why then hast thou not kept
the oath of the Lord, and the command¬
ment that I have charged thee with? 44.
The king said, moreover, to Shimei, Thou
knowest all the wickedness which thine
heart is privy to, that thou didst to David
my father: therefore the Lord shall return
thy wickedness upon thine own head: 45.
And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the
throne of David shall be established before
the Lord for ever. 46. So the king com¬
manded llenaiah the son of Jehoiada ; which
went out, and fell upon him, that he died.
And the kingdom was established in the
hand of Solomon.
Here is,
I. The preferment of Benaiah and Zadok, two
faithful friends to Solomon and his government, v.
35. Joab being put to death, Benaiah was advanced
to be general of the forces in his room, and Abiathar
being deposed, Zadok was made High Priest in his
room; and therein was fulfilled that word of God,
when he threatened to cut off the house of Eli, (1
Sim. 2. 35.) I will raise me up a faithful priest, and
will build him a sure house. Though sacred offices
may be disgraced, they shall not be destroyed, by
the mal-administration of those that are intrusted
with them, nor shall God’s work ever stand still for
want of hands to carry it on. No wonder that a
king, so immediately of God’s making, was em¬
powered to make whom he thought fit, High Priest;
and he did it in equity, for the ancient right was in
Zadok, he being of the family of Eleazar, whereas
Eli and his house were of Ithamar.
II. The course that was taken with Shimei. He
is sent for, by a messenger, from his house at Bahu-
rim, expecting, perhaps, no better than Adonij ih’s
doom, being conscious of his enmity to the house of
D avid; but Solomon knows how to make a difference
of crimes and criminals. David had promised Shi¬
mei his life for his time, Solomon is not bound by
that promise, and yet will not go directly contrary
to it.
1. He confined him to Jerusalem, and forbade him, i
upon any pretence whatsoever, to go out of the city,
any further th n the brook Kidron, v. 36, 37. He
would not suffer him to continue at his country-seat,
lest he should m ke mis hief among his neighbours,
but took him to Jerusalem, where he kept him
prisoner at 1 <rge: this might make Shimei’s con¬
finement easy to himself, for Jerusalem was beauti¬
ful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, the royal
city, the holy city; he had no reason to complain of
being shut up in such a paradise; it would also make
it the more safe for Solomon, for there he would
have him under his eye, and be able to watch his
motions; and he plainly tells him that if he ever go
out of the rules, he shall certainly die for it; this was
Vol. II -3 O
a fair trial of his obedience, and such a test of his
loyalty, as he had no reason to complain of; he has
his life upon easy terms, he shall live, if he will but
be content to live at Jerusalem.
2. Shimei submits to the confinement, and thank¬
fully takes his life upon those terms; he enters into
recognizance, (u. 38.) under the penalty of death,
not to stir out of Jerusalem, and owns the saying is
good. Even they that perish, cannot but own the
conditions of pardon and life unexceptionable, so
that their blood, like Shimei’s, must rest upon their
own heads. Shimei promised with an oath, to keep
within his bounds, v. 42. •
3. Shimei forfeits his recognizance, which was
the thing Solomon expected, and God was righteous
in suffering him to do it, that he might now suffer
for his old sins. Two of his servants, (it seems,
though he was a prisoner, he lived like himself, well
attended,) ran from him to the land of the Piiilis
tines, v. 39. Thither he pursued them, and thence
brought them back to Jerusalem, v. 40. For the
keeping of it private, he saddled his ass himself,
probably went in the night, and came home, he
thought, undiscovered. “ Seeking his servants,”
(says Bishop Hall,) “he lost himself; these earthly
things either are, or should be, our servants; how
commonly do we see men run out of the bounds set
by God’s law, to hunt after them, till their souls in¬
cur a fearful judgment!”
4. Solomon takes the forfeiture. Information is
gi\en him, that Shimei had transgressed, v. 41.
The king sends for him, and, (1.) Charges him with
the present crime, ( v . 42, 43.) that he had put a
great contempt upon the authority and wrath both
of God and the king: that he had broken the oath
of the Lord, and disobeyed the commandment of
his prince; and by this, it appeared what manner
of spirit he was of, that he would not be held by the
bonds of gratitude or conscience : had he represented
to Solomon the urgency of the occasion, and begged
leave to go, perhaps Solomon might have given him
leave; but to presume either upon his ignorance or
his connivance, was to affront him in the highest
degree. (2.) He condemns him for his former
crime, cursing David, and throwing stones at him
in the day of his affliction: the wickedness which thy
heart is privy to, v. 44. There was no need to
examine witnesses for the proof of the fact, his own
conscience was instead of a thousand witnesses; that
wickedness which men’s own hearts alone are privy
to, is enough, if duly considered, to fill them with
confusion, in expectation of its return upon their own
heads; for if the heart be privy to it, Grd is greater
than the heart. Others knew of Shimei’s cursing
David, but Shimei himself knew of the wicked
principles of hatred and malice against David,
which he displayed in cursing him, and that his
submission was but feigned and forced. (3.) He
blessed himself and his government; (v. 45.) King
Solomon shall be blessed, notwithstanding Shimei’s
impotent curses, which perhaps, in fury and despair,
he now vented freely. Let them curse, but bless
Thou. And the throne of David shall be established,
by taking away those that would undermine it. It is
a comfort, in reference to the enmity of the church’s
enemies, that, how much soever they rage, it is a
vain thing they imagine, Christ’s throne is establish¬
ed, and they cannot shake it. (4.) He gives orders
for the execution of Shimei immediately, v. 46. Ail
judgment is committed to the Lord Jesus, and
though he be King of peace, he will be found to be
a King of righteousness; and this will shortly be his
word of command concerning all his enemies, that
will not have him to reign over them, Bring them
forth, and slay them before me; the reproaches of
them that blasphemed him, will fall on themselves,
to their eternal condemnation.
474
I. KINGS, III.
CHAP. III.
Solomon’s reign looked bloody in the foregoing chapter,
but the necessary acts of justice must not be called cruel¬
ty; in this chapter, it appears with another face; we must
not think the worse of God’s mercy to his subjects, for
his judgments on rebels. We have here, I. Solomon’s
marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter, v. 1. II. A general
view of his religion, v. 2 . . 4. III. A particular account
of his prayer to God for wisdom, and the answer to that
prayer, v. 5 . . 15. IV. A particular instance of his wis¬
dom in deciding the controversy between the two har-
)ts, v. 16 . . 28. And very great he looks here, both at
the altar, and on the bench, and therefore on the bench,
because at the ‘altar.
t. AND Solomon made affinity with Pha-
raoh king of Egypt, and took Pha¬
raoh’s daughter, and brought her into the
city of David, until he had made an end of
building his own house, and the house of
the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round
about. 2. Only the people sacrificed in
high places, because there was no house
built unto the name of the Lord until those
days. 3. And Solomon loved the Lord,
walking in the statutes of David his father:
only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high
places. 4. And the king went to Gibeon to
sacrifice there; for that was the great high
place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solo¬
mon offer upon that altar.
We are here told concerning Solomon,
I. Something that was unquestionably good, for
which he is to be praised, and in which he is to be
imitated. 1. He loved the Lord, v. 3. Particular
notice was taken of God’s love to him, 2 Sam. 12.
24. he had his name from it, Jedidiah, beloved of
the Lord ; and here we find he returned that love,
as John, the beloved disciple, was most full of love.
Solomon was a wise man, a rich man, a great man;
yet the brightest encomium of him, is that which is
the character of all the saints, even the poorest, He
loved the Lord; he loved the worship, of the Lord,
so the Chaldee; all that love God, love his worship,
love to hear from him, and speak to him, and so to
have communion with him. 2. He walketh in the
statutes of David his father, that is, in the statutes
that David gave him, ch. 2. 2, 3. 1 Chron. 28. 9,
10. (his dying father’s charge was sacred, and as a
law to him;) or in God’s statutes, which David his
father walked in before him; he kept close to God’s
ordinances, carefully observed them, and diligently
attended them: they that truly love Clod, will make
conscience of walking in his statutes. 3. He was
very free and generous in what he did for the honour
of God; when he offered sacrifice, he offered like
a king, in some proportion to his great wealth, a
thousand burnt-offerings, v. 4. Where God sows
plentifully, he expects to reap accordingly; and
those that truly love God and his worship, will not
grudge the expenses of their religion. We may be
tempted to say, To what purpose is this waste ?
Might not these cattle have been given to the poor?
But we must never think that wasted, which is laid
out in the service of God. It seems strange, how
so manv beasts should be burnt upon one altar in
one feast, though it continued seven days; but the
fire on the altar is supposed to be more quick and
devouring: than common fire, for it represented that
fierce and mighty wrath of God, which fell upon
the sicrifires, that the offerers might escape; Our
God is a consuming fire. Bishop Patrick quotes it I
as a tradition of the Jews, that the smoke of the
sacrifices ascended directly in a straight pillar, and
was not scattered, otherwise it would have choked
those that attended, when so many sacrifices were
offered as were here.
II. Here is something, concerning which it may
be doubted, whether it were good or no.
1. His marrying of Pharaoh’s daughter, v. 1.
We will suppose she was proselyted, else it had not
been lawful; yet, if so, surely it was not advisable;
he that loved the Lord, should, for his sake, have
fixed his love upon one of the Lord’s people; un¬
equal matches of the sons of God with the daugh¬
ters of men, have often been of pernicious conse¬
quence; yet some think that he did this with the
advice of his friends, that she was a sincere convert,
(for the gods of the Egyptians were not reckoned
among the strange gods, which his strange wives
drew him into the worship of, ch. 11. 5, 6.) and that
the book of Canticles, and the 45th Psalm, were
penned on this occasion, by which these nuptials
were made typical of the mystical espousals of the
church to Christ, especially the Gentile church.
2. His worshipping in the high places, and there¬
by tempting the people to do so too, v. 2, 3. Abra¬
ham built his altars on mountains, (Gen. 12. 8. —
22. 2.) and worshipped in a grove; (Gen. 21. 33.)
thence the custom was derived, and was proper, till
the divine law confined them to one place, Deut.
12. 5, 6. David kept to the ark, and did not care
for the high places; but Solomon, though, in other
things, he walked in the statutes of his father, in
this, came short of him; he showed thereby a great
zeal for sacrificing, but to obey had been better:
this was an irregularity, though there was as yet no
house built; there was a tent pitched, to the name
of the Lord, and the ark ought to ha\e been the
centre of their unity; it was so by divine institution,
from it the high places separated; yet while they
worshipped God only, and, in other things, accord¬
ing to the rule, he graciously overlooked their
weakness, and accepted their services: it is owned
that Solomon loved the Lord, though he burnt in¬
cense in high places ; and let not man be more severe
than God is.
5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solo¬
mon in a dream by night: and God said,
Ask what I shall give thee. 6. And Solo¬
mon said, Thou hast showed unto thy ser¬
vant David my father great mercy, according
as he walked before thee in truth, and in
righteousness, and in uprightness of heart
with thee ; and thou hast kept for him this
great kindness, that thou hast given him a
son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7.
And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made
thy servant king instead of David my father;
and I am but a little child: J know not how
to go out or come in. 8. And thy servant
is in the midst of thy people which thou hast
chosen, a great people, that cannot be num¬
bered nor counted for multitude. 9. Give
therefore thy servant an understanding heart
to judge thy people, that I may discern be¬
tween good and bad: for who is able to
judge this thy so great a people ? 10. And
the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon
had asked this thing. 11. And God said
unto him, Because thou hast asked this
475
]. KINGS, III.
thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life ; neither hast asked riches for thyself,
nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but
hast asked for thyself understanding to dis¬
cern judgment; 12. Behold, I have done
according to thy word : lo, I have given
thee a wise and understanding heart ; so
that there was none like thee before thee,
neither after thee shall any arise like unto
thee. 13. And I have also given thee that
which thou hast not asked, both riches and
honour ; so that there shall not be any
among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to
keep my statutes and my commandments,
as thy father David did walk, then 1 will
lengthen thy days. 15. And Solomon
awoke ; and, behold, it was a dream. And
he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the
ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offer¬
ed up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-of¬
ferings, and made a feast to all his servants.
W e have here an account of a gracious visit which
God made to Solomon, and the communion he
had with God in it, which puts a greater honour
upon Solomon than all the wealth and power cf his
kingdom did.
I. The circumstances of this visit, v. 5. 1. The
place — it was in Gibeon, that was the great high
place, and should have been the only one, because
there the tabernacle and the brazen altar were,
2 Chron. 1. 3. There Solomon offered his great
sacrifices, and there God owned him more than in
any other of the high places; the nearer we come
to the rule in our worship, the more reason we have
to expect the tokens of God’s presence; where God
records his name, there he will meet us, and bless
us. 2. The time — it was by night, the night after
he had offered that generous sacrifice, v. 4. The
more we abound in God’s work, the more comfort
we may expect in him; if the day has been busy for
him, the night will be easy in him. Silence and re¬
tirement befriend our communion with God: his
kindest visits are often in the night, Ps. 17. 3. 3.
The manner — it was in a dream when he was
asleep, his senses locked up, that God’s access to
his mind might be the more free and immediate; in
this way, God used to speak to the prophets, (Numb.
12. 6.) and to private persons, for their own benefit,
Job 33. 15, 16. These divine dreams, no doubt,
distinguished themselves from those in which there
are divers vanities, Eccl. 5777.
II. The gracious offer God made him of the fa¬
vour he should choose, whatever it were, v. 5. He
saw the glory of God shine about him, and heard a
voice, saying, Ask what I shall give thee. Not that
God was indebted to him for his sacrifices, but thus
he would testify his acceptance of them, and signi¬
fy to him what great mercy he had in store for him,
if he were not wanting to himself. Thus he would
try his inclinations, and put an honour upon the
prayer of faith. God, in like manner, condescends
to us, and puts us in the ready way to be happy, by
assuring us that we shall have what we will, for the
asking, John 16. 23. 1 John 5. 15. What would we
more ? Ask, and it shall be given you.
III. The pious request Solomon, hereupon, made
to God. He readily laid hold on this offer; why do
we neglect the like offer made to us, like Ahaz,
who said, I will not ask? Isa. 7. 12. Solomon pray¬
ed in his sleep, God’s grace assisting him; yet it
was a lively prayer. What we are most in care
about, and which makes the greatest impression
upon us when we are awake, commonly affects us
when we are asleep; and by our dreams, sometimes,
we may know what our hearts are upon, and how
our pulse beats. Plutarch makes virtuous dreams
one evidence of increase in virtue. Yet this must
be attributed to a higher source. Solomon’s making
of such an intelligent choice as this, when he was
asleep, and the powers of reason were least active,
showed that it came purely from the grace of God,
which wrought in him these gracious desires. If
his reins thus instruct him in the night season, he
must bless the Lord who gave him counsel, Ps. 16.
7. Now, in this prayer,
1. He acknowledges God’s great goodness to h s
father David, v. 6. He speaks honourably of his
father’s piety, that he had walked before God in
uprightness of heart, drawing a vail over his faults.
It is to be hoped that those who praise their godly
parents, will imitate them. But he speaks mere
honourably < f God’s goodness to his father, the
mercy he had showed to him while he lived, in giv¬
ing him to be sincerely religious, and then recom¬
pensing his sincerity; and the great kindness he had
| kept for him, to be bestowed on his family when he
was gone, in giving him a son to sit on his throne.
Children should give God thanks for his mercies to
their parents; for the sure mercies of David. God’s
favours are then doubly sweet, when we observe
them transmitted to us through the hands of those
that have gone before us. The way to get the en¬
tail perpetuated, is, to bless God that it has hitherto
been preserved.
2. He owns his own insufficiency for the discharge
cf that great trust to which he was called, v. 7, 8.
And here is a double plea to enforce his petition for
wisdom. (1.) That his place required it, as he was
successor to David: “ Thou hast made me king in¬
stead of David, who was a very wise, good man;
Lord, give me wisdom, that I may keep up what
he wrought, and carry on what he began;” and as he
was ruler over Israel, “Lord, give me wisdom to
rule well, for they are a numerous people, that will
j not be managed without much care. They are thy
people, which thou hast chosen, and therefore to be
ruled for thee; and the more wisely they are ruled,
the more glory thou wilt have from them. ” (2. )
That he wanted it; as one that had an humble sense
of his own deficiency, he pleads, Lord, I am but a
little child ; so he calls himself, a child in under¬
standing, though his father called him a wise man,
ch. 2. 9. “ I know not how to go out, or come in,
as I should, nor to do so much as the common daily
business of the government, much less what to do
in a critical juncture.” Note, Those who are em¬
ployed in public stations, ought to be very sensible
of the weight and importance of their work, and
their own insufficiency for it; and then they are
qualified for receiving divine instruction. St. Paul’s
question ( Who is sufficient for these things?) is much
like Solomon’s here, Who is able to judge this thy
so great a people ? v. 9. Absalom, who was a fool,
wished himself a judge; Solomon, who was a wise
man, trembles at the undertaking, and suspects his
own fitness for it. The more knowing and consi¬
derate men are, the better acquainted they are with
their own weakness, and the more jealous of them¬
selves.
3. He begs of God to give him wisdom; (y. 2.)
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart.
He calls himself God’s servant; pleased with that
relation to God,(Ps. 116. 16.) and pleading it with
him; “ I am devoted to thee, and employed for thee;
give me that which is requisite to the services in
which I am employed.” Thus his good father pray-
476
I. KINGS, III.
ed, and thus he pleaded; (Ps. 119. 125.) I am thy
servant, give me understanding. An understand-
ing heart is God’s gift, Prov. 2. 6. We must pray
ror it, (James 1. 5.) and pray for it with application
to our particular calling, and the various occasions
we have for it; as Solomon, Give mean understand¬
ing, not to please my own curiosity with, or puzzle
my neighbours, but to judge thy people. That is
the best knowledge, which will be serviceable to us
in doing our duty; and such that knowledge is,
which enables us to discern between good and bad,
right and wrong, sin and duty, truth and falsehood,
so as not to be imposed upon by false colours, in
judging either of others’ actions, or of our own.
4. The favourable answer God gave to his re¬
quest. It was a pleasing prayer; (u. 10. ) The speech
pleased the Lord. God is well pleased with his own
work in his people; the desires of his own kindling,
the prayers of his Spirit’s indicting. By this choice
Solomon made it appear that he desired to be good
more than great, and to serve God’s honour more
than to advance his own. Those are accepted of
God, who prefer spiritual blessings to temporal, and
are more solicitous to be found in the way of their
duty, than in the way to preferment. But that was
not all; it was a prevailing prayer, and prevailed
for more than he asked. (1. ) CLd gave him wisdom,
v. 12. He fitted him for all that great work to which
he had called him; gave him such a right under¬
standing of the law which he was to judge by,
and the cases he was to judge of, that he was un¬
equalled, for a clear head, a solid judgment, and a
piercing eye. Such an insight, and such a foresight,
never was prince so blessed with. (2.) He gave
him riches and honour over and above into the bar¬
gain, ( v . 13.) and it was promised that he should as
much exceed his predecessors, his successors, and
all his neighbours, in these, as in wisdom. These
also are God’s gift, and are promised to all that seek
first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness
thereof, as far as is good for them, Matth. 6. 33.
Let y ung people learn to prefer grace to gold, be¬
cause godliness has the promise of the life that now
is, but the life that now is, has not the promise of
godliness. How completely blessed was Solomon,
that had both wisdom and wealth! He that has
wealth and power without wisdom and grace, is in
danger of doing hurt with it; he that has wisdom
and grace without wealth and power, is not capable
of doing so much good with it, as he that has both.
Wisdom is good, is so much the better with an in¬
heritance, Eccl. 7. 11. But if we make sure of wis¬
dom and grace, those will either bring outward
prosperity with them, or sweeten the want of it.
Qod promised Solomon riches and honour, abso¬
lutely, but long life, upon condition; ( v . 14. ) If thou
wilt walk in my ways, as David did, then will I
lengthen thy days: he failed in the condition; and
therefore, though he had riches and honour, he did
not live so long to enjoy them, as, in the course of
nature, he might have done. Length of days is
Wisdom’s right-hand blessing, typical of eternal
life; but it is in her left hand that riches and honour
are, Prov. 3. 16. Let us see here, [1.] That the
way to obtain spiritual blessings, is, to be importu¬
nate for them; to wrestle with God in prayer for
them, as Solomon did for wisdom, asking that only,
as the one thing needful. [2.] That the way to
obtain temporal blessings, is, to be indifferent to
them, and to refer ourselves to God concerning
them. Solomon has wisdom given him, because he
aid ask it, and wealth, because he did not.
5. The grateful return Solomon made for the visit
God was pleased to make him, v. 15. He awoke,
we may suppose, in a transport of joy; awoke, and
his sleep was sw et to him, as the prophet speaks;
(Jer. 31. 26.) being satisfied of God’s favour, he
j was satisfied with it, and he began to think, vjhat he
j| should render unto the Lord. He had made his
prayer at the high place at Gibeon, and there God
had graciously met him; but he comes to Jerusalem,
to give thanks before the ark of the covenant, blam¬
ing himself, as it were, that he had not prayed
there, the ark being the token of God’s presence,
and wondering that God had met him any where
else. God’s passing by our mistakes, should per¬
suade us to amend them. There he, (1.) Offered
a great sacrifice to God. We must give God praise
for his gifts in the promise, though not yet fully per¬
formed. David used to praise God’s word, as well
as his works, (Ps. 56. 10. and particularly, 2 Sam.
7. 18. ) and Solomon trod in his steps. (2.) He made
a great feast upon the sacrifice, that those about him
might rejoice with him in the grace of God.
16. Then came there two women, that
were harlots, unto the king, and stood before
him. 17. And the one woman said, O my
lord, I and this woman dwell in one house ;
and I was delivered of a child with her in the
house. 18. And it came to pass, the third
day after that I was delivered, that this wo¬
man was delivered also : and we were toge¬
ther ; there ivas no stranger with us in the
house, save we two in the house. 19. And
this woman’s child died in the night ; be¬
cause she* overlaid it. 20. And she arose
at midnight, and took my son from beside
me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it
in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my
bosom. 21. And when I arose in the morn¬
ing to give my child suck, behold, it was
dead ; but when I had considered it in the
morning, behold, it was not my son which 1
did bear. 22. And the other woman said,
Nay ; but the living is my son, and the dead
is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead
is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus
they spake before the king. 23. Then said
the king, The one saith, This is my son that
liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the
other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead,
and my son is the living. 24. And the king
said, Bring me a sword. And they brought
a sword before the king. 25. And the king
said, Divide the living child in two, and give
half to the one, and half to the other. 26.
i Then spake the woman whose the living
child was unto the king, (for her bowels
yearned upon her son,) and she said, O my
lord, give her the living child, and in no
wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be
neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27.
Then the king answered and said, Give her
the living child, and in no wise slay it: she
is the mother thereof. 28. And all Israel
heard of the judgment which the king had
judged; and they feared the king: for they
saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to
do judgment.
477
I. KINGS, IV.
An instance is here given of Solomon’s wisdom,
to show that the grant. lately made him, had a real
effect upon him: the proof is fetched, not from the
mysteries of state, and the policies of the council-
board, though there, no doubt, he excelled, but from
the trial and determination of a cause between par¬
ty and party, which princes, though they devolve
them upon their judges, must not think it below
them to take cognizance of. Observe,
I. The case opened, not by lawyers, but by the
parties themselves, though they were women, which
made it the easier to such a piercing eye as Solomon
had, to discern between right and wrong by their
own showing. These two women were harlots,
kept a public-house, and their children, some think,
were born of fornication, because here is no men¬
tion of their husbands. It is probable, the cause
had been heard in the inferior courts, before it was
brought before Solomon, and had been found spe¬
cial, the judges being unable to determine it, that
Solomon’s wisdom in deciding it, at last, might be
the more taken notice of. These two women lived
in a house together, were each of them delivered
of a son, within three days of one another, v. 17, 18.
They were so poor, that they had no servant or
nurse to be with them; so slighted, because harlots,
that they had no friend or relation to accompany
them. One of them overlaid her child, and, in the
night, exchanged it with the other, (v. 19, 20.) who
was soon aware of the cheat put upon her, and
appealed to public justice to be righted, v. 21.
See, 1. What anxiety is caused by little chil¬
dren, how uncertain their lives are, and to how
many dangers they are continually exposed. The
age of infancy is the valley of the shadow of death;
and the lamp of life, when first lighted, is easily
blown out. It is a wonder of mercy, that so few
perish in the perils of nursing. 2. How much bet¬
ter it was, in those times, with children born in for¬
nication, than, commonly, it is now. Harlots then
loved their children, nursed them, and were loath
to part with them : whereas now, they are often sent
to a distance, abandoned, or killed. But thus it is
foretold, that in the last days perilous times should
come, when people should be without natural affec¬
tion, 2 Tim. 3. 3.
II. The difficulty of the case. The question was,
Who was the mother of this living child, which
was brought into court, to be finally adjudged either
to the one, or to the other? Both mothers were
vehement in their claims, and showed deep concern
about it. Both were peremptory in their assevera¬
tions; “Itismine,” says one; “ Nay, it is mine,” says
the other. Neither will own the dead child, though
it would be cheaper to bury that, than to maintain
the other; but it is the living one they strive for. The
living child is therefore the parents’ joy, because it
is their hope; and may not the dead children be so?
See Jer. 31. 17. Now the difficulty of the case was,
th at there was no evidence on either side. The neigh¬
bours, though it is probable that some of them were
present at the birth and circumcision of the children,
yet had not taken so much notice of them, as to be
able to distinguish them.* To put the parties to
the rack, would have been barbarous; not she who
had justice on her side, but she who was most
hardy, would have had the judgment in her favour.
Little stress is to be laid on extorted evidence.
Judges and juries have need of wisdom, to find out
truth, when it thus lies hid.
III. The determination of it. Solomon, having
patiently heard what both sides had to say, sums
up the evidence, v. 23. And now the whole court is
♦ Tlie reader will observe an inadvertency here; it being ques-
'innable whether the dead child' lived to be circumcised, and it
being plainly stated that, at the birth of the children the two mo¬
thers were alone in the house. — En.
in expectation, what course Solomon’s wisdom will
take to find out the truth. One knows not what to
say to it; another, perhaps, would determine it by
lot; Solomon calls tor a sword, and gives orders to
divide the living child between the two contenders.
Now, 1. This seemed a ridiculous decision of the
case, and a brutal cutting of the knot which he
could not untie. “Is this,” think the sages of the
law, “the wisdom of Solomon?” They could not
conjecture what he aimed at in it. The hearts of
kings, such kings, are unsearchable, Prov. 25. 3.
There was a law concerning the dividing of a living
ox and a dead one, (Exod. 21. 35.) but that did not
reach this case. But, 2. It proved an effectual dis¬
covery of the truth. Some think that Solomon did
himself discern it, before he made this experiment,
by the countenance of the worn* n, and their way of
speaking: but by this, he gave satisfaction to all the
company, and silenced the pretender. To find out
the true mother, he could not try which the child
loved best, and must therefore try. which loved the
child best; both pretended to a motherly affection,
but the sincerity of it will be tried, when the child
is in danger. (1.) She that knew the child was not
her own, but, in contending for it, stood upon a
oint of honour, was well content to have it di\ided.
he that had overlaid her own child, cared not
what became of this, so that the true mother might
not have it. Let it be neither mine nor thine, but
divide it. By this it appeared that she knew her
own title to be bad, and feared Solomon would find
it so, though she little suspected she was betraying
herself, but thought Solomon in good earnest. If
she had been the true mother, she had forfeited her
interest in the child, by agreeing so readily to this
bloody decision. But, ’2. She that knew the child
was her own, rather than the child should be butch¬
ered, gives it up to her adversary. How feelingly
does she cry out, O, my Lord! give her the living
child, v. 26. “ Let me see it her’s, rather than not
see it at all.” By this tenderness toward the child,
it appeared that she was not the careless mother
that had overlaid the dead child, but was the true
mother of the living one, that could not endure to
see its death, having compassion on the son of her
womb. “ The case is plain,” says Solomon, “what
need of witnesses? Give her the living child; for
you all see, by this undissembled compassion, she is
the mother of it. ” Let parents show their love to
their children, by taking care of them, especially,
by taking care of their souls, and, with a holy vio¬
lence, snatching them as brands out of the burning.
They are most likely to have the comfort of chil¬
dren, that do their duty to them. Satan pretends
to the heart of man, but by this it appears that he
is only a pretender, that he would be content to di¬
vide with God, whereas the rightful Sovereign of
the heart will have all or none.
Lastly, We are told what a great reputation
Solomon got among his people, by this and other in¬
stances of his wisdom, which would have a great
influence upon the ease of his government; they
feared the king, {y. 28.) highly reverenced him,
durst not, in any thing, oppose him, and were afraid
of doing an unjust thing; for they knew, if ever it
came before him, he would certainly discover it,
for they saw the voisdom of God was in him, that is,
that wisdom which God had promised to endue him
with. This made his face to shine, (Eccl. 8. 1.)
this strengthened him, (Eccl. 7. 19.) this was better
to him than weapons of war, (Eccl. 9. 18.) for this,
he was both feared and loved.
CHAP. IV.
An instance of the wisdom of God granted to Solomon, we
had in the close of the foregoing chapter. In this, we
have an account of his wealth and prosperity, which
478
I. KINGS, IV.
was the other branch of the promise there made him.
We have here, I. The magnificence of his court; his mi¬
nisters of state, (v. 1..6. ) and the purveyors of his house¬
hold, (v. 7. .19.) and their office, v. 27, 28. II. The pro¬
vision for his table, v. 22, 23. III. The extent of his do¬
minion, v. 21, 24. IV. The numbers, ease, and peace,
of his subjects, v. 20, 25. V. His stables, v. 26. VI. His
great reputation for wisdom and learning, v. 29.. 34.
Thus great was Solomon, but our Lord Jesus was great¬
er than he, {Matth. 12. 42.) though he took upon him the
form of a servant. For, Divinity in its lowest humili¬
ations, infinitely transcends royalty in its highest eleva¬
tions.
i. Ct O king Solomon was king over all Is-
k3 rael. 2. And these were the princes
which he had ; Azariah the son of Zadok
the priest; 3. Elihoreph and Ahiah, the
sons of Shisha, scribed ; Jehoshaphat the son
ofAhilud, the recorder. 4. And Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and
Zadok and Abiathar were the priests ; 5.
And Azariah the son of Nathan was over
the officers; and Zabud the son of Na¬
than was principal officer, and the king’s
friend ; 6. And Ahishar was over the house¬
hold ; and Adoniram the son of Abda was
over the tribute. 7. And Solomon had
twelve officers over all Israel, which pro¬
vided victuals for the king and his house¬
hold : each man his month in a year made
precision. 8. And these are their names:
The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim. 9.
The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaal-
bim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-
hanan. 10. The son of Hesed, in Aruboth ;
to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land
of Hepher. 11. The son of Abinadab, in
all the region of Dor; which had Taphath
the daughter of Solomon to wife. 12. Baa-
na, the son of Ahilud ; to him pertained
Taanachand Megiddo, and all Beth-shean,
which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from
Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even unto the
oiace that is beyond Jokneam. 13. The
son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead ; to him
pertained the towns of Jair the son of Ma-
nasseh, which are in Gilead: to him also
pertained the region of Argob, which is in
Bashan, threescore great cities, with walls
and brazen bars. 14. Abinadab the son
of Tddo had Mahanaim. 15. Ahimaaz was
in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the
daughter of Solomon to wife. 16. Baanah
the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth.
1 7. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issa-
rhar. 18. Shimei the son of Elah in Ben¬
jamin. 1 9. Geber the son of Uri was in the
country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon
king of the Amorites, and of Og king of
Bashan ; and he was the only officer which
was in the land.
Here is,
I. Solomon upon his throne: (v. 1.) So king Solo¬
mon was king; that is, he was confirmed and estab-
! lished king over all Israel, and not, as his succ.es
sors, only over two tribes. He was a king, he did
the work and duty of a king, with the wisdom
God had given him. Those preserve the name and
honour of their place, th t mind the business of it,
and make conscience of it.
II. The great officers of his court; in the choice
of which, no doubt, his wisdom much appeared. It
is observable, 1. That several of them are the same
that were in his father’s time. Zadok and Abiathar
were then priests, (2 Sam. 20. 25. ) so they were
now; only then, Abiathar had the precedency, now,
Zadok; Jehoshaphat was then recorder, or keeper
of the great seal, so he was now. Benaiah, in his
father’s time, was a principal man in military af¬
fairs, and so he was now. Shisha was his father's
scribe, and his sons were his, v. 3. Solomon, though
a wise man, would not affect to seem wiser than his
father in this matter. When sons come to inherit
their father’s wealth, honour, and power, it is a
piece of respect to their memory, exteris paribus —
where it can properly be done, to employ those
whom they employed, and trust those whom they
trusted. Many pride themselves in being the re¬
verse of their good parents. 2. The rest were
priests’ sons. His prime minister of state, was,
Azariah the son of Zadok the priest. Two others
of the first rank were the sons of Nathan the pro¬
phet, v. 5. In preferring them, he testified the
grateful respect he had for their good father, whom
he loved in the name of a prophet.
III. The purveyors for his household, whose bu¬
siness it was to send in provisions from several parts
of the country, for the king’s tables and cellars, (?\
7.) and for his stables, v. 27, 28. That thus, 1. His
house might always be well furnished, at the best
hand. Let great men learn hence good house-keep¬
ing, and yet good husbandry in their house-keeping;
to be generous in spending according to their ability,
but prudent in providing. It is the character of
the virtuous woman, that she bringeth her food from
afar, (Prov. 31. 14.) not far-fetched and dear-
bought, but the contrary, every thing bought where
it is cheapest. 2. That thus he himself, and those
who immediately attended him, might be eased of
a great deal of care, and the more closely apply
themselves to the business of the state, not troubled
about much serving; provisions for that being got
ready to their hand. 3. That thus all the parts of
the kingdom might be equally benefited, by the tak¬
ing off of the commodities that were the productions
of their country, and the circulating of the coin. In¬
dustry would hereby be encouraged, and conse¬
quently wealth increased, even in those tribes that
lay most remote from the court. The providence
of God extends itself to all places of his dominions;
(Ps. 103. 22.) so should the prudence and care of
princes. 4. The dividing of this trust into so many
hands, was prudent, that no one man might be con¬
tinually burthened with the care of it, nor grow
exorbitantly rich with the profit of it; but that So¬
lomon might have those, in every district, who,
having a dependence upon the ccurt, would be ser¬
viceable to him and his interest, as there was occa¬
sion.
These commissioners of the victualling-office, not
for the army or navy, (Solomon was engaged in no
war,) but for the household, are here named; seve¬
ral of them only by their surnames, as great men
commonly call their servants; Ben-hur, Ben-dekar,
(jfc.: though several of them have also their proper
names prefixed. Two of them married Solomon's
daughters, Ben-Abinadab, ( v . 11.) and Ahimaaz;
(t». 15.) and no disparagement to them, to marry
men of business. Better match with the officers of
their father’s court that were Israelites, than with
the sons of princes that werp strangers to the cove-
479
I. KINGS, IV.
•rant of promise. The son of Geber was in Ramoth-
gilead, (v. 13.) and Geber himself was in the coun¬
try of Sihon and Og, which included that and
Mahanaim, v. 19. He is therefore said to be the
only officer in that land, because the other two,
mentioned v. 13, 14. depended on him, and were
subordinate to him.
20. Judah and Israel were many, as
the sand which is by the sea in multitude,
eating and drinking, and making merry.
21. And Solomon reigned over all king¬
doms from the river unto the land of the
Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt:
they brought presents, and served Solomon
all the days of his life. 22. And Solomon’s
provision for one day was thirty measures
of fine flour, and threescore measures of
meal, 23. Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen
out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep,
besides harts, and roe-bucks, and fallow
deer, and fatted fowl. 24. For he had
dominion over all the region on this side the
river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all
the kings on this side the river: and he had
peace on all sides round about him. 25.
And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every
man under his vine and under his fig-tree,
from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days
of Solomon. 26. And Solomon had forty
thousand stalls of horses for his chariots,
and twelve thousand horsemen. 27. And
those officers provided victual for king Solo¬
mon, and for all that came unto king Solo¬
mon’s table, every man in his month : they
lacked nothing. 28. Barley also and straw
for the horses and dromedaries brought they
unto the place where the officers were, every
man according to his charge.
Such a kingdom, and such a court, sure never any
prince had, as Solomon’s is here described to be.
I. Such a kingdom. Never did the crown of Is¬
rael shine so bright, as it did when Solomon wore
it; never in his father’s days, never in the days of
any of his successors; nor was that kingdom ever so
glorious a type of the kingdom of the Messiah, as
it was then. The account here given of it, is such
as fully answers the prophecies which we have con¬
cerning it, Ps. 72. which is a psalm for Solomon,
but with reference to Christ.
The territories of this kingdom were large, and
its tributaries many: so it was foretold, that he
should have dominion from sea to sea, Ps. 72. 8 . .
11. Solomon reigned not onlv over all Israel, who
were his subjects by choice, but over all the neigh¬
bouring kingdoms, who were his subjects by con¬
straint. All the prince's from the river Euphrates
north-east, to the border of Egvpt south-west, not
only added to his honour, by doing him homage,
and holding their crowns from him, but added to
his wealth, by serving him, and bringing him pre¬
sents, v. 21. David, by his successful wars, com¬
pelled them to this subjection, and Solomon, by his
admirable wisdom, made it easy and reasonable; ft v
it is fit that the fool should be servant to the wise in
heart. If they gave him presents, he gave them
instructions, and still taught the people knowledge;
not only his own people, but those of other nations;
and wisdom is belter than gold. He had peace on
all sides, v. 24. None of all the nations that were
subject to him, offered to shake off his yoke, or give
him any disturbance; but, rather, thought them¬
selves happy in their dependence upon him. Here¬
in, his kingdom typified the Messiah’s; for to him
it is promised that he shall have the heathen for his
inheritance, and that princes shall worship him, Isa.
49. 6, 7.-53. 12.
2. The subjects of this kingdom, and its inhabit¬
ants, were many and cheerful. (1.) They were
numerous, and the country exceedingly populous;
(v. 20.) Judah and Israel were many, and that
good land sufficient to maintain them all. Iney
were as the sand of the sea in multitude. Now was
fulfilled the promise made to Abraham, concerning
the increase of his seed; (Gen. 22. 17.) as well as
that concerning the extent of their dominion, Gen.
15. 18. This was their strength and beauty, the
honour of their prince, the terror of theii enemies,
and an advancement of the wealth of the nation.
If they grew so numerous that the place was any
where too strait for them, they might remove with
advantage into the countries that were subject to
them. God’s spiritual Israel are many, at least,
they will be so, when they come all together, Rev.
7. 9. (2.) They were easy; they dwelt safely, or,
with confidence and assurance; (t>. 25.) not jealous
of their king, or of his officers; not disaffected
either to him, or to one another, nor under any ap
prehension of danger from enemies foreign or do¬
mestic. They were happy, and knew' it; safe, and
willing to think themselves so. They dwelt every
man under his vine and fig-tree. Solomon invaded
no man’s property, took not to himself their vine¬
yards and olivevards, as sometimes was the manner
of the king, (1 Sam. 8. 19.) but what they had, they
could call their own: he protected every man in the
possession and enjoyment of his property. They
that had vines and fig-trees, ate the fruit of them
themselves; and so great was the peace of the
country, that they might, if they pleased, dwell as
safely under the shadow of them, as within the
walls of a city. Or, because it was usual to have
vines by the sides of their houses, (Ps. 128. 3.) they
are said to dwell under their vines. (3.) They were
cheerful in the use of their plenty, eating and drink¬
ing, and making merry, v. 20. Solomon did not
only keep a good table himself, but enabled all his
subjects, according to their rank, to do so too, and
taught them that God gave them their abundance,
that they might use it soberly and pleasantly, not
that they might hoard it up. There is nothing bet¬
ter than for a man to eat the labour of his hands,
(Eccl. 2. 24. ) and that, with a merry heart, Eccl.
9. 7. His father, in the Psalms, had led his people
into the comforts of communion with God, and now
he led them into the comfortable use of the good
things of this life. This pleasant posture of Israel’s
affairs, extended, in place, from Dan to Beer-sheba;
no part of the country was exposed, or, upon any
account, uneasy; and it continued a long time, alt
the days of Solomon, without any material interrup¬
tion. Go where you would, you might see all the
marks of plenty, peace and satisfaction. The spirit¬
ual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the
faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus, wrnre typified by
this. The kingdom of Clod is not, as Solomon’s was,
meat and drink, but, what is infinitelv better, righ¬
teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
II. Such a court Solomon kept, as can scarcely be
paralleled. We may guess at the vast number of
his attendants, and the great resort that was to him.
bv the provision that was made daily for his table.
Of bread so many measures of flour and meal, as,
it is computed, would richly serve 3000 men; Caret-
480
I. KINGS, IV.
lus computes above 48000 men; and the provision I
of flesh (v. 23.) is rather more, in proportion. [
What vast quantities were here of beef, mutton,
and venison, and the choicest of all fatted things,
as some read that which we translate fatted fowl !
Ahasuerus, once in his reign, made a great feast,
to show the riches of his kingdom, Esth. 1. 3, 4.
But it was much more the honour of Solomon, that
he kept a constant table, and a very noble one; not
of dainties, or deceitful meats, (he himself witness¬
ed against them, Prov. 23. 3.) but substantial food,
for the entertainment of those who came to hear his
wisdom. Thus Christ fed those whom he taught,
five thous and at a time, more than ever Solomon’s
table would entertain at once: all believers have in
him a continual feast. Herein, he far outdoes Solo¬
mon, that he feeds all his subjects, not with the
bread that perishes, but with that which endures to
eternal life.
It added much, both to the strength and glory of
Solomon’s kingdom, that he had such abundance of
horses, 40,000 for chariots, and 12,000 for his troops.
A thousand horse, perhaps, in every tribe, for the
preserving of the public peace, v. 26. God had
commanded that their king should not multiply
horses, (Deut. 17. 16.) nor, according to the account
here given, considering the extent and wealth of
Solomon’s kingdom, did he multiply ho' ses in pro¬
portion to his neighbours; for we find even the
Philistines bringing into the field 30,000 chariots,
(1 Sam. 13. 6.) and the Syrians, at least, 40,000
horse, 2 S ;m. 10. 18. The same officers that pro¬
vided for his house, provided also for his table, v.
27, 28. Every one knew his place, and work, and
time; and so this great court was kept without
confusion. Solomon, that had vast incomes, lived
at a vast expense; and perhaps wrote that, with
application to himself, (Eccl. 5. 11.) When goods
increase, they are increased that eat them ; and
what good is there to the owners thereof, saving
the beholding of them with their eyes, unless withal
they have the satisfaction of doing good with them?
29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and large¬
ness of heart, even as the sand that is on
the sea-shore. 30. And Solomon’s wisdom
excelled the wisdom of all the children of
the east country, and all the wisdom of
Egypt. 31. For he was wiser than all
men ; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and He-
man, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of
Mahol : and his fame was in all nations
round about. 32. And he spake three thou¬
sand proverbs: and his songs were a thou¬
sand and five. 33. And he spake of trees,
from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even
unto the hyssop that springeth out of the
wall : he spake also of beasts, and of fowl,
and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34.
And there came of all people to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the
earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
Solomon’s wisdom was more his glory than his
wealth; a general account of that we have here.
I. The fountain of his wisdom. God gave it him,
v. 29. He owns it himself, (Prov. 2. 6.) The Lord
giveth wisdom. He gives the powers of reason,
(Job 38. 36. ) preserves and improves them. The
ordinary advances of them are owing to his provi¬
dence, and sanctification of them, to his grace; and
this extraordinary pitch at which they arrived in
Solomon, to a special grant of his favour to him, in
answer to his prayer.
II. The fulness of it. He had wisdom and under¬
standing, exceeding much; great knowledge of dis¬
tant countries, and the histories of former times; a
quickness of thought, strength of memory, and
clearness of judgment, such as never any man had.
It is called largeness of heart, for the heart is often
put for the intellectual powers. He had a vast
compass of knowledge, could take things entire,
and had an admirable faculty of laying things to¬
gether. Some, by his largeness of heart, understand
his courage and boldness, and that great assurance
with which he delivered his dictates and determina¬
tions. Or, it may be meant of his disposition to do
good with it. He was very free and communicative
of his knowledge; had the gift of utterance, as well
as wisdom; was as free of his learning as he was
of his meat; and grudged neither to any that were
about him. Note, It is very desirable that those
who have large gifts of any kind, should have large
hearts to use them for the good of others; and this
is from the hand of God, Eccl. 3. 24. He shall
enlarge the heart, Ps. 119. 32.
The greatness of Solomon’s wisdom is illustrated
by comparison. Chaldea and Egypt were nations
famous for learning; thence the Greeks borrowed
their’s; but the greatest scholars of these nations,
came short of Solomon, v. 30. If nature excels
art, much more does grace. The knowledge which
God gives by special favour, goes beyond that
which man gets by his own labour. Some wise men
there were in Solomon’s time, who were in great
repute; particularly, Heman, and others who were
Levites, and employed bv David in the temple
music, 1 Chron. 15. 19. Heman wlas his seer in the
word of God, 1 Chrr n. 25. 5. Chalcol and Darda
were own brothers, and they also were noted for
learning and wisdom, but Solomon excelled them
all; ("u. 30.) he out-did them, and confounded them;
his counsel was much more valuable.
III. The fame of it. It was talked of in all na¬
tions round about. His great wealth and glory
made his wisdom much more illustrious, and gave
him those opportunities of showing it, which they
cannot have, that live in po’ erty and obscurity.
The jewel of wisdom may receive great advantage
by the setting of it.
IV. The fruits of it; by these the tree is known:
he did not bury his talent, but showed his wisdom.
1. In his compositions. Those in divinity, written
by divine inspiration, are not mentioned here, for
they are extant, and will remain to the world’s end,
monuments of his wisdom; and are, as other parts
of scripture, of use to make us wise unto salvation.
But beside those, it appears by what he spake,
or dictated to be written from him, (1.) That he
was a moralist, and a man of great prudence, for
he spake three thousand proverbs, wise sayings,
apophthegms, of admirable use for the conduct of
human life. The world is much governed by pro
verbs, and was never better furnished with useful
ones, than by Solomon. Whether those proverbs
of Solomon that we have, were any part of the
3000, is uncertain. (2.) That he was a poet, and
a man of great wit. His songs were a thousand and
five, of which only one is extant, because that only
was divinely inspired, which is therefore called his
Song of songs. His wise instructions were com¬
municated by proverbs, that they might be familiar
to them he designed to teach, and ready on all oc¬
casions; by songs, that they might be pleasant, and
move the affections. (3.) That he was a natural
philosopher, and a man of great learning, and in¬
sight into the mysteries of nature: from his own
and others’ observations ard experience, he wrote
1. KINGS, V
481
o< th of plants and animals, (v. 33.) descriptions of
their natures and qualities, and (some think) of the
medicinal use of them.
2. In his conversation. There came persons from
all parts, who were more inquisitive after know¬
ledge than their neighbours, to hear the wisdom
of Solomon , v. 34. Kings that h^d heard of it, sent
their ambassadors to hear it, and to bring them in¬
structions from it. Solomon’s court was the staple
of learning, and the rendezvous of philosoj hers,
that is, the lovers of wisdom, who all came to light
their candle at his lamp, and to borrow from him.
Let those who magnify the modern learning above
that of the ancients, produce such a treasure of
knowledge, any where in these latter ages, as that
was, which Solomon was master of; yet this puts an
honour upon human learning, that Solomon was
praised for it, and recommends it to the great men
of the earth, as well worthy their diligent search.
But, lastly, Solomon was, herein, a type of Christ,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge ; and hid for use, for he is made of God
to us, wisdom.
CHAP. V.
The great work which Solomon was raised up to do, was,
the building of the temple ; his wealth and wisdom were
iven him, to qualify him for that. In this, especially,
e was to be a type of Christ, for He shall build the tem¬
ple of the Lord, Zech. 6. 12. In this chapter, we have
an account of the preparations he made for that and his
other buildings. Gold and silver his good father had
prepared in abundance, but timber and stone he must
fet ready; and about these we have him treating with
liram king of Tyre. I. Hiram congratulated him on
his accession to the throne, v. 1. II. Solomon signified
to him his design to build the temple, and desired him to
furnish him with workmen, v. 2. .6. III. Hiram agrees
to do it, v. 7 . . 9. IV. Solomon’s work is; accordingly,
well done, and Hiram’s workmen well paid, v. 10. . 13,
1 AND Hiram king of T yre sent his ser-
/v vants unto Solomon ; (for he had
heard that they had anointed him king in
the room of his father ;) for Hiram was ever
a lover of David. 2. And Solomon sent
to Hiram, saying, 3. Thou knowest how
that David my father could not build a
house unto the name of the Lord his God,
for the wars which were about him on every
side, until the Lord put them under the
soles of his feet. 4. But now the Lord my
God hath given me rest on every side, so that
there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.
5. And, behold, I purpose to build a house
unto the name of the Lord my God, as the
Lord spake unto David my father, saying,
Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne
in thy room, he shall build a house unto my
name. 6. Now therefore command thou
that they hew me cedar-trees out of Leba¬
non ; and my servants shall be with thy ser¬
vants : and unto thee will I give hire for thy
servants, according to all that thou shalt ap¬
point: for thou knowest that there is not
among us any that can skill to hew timber
like unto the Sidonians. 7. And it came to
pass, when Hiram heard the words of So¬
lomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said,
Blessed he the Lord this day. which hath
VoL. II. — 3 P
given unto David a wise son over this great
people. 3. And Hiram sent to Solomon,
saying, 1 have considered the things which
thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy
desire concerning timber of cedar, and con¬
cerning timber of fir. 9. My servants shall
bring them down from Lebanon unto the
sea ; and I will convey them by sea in floats
unto the place that thou shalt appoint me,
and will cause them to be discharged there,
and thou shalt receive them : and thou shalt
accomplish my desire in giving food for mj
household.
We have here an account of the amicable corre¬
spondence between Solomon and Hiram. Tyre wat
a famous trading city, that lay close upon the sea,
in the border of Israel ; its inhabitants, (as should
seem,) none of the devoted nations, nor ever at en¬
mity with Israel; and therefore David never offered
to destroy them, but lived in friendship with them.
It is said here of Hiram their king, that he was
ever a lover of David ; and we have reason to think
he was a worshipper of the true God, and had him
self renounced, though he could not reform the idol
atry of his city. David’s character will win the
affections of those that are without. Here is,
I. Hiram’s embassy of compliment to Solomon,
v. 1. He sent, as is usual among princes, to con
dole with him on the death of David, and to renew
his alliances with him upon his succession to the
government. It is good keeping up friendship and
communion with the families in which religion is
uppermost.
II. Solomon’s embassy of business to Hiram, sent,
it is likely, by messengers of his own. In wealth,
honour and power, Hiram was very much inferior
to Solomon, yet Solomon has occasion to be behol¬
den to him, and begs his favour. Let us never look
with disdain on those below us, because we know
not how soon we may need them. Solomon, in his
letter to Hiram, acquaints him,
1. With his design to build a temple to the hon¬
our of God. Some think that temples among the
heathen took their first rise and copy from the ta¬
bernacle which Moses erected in the wilderness,
and that there were none before that; however, there
were many houses built in honour cf the false gods,
before this was built in honour of the God of Israel,
so little is external splendour a mark of the true
church. Solomon tells Hiram, (who was himself
no stranger to the affair,) (1.) 1 hat David’s wars
were an obstruction to him, that he could not build
this temple, though he designed it, v. 3. They
took up much of his time, and thoughts, and cares;
were a constant expense to him, and a constant em¬
ployment of his subjects; so that he could not do it
so fvell as it must be done, and therefore, it not be¬
ing essential to religion, he must leave it to be done
by his successor. See what need we have to pray,
that God will gfve peace in our time, because, in
time of war, the building of the gospel-temple com¬
monly goes slowly on. (2.) That peace gave him
an opportunity to build it, and therefore he resolved
to set about it immediately. God has given me rest
both at home and abroad, and there is no adversary ;
(v. 4.) no Satan, so the word is; no instrument of
Satan to oppose it, or to divert us from it. Satan
does all he can, to hinder temple-work, (1 Thess.
2. 18. Zech. 3. l.)but when he is bound, (Rev. 20.
2.) we should be busy. When there is no evil oc¬
current, then let us be vigorous and zealous in that
which is good, and get it forward. When the
churches have rest, let them be edified, Acts 9. 31.
4 82
I. LIAUS, V.
Days of peace and prosperity present ns with a fair
gale, which we must account for, if we improve not.
As God’s providence excited Solomon to think of
building the temple, by giving him wealth and lei¬
sure, so his promise encouraged him. God had told
David, that his son should build him a house; (y. 5. )
he will take it as a pleasure to be thus employed,
and will not lose the honour designed him by that
romise. It may stir us up much to good underta-
ings, to be assured of good success in them. Let
God’s promise quicken our endeavours.
2. With his desire that Hiram would assist him
nerein. Lebanon was the place whence timber
must be had, a noble forest in the north of Canaan,
particularly expressed in the grant of that land to
Israel, all Lebanon, Josh. 13. 5. So that Solomon
was proprietor of all its productions; the cedars of
Lebanon are spoken of as, in a special manner, the
blunting- of the Lord, (Ps. 104. 16.) being designed
for Israel’s use, and particularly for temple-service.
But Solomon owns that though the trees were his,
the Israelites could not skill to hew timber like the
Sidonians, who were Hiram’s subjects. Canaan
was a land of wheat and barley, (Deut. 8 8.) which
employed Israel in the affairs of husbandry, so that
they were not at all versed in manufactures: in them,
the Sidonians excelled. Israel, in the things of God,
are a wise and understanding people; and yet, in
curious arts, inferior to their neighbours: true piety
is a much more valuable gift of heaven than the
highest degree of ingenuity. Better be an Israelite
skilful in the law, than a Sidonian skilful to hew
timber. But, the case being thus, Solomon courts
Hiram to send him workmen, and promises, (x». 6.)
both to assist them, My servants shall be with thy
servants, to work under them; and to pay them,
Unto thee will I give hire for thy servants; for the
labourer, even in church-work, though it be indeed
its own wages, is worthy of his hire. The evange¬
lical prophet, foretelling the glory of the church in
the days of the Messiah, seems to allude to this
story, Isa. 60. where he prophesies, (1.) That the
sons of strangers (such were the Tyrians and Sido¬
nians) should build up the wall of the gospel-temple,
v. 10. Ministers were raised up among the Gen¬
tiles, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (2.)
That the glory of Lebanon should be brought to it
to beautify it, v.' 13. All external endowments and
advantages should be made serviceable to the inter¬
ests of Christ’s kingdom.
3. Hiram’s reception of, and return to, this mes¬
sage.
(1.) He received it with great satifaction to him¬
self. He rejoiced greatly, [y. 7. ) that Solomon trod
in his father’s steps, and carried on his designs, and
was likely to be so great a blessing to his kingdom.
Hiram’s generous spirit rejoiced in this, and not only
in the prospect he had of making an advantage to
himself by Solomon’s employing him. What he
h >d the pleasure of, he gave God the praise of;
Blessed be the Lord, which has given to David (v^ho
was himself a wise man) a wise son, to rule over this
great people. See here, [1.] With what pleasure
Hiram speaks of Solomon’s wisdom, and the extent
of his dominion ; let us learn not to envy others either
those secular advantages, or those endowments of
the mind, wherein they excel us. [2.] What a
great comfort it is to those who wish well to the Is¬
rael of God, to see religion and wisdom kept up in
families from one generation to another, especially
in great families, and those that have great influence
on others: where it is so, God must have the glory
of it. If to godly parents be given a godly seed,
fMal. 2. 15.) it is a token for good, and a happy in¬
dication, that the entail of the blessing shall not be
cut off.
(2.) He returned it with great satisfaction to So¬
lomon, granting him what he desired, and showing
himself very forward to assist him in this great and
good work to which he was laying his h nd. We
ha\ e here his articles of agreement with Solomon
concerning this affair, in which we may observe
Hiram’s prudence. [1.] He deliberated upon the
proposal, before he returned an answer; (y. 8.) 1
have considered the things. It . is common for those
that make bargains rashly, afterward to wish them
unmade again. The virtuous woman considers a
field, and then buys it, Pi-ov. 31. 16. Those do not
lose time, who take time to consider. [2.] He de¬
scended to particulars in the articles, that there
might be no misunderstanding afterward, to occa¬
sion a quarrel. Solomon had spoken of hewing the
trees, (v. 6. ) and Hiram agrees to what he desired
concerning that; (v. 8.) but nothing had been said
concerning carriage; that matter therefore must be
settled. Land-carriage would be very troublesome
and chargeable, he therefore undertakes to bring all
the timber down from Lebanon by sea; a coasting
voyage. Conveyance by water is a great conve¬
nience to trade, for which, God is to have praise,
who taught man that discretion. Observe what a
punctual bargain Hiram made; Solomon must ap¬
point the place where the timber shall be delivered,
and thither Hiram will undertake to bring it, and be
responsible for its safety. As the Sidonians excel¬
led the Israelites in timber-work, so they did in sail¬
ing, for Tyre and Sidi n were situate at the entry of
the sea; (Lzek. 27. 3.) they therefore were fittest to
i take care of the water-carriage: Tract ant fabrilia
fabri — Every artist has his trade assigned. And,
i lastly. If Hiram undertake for the work, and do all
Solomon's desire concerning the timber, (y. 8.) he
justly expects that Solomon shall undertake for the
wages; “ Thou shall accomplish my desire in giving
food for my household, (y. 9. ) not only for the work¬
men, but for my own family.” If Tyre supplies
Israel with craftsmen, Israel will supply Tyre with
\ corn, Ezek. 27. 17. Thus, by the wise disposal of
Pro\ idence, one country has need of another, and is
benefited by another, that there may be mutual
! correspondence and dependence, to the glory of
God, our common Parent.
10. So l liram gave Solomon cedar-trees,
and fir-trees, according to all his desire. 1 1.
j And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand
measures of wheat for food to his household,
and twenty measuresof pure oil: thus gave So-
I lomon to Hiram year by year. 12. And the
Loro gave Solomon wisdom, as he promis¬
ed him ; and there was peace between Hi¬
ram and Solomon ; and they two made a
league together. 13. And king Solomon
raised a levy out of all Israel ; and the levy
was thirty thousand men. 14. And he sent
them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by
courses; a month they were in Lebanon,
and two months at home : and Adoniram
was over the levy. 1 5. And Solomon had
threescore and ten thousand that bare bur¬
dens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the
mountains : 16. Besides the chief of Solo¬
mon’s officers which were over the work,
three thousand and three hundred, which
ruled over the people that wrought in the
work. 1 7. And the king commanded, and
they brought great stones, costly stones, and
I hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the
483
1. KINGS, VI.
house. 18. And Solomon’s builders and
Hiram’s builders did hew them , and the
stone-squarers : so they prepared timber and
stones to build the house.
Here is,
I. The performance of the agreement between
Solomon and Hiram; each of the parties made good
its engagement. 1. Hiram delivered Solomon the
timber, according to his bargain, v. 10. The trees
were Solomon’s; but, perhaps, Materiam sufierabat
ofius — The workmanshi/t was of more value than
the article. Hiram is therefore said to deliver the
trees. 2. Solomon conveyed to Hiram the corn
which he had promised him, v. 11. Thus let jus¬
tice be followed, (as the expression is, Deut. 16. 20.)
justice on both sides, in every bargain.
II. The confirmation of the friendship that was
between them hereby. God gave Solomon wisdom;
( v . 12.) that was more and better than any thing
Hiram did or could give him; but this made Hiram
love him, and enabled Solomon to improve his kind¬
ness, so that they were both willing to ripen their
mutual love into a mutual league, that it might be
lasting. It is wisdom to strengthen our friendship
with those we find to be honest and fair, lest new
friends prove not so firm and so kind as old ones.
III. The labourers whom Solomon employed in
preparing materials for the temple. 1. Some were
Israelites, who were employed in the more easy and
honourable part of the work, felling trees, and help¬
ing to square them, in conjunction with Hiram’s
servants; for this he appointed 30,000, but employ¬
ed only 10,000 at a time, so that, for one month’s
work, they had two months’ vacation, both for rest,
and for the despatch of their own affairs at home,
v. 13, 14. It was temple-service, yet Solomon
takes care that they shall not be over- worked; great
men ought to consider that their servants must rest
as well as they. 2. Others were captives of other
nations, who were to bear burthens, and to hew
stone; (v. 15.) and we read not that these had their
resting times as the other had, for they were doom¬
ed to servitude. 3. There were some employed as
directors and overseers, (y. 16.) 3,300 that ruled
o.er the people, and they were as necessary and
useful in their place as the labourers in their’s.
Here were many hands and many eyes employed;
for preparation was now to be made, not only for the
temple, but for all the rest of Solomon’s buildings,
both at Jerusalem and here in the forest of Lebanon,
and in other places of his dominion, of which see,
ch. 9. 17* *19. He speaks of the vastness of his un¬
dertakings, (Eccl. 2. 4. ) / made me great works,
which required this vast number of workmen.
IV. The laying of the foundation of the temple;
for that is th'e building his heart is chiefly upon, and
therefore he begins with that, v. 17, 18. It should
seem, Solomon was himself present, and president,
at the founding of the temple, and that the first
stone (as has been usual in famous buildings) was
laid with some solemnity. Solomon commanded,
and they brought costly stones for the foundation;
he would do every thing like himself, generously,
and therefore would have some of the costliest stones
laid, or buried rather, in the foundation, though,
being out of sight, worse might have served. Christ,
who is laid for a Foundation, is an elect and precious
Stone; (Isa. 28. 16.) and the foundations of the
church are said to be laid with sa/i/ihires, Isa. 54.
11. Compare Rev. 21. 19. That sinceritv which
is our gospel-perfection, obliges us to lay our foun¬
dation firm, and to bestow most pains on that part
of our religion which lies out of the sight of
men.
CHAP. VI.
Great and long preparation had been making for the build¬
ing of the temple, and here, at length, comes an account
of the building of it; a noble piece of work it was, one
of the wonders of the world, and, taken in its spiritual
significancy, one of the glories of the church. Here is,
I. The time when it was built, (v. 1.) and how long it
was in the building, v. 37, 38. II. The silence with which
it was built, v. 7. III. The dimensions of it, v. 2, 3.
IV. The message God sent to Solomon, when it was in
the building, v. 11 . . 13. V. The particulars; windows,
(v. 4. ) chambers, (v. 5, 6, 8 . . 10. ) the walls and flooring,
(v. 14.. 18.) the oracle, (v. 19 . . 22.) the cherubims, (v.
23 . . 30.) the doors, (v. 31 . . 35. ) and the inner court, v.
36. Many learned men have well bestowed their pailis
in expounding the description here given of the temple
according to the rules of architecture, and solving the
difficulties which, upon search, they find in it; but, in
that matter having nothing new to offer, we will not be
particular or curious; it was then well understood, and
every man’s eyes that saw this glorious structure, fur¬
nished him with the best critical exposition of this chap¬
ter.
1. 4 ND it came to pass, in the four hun-
tIL died and eightieth year after the
children of Israel were come out of the
land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solo¬
mon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif,
which is the second month, that he began
j tqt build the house of the Lord. 2. And
the house which king Solomon built for the
Loro, the length thereof was threescore
cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty
cubits , and the height thereof thirty cubits.
3. And the porch before the temple of the
house, twenty cubits was the length thereof,
according to the breadth of the house ; and
ten cubits teas the breadth thereof before
the house. 4. And for the house he made
windows of narrow lights. 5. And against
the wall of the house he built chambers
round about, against the walls of the house
round about, both of the temple and of the
oracle: and he made chambers round about.
6. The nethermost chamber teas five cubits
broad, and the middle teas six cubits broad,
and the third was seven cubits broad : for
without in the wall of the house he made
narrowed rests round about, that the beams
should not be fastened in the walls of the
house. 7. And the house, when it was in
building, was built of stone made ready be¬
fore it was brought thither: so that there
was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool
of iron, heard in the house while it was in
building. 8. The door for the middle cham¬
ber was in the right side of the house : and
they went up with winding stairs into the
middle chamber , and out of the middle into
the third. 9. So he built the house, and
finished it; and covered the house with
beams and boards of cedar. 10. And then
he built chambers against all the house,
five cubits high: and they rested on the
house with timber of cedar.
Here,
I The temple is called the house of the Lord, (y.
484
l. KINGS, VI.
1.) because it was, 1. Directed and modelled by
him. Infinite Wisdom was the architect, and gave
David the plan or pattern by the Spir.t, not by
word of mouth only, but, for the greater certainty
and exactness, in writing, (1 Chron. 28. 11, 12, 19.)
as he had given to Moses in the mount a draught
of the tabernacle. 2. Dedicated and devoted to
him and to his honour, to be employed in his ser¬
vice; so his, as never any other house was, for he
manifested his glory in it, (so as never in any
other, ) in a way agreeable to that dispensation ; for
when there were carnal ordinances, there was a
worldly sanctuary, Heb. 9. 1, 10. This gave it its
beauty of holiness , that it was the house of the
Lord, which far transcended all its other beauties.
II. The time when it began to be built, is exactly
set down. 1. It was just 480 years after the bring¬
ing of the children of Israel out of Egypt; allow¬
ing 40 years to Moses, 17 to J shua, 299 to the
Judges, 40 to Eli, 40 to S imuel and Saul, 40 to
David, and 4 to Solomon, before he began the
work, we have just the sum of 480. So long it was,
after that holy state was founded, before that holy
house was built, which, in less than 430 years, was
burnt by Nebuchadnezzar; it was thus deferred,
because Israel had, by their sins, rendered them¬
selves unworthy of this honour, and because God
would show how little he values external pomp and
splendor in his service; he was in no haste fora
temple. David’s tent, which was clean and con¬
venient, though it was neither stately nor rich, nor,
for aught that appears, ever consecrated, is called
the house of the Lord, (2 Sam. 12. 20.) and served
as well as Solomon’s temple; yet, when God gave
Solomon great wealth, he put it into his heart thus
to employ it, and graciously accepted him, chiefly,
because it was tobe a shadow of good things to come,
Heb. 9. 9. 2. It was in the fourth year of Solo¬
mon’s reign, the three first years being taken up in
settling the affairs of his kingdom, that he might
not find any embarrassment from them in this
work. It is not time lost, which is spent in compos¬
ing ourselves for the work of God, and disentan¬
gling ourselves from every thing which might dis¬
tract or divert us; during this time, he was adding to
the preparations which his father had made, (1
Chron. 22. 14.) hewing the stone, squaring the
timber, and getting every thing ready, so that he is
not to be blamed for slackness in deferring it so
long; we are truly serving God, when we are pre¬
paring for his service, and furnishing ourselves for
it.
III. The materials are brought in, ready for their
place; (v. 7.) so ready, that there was neither ham¬
mer nor axe heard in the house, while it was build¬
ing. In all this building, Solomon prescribes it as a
rule of prudence, to firefiare the work in the field,
and afterward build, Prov. 24. 27. But here, it
seems, the preparation was, more than common,
full and exact, to that degree, that, when the se¬
veral parts came to be put together, there was
nothing defective to be added, nothing amiss to be
amended; it was to be the temple of the God of
peace, and therefore no iron tool must be heard in
it. Quietness and silence both* become and be¬
friend religious exercises. God’s work should be
done with as much care, and as little noise as may
be. The temple was thrown down with axes and
hammers; and they that did it, roared in the midst
of the congregation; (Ps. 74. 4, 6.) but it was built
up in silence. Clamour and violence, often hinder,
but never further, the work of God.
IV. The dimensions are laid down, [y. 2, 3.) ac¬
cording, to the rules of proportion. Some observe
that the length and breadth were just double to that
of the tabernacle. Now that Israel was grown
more numerous, tne place of their meeting needed
! to be enlarged; (Isa. 54. 1, 2.) and now that they
were grown richer, they were the better able to
enlarge it. Where God sows plentifully, he ex¬
pects to reap so.
V. An account of the windows, (x<. 4.) they were
1 broad within, and narrovj without, margin. Such
should the eyes of our mind be, reflecting nearer on
ourselves than on other people, looking much with¬
in, to judge ourselves, but little without, to censure
our brethren. The narrowness of the lights inti¬
mated the darkness of that dispensation, in com
parison with the gospel-day.
The chambers are described, (v. 5, 6.) in which
the utensils of the tabernacle were carefully laid
up, the priests dressed and undressed themselves,
and left the clothes in which they ministered; pro¬
bably, in some of these chambers they feasted upon
the holy things, they served as vestries. Solomon
was not so intent upon the magnificence of the
house, as to neglect the conveniencies that were
requisite for the offices thereof, that every thing
might be done decently and in order; care was
taken that the beams should not be fastened in the
walls to weaken them, v. 6. Let not the church’s
strength be impaired, under pretence of adding to
its beauty or convenience.
1 1. And the word of the Lord came to
Solomon, saying, 12. Concerning this house
which thou art in building, if thou wilt
walk in my statutes, and execute my judg¬
ments, and keep all my commandments to
walk in them ; then will I perform my word
with thee, which I spake unto David thy
father: 13. And I will dwell among the
children of Israel, and will not forsake my
people Israel. 14. So Solomon built the
house, and finished it.
Here is,
1. The word God sent to-Solomon, when he was
engaged in building the temple; God let him know
that he took notice of what he was doing, the house
he was now building, x . 12. None employ them¬
selves for God, without having his eye upon them;
I know thy works, thy good works. He assured
him that if he would proceed and persevere in
obedience to the divine law, and keep in the way of
duty and the true worship of God, the divine lov¬
ing-kindness should be drawn out both to himself,
( I will ficrform my word with thee,) and to his
kingdom, “Israel shall be ever owned as my peo¬
ple; I will dwell among them, and not forsake
them.” This word God sent him, probably, by a
prophet; (1.) That, by the promise, he might be
encouraged and comforted in his work: perhaps,
sometimes the great care, expense, and fatigue of
it, made him ready to wish he had never begun it;
but this would help him through the difficulties of
it, that the promised establishment of his family
and kingdom would abundantly recompense all his
pains. An eye to the promise will carry us cheer¬
fully through our work ; and those who wish well to
the public, will think nothing too much that they
can do, to secure and perpetuate to it the tokens of
God’s presence. (2.) That, by the condition an¬
nexed, he might be awakened to consider that
though he built the temple ever so strong, the
glory of it would soon depart, unless he and his peo¬
ple continued to walk in God's statutes. God
plainly lets him know that all this charge which he
and his people were at, in erecting this temple,
would neither excuse them from obedience to the
law of God, nor shelter them from his judgments,
in case of disobedience: keeping God’s command
485
1. KINGS, VI.
ments is better, and more pleasing to him, than
building churches.
2. The work Solomon did for God. So he built
the house; {y. 14.) so animated by the message
God had sent him, so admonished not to expect
that God should own his building, unless he were
obedient to his laws; “Lord, I proceed upon these
terms, being firmly resolved to walk in thy sta¬
tutes.” The strictness of God’s government will
never drive a good man from his service, but
quicken him in it. Solomon built and finished, he
went on with it, and God went along with him till
it was completed; it is spoken, both to God’s praise
and his: he grew not weary of the work, met not
with any obstructions, (as Ezra 4. 24. ) did not out¬
build his property, nor do it by halves, but, having
begun to build, was both able and willing to finish,
for he was a wise builder.
1 5. And he built the wallsof the house with¬
in with boards of cedar, both the floor of the
house and the walls of the ceiling : and he
covered them on the inside with wood, and
covered the floor of the house with planks of
fir. 16. And he built twenty cubits on the sides
of the house, both the floor and the walls,
with boards of cedar: he even built them
for it within, even for the oracle, even for the
most holy place. 1 7. And the house, that
is, the temple before it, was forty cubits
long. 18. And the cedar of the house
within was carved with knops and open
flowers : all was cedar ; there was no stone
seen. 1 9. And the oracle he prepared in
the house within, to set there the ark of
the covenant of the Lord. 20. And the
oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in
length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and
twenty cubits in the height thereof : and he
overlaid it with pure gold ; and so covered
the altar which ivas of cedar. 21. So Sol¬
omon overlaid the house within with pure
gold : and he made a partition by the chains
of gold before the oracle ; and he overlaid
it with gold. 22. And the whole house he
overlaid with gold, until he had finished all
the house: also the whole altar that was
by the oracle he overlaid with gold. 23.
And within the oracle he made two che¬
rubims of olive-tree, each ten cubits high.
24. And five cubits teas the one wing of the
cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the
cherub : from the uttermost part of the one
wing unto the uttermost part of the other
were ten cubits. 25. And the other cherub
ivas ten cubits : both the cherubims were of
one measure and one size. 26. The height
of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was
it of the other cherub. 27. And he set the
cherubims within the inner house : and they !
stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, '
so that the wing of the one touched the one \
wall, and the wing of the other cherub
touched the other wall ; and their wings j|
touched one another in the midst of the
house. 28. And he overlaid the cherubims
with gold. 29. And he carved all the walls
of the house round about with carved
figures of cherubims and palm-trees and
open flowers, within and without. 30. And
the floor of the house he overlaid with gold,
within and without. 31. And for the enter¬
ing of the oracle he made doors of olive-
tree : the lintel and side-posts were a fifth
part of the wall. 32. The two doors also
were of olive-tree ; and he carved upon
them carvings of cherubims and palm-trees
and open flowers, and overlaid them with
gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims
and upon the palm-trees. 33. So also made
he for the door of the temple, posts of olive-
tree, a fourth part of the wall. 34. And the
two doors were of fir-tree : the two leaves
of the one door were folding, and the two
leaves of the other door were folding. 35.
And he carved thereon cherubims and palm-
trees and open flowers ; and covered them
with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36.
And he built the inner court with three
rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar-
beams. 37. In the fourth year was the
foundation of the house of the Lord laid,
in the month Zif: 38. And in the eleventh
year, in the month Bui, (which is the eighth
month,) was the house finished throughout
all the parts thereof, and according to all
the fashion of it. So was he seven years
in building it.
Here is,
I. The wainscot of the temple described; it was
of cedar, ( v . 15.) which was strong and durable,
and of a very sweet smell; the wainscot was cu¬
riously carved with knops (like eggs or apples) and
flowers, no doubt, as the fashion then was, v. 18.
II. The gilding; it was not like our’s, washed
over, but the whole house, all the inside of the tem¬
ple, (v. 22.) even the floor, (y. 30.) he overlaid
with gold, and the most holy place with pure gold,
v. 21. Solomon would refuse no expense necessary
to make it every way sumptuous; gold was under
foot there, as it should be in all the living temples,
the abundance of it lessened its worth.
III. The oracle, or speaking place, (for so the word
signifies,) the holy of holies, so called, because from
thence God spake to Moses, and perhaps to the High
Priest, when he consulted with the breast-plate of
judgment; in this place, the ark of the covenant was
to be set, v. 19. Solomon made every thing new,
and more magnificent than it had been, except the
ark, which was still the same that Moses made,
with its mercy-seat and cherubims; that was the
token of God’s presence, which is always the same
with his people, whether they meet in tent or tem¬
ple, and changes not with their condition.
IV. The cherubims. Beside those at the ends of
the mercy seat, which covered the ark, 1. Solomon
set up two more, very large ones, images of young
men, (as some think,) with wings made of olive-
wood, and all overlaid with gold, v. 23, &c. This
most holy place was much larger than that in the
tabernacle, and therefore the ark would seem lest
486
1. KINGS, VII.
in it, and the dead wall would have been unsightly,
if it had not been thus adorned. 2. He carved cher-
ubims upon all the walls of the house, v. 29. The
heathen set up images of their Gods, and worship¬
ped them; these were designed to represent the
servants and attendants of the God of Israel, the
holy angels, not to be themselves worshipped, ( See
thou do it not,) but to show how great He is, whom
we are to worship.
V. The doors. The following doors that led in¬
to the oracle, were but a fifth part of the wall; ( v .
31.) those into the temple Avere a fourth part; (i>.
33.) but both were beautified with cherubims en¬
graven on them, v. 32, 35.
VI. The inner court, in which the brazen altar
was, and at which the priests ministered; this was
separated from the court, where the people were,
by a low wall, three rows of hewn stone topped
with a cornice of cedar, (v. 36.) that over it the
people might see what was done, and hear what the
priests said to them, for, when under that dispen¬
sation, they were not kept wholly either in the
dark, or at a distance.
Lastly, The time spent in this building; it was
but seven years and a half from the founding to
the finishing of it, v. 38. Considering the vastness
and elegance of the building, and the many appur¬
tenances to it, which were necessary to fit it for use,
it was soon done; Solomon was in earnest in it, had
money enough, had noth;ng to divert him from it,
and many hands made quick work; he finished it
(as the margin reads it) with all the appurtenances
thereof, and with all the ordinances thereof; not on¬
ly built the place, but set forward the work which
it was built for.
Let us now see what was typified by this temple.
1. Christ is the true Temple, he himself spake of
the temple of his body, John 2. 21. God himself
prepared him his body, Heb. 10. 5. In him dwelt
the fulness of the Godhead, as the Shechinah in the
temple; in him meet all God’s spiritual Israel;
through him we have access with confidence to
God; all the angels of God, those blessed cherubims,
have a charge to worship him.
2. Eveiy believer is a. living temple, in whom the
Spirit of God dwells, 1 Cor. 3. 16. Even the body is
such by virtue of its union with the soul, 1 Cor. 6. 19.
We are not only wonderfully made, by the divine
providence, but more wonderfully made anew, by the
divine graces; this living temple is built uponChrist
as its Foundation, and will be perfect in due time.
3. The gospel-church is the ?nystical temple; it
grows to a holy temple in the Lord, (Eph. 2. 21.)
enriched and beautified with the gifts and graces of
the Spirit, as Solomon’s temple with gold and pre¬
cious stones; only Jews built the tabernacle, but
Gentiles join with them in building the temple; even
strangers and foreigners at e built up, a habitation
of God, Eph. 2. 19. 22. The temple was divided
into the holy place, and the most holy, the courts
of it into the outer and inner; so, there is the visible
and the invisible church: the door into the temple
was wider than that into the oracle; many enter in¬
to possession, that come short of salvation. This
temple is built firm, upon a Rock, not to be taken
down, as the tabernacle rf the Old Testament was.
The temple was long in preparing, but was built at
last; the top-stone of the gospel-church will, at
length, be brought forth with shoutings, and it is a
pity that there should be the clashing of axes and
hammers in the building of it. Angels are minis¬
tering spirits, attending the church on all sides, and
all the members of it.
4. Heaven is the everlasting temple; there the
church will be fixed, and no longer moveable; the
streets of the new Jerusalem, in allusion to the I
flooring of the temple, are said to be of pure gold, I
Rev. 21. 21. The cherubims there, always attend
the throne of glory. The temple was uniform, and
in heaven there is the perfection of beauty and har¬
mony. In Solomon’s temple, there was no noise of
axes and hammers, every* thing is quiet and serene
in heaven; all that shall be stones in that building,
must, in the present state of probation and prepa¬
ration, be fitted and made ready for it, must be
hewn and squared by divine grace, and so made
meet for a place there.
CHAP. VII.
As, in the story of David, one chapter of wars and victo¬
ries follows another, so, in the story of Solomon, one
chapter of this building follows another. In this chap¬
ter, we have, I. His fitting up several bui'dings for him¬
self and his own use, v. 1 . . 12. 11. His furnishing the
temple which he had built for God, 1. With two pillars,
v. 13.. 22. 2. With a molten sea, v. 23. .26. 3. With
ten basins of brass, (v. 27.. 37.) and ten lavers upon
them, v. 38, 39. 4. With, all the other utensils of the
temple, v. 40 . . 50. 5. With the things that his father
had dedicated, v. 51. The particular description of these
things was not needless when it was written, nor is it
now useless.
1. TOUT Solomon was building his own
house thirteen years, and he finished
all his house. 2. He built also the house
of the forest of Lebanon ; the length there¬
of was a hundred cubits, and the breadth
thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof
thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars,
with cedai beams upon the pillars. 3. And
it was covered with cedar above upon the
beams, that lay on forty-five pillars, fifteen
in a row. 4. And there were windows in
three rows, and light was against light in
three ranks. 5. And all the doors and posts
were square, with the windows: and light
teas against light in three ranks. 6. And he
made a porch of pillars ; the length thereof
was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thir¬
ty cubits: and the porch was before them;
and the other pillars and the thick beam
were before them. 7. Then he made a
porch for the throne, where he might judge,
even the porch of judgment : and it was co¬
vered with cedar from one side of the floor
to the other. 8. And his house where he
dwelt had another court within the porch,
which was of the like work. Solomon made
also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom
he had taken to wife , like unto this porch.
9. All these were of costly stones, (accord¬
ing to the measures of hewed stones, sawed
with saws,) within and without, even from
the foundation unto the coping, and so on
the outside toward the great court. 10.
And the foundation was of costly stones,
even great stones ; stones of ten cubits, and
stones of eight cubits. 11. And above were
costly stones, (after the measures of hewed
stones,) and cedars. 12. And the great
court round about was with three rows of
hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams,
both for the inner court of the house of the
l Lord, and for the porch of the house.
487
I. KINGS, VII.
Never had any man so much of the spirit of
building as Solomon had, never man built to bet¬
ter purpose; he began with the temple, built for
God first, and then all his other buildings were com¬
fortable. The surest foundations of a lasting pros¬
perity are those which are laid in an early piety.
Matth. 6. 38.
1. He built a house for himself, (x>. 1.) where he
dwelt, v. 8. His father had built a good house; but
it was no reflection upon his father for him to build
a better, in proportion to the estate wherewith God
had blessed him; much of the comfort of this life
is connected with an agreeable house. He was
thirteen years building this house, whereas he built
the temple in little more than seven years; not that
he was more exact, but less eager and intent, in
building his own house, than in building God’s; he
was in no haste for his own palace, but impatient
till the temple was finished, and fit for use; thus
we ought to prefer God’s honour before our own
ease and satisfaction.
2. He built the house of the forest at Lebanon,
( v . 2.) supposed to be a country-seat near Jerusa¬
lem, so called from the pleasantness of its situation,
and the trees that encompassed it. I rather incline
to think that it was a house built in the forest of
Lebanon itself, whither (though far distant from Je¬
rusalem) Solomon (having so many chariots and
horses, and those dispersed into chariot-cities,
which, probably, were his stages) might frequently
retire with ease; it does not appear that his throne,
mentioned v. 7. was at the house of the forest of
Lebanon, and it was not at all improper to put his
shields there as in a magazine. Express notice is
taken of his buildings, not only in Jerusalem, but in
Lebanon; ( ch . 9. 19.) and we read of the tower of
Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus, (Cant. 7.
4. ) which, probably, was part of this house. A par¬
ticular account is given of this house: That, being
built in Lebanon, a place famed for cedars, the pil¬
lars, and beams, and roof, were all cedar, {v. 2, 3.)
and, being designed for pleasant prospects, there
were three tier of windows on each side, light
against light, {v. 4, 5.) or, as it may be read, /ins¬
pect against prospect. Those whose lot is cast in
the country, may be well reconciled to a country-
life by this, that some of the greatest princes have
thought those the most pleasant of their days,
which they have spent in their country retirements.
3. He built piazzas before one of his houses,
either that at Jerusalem, or that in Lebanon, which
were very famous, a porch of pillars, {v. 6. ) either
for an exchange, or a guard-house, or for those to
walk in, that attended him about business, till they
could have audience, or for state and magnificence.
He himself speaks of Wisdom’s building her house,
and hewing out her seven pillars, (Prov. 9. 1.) for
the shelter of those that, three verses before, {ch.
8. 34.) are said to watch daily at her gates, and to
wait at the posts of her door.
4. At his house, where he dwelt in Jerusalem,
he built a great hall, or porch of judgment, where
was set the throne, or king’s bench, for the trial of
causes, in which he himself was appealed to, {Pla-
cita coram ipso rege tenenda — Causes were to be ad¬
justed in the king's presence,) and this was richly
wainscoted with cedar, from the floor to the roof,
v. 7. He had there also another court within the
porch, nearer his house, of smaller work, for his
attendants to walk in, v. 8.
5. He built a house for his wife, where she kept
her court, v. 8. It is said to be like the porch, be¬
cause built of cedar like it, though not in the same
form; this, no doubt, was nearer adjoining to his
own palace, yet perhaps if it had been as near as it
ought to have been, Solomon would not have multi¬
plied w;ves as he did. I
1 The wonderful magnificence of all these buildings
is taken notice of, v. 9, 6cc. Ail the materials were
the best of their kind; the foundation stones were
costly for their size, four or five yards square, or,
at least, so many yards long, ( v . 10.) and the stones
of the building, cosily for the workmanship, hewn
and sawn, and, in all respects, finely wrought, v, 9,
11. The court of his own house was like that of
the temple; (n. 12. compare ch. 6. 36.) so well did
he like the model of God’s courts, that he made his
own by it.
13. And king Solomon sent, and fetched
Hiram outol Tyre. 1 4. He was a widow’s
son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father
was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and
he was filled with wisdom and understand¬
ing, and cunning to work all works in brass.
And he came to king Solomon, and wrought
all his work. 1 5. For he cast two pillars
of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece;
and a line of twelve cubits did compass
either of them about. 16. And he made
two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon
the tops of the pillars: the height of the
one chapiter was five cubits, and the height
of the other chapiter was five cubits : 17.
And nets of chequer- work, and wreaths of
chain- work, for the chapiters which were.
upon the top of the pillars ; seven for the
one chapiter, and seven for the other chapi¬
ter. 1 8. And he made the pillars, and two
rows round about upon the one net-work,
to cover the chapiters that were upon the
top, with pomegranates : and so did he for
the other chapiter. 19. And the chapi¬
ters- that were upon the top of the pillars
were of lily-work in the porch, four cubits.
20. And the chapiters upon the two pillars
had pomegranates also above, over against
the belly which was by the net-work: and
the pomegranates were two hundred, in
rows round about upon the other chapiter.
21. And he set up the pillars in the porch
of the temple : and he set up the right pil¬
lar, and called the name thereof Jachin;
and he set up the left pillar, and called the
name thereof 13oaz. 22. And upon the top
of the pillars teas lily-work : so was the
work of the pillars finished. 23. And he
made a molten sea, ten cubits from the
one brim to the other: it was round all
about, and his height was five cubits ; and a
line of thirty cubits did compass it round
about. 24. And under the brim of it round
about there were knops compassing it, ten
in a cubit, compassing the sea round about:
the knops were cast in two rows, when it
was cast. 25. It stood upon twelve oxen,
three looking toward the north, and three
looking toward the west, and three looking
toward the south, and three looking toward
the east: and the sea was set above upon
438
1. KINGS, VII.
upon them, and all their hinder parts were
inward. 26. And it teas a hand-breadth
thick, and the brim thereof was wrought
like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies :
it contained two thousand baths. 27. And
he made ten bases of brass : four cubits was
the length of one base, and four cubits the
breadth thereof, and three cubits the height
of it. 28. And the work of the bases was
on this manner : they had borders, and the
borders were between the ledges : 29. And
on the borders that were between the ledges
were lions, oxen, and cherubims : and upon
the ledges there was a base above : and be¬
neath the lions and oxen were certain addi¬
tions made of thin work. 30. And every
base had four brazen wheels, and plates of
brass ; and the four corners thereof had un¬
dersetters : under the laver were underset¬
ters molten, at the side of every addition.
31. And the mouth of it, within the chapi¬
ter and above, teas a cubit : but the mouth
thereof was round, after the work of the
base, a cubit and a half; and also upon the
mouth of it were gravings with their borders,
foursquare, not round. 32. And under the
borders were four wheels ; and the axle-trees
of the wheels were joined to the base, and
the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a
cubit. 33. And the work of the wheels was
like the work of a chariot-wheel ; their
axle-trees, and their naves, and their felloes,
arid their spokes, were all molten. 34. And
there were four undersetters to the four cor¬
ners of one base : and the undersetters were
of the very base itself. 35. And in the top
of the base was there a round compass of
half a cubit high : and on the top of the base,
the ledges thereof, and the borders thereof,
were of the same. 36. For on the plates
of the ledges thereof, and on the borders
thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and
palm-trees, according to the proportion of
every one, and additions round about. 37.
After this manner he made the ten bases:
all of them had one casting, one measure,
and one size. 38. Then made he ten lavers
of brass : one laver contained forty baths ;
and every laver was four cubits: and upon
every one of the ten bases one laver. 39.
And he put five bases on the right side of
the house, and five on the left side of the
house ; and he set the sea on the right side of
the house eastward, over against the south.
40. And Hiram made the lavers, and the
shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made
an end of doing all the work that he made
king Solomon for the house of the Lord;
41. The two pillars, and the two bowls of
the chapiters that were on the top of the two
pillars; and the two net-works, to cover the
two bowls of the chapiters which were upon
the top of the pillars; 42. And four hun¬
dred pomegranates for the two net-works,
even two rows of pomegranates for one net¬
work, to cover the two bowls of the chapi¬
ters that were upon the pillars; 43. And the
ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases ,
44. And one sea, and twelve oxen under
the sea; 45. And the pots, and the sho¬
vels, and the basins : and all these vessels,
which Hiram made to king Solomon for the
house of the Lord, were of bright brass.
46. In the plain of Jordan did the king cast
them, in the clay ground between Succoth
and Zarthan. 47. And Solomon left all the
vessels unweighed , because they were ex¬
ceeding many : neither was the weight of
the brass found out.
We have here an account of the brass-work about
the temple; there was no iron about the temple,
but we find David preparing for the temple iron for
things of iron, 1 Chron. 29. 2. What those things
were, we are not told, but some of the things of
brass are here described, and the rest mentioned.
I. The brasier whom Solomon employed to pre¬
side in this part of the work, was, Hiram, or Hu-
ram, (2 Chron. 4. 11.) who was, by his mother’s
side, an Israelite, of the tribe of Naphtali, by his
father’s side, a man of Tyre, v. 14. If he had the
ingenuity of a Tyrian, and the affection of an Is¬
raelite to the house of God, (the head of a Tyrian,
and the heart of an Israelite,) it was happy that the
blood of the two nations mixed in him, thereby he
was qualified for the work to which he was design¬
ed. As the tabernacle was built with the wealth
i of Egypt, so the temple with the wit of Tyre.
God will serve himself by the common gifts of the
j children of men.
II. The brass he made use of, was, the best he
could get; all the brazen vessels were of bright
brass, ( v . 45.) good brass, so the Chaldee, that
which was strongest, and looked finest; God, who is
the best, must be served and honoured with the best.
III. The place where all the brazen vessels were
cast, was, the plain of Jordan, because the ground
there was stiff and clayey, fit to make mould of, for
the casting of the brass; ( v . 46.) and Solomon
would not have this meaner work done in or near
Jerusalem.
IV. The quantity was not accounted for, the ves¬
sels were unnumbered, (so it may be read, 47.)
as well as unweighed, because they were exceeding
many, and it would have been an endless thing to
keep the account of them; neither was the weight
of the brass, when it was delivered to the workmen,
searched or inquired into; so honest were the work¬
men, and such great plenty of brass they had, that
there was no danger of wanting: we must ascribe it
to Solomon’s care, that he provided so much, not to
his carelessness, that he kept no account of it.
V. Some particulars of the brass-work are de¬
scribed.
1. Two brazen pillars, which were set up in the
porch of the temple ; ( v . 21.) whether under the
co\ er of the porch, or in the open air, is not certain ;
it was between the temple and the court of the
priests. These pillars were neither to hang gates
upon nor to rest any building upon, but purely foi
ornament and significancv. (1.) What an ornament
they were, we may gather from the account here
489
I. KINGS, Vll.
given of the curious work that was about them,
«;hequer-work, chain-work, net-work, lily-work;
and pomegranates In ;ows, and all of bright brass;
and framed, no doubt, according to the best rules of
proportion, to please the eye. (2. ) Their signifi-
cancy is intimated in the names given them;
(x1. 21.) Jachin — He will establish; and Boaz — In
him is strength. Some think they were intended for
memorials of the pillar and cloud of fire, which led
Israel through the wilderness: I rather think them
designed for memorandums to the priests, and
others that came to worship at God’s door, [1.] To
depend upon God only, ana not upon any sufficiency
of their own, for strength and establishment in all
their religious exercises. When we come to wait
upon God, and find our hearts wandering and un¬
fixed, then, by faith, let us fetch in help from
heaven: Jachin — God will fix this roving mind ; It
is a good thing that the heart be established with
grace. We find ourselves weak and unable for holy
duties, but this is our encouragement, Boaz — In
him is our strength, who works in us both to will
and to do. I will go in the strength of the Lord
God. Spiritual strength and stability are to be had
at the door of God’s temple, where we must wait
for the gifts of grace, in the use of the means of
grace. [2.] It was a memorandum to them, of the
strength and establishment of the temple of God
among them. Let them keep close to God and
duty, and they should never lose their dignities
and privileges, but the grant should be confirmed
and perpetuated to them. The gospel-church is
what God will establish, and what he will strength¬
en, and what the gates of hell can never prevail
against. But with respect to this temple, when it
was destroyed, particular notice is taken of the
destroying of these pillars, (2 Kings 25. 13, IT.)
which had been the tokens of its establishment,
and would have been so, if they had not forsaken
God.
2. A brazen sea; a very large vessel, above five
vards diameter, and which contained above 500
barrels of water for the priests’ use, in washing
themselves, conducting the sacrifices, and keeping
the courts of the temple clean, v. 23, &c. It stood
raised upon the figures of twelve oxen in brass, so
high, that either they must have stairs to climb up
to it, or cocks at the bottom to draw water from it.
The Gibeonites, or Nethinim, who were to draw
water for the house of God, had the care of filling
it. Some think Solomon made the images of oxen
to support this great cistern, in contempt of the
golden calf, which Israel had worshipped, that (as
Bishop Patrick expresses it) the people might see
there was nothing worthy of adoration in those
figures: they were fitter to make posts of, than to
make gods of. Yet this prevailed not to prevent
Jeroboam’s setting up the calves for deities. In the
court of the tabernacle, there was only a laver of
brass provided to wash in, but in the court of the
temple, a sea of brass; intimating that by the gospel
of Christ, much fuller preparation is made for our
cleansing, than was by the law of Moses. That had
a laver, this a sea; a fountain o/iened, Zech. 13. 1.
3. Ten bases, or stands, or settles, of brass, on
which were put ten lavers, to be filled with water
for the service of the temple, because there would
n-U be room at the molten sea for all that had occa¬
sion to wash there. The bases on which the lavers
were fixed, are very largely described here, v. 27,
ike. They were curiously adorned, and set upon
wheels, that the lavers might be removed as there
was occasion; but, ordinarily, they stood in two
rows, fi>e on one side of the court, and five on the
other, v. 39. Each laver contained forty baths,
that is, about ten barrels, v. 38. They must be
\ erv clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Spirit-
Vol. II.— 3 Q
ual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed
in the laver of Christ’s blood, and of regeneration.
We must wash often, for we daily contract pollu¬
tion; cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts.
Plentiful provision is made for our cleansing; so
that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean,
it will be our own fault.
4. Beside these, there was a vast number of brass
pots made to boil the flesh of the peace-offerings in,
which the priests and offerers were to feast upon
before the Lord; (see 1 Sam. 2. 14.) also shovels,
wherewith they took out the ashes of the altar.
Some think the word signifies fesh-hooks, with
which they took meat out of the pot. The basins
also were made of brass, to receive the blood of the
sacrifices. These are put for all the utensils of the
brazen altar, Exod. 38. 3. While they were about
it, they made abundance of them, that they might
have a good stock by them, when those that were
first in use, wore out, and went to decay. Thus
Solomon, having wherewithal, provided for pos¬
terity.
48. And Solomon made all the vessels
that pertained unto the house of the Lord:
the altar of gold, and the table of gold,
whereupon the show-bread was, 49. And
the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the
right side, and five on the left, before the
oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and
the tongs, of gold ; 50. And the bowls, and
the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons,
and the censers, of pure gold ; and the hinges
o/gold, both for the doors of the inner house,
the most holy place, and for the doors of the
house, to tvit, of the temple. 51. So was
ended all the work that king Solomon
made for the house of the Lord. And So¬
lomon brought in the things which David
his father had dedicated ; even the silver,
and the gold, and the vessels, did he put
among the treasures of the house of the
Lord.
Here is,
1. The making of the gold-work of the temple,
which, it seems, was done last, for with it the work
of the house of God ended. All within doors was
gold, and all made new, except the ark, with its
mercy-seat and cherubims, the old ones being
either melted down, or laid by — the golden altar,
table, and candlestick, with all their appurtenances.
The altar of incense was still one, for Christ and his
intercession are so: but he made ten golden tables,
2 Chron. 4. 8. (though here mention is made of
that one only, on which the show-bread was, v. 48.
which we may suppose larger than the rest, and to
which the rest were as sideboards,) and ten golden
candlesticks, (x». 49.) intimating the much greater
plenty both of spiritual food and heavenly light,
which the gospel blesses us with, than the law of
Moses did, or could afford. Even the hinges of the
doors were of gold, (i>. 50.) that everv thing might
be alike magnificent, and bespeak Solomon’s gene¬
rosity. Some suggest that every thing was made
thus splendid in God’s temple, to keep the people
from idolatry, for none of the idol-temples were so
rich and fine as this: but how little the expedient
availed, the event showed.
2. The bringing in of the dedicated things, which
his father had devoted to the honour of God, v. 51.
What was not expended in the building and fumi-
490
1. KINGS, VIII.
ture, was laid up in the treasury, for repairs, exi¬
gencies, and the constant charge of the temple-ser¬
vice. What the parents have dedicated to God, the
children ought by no means to alienate or recall; they
should cheerfully confirm what was intended for
pious and charitable uses, that they may, with their
estates, inherit the blessing.
CHAP. VIII.
The building and furniture of the temple were very glo¬
rious, but the dedication of it exceeds in glory, as much
as prayer and praise, the work of saints, exceed the cast¬
ing of metal, and the graving of stones, the work of the
craftsman. The temple was designed for the keeping up
of the correspondence between God and his people; and
here we have an account of the solemnity of their first
meeling there. 1. The representatives of all Israel were
called together, (v. I, 2.) to keep a feast to the honour of
God, for fourteen days, v. 65. II. The priests brought
the ark into the most holy place, and fixed it there,
v. 3 . . 9. III. God took possession of it by a cloud,
v. 10, 11. IV. Solomon, with thankful acknowledgment
to God, informed the people touching the occasion of
their meeting, v 12.. 21 V. In a long prayer, here-
commended to God’s gracious acceptance all the prayers
that should be made in or toward this place, v. 22 . . 53.
VI. He dismissed the assembly with a blessing, and an
exhortation, v. 54 .. 61. VII. He offered abundance of
sacrifices, on which he and his people feasted, and so
parted, with great satisfaction, v. 62 .. 66. These were
Israel’s golden days; days of the Son of man in type.
1. r|^HEN Solomon assembled the elders
JL of Israel, and all the heads of the
tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children
of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem,
that they might bring up the ark of the cove¬
nant of the Lord out of the city of David,
which is Zion. 2. And all the men of Is¬
rael assembled themselves unto king Solo¬
mon at the feast, in the month Ethanim,
which is the seventh month. 3. And all
the elders of Israel came, and the priests
took up the ark. 4. And they brought lip
the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of
the congregation, and all the holy vessels
that were in the tabernacle, even those did
the priests and the Levites bring up. 5.
And king Solomon, and all the congrega¬
tion of Israel, that were assembled unto
him, were with him before the ark, sacri¬
ficing sheep and oxen, that could not be told
nor numbered for multitude. 6. And the
priests brought in the ark of the covenant of
the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of
the house, to the most holy place , even under
the wings of the cherubims. 7. For the
cherubims spread forth their two wings over
the place of the ark, and the cherubims co¬
vered the ark, and the staves thereof, above.
8. And they drew out the staves, that the
ends of the staves were seen out in the holy
■place before the oracle, and they were not
seen without: and there they are unto this
day. :9. There was nothing in the ark, save
the two tables of stone, which Moses put
there at Horeb, when the Lord made a
covenant with the children of Israel, when
they came out of the land of Egypt. 10.
And it came to pass, when the priests were
come out of the holy place , that the cloud
filled the house of the Lord, 1 1 . So that
the priests could not stand to minister be¬
cause of the cloud : for the glory of the
Lord had filled the house of the Lord
The temple, though richly beautified, while
without the ark, was like a body without a soul, or
a candlestick without a candle, or (to speak more
properly) a house without an inhabitant. All the
cost and pains bestowed on this stately structure
are lost, if God do not accept them; and unless he
please to own it, as the place where he will record
his name, it is, after all, but a ruinous heap; when
therefore all the work is ended, ( ch . 7. 51.) the one
thing needful is yet behind, and that is, the bring¬
ing in of the ark. This therefore is the end which
must crown the work, and which here we have an
account of the doing of with great solemnity.
I. Solomon presides in this service, as David did
in the bringing up of the ark to Jerusalem; and nei¬
ther of them thought it below him to follow the ark,
or to lead the people in their attendance on it.
Solomon glories in the title of the preacher, (Eccl.
I. 1.) and the master of assemblies, Eccl. 12.
II. This great assembly he summons, (i». 1.) and
he is the centre of it, for to him they all assemble,
(?>. 2.) at the feast of the seventh month, namely,
the feast of tabernacles, which was appointed on
the fifteenth day of that month, Lev. 23. 34. Da¬
vid, like a very good man, brings the ark to a con¬
venient place, near him; Solomon, like a very great
man, brings it to a magnificent place. As every
man has received the gift, so let him minister; and
let children proceed in God’s service there where
their parents left off
TI. All Israel attend the service; their judges,
and the chief of their tribes and families; all the:r
officers, civil and military; and (as they speak in
the north) the heads of their clans. A convention
of these might well be called an assembly of all Is¬
rael; these came together, on this occasion, 1. To
do honour to Solomon, and to return h:m the thanks
of the nation for all the good offices he had done,
in kindness to them. 2. To do honour to the ark,
to pay respect to it, and testify their universal joy
and satisfaction in its settlement. The advance¬
ment of the ark in external splendor, though it has
often proved too strong a temptation to its hypo¬
critical followers, yet, because it may prove an ad¬
vantage to its true interests, is to be rejoiced in
(with trembling) bv all that wish well to it. Pub¬
lic mercies call for public acknowledgments. They
that appeared before the Lord, did not appear
empty, for they all sacrificed sheep and oxen innu¬
merable, v. 5. The people, in Solomon’s time,
were very rich, very easy, and very cheerful, and
therefore it was fit that, on this occasion, they
should consecrate not onlv their cheerfulness, but a
part of their wealth, to God and his honour.
III. The priests do their part of the service. In
the wilderness, the Levites were to carry the ark,
because then there were not priests enough to do it;
but here, (it being the last time that the ark was to
be carried,) the priests themselves did it, as they
were ordered to do, when it surrounded Jericho.
We are here told, 1. What was in the ark; nothing
but the two tables of stone, (v. 9.) a treasure far
exceeding all the dedicated things both of David
and Solomon. The pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod,
were by the ark, but not in it. 2. What was
brought up with the ark, (t>. 4.) the tabernacle of
the congregation. It is probable that that which
Moses set up in the wilderness, which was in
Gibeon, and that which David pitched in Zion,
I. KINGS, VIII.
491
were both brought to the temple, to which they
.lid, as it were, surrender all their holiness, merg¬
ing it in that of the temple; which must, hencefor¬
ward be the place where God must be sought unto.
Thus will all the church’s holy things on earth, that
are so much its joy and glory, be swallowed up in
the perfection of holiness above. 3. Where it was
fixed in its place, the place appointed for its rest
after all its wanderings, (v. 6.) in the oracle of the
house, whence they expected God to speak to
them, even in the most holy place, which was
made so by the presence of the ark, under the
wings of the great cherubim, which Solomon set
up, (ch. 6. 27.) signifying the special protection of
angels, which God’s ordinances and the assemblies
of his people are taken under. The staves of the
ark were drawn out, so as to be seen from under
the wings of the cherubims, to direct the High
Priest to the mercy-seat, over the ark, when he
went in, once a year, to sprinkle the blood there; so
that still they continued of some use, though there
was no longer occasion for them to carry it by
them.
IV. God graciously owns what is done, and testi¬
fies his acceptance of it, v. 10, 11. The priests
might come into the most holy place, till God ma¬
nifested his glory there; but, thenceforward, none
might, but at their peril, approach the ark, except
the High Priest, on the day of atonement. There¬
fore it was not till the priests were come out of the
oracle, that the Shechinah took possession of it, in a
cloud, which filled not only the most holy place,
but the temple, so that the priests who burnt in¬
cense at the golden altar, could not bear it. By
this visible emanation of the divine glory, 1. God
put an honour upon the ark, and owned it as a to¬
ken of his presence. The glory of it had been long
diminished and eclipsed by its frequent removes,
the meanness of its lodging, and its being exposed
too much to common view; but God will now show
that it is as dear to him as ever, and he will have it
looked upon with as much veneration as it was
when Moses first brought it into his tabernacle. 2.
He testifies his acceptance of the building and fur¬
nishing of the temple, as good service done to his
name and his kingdom among men. 3. He struck
an awe upon this great assembly; and, by what they
saw, confirmed their belief of what they read in the
books of Moses, concerning the glory of God’s ap-
earances to their fathers, that hereby thev might
e kept close to the service of the God of Israel,
and fortified against temptations to idolatry. 4. He
showed himself ready to hear the prayer Solomon
was now about to make; and not only so, but took
up his residence in this house, that all his praying
people might there be encouraged to make their
applications to him. But the glory of God appear¬
ed in a cloud, a dark cloud, to signify, (1.) The
darkness of that dispensation, in comparison with
the light of the gospel, by which, with open face,
we behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. (2.)
The darkness of our present state, in comparison
with the vision of God, which will be the happi¬
ness of heaven, where the Divine Glory is unveiled.
Now we can only say what he is not, but then we
shall see him as he is.
12. Then spake Solomon, The Lord
said that he would dwell in the thick dark¬
ness. 1 3. I have sprely built thee a house
to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide
in for ever. 14. And the king turned his
fare about, and blessed all the congregation
of Israel : (and all the congregation of Is¬
rael stood:) 15. And he said, Blessed be
\ the Lord God of Israel, which spake with
his mouth unto David my father, and hath
with his hand fulfilled it , saying, 16. Since
the day that 1 brought forth my people Is¬
rael out of Egypt, I chose no city out of
all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that
iny name might be .therein ; but I chose
David to be over my people Israel. 17.
And it was in the heart of David my father
to build a house for the name of the Lord
God of Israel.. 18. And the Lord said
unto David my father, Whereas it was in
thine heart to build a house unto my name,
thou didst well that it was in thine heart:
19. Nevertheless thou shalt not build the
house; but thy son, that shall come forth
out of thy loins, he shall build the house
unto my name. 20. And the Lord hath
performed his word that he spake ; and I
am risen up in the room of David my father,
and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord
promised, and have built a house for the
name of the Lord God of Israel. 21. And
I have set there a place for the ark, where¬
in is the covenant of the Lord, which he
made with our fathers, when he brought
them out of the land of Egypt.
Here,
I. Solomon encourages the pnests, who came out
of the temple from their ministration, much aston¬
ished at the dark cloud that overshadowed them.
The disciples of Christ feared, when they entered
into the cloud , though it was a bright cloud; (Luke
9. 34.) so did the priests, when they found them-
- selves wrapt in a thick cloud. To silence their
! fears, 1. He reminds them of that which they
could not but know, that this was a token of God’s
; presence; ( v . 12.) The Lord said, he would dwell
\ in the thick darkness. It is so far from being a
token of his displeasure, that it is an indication of
his favour; for he had said, I will appear in a cloud.
Lev. 16. 2. Note, Nothing is more effectual to re¬
concile us to dark dispensations, than to consider
what God hath said, and to compare his word and
works together; (as Lev. 10. 3.) This is that which
the Lord hath said. God is light, (1 John 1. 5.)
and he dwells in light; (1 Tim. 6. 16.) but he
dwells with men in the thick darkness, makes that
his pavilion, because they could not bear the
dazzling brightness of his glory. Verily thou art a
God that hidest thyself. Thus our holy faith is ex¬
ercised, and our holy fear increased; where God
dwells in light, faith is swallowed up in vision, and
fear in love. 2. He himself bids it welcome, as
worthy of all acceptation; and since God, by this
cloud, came down to take possession, he does, in a
few words, solemnly give him possession; ( v . 13.)
Surely I come, says God. “Amen,” says Solo¬
mon, “ Even so, come, Lord. The house is thine
own, entirely thine own, I have surely built it for
thee, and furnished it for thee; it is for ever thine
own, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever; it
shall never be alienated or converted to any other
use; the ark shall never be removed from it, never
unsettled again.” It is Solomon’s joy, that God has
taken possession; and it is his desire, that he would
j keep possession. Let not the priests therefore
j dread that in which Solomon so much triumphs.
1 II. He instructs the people, and gives them a
492
I. KINGS, VIII.
plain account concerning this house, which they |
now saw God take possession of. He spoke briefly
to the priests, to satisfy them; (a word to the wise;)
but turned his face about (x>. 14.) from them to the
congregation that stood in the outer court, and ad¬
dressed himself to them largely.
1. He blessed them. When they saw the dark
cloud enter the temple, they were astonished at it,
and afraid lest the thick darkness should be utter
darkness to them ; the amazing sight, such as they
had never seen in their days, we may suppose,
drove every man to his prayers, and the vainest
minds were made serious by it. Solomon therefore
set in with their prayers, and blessed them all; as
one having authority, (for the less is blessed of the
better,) in God’s name, he spake peace to them,
and a blessing; like that with which the angel
blessed Gideon, when he was in a fright, upon a
like occasion; (Judg. 6. 22, 23.) Peace be unto thee;
fear not, thou shalt not die. Solomon blessed
them, that is, he pacified them, and freed them
from the consternation they were in. To receive
this blessing, they all stood up, in token of rever¬
ence, and readiness to hear and accept it. It is a
proper posture to be in, when the blessing is pro¬
nounced.
2. He informed them concerning this house which
he had built, and was now dedicating. He begins
his account with a thankful acknowledgment of the
good hand of his God upon him hitherto: Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel, v. 15. What we have the
pleasure of, God must have the praise of. He thus
engaged the congregation to lift up their hearts in
thanksgivings to God, which would help to still the
tumult of spirit which, probably, they were in.
“Come,” says he, “let God’s awful appearances
not drive us from him, but draw us to him; Let us
bless the Lord God of Israel.” Thus Job, under a
dark scene, blessed the name of the Lord. Solo¬
mon here blessed God, (1.) For his promise which
he spake with his mouth, to David. (2.) F r the
performance; that he had now fulfilled it with his
hand. We have then the best sense of God’s mer¬
cies, and most grateful both to ourselves and to our
God, when we run up those streams to the foun¬
tain of the covenant, and compare what God does
with what he has said.
Solomon is now making a solemn surrender or
dedication of this house unto God, delivering it to
God by his own act and deed. Grants and con¬
veyances commonly begin with recitals of what has
been before done, ieading to what is now done: ac¬
cordingly, here is a recital of the special causes and
considerations moving Solomon to build this house.
[1.] He recites the want of such a place. It was
necessary that this should be premised; for, accord¬
ing to the dispensation they were under, there
must be one place, in which they must expect God
to record his name. If, therefore, there were anv
other chosen, this would be usurpation. But he
shows, from what God himself had said, that there
was no other, (v. 16.) I chose no city to build a
house in for my name; therefore there is occasion
for the building of this.
[2.] He recites David’s purpose to build such a
place. God chose the person first that should rule
his people, ( I chose David, v. 16.) and then put it
into his heart to build a house for God’s name, v.
17. It was not a project of his own, for the mag¬
nifying of himself; but his good father, of blessed
memory, laid the first design of it, though he lived
not to lay the first stone.
[3.] He recites God’s promise concerning him¬
self: God approved his father’s purpose; (i\ 18.)
Thou didst well that it was in thine heart. Note,
Sincere intentions to do good shall be graciously
approved and accepted of God, though Providence
prevent our putting of them in execution. The
desire of a man is his kindness. See 2 Cor. 8. 12.
God accepted David s good will, yet would not per¬
mit him to do the good work, but reserved the
honour of it for his son, (i\ 19.) He shall build the
house to my name; so that what he had done, was
not of his own head, nor for his own glory; but the
work itself was according to his father’s design, and
his doing of it was according to God’s designation.
[4.] He recites what he himself had done, and
with what intention; I have built a house, not for
my own name, but for the name of the Lord God
of Israel, (v. 20.) and set there a place for the ark,
v. 21. Thus all the right, title, interest, claim,
and demand, whatsoever, which he or his had, or
might have, in or to this house, or any part of its
appurtenances, lie resigns, surrenders, and gives
up, to God for ever. It is for his name, and his
ark. In this, says he, the Lord hath performed
his word that he spake. Note, Whatever good we
do, we must look upon it as the performance of
God’s promise to us, rather than the performance
of our promises to him. The more we do for God,
the more we are indebted to him; for our sufficien¬
cy is of him, and not of ourselves.
22. And Solomon stood before the altar
of the Lord, in the presence of all the con¬
gregation of Israel, and spread forth his
hands toward heaven : 23. And he said,
Lord God of Israel, there is no god like
thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath,
who keepest covenant and mercy with thy
servants that walk before thee with all their
heart; 24. Who hast kept with thy ser¬
vant David my father that thou promisedst
him : thou spakest also with thy mouth, and
hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this
day. 25. Therefore now, Lord God of
Israel, keep with thy servant David my
father that thou promisedst him, saying,
There shall not fail thee a man in my sight
to sit on the throne of Israel ; so that thy
children take heed to their way, that they
walk before me, as thou hast walked before
me. 26. And now, O God of Israel, let
thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which
thou spakest unto thy servant David my
father. 27. But will God indeed dwell on
the earth ? Behold, the heaven, and heaven
of heavens, cannot contain thee ; how much
less this house that I have budded! 28.
Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of
thy servant, and to his supplication, O
Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and
to the prayer which thy servant prayeth
before thee to-day: 29. That thine eyes
may be open toward this house night and
day, even toward the place of which thou
hast said, My name shall be there; that
thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which
thy servant shall make toward this place.
30. And hearken thou to the supplication
of thy servant, and of thy people Israel
when they shall pray toward this place:
and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place ;
493
I. KINGS, VIII.
and when thou hearest, forgive. 31. If any
man trespass against his neighbour, and an
oath be laid upon him to cause him to
swear, and the oath come before thine altar
in this house : 32. Then hear thou in hea¬
ven, and do, and judge thy servants, con¬
demning the wicked, to bring his way upon
his head; and justifying the righteous, to
give him according to his righteousness.
33. When thy people Israel be smitten
down before the enemy, because they have
sinned against thee, and shall turn again to
thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and
make supplication unto thee in this house:
34. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive
the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them
again unto the land which thou gavest unto
their fathers. 35. When heaven is shut
up, and there is no rain, because they have
sinned against thee ; if they pray toward this
place, and confess thy name, and turn from
their sin, when thou afflictest them : 36.
Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the
sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel,
that thou teach them the good way wherein
they should walk, and give rain upon thy
land which thou hast given to thy people
for an inheritance. 37. If there be in the
land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting,
mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar ; if
their enemy besiege them in the land of their
cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sick¬
ness, there he; 38. What prayer and sup¬
plication soever be made by any man, or by
all thy people Israel, which shall know
every man the plague of his own heart, and
spread forth his hands toward this house :
39. Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-
place, and forgive, and do, and give to every
man according to his ways, whose heart
thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only,
knowest the hearts of all the children of
men ;) 40. That they may fear thee all the
days that they live in thef land which thou
gavest unto our fathers. 41. Moreover,
concerning a stranger that is not of thy peo¬
ple Israel, but cometh out of a far country
lor thy name’s sake; 42. (For they shall
hear of thy great name, and of thy strong
hand, and of thy stretched-out arm ;) when
he shall come and pray toward this house:
43. Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-
place, and do according to all that the
stranger calleth to thee for ; that all people
of the earth may know thy name, to fear
thee, as do thy people Israel ; and that they
may know that this house, which I have
builded, is called by thy name. 44. If thy
people go out to battle against their enemy,
whithersoever thou shalt send them, and
shall pray unto the Lord toward the city
which thou hast chosen, and toward the
house that I have built for thy name : 45.
Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and
their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46. If they sin against thee, (for there is no
man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry
udth them, and deliver them to the enemy,
so that they carry them away captives unto
the land of the enemy, far or near; 47. Yet
if they shall bethink themselves in the land
whither they were carried captives, and re¬
pent, and make supplication unto thee in
the land of them that carried them captives,
saying, We have sinned, and have done
perversely, we have committed w ickedness
48. And so return unto thee with all theii
heart, and with all their soul, in the land
of their enemies which led them away cap¬
tive, and pray unto thee toward their land
which thou gavest unto their fathers, the
city which thou hast chosen, and the house
which 1 have built for thy name: 49. Then
hear thou their prayer and their supplication
in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain
their cause, 50. And forgive thy people
that have sinned against thee, and all their
transgressions wherein they have trans¬
gressed against thee, and give them com¬
passion before them who carried them cap¬
tive, that they may have compassion on
them: 51. For they he thy people, and
thine inheritance, which thou broughtest
forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the
furnace of iron: 52. That thine eyes may
be open unto the supplication of thy servant,
and unto the supplication of thy people
Israel, to hearken unto them in all that
they call for unto thee ; 53. F or thou didst
separate them from among all the people
of the earth, to he thine inheritance, as thou
spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant,
when thou broughtest our fathers out of
Egypt, O Lord God.
Solomon having made a general surrender of this
house to God, which God had signified his accep¬
tance of by taking possession, next follows Solo¬
mon’s prayer; in which he makes a more particular
declaration of the uses of that surrender, with all
humility and reverence, desiring that God would
agree thereto. In short, it is his request that this
temple might he deemed and taken, not only for a
house of sacrifice, (no mention is made of that in all
this prayer, that was taken for granted,) but a house
of prayer for all people: and herein it was a type
of the gospel-church: see Isa. 56. 7. compared with
Matth. 21. 13. Therefore Solomon opened this
house, not only with an extraordinary sacrifice, but
with an extraordinary prayer.
I. The person that prayed this prayer, was great.
Solomon did not appoint one of the priests to do it,
or one of the prophets, but did it himself, in the
presence of all the congregation of Israel, v. 22.
1. It was well that he was able to do it; a sign that
494
I. KINGS, VIII.
ne had made a good improvement of the pious edu¬
cation which h.s parents gave him. With all his
learning, it seems, he learnt to pray well, and knew
how to express himself to God in a suitable manner,
pro re nata — on the spur of the occasion, without a
prescribed form. In the crowd of his philosophical
transactions, his proverbs, and songs, he did not
forget his devotions. He was a gainer by prayer,
\ch. 3. 11, 8cc.) and, we may suppose, gave him¬
self much to it, so that he excelled, as we find
here, in praying gifts. 2. It was well that he was
willing to do it, and not shy of performing divine
service before so great a congregation: he was far
from thinking it any disparagement to him, to be
his own chaplain, and the mouth of the assembly
to God; and shall any think themselves too great
to do this office for their own families? Solomon,
in all his other glory, even on his ivory throne,
looked not so great as he did now. Great men
should thus support the reputation of religious
exercises, and so honour God with their greatness.
Solomon was herein a type of Christ, the great In¬
tercessor for all over whom he rules.
II. The posture in which he prayed, was very
reverent, and expressive of humility, seriousness,
and fervency in prayer. He stood before the altar
of the Lord; intimating that he expected the suc¬
cess of his prayer in the virtue of that sacrifice
which should be offered up in the fulness of time,
typified by the sacrifices offered at that altar. But
when he addressed himself to prayer, 1. He kneeled
down, as appears, v. 54. where he is said^ to rise
from his knees; compare 2 Chron. 6. 13. Kneeling
is the most proper posture for prayer, Eph. 3. 14.
The greatest of men must not think it below them,
to kneel before the Lord their Maker. Mr. Her¬
bert says, ‘‘Kneeling never spoiled silk stockings.”
2. He 'sfiread forth his hands toward heaven; and,
as it should seem by v. 54. continued so, to the end
of the prayer, hereby expressing his desire toward,
and expectations from, God, as a Father in heaven.
He spread forth his hands, as it were to offer up
the prayer from an open enlarged heart, and to
urge it into heaven; and also to receive the mercy
thence, with both arms, which he prayed for.
Such outward expressions of the fixedness and
fervour of devotion, ought not to be despised or
ridiculed.
III. The prayer itself was very long, and yet
perhaps longer than is here recorded. At the
throne of grace, we have liberty of speech, and
should use our liberty. It is not making long pray¬
ers, but making them for a pretence, that Christ
condemns.
In this excellent prayer, Solomon does, as we
should in every prayer:
1. He gives glory to God. This he begins with,
as the most proper act of adoration. He addresses
himself to God as the Lord God of Israel, a God
in covenant with them. And, (1.) He gives him
the praise of what he is, in general ; the best of be¬
ings in himself; “ There is no God like thee, none of
the powers in heaven or earth to be compared with
thee;” and the best of masters to his people, “who
keefiest covenant and mercy with thy servants; not
only as good as thy word, in keeping covenant,
but better than thy word, in keeping mercy, doing
that for them, which thou hast not given them an
express promise of, provided they walk before thee
with all their heart, are zealous for thee, with an
eye. to thee.” (2.) He gives him thanks for what
he had done, in particular, for his family; ( v . 24.)
Thou hast kept with thy servant David, as with
thv other servants, that which thou firomisedst him.
The promise was a great favour to him, his support
and joy, and now, performance is the crown of it:
Thou hast fulfilled it, as it is this day. Fresh ex¬
periences of the truth cf God’s promises, call for
enlarged praises.
2. He sues for grace and favour from God.
(1.) That God would perform to him and his the
mercy which he had promised, x». 25, 26. Ob¬
serve how this comes in: he thankfully acknow¬
ledges the performance of the promise, in part;
hitherto, God had been faithful to his word, “ Thou
hast kept with thy servant David that which thou
promisedst him; so far, that his son fills his throne,
and has built the intended temple; therefore now
keep with thy servant David that which thou hast
further promised him, and which yet remains to be
fulfilled in its season.” Note, The experiences we
have of God’s performing his promises, should en¬
courage us to depend upon them, and plead them
with God: and those who expect further mercies,
must be thankful for former mercies. Hitherto,
God lias helped, 2 Cor. 1. 10. Solomon repeats
the promise, (v . 25.) There shall not fail thee a
man to sit on the throne, not omitting the condition,
so that thy children take heed to their way; for we
cannot expect God’s performance of the promise,
but upon our performance of the condition: and
then he humbly begs this entail, (x>. 26.) JVovo, O
God of Israel, let thy words be verified. God's
promises (as we have often observed) must be both
the guide of our desires, and the ground of our
hopes and expectations, in prayer. David had
prayed, (2 Sam. 7. 25.) Lord, do as thou hast said.
Note, Children should learn of their godly parents
how to pray, and plead, in prayer.
(2.) That God would have respect to this temple
which he had now taken possession of, and that his
eyes might be continually open towards it, v. 29.
That he would graciously own it, and so put an
honour upon it. To this purpose, he premises,
[1.] An humble admiration of God’s gracious con¬
descension; ( v . 27.) “But will God indeed dwell on
the earth? Can we imagine that a Being, infinitely
high, and holy, and happy, should stoop so low, as
to let it be said of him, that he dwells upon the
earth, and blesses the worms of the earth with his
presence? The earth, that is corrupt, and over-
SDread with sin! Cursed, and reserved to fire!
Lord, how is it?" [2.] An humble acknowledg¬
ment of the incapacity of the house he had built,
though very capacious, to contain God. The hea¬
ven of heavens cannot do that, for no place can
include him, who is present in all places; even this
house is too little, too mean to be the residence of
Him that is infinite in being and glory. Note,
When we have done the most we can for God, we
must acknowledge the infinite distance and dispro¬
portion between us and him, between our serxices
and his perfections.
This premised, he prays, in general, First, That
God would graciously hear and answer the prayer he
was now praying, v. 28. It was an humble prayer,
the prayer of thy servant; an earnest prayer, such
a prayer as is a cry; a prayer made in faith, “ before
thee, as the Lord, and my God; Lord, hearken to
it; have respect to it, not as the prayer of Israel’s
king,” (no man’s dignity in the world, or titles of
honour, will recommend him to God,) “but as the
prayer of thy servant.” Secondly, That God xvould,
in like manner, hear and answer all the prayers
that should, at any time hereafter, be made in or
toward this house which he had now built, and of
which God had said, My name shall be there; ( v .
29.) his own prayers, Hearken to the prayers which
thy servant shall make; and the prayers of all Is¬
rael, and of every particular Israelite, v. 30. Hear
it in heaven, that is indeed thy dwelling-place, of
which this is but a figure; and when thou hearest,
forgive the sin that separates between them and
God, even the iniquity of their holy things. 1. lie
1. KINGS, VIII.
496
supposes that God’s people would ever be a praying
people; he resolves to adhere to that duty himself.
2. He directs them to have an eye, in their prayers,
to that place where God was pleased to manifest his
glory, so as he did not any where else on earth.
None but priests might come into that place; but
when they worshipped in the courts of the temple,
it must be with an eye toward it; not as the object
of their worship, (that were idolatry,) but as an in¬
stituted medium of their worship, helping the weak¬
ness of their faith, and typifying the mediation of
Jesus Cht'iSt, who is the true Temple, to whom we
must have an eye in every thing wherein we have
to do with God. They that were at a distance,
1 inked toward Jerusalem, for the sake of the tem¬
ple, even when it was in ruins, Dan. 6. 10. 3. He
begs that God would hear the prayers, and forgive
the sins, of all that look this way in their prayers:
not as if he thought all the devout prayers offered
up to God by those who had no knowledge of this
house, or regard to it, were therefore rejected; but
he desired that the sensible tokens of the divine
presence with which this house was blessed, might
always give sensible encouragement and comfort to
believing petitioners.
More particularly, he here puts divers cases in
which he supposed application would be made to
God by prayer, in or toward this house of prayer.
(1.) If God were appealed to by an oath for the
determining of any controverted right between man
and man, and the oath were taken before this altar,
he prayed that God would, some way or other, dis¬
cover the truth, and judge between the contending
parties, v. 31, 32. He prays that, in difficult mat¬
ters, this throne of grace might be a throne of judg¬
ment, from which God would right the injured that
believingly appealed to it, and punish the injurious
that presumptuously appealed to it. It was usual to
swear by the temple and altar, Matth. 23. 16, 18.
Which corruption perhaps took its rise from this
supposition of an oath taken, not by the temple or
altar, but at or near them, for the greater solemnity.
(2.) If the people of Israel were groaning under
any national calamity, or any particular Israelite
under any personal calamity, he desires that the
prayers they should make in or toward this house,
might be heard and answered.
[1.] In case of public judgments; war, (v. 33.)
want of rain, ( v . 35.) famine or pestilence; ( v . 37.)
and he ends, with any plague or sickness; for no
calamity befalls other people, which may not befall
God’s Israel. Now he supposes, First, That the
cause of the judgment would be sin, and nothing
else: if they be smitten before the enemy, if there be
no rain, it is because they have sinned against thee:
that is it that makes all the mischief. Secondly,
That the consequence of the judgment would be,
that they would cry to God, and make supplication
to him, in or toward that house. Those that slighted
him before, would solicit him then; Lord, in trouble
have they visited thee: In their affliction they will
seek me early, and earnestly. Thirdly, That the con¬
dition of the removal of the judgment was something
more than bare praying for it. He could not, he
would not. ask that their prayer might be answered,
unless they did aiso turn from their sin, ( x> . 35. ) and
turn again to God; (x>. 33.) that is, unless they did
truly repent and reform. On no other terms may
we look for salvation, in this world or the other.
But, if they did thus qualify themselves for mercy,
he prays, 1. That God would hear from heaven,
his holy temple above, to which they must look,
through this temple. 2. That he would forgive
their sin; for judgments are then only removed in
mercy, when sin is pardoned. 3. That he would
teach them the good way wherein they should walk,
by his Spirit, with his word and prophets; and thus
f they might be both profited by the’." trouble, (fo*-
blessed is the man whom God chastens and teaches,)
and prepared for deliverance; which then comes in
love, when it finds us brought back to the good way
of God and duty. 4. That he would then remove
the judgment, and redress the grievance, whatever
it is; not only accept the prayer, but give in the
mercy prayed for.
[2.J In case of personal afflictions, v. 38.. 40.
“ If any man of Israel has an errand to thee, here
let him find thee, here let him find favour with thee. ”
He does not mention particulars; so numerous, so
various, are the grievances of the children of men:
First, He supposes that the complainants themselves
would very sensibly feel from their own burthen,
and would open that case to God, which otherwise
they kept to themsehes, and did not make any man
acquainted with. They shall know every man the
plague of his own heart, what it is that pains him;
and shall spread their hands, that is, spread their
case, as Hezekiah spread the letter, in prayer,
toward this house; whether the trouble be of body
or mind, they shall represent it before God. In¬
ward burthens seem especially meant; sin is the
plague of our own heart, our indwelling corruptions
are our spiritual diseases: every Israelite indeed
endeavours to know these, that he may mortify
them, and watch against the risings of them. These
he complains of, this is the burthen he groans under;
O wretched man that lam! These drive him to Ids
knees, drive him to the sanctuary; lamenting these,
he spreads forth his hands in prayer. Secondly, He
refers all cases of this kind, that should be brought
hither, to God. 1. To his omniscience; “ Thou,
even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children
of men, not only the plagues of their hearts, their
several wants and burthens,” (these he knows, but
he will know them from us,) “but the desire and
intent of the heart, the sincerity or hypocrisy of it.
Thou knowest which prayer comes from the heart,
and which from the lips onlv.” The hearts of kings
are not unsearchable to God. 2. To his justice;
Give to every man according to his ways; and he
will not fail to do so, by the rules of grace, not the
law, for then we are all undone. 3. To his mercy;
Hear, and forgive, and do, ( v . 39.) that they may
fear thee all their days, v. 40. This use we should
make of the mercy of God to us in hearing out-
prayers, and forgiving our sins, we should thereby
be engaged to fear him while we live: Fear the
Lord and his goodness; there is forgiveness with him,
that he may be feared.
[3.] The case of the stranger that is not an Is¬
raelite, is next mentioned; a proselyte that comes
to the temple to pray to the God of Israel, being
convinced of the folly and wickedness of worshipping
the gods of his country. First, He supposes that
there would be many such; (v. 41, 42.) that the
fame of God’s great works which he had wrought
for Israel, by which he proved himself to be above
all gods, nay, to be God alone, would reach to dis¬
tant countries; they that live remote, shall hear of
thy strong hand, and thy stretched-out arm; and
this will bring all thinking considerate people to
pray toward this house, that they may obtain the
favour of a God that is able to do them a real kind¬
ness. Secondly , He begs that God would accept
and answer the proselyte’s prayer; (t». 43.) Do ac¬
cording to all that the stranger calleth to thee for.
Thus early, thus ancient, were the indications of
favour toward the sinners of the Gentiles; as there
was then one law for the native and for the stranger,
(Exod. 12. 49.) so there was one gospel for both.
Thirdly, Herein, he aims at the glory of God, and
the propagating of the knowledge of him. “O let
the stranger, in a special manner, speed well in his
address, that he may carry away with him to his
496
I. KINGS, VIII.
own country a good report of the God of Israel;
that all Jicop.lt may know thee and fear thee, (and,
if they know thee aright, they will fear thee,) as do
thv people Israel .” So far is Solomon from mono¬
polizing the knowledge and service of God, and
wishing to have them confined to Israel only, (which
was the envious desire of the Jews in the days of
Christ and his apostles,) that he prays that all peo¬
ple might fear God as Israel did . Would to God,
that all the children of men might receive the adop¬
tion, and be made God’s children. Father , thus
glorify thy name.
[4. ] The case of an army going forth to battle,
is next recommended by Solomon to the divine fa¬
vour. It is supposed that the anny is encamped at
a distance, somewhere a great way off, sent by
divine order against the enemy, v. 44. “When
they are ready to engage, and consider the perils
and doubtful issues of battle, and put up a prayer to
God for protection and success, with their eye toward
this city and temple, then hear their prayer, encou¬
rage their hearts, strengthen their hands, cover
their heads, and so maintain their cause, and give
them victory. ” Soldiers in the field must not think
it enough that they who tarry at home, pray for
them, but must pray for themselves, and they are
here encouraged to hope for a gracious answer.
Praying should always go along with fighting.
[5.] The case of poor captives, is the last that is
here mentioned, as a proper object of divine com¬
passion. First, He supposes that Israel would sin.
He knew them, and himself, and the nature of man,
too well to think this a foreign supposition; for there
is no man that sinneth not, that does not enough to
justify God in the severest rebukes of his providence ;
no man but what is in danger of falling into gross
sin, and will, if God leave him to himself. Secondly,
He supposes what may well be expected, if Israel
revolt from God, that God will be angry with them,
and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, to
be carried captive into a strange country, v. 46.
Thirdly, He then supposes that they will bethink
themselves, will consider their ways; for afflictions
ut men upon consideration; and when once they are
rought to consider, they will repent and pray, will
confess their sins, and humble themselves, saying,
We have sinned, and have done fierversely ; {v. 47. )
and will return to God in the land of their enemies,
whom they had forsaken in their own land. Fourth¬
ly, He supposes that in their prayers they will look
toward their own land, the holy land, Jerusalem the
holy city, and the temple the holy house, and directs
them so to do, ( v . 48.) for his sake, who gave them
that land, chose that city, and to whose honour that
house was built. Fifthly, He prays that then God
would hear their prayers, forgive their sins, plead
their cause, and incline their enemies to have compas¬
sion on them, v. 49, 50. God has all hearts in his hand,
and can, when he pleases, turn the strongest stream
the contrary way, and make those to pity his people,
who have been their most cruel persecutors. See
thi£ prayer answered, Ps. 106. 46. He made them
to be pitied of all those that carried them captive,
which, if it did not enlarge them, yet eased their
captivity. Sixthly, He pleads their relation to God,
and his interest in them; “They are thy people,
whom thou hast taken into thy covenant, and under
thy care and conduct; thine inheritance, from which,
more than from any other nation, thy rent and tribute
of glory issue and arise; (v. 51.) separated from
among all people to be so, and by distinguishing fa¬
vours appropriated to thee,” v. 53.
Lastly, After all these particulars, he concludes
with this general request, that God would hearken
to all his praying people in all that they call unto
him for, v. 52. No place, now under the gospel,
can be imagined to add any acceptableness to the
prayers made in or toward it, as the temple then
did; that was a shadow, the substance is Christ;
whatever we ask in his name, it shall be given us.
54. And it was so , that when Solomon
had made an end of praying all this prayer
and supplication unto the Lord, he arose
from before the altar of the Lord, from
kneeling on his knees with his hands spread
up to heaven. 55. And he stood, and blessed
all the congregation of Israel with a loud
voice, saying, 56. Blessed be the Lord,
that hath given rest unto his people Israel,
according to all that he promised: there hath
not failed one word of all his good promise,
which he promised by the hand of Moses
his servant. 57. The Lord our God be
with us, as he was with our fathers: let him
not leave us, nor forsake us; 58. That he
may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in
all his ways, and to keep his commandments,
and his statutes, and his judgments, which
he commanded our fathers. 59. And let
these my words, wherewith I have made
supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto
the Lord our God day and night, that he
maintain the cause of his servant, and the
cause of his people Israel at all times, as the
matter shall require; 60. That all the peo¬
ple of the earth may know that the Lord is
God, and that there is none else. 61. Let
your heart, therefore, be perfect with the
Lord your God, to walk in his statutes, and
to keep his commandments, as at this day.
Solomon, after his sermon in Ecclesiastes, gives
us the conclusion of the whole matter; so he does
here, after this long prayer; it is called his blessing
of the people, v. 55. He pronounced it standing,
that he might be the better heard, and because he
blessed as one having authority; never were words
more fully spoken, or more pertinently; never was
congregation dismissed with that which was more
likely to affect them and abide with them.
I. He gives God the glory of the great and kind
things he had done for Israel, v. 56. He stood up
to bless the congregation, (x>. 55. ) but begins with
blessing God, for we must, in ei <ery thing, giv •
thanks. Do we expect God should do well for u&
and our’s? Let us take all occasions to speak well
of him and his. He blesses God who has given, he
does not say wealth, and honour, and power, and
victory, to Israel; but rest, as if that were a blessing
more valuable than any of those: let not those who
have rest, undervalue that blessing then, though
they want some other. He compares the blessings
God had bestowed upon them, with the promises
he had given them, that God might have the honour
of his faithfulness, and the truth of that word of his,
which he has magnified above all his name. 1. He
refers to the firomises given by the hand of Moses,
as he did (v. 15, 24.) to those which were made to
David; there were promises given by Moses, as well
as precepts: it was long ere God gave Israel the
promised rest, but they had it at last, after many
trials; the day will come, when God’s spiritual Is¬
rael will rest from all their labours. 2. He does, as
it were, write a receipt in full on the back of these
bonds, There has not failed one word of all his good
497
I. KINGS, VIII.
promises; this discharge he gives in the name of
all Israel, to the everlasting honour of the divine
faithfulness, and the everlasting encouragement of
all those that build upon the divine promises.
II. He blesses himself and the congregation, ex¬
pressing his earnest desire and hope of these four
things. 1. The presence of God with them, that
is all in all to the happiness of a church and nation,
and of every particular person. This great con¬
gregation was now shortly to scatter, and it was not
likely that they would ever be all together again in
this world; Solomon therefore dismisses them with
this blessing, The Lord be present with us, and that
will be corn!’ irt enough, when we are absent from
each other; the Lord our God be with us, as he was
with our fathers; {v. 57.) let him not leave us, let
him be to us to-day, and to our’s for ever, what he
was to those that went before us.” 2. The power
of his grace upon them; “ Let him be with us, and
continue with us, not that he may enlarge our coasts,
and increase our wealth, but that he may incline our
hearts to himself, to walk in all his ways, and to keep
his commandments,” v. 58. Spiritual blessings are
the best blessings, which we should covet earnestly
to be blessed with: our hearts are naturally averse
to our duty, and apt to decline from God; it is his
grace that inclines them, grace that must be obtained
by prayer. 3. An answer to the prayer he had now
made, “Let these my words be nigh, unto the Lord
our God day and night, v. 59 Let a gracious re¬
turn be made to every prayer that shall be made
here, and that will be a continual answer to this
prayer.” What Solomon here asks for his prayer,
is still granted in the intercession of Christ, which
his supplication was a type of; that powerful pre¬
vailing intercession is before the Lord our God day
and night, for our great Advocate attends continually
to this very thing, and we may depend upon him to
maintain our cause, (against the adversary that ac¬
cuses us day and night, Rev. 12. 10.) and the com¬
mon cause of his people Israel, at all times, upon
all occasions, as the matter shall require, so as to
speak for us the word of the day in its day, as the
original here reads it, from which we shall receive
grace sufficient, suitable, and seasonable, in every
time of need. 4. The glorifying of God in the en¬
largement of his kingdom among men. Let Israel
be thus blessed, thus favoured; not that all people
may become tributaries to us, (Solomon sees his
kingdom as great as he desires,) but that all people
may know that the Lord is God, and he only, and
may come and worship him, v. 60. With this
Solomon’s prayers, like the prayers of his father,
David the son of Jesse, are ended; (Ps.' 72. 19, 20.)
Let the whole earth be filed with his glory: we can¬
not close our prayers with a better summary than
this, Father, glorify thy name.
III. He solemnly charges his people to continue
and persevere in their duty to God; having spoken
to God for them, he here speaks from God to them,
and those only would fare the better for his prayers
that were made better by his preaching; his admo¬
nition, at parting, is, “ Let your heart be perfect
with the Lord our God; ( v . 61.) let your obedience
be universal without dividing, upright without dis¬
sembling, and constant without declining;” this is
evangelical perfection.
62. And the king:, and all Israel with him,
offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63. And
Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace-offer¬
ings, which he offered unto the Lord, two
and twenty thousand oxen, and a huridred
and twenty thousand sheep. So the king
and all the children of Israel dedicated the
Vol. ii. — 3 R
house of the Lord. 64. The same day did
the king hallow the middle of the court that
was before the house of the Lord : for there
he offered burnt-offerings, and meat-offerings,
and the fat of the peace-offerings ; because
the brazen altar that was before the Lord
was too little to receive the burnt-offerings
and meat-offerings, and the fat of the peace-
offerings. 65. And at that time Solomon
held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great
congregation, from the entering in of Ha¬
math unto the river of Egypt, before the
Lord our God, seven days and seven days,
even fourteen days. 66. On the eighth day
he sent the people away : and they blessed
the king, and went unto their tents joyful
and glad of heart, for all the goodness that
the Lord had done for David his servant,
and for Israel his people.
We read before, that Judah and Israel were eat¬
ing and drinking, and very cheerful, under their
own vines and fig-trees; here we have them so in
God’s courts; now they found Solomon’s words true
concerning Wisdom’s ways, that they are ways of
pleasantness.
1. They had abundant joy and satisfaction, while
they attended at God’s house, for there, (1.) Solo¬
mon offered a great sacrifice, 22,000 oxen, and
120,000 sheep, enough to have drained the country
of cattle, if it had not been a very fruitful land.
The heathen thought themselves very generous
when they offered sacrifices by hundreds, {heca¬
tombs they called them,) but Solomon outdid them,
he offered them by thousands. When Moses dedi¬
cated his altar, the peace-offerings were twenty-
four bullocks; rams, goats, and lambs, 180; (Numb.
7. 88.) then the people were poor, but now that
they were increased in wealth, more was expected
from them; where God sows plentifully, he must
reap accordingly. All these sacrifices could not be
offered in one day, but in the several days of the
feast; thirty oxen a day served Solomon’s table, but
thousands shall go to God’s altar; few are thus mind¬
ed, to spend more on their souls than on their bo¬
dies. The flesh of the peace-offerings which be¬
longed to the offerer, it is likely, Solomon treated!
the people with; Christ fed those who attended him.
The brazen altar was not large enough to receive
all these sacrifices, so that, to serve the present oc¬
casion, they were forced to offer many of them m
the middle of the court, v. 64. Some think, on al¬
tars, altars of earth or stone, erected for the purpose,
and taken down when the solemnity wasover; others
think, on the bare ground: they that will be gene¬
rous in serving God, need not stint themselves for
want of room and occasion to be so. (2. ) He kept
a feast, the feast of tabernacles, as it should seem,
after the feast of dedication, and both together last¬
ed fourteen days; {v. 65.) yetthey said not. Behold,
what a weariness is it!
2. They carried this joy and satisfaction with them
to their own houses. When they were dismissed,
they blessed the king, (i\ 66.) applauded him, ad¬
mired him, and returned him the thanks of the con¬
gregation, and then went to their tents, joyful and
glad of heart, all easy and pleased; God’s goodness
was the matter of their joy, so it should be of our’s
at all times; they rejoiced in God’s blessing, both on
the royal family and on the kingdom; thus should
we go home, rejoicing, from holy ordinances, and go
on our way, rejoicing for God’s goodness to our Lord
498
1. KINGS, IX.
Jesus, (of whom David his servant was a type,) in I
the advancement and establishment of his throne,
pursuant to the covenant of redemption, and to all
believers, his spiritual Israel, in their sanctification
and consolation, pursuant to the covenant of grace;
if we rejoice not herein always, it is our own fault.
CHAP. IX.
In this chapter, we have, I. The answer which God, in a
vision, gave to Solomon’s prayer, and the terms he settled
with him, v. 1 . . 9. II. The interchanging of grateful
kindnesses between Solomon and Hiram, v. 10.. 14.
Ill. His workmen and buildings, v. 15.. 24. IV. His
devotion, v. 25. V. His trading navy, v. 26 . . 28-
1. 4 ND it came to pass, when Solomon
, m had finished the building ot the house
of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all
Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to
do, 2. That the Lord appeared to Solo¬
mon the second time, as he had appeared
unto him at Gibeon. 3. And the Lord
said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and
thy supplication that thou hast made before
me : I have hallowed this house which thou
hast built, to put my name there for ever ;
and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there
perpetually. 4. And if thou wilt walk be¬
fore me, as David thy father walked, in in¬
tegrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do ac¬
cording to all that I have commanded thee,
and wilt keep my statutes and my judg¬
ments ; 5. Then I will establish the throne
of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I
promised to David thy father, saying, 'There
shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of
Israel. 6. But if you shall at all turn from
following me, you or your children, and will
not keep my commandments and my sta¬
tutes which I have set before you, but go and
serve other gods, and worship them ; 7.
Then will I cut off Israel out of the land
which I have given them : and this house, 1
which I have hallowed for my name, will I
cast out of my sight ; and Israel shall be a
proverb and a by-word among all people :
8. And at this house, which is high, every
one that passeth by it shall be astonished,
and shall hiss ; and they shall say, Why
hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and
to this house ? 9. And they shall answer,
Because they forsook the Lord their God,
who brought forth their fathers out of the
land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon
other gods, and have worshipped them, and
served them : therefore hath the Lord
brought upon them all this evil.
God had given a real answer to Solomon’s prayer,
and tokens of his acceptance of it immediately, by
th & fire from heaven which consumed the sacrifices;
(as we And, 2 Chron. 7. 1.) but here we have a more
express and distinct answer to it. Observe,
I. In what way God gave him this answer; he ap¬
peared to him, as he had done at Gibeon, in the be¬
ginning of his reign, in a dream or vision, v. 2. The
comparing of it with that, intimates that it was the
very night after he had finished the solemnities of
his festival, for so that was, 2 Chron. 1. 6, 7. And
then v. 1. speaking of Solomon’s finishing all his
buildings, which was not till many years after the
dedication of the temple, must be read thus, Solo¬
mon finished; (as it is 2 Chron. 7. 11.) and v. 2.
must be read, and the Lord had appeared.
II. The purport of tins prayer.
1. He assures him of his special presence in the
temple he had built, in answer to the prayer he had
made; (v. 3. ) / have hallowed this house. Solomon
had dedicated it, but it was God’s prerogative to
hallow it, to sanctify or consecrate it; men cannot
make a place holy, yet what we, in sincerity, devote
to Clod, we may hope he will graciously accept of,
as his; and his eyes and his heart shall be upon it.
Apply it to persons, the living temples; those whom
God hallows or sanctifies, whom he sets apart for
himself, have his eye, his heart, his love and care,
and this, perpetually.
2. He shows him that he and his people were, for
the future, upon their good behaviour; let them not
be secure now, as if they might live as they please,
now that they have the temple of the Lord among
them, Jer. 7. 4. No, this house was designed to
protect them in their allegiance to God, but not in
their rebellion or disobedience: God deals plainly
with us, sets before us good and evil, the blessing
and the curse, and lets us know what we must trust
to. God here tells Solomon,
(1.) That the establishment of his kingdom de¬
pended upon the constancy of his obedience ;(y,4,
5.) “7/ thou wilt walk before me as David did,
who left thee a good example, and encouragement
enough to follow it, (an advantage thou wilt be ac¬
countable for, if thou do not improve it,) if thou wilt
walk as he did, in integrity of heart and uprightness,”
(for that is the main matter, no religion but sinceri¬
ty,) “ then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom ,
and not otherwise;” for on that condition the pro¬
mise was made, Ps. 132. 12. If we perform our
part of the covenant, God will not fail to perform
his; if we improve the grace God has given us, he
will confirm us to the end. Let not the children of
godly parents expect the entail of the blessing, un¬
less they tread in the steps of those that are gone
before them to heaven, and keep up the virtue and
piety of their ancestors.
(2.) That the ruin of his kingdom would be the
certain consequence of his or his children’s apostasy
from God, (u. 6.) “ But know thou, and let thy fa¬
mily and kingdom know it, and be admonished by
it, that if you shall altogether turn from following
me,” (so it is thought it should be read,) “if you
forsake my service, desert mine altar, and go and
serve other gods,” (for that was the covenant-break¬
ing sin, ) “ if you or your children break off from me,
this house will not save you.” But, [1.] Israel,
though a holy nation, will be cut off, ( v . 7. ) by one
judgment after another, till they become a proverb
and a by-word, and the most despicable people un¬
der the sun, though now the most honourable: this
supposes the destruction of the royal family, though
it is not particularly threatened; the king is, of
course, undone, if the kingdom be. [2.] The tem¬
ple, though a holy house, which God himself had
hallowed for his name, should be abandoned and laid
desolate, v. 8, 9. This house which is high; they
prided themselves in the stateliness and magnifi¬
cence of the structure, but let them know that it is
not so high as to be out of the reach of God’s judg¬
ments, if they vilify it so as to exchange it for groves
and idol-temples, and yet, at the same time, mag¬
nify it so as to think it secures the favour of God to
them, though they everso much corrupt themselves.
This house which is high ; they that now pass by it.
499
I. KINGS, IX.
are astonished at the bulk and beauty of it; the rich¬
ness, contrivance, and workmanship, are. admired
by all spectators, and it is called a stupendous fabric;
but if you forsake God, its height will make its fall
the more amazing, and they that pass by will be as
much astonished at its ruins, while the guilty, self-
convicted, self-condemned, Israelites, will be forced
to acknowledge, with shame, that they themselves
were the ruin of it; for when it shall be asked, Why
hath the Lord done thus to this house? they cannot
but answer, It was because they forsook the Lord
their God. See Deut. 29. 24, 25. Their sin will be
read in their punishment, they deserted the temple,
and therefore God deserted it; they profaned it with
their sins, and laid it common, and therefore God
profaned it with his judgments, and laid it waste:
God gave Solomon fair warning of this, now that he
had newly built and dedicated it, that he and his
people might not be high-minded, but fear.
10. And it came to pass at the end of
twenty years, when Solomon had built the
two houses, the house of the Lord, and the
king’s house, 1 1. ( Now Hiram the king of
Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-
trees, and fir-trees, and with gold, according
to all his desire,) that then Solomon gave
Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12. And Hiram came out from Tyre to see
the cities which Solomon had given him ;
and they pleased him not. 1 3. And he said,
What cities are these which thou hast given
me, my brother ? And he called them the
land of Cabul unto this day. 1 4. And Hi¬
ram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
What agreement was made between Solomon and
Hiram, when the building-work was to be begun,
we read before, ch. 5. Here we have an account
of their fair and friendly parting, when the work j
was done.
1. Hiram made good his bargain to the utmost;
he had furnished Solomon with materials for his
buildings, according to all his desire, 11.) and
with gold, v. 14. So far was he from envying So-
lomon’s growing greatness and reputation, and being i
jealous of him, that he helped to magnify him; So- 1
lomon’s power, with Solomon’s wisdom, needs not
t • be dreaded by any of his neighbours; God hon- i
ours him, therefore Hiram will.
2. Solomon, no doubt, made good his bargain,
and gave Hiram food for his household, as was
agreed, ch. 5. 9. But here we are told that, over
and above that, he gave him twenty cities, (small
ones we may suppose, like those mentioned here,
v . 19.) in the land of Galilee, v. 11. It should seem, 1
these were not allotted to any of the tribes of Israel,
(for the border of Asher came up to them, Josh.
19. 27. which intimates that it did not include
them,) but continued in the hands of the natives,
till Solomon made himself master of them, and then
made a present of them to Hiram; it becomes those
that are great and good, to be generous. Hiram
came to see these cities, and did not like them;
(v. 12.) They pleased him not. He called the
country the land of Cabul, a Phenician word, (says
Josephus,) which signifies displeasing; v. 13. He
therefore returned them back to Solomon, (as we
find, 2 Chron. 8. 2.) who repaired them, and then
caused the children of Israel to inhabit them ; which
intimates that, before, they did not; but when
Solomon received back what he had given, no
doubt, he honourably gave Hiram an equivalent in
something else. But what shall we think of this?
Did Solomon act meanly, in giving Hiram what was
not worth his acceptance? Or, was Hiram humour-
some, and hard to please? I am willing to believe
otherwise: the country was truly valuable, and the
cities in it, but not agreeable to Hiram’s genius; the
Tyrians were merchants, trading men, that lived in
fine houses, and became rich by navigation, but
knew not how to value a country that was fit for
corn and pasture, that was business that lay out of
their way; and therefore Hiram desired Solomon to
take them again, he knew not what to do with
them, and if he would please to gratify him, let it
be in his own element, by becoming his partner in
trade, as we find he did, v. 27. Hiram, that was
used to the clean streets of Tyre, could by no means
agree with the miry lanes in the land of Cabul, .
whereas the best lands have commonly the worst
roads through them: see how the providence ol
God suits both the accommodation of this earth to
the various dispositions of men, and the dispositions
of men to the various accommodations of the earth,
and all for the good of mankind in general; some
take delight in husbandry, and wonder what plea¬
sure sailors can take on a rough sea; others take as
much delight in navigation, and wonder what plea¬
sure husbandmen can take in a dirty country, like
the land of Cabul; it is so in many other instances,
in which we may observe the wisdom of Him whose
all souls are, and all lands.
15. And this is the reason of the levy
which king Solomon raised, F or to build the
house of the Lord,' and his own house and
Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Ha-
zor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. 16. For
Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and
taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and
slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city,
and given it for a present unto his daughter,
Solomon’s wife. 17. And Solomon built
Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, 18. And
Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in
the land, 19. And all the cities of store
that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots,
and cities for his horsemen, and that which
Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and
in Lebanon, and in all the land of his do¬
minion. 20. And all the people that were
left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of
the children of Israel, 21. Their children
that were left after them in the land, whom
the children of Israel also were not able ut¬
terly to destroy, upon those did Solomon
levy a tribute of bond-service unto this day.
22. But of the - children of Israel did Solo¬
mon make no bondmen : but they were men
of war, and his servants, and his princes,
and his captains, and rulers of his chariots,
and his horsemen. 23. These were the
chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s
work, five hundred and fifty, wffiich bare
rule over the people that wrought in the
work. 24. But Pharaoh’s daughter came
up out of the city of David unto her house
which Solomon had built for her : then did
50 0
J. KINGS. IX.
lie build Millo. 25. And three times in a
year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings upon the altar which he
built unto the Lord, and he burnt incense
upon the altar that was before the Lord.
So he finished the house. 26. And king
Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-
geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore
of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27.
And Hiram sent in the navy his servants,
ship-men that had knowledge of the sea,
with the servants of Solomon. 28. And
they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence
gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and
brought it to king Solomon.
We have here a fuither account of Solomon’s
greatness:
I. His buildings. He raised a great levy both of
men and money, because he projected a great deal
of building, which would both employ many hands,
and put him to a vast expense, v. 15. And he was
a wise builder, who sat down first, and counted the
cost, and would not begin to build, till he found
himself able to finish. Perhaps there was some
complaint of the heaviness of the taxes, which the
historian excuses from the greatness of his under¬
takings; he raised it not for war, (as other princes,)
which would spend the blood of his subjects, but for
building, which would require only their labour and
purses. Perhaps David observed Solomon’s genius
to lie toward building, and foresaw he would have
his head and hands full of it, when he penned that
song of degrees for Solomon, which begins, Except
the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that
build it; (Ps. 127. 1.) directing him to acknowledge
God in all his ways, and, by prayer, and faith in his
providence, to take him along with him in all his
designs of this kind. And Solomon verily began his
work at the right end, for he built God’s house
first, and finished that before he began his own; and
then God blessed him, and he prospered in all his
other buildings: if we begin with God, he will go on
with us; let the first-fruits be his, and the after¬
fruits will the more comfortably be our’s, Matth.
6. 33. Solomon built a church first, and then he
was enabled to build houses, and cities, and walls.
Those consult not their own interest, that defer tc
the last what they design for pious uses.
The further order in Solomon’s buildings is obser¬
vable: God’s house first, for religion; then his own,
for his own convenience; then a house for his wife,
to which she removed, as soon as it was ready for
her; (t>. 24.) then Millo, the Town-house, or Guild¬
hall; then the wall of Jerusalem, the royal city;
then some cities of note and strength in the country,
which were decayed and unfortified, Hazor, Me-
giddo, 8cc. As he rebuilt these at his own charge,
the inhabitants would be not only his subjects, but
his tenants, which would increase the revenues of
the crown for the benefit of his sucessors; among the
rest, he built Gezer, which Pharaoh took out of the
nands of the Canaanites, and made a present of to
his daughter, Solomon’s wife, r. 16. See how God
maketh the earth to help the woman; Solomon was
not himself a warlike prince, but the king of Egypt
that was, took cities for him to build; then he built
cities for convenience, for store, for his chariots,
and for his horsemen, v. 19. And, lastly, he built
for pleasure ia Lebanon, for his hunting perhaps, or
other diversions there; let piety begin, and profit
proceed, and leave pleasure to the last.
II. His workmen and servants. In doing such
1 great works, he must needs employ abundance of
workmen. The honour of great men is borrowed
from their inferiors, who do that which they have
the credit of.
1. Solomon employed those which remained of
the conquered and devoted nations, in all the sla¬
vish work, v. 20, 21. We may suppose that they
renounced their idolatry, and submitted to Solo¬
mon’s government, so that he could not, in honour,
utterly destroy them, and they were so poor, that
he could not levy money on them, therefore he
served himself of their labour. Herein he observed
God’s law, (Lev. 25. 44.) Thy bondmen shall be of
the heathen; and fulfilled Noah’s curse upon Ca¬
naan, A servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren, Gen. 9. 25.
2. He employed Israelites in the more creditable
services, v. 22, 23. Of them he made no bondmen,
for they were God’s freemen; but he made them
soldiers and courtiers, and gave them offices, as he
saw them qualified, among his chariots and horse¬
men, appointing some to support the service of the
inferior labourers. Thus he preserved the dignity
and liberty of Israel, and honoured their relation
to God as a kingdom of priests.
III. His piety and devotion; (v. 25.) Three times
in a year, he offered burnt-offerings extraordinary:
namely, at the three yearly feasts, the passover,
pentecost, and feast of tabernacles, in honour of the
divine institution; beside what he offered at other
times, both statedly, and upon special occasions.
With his sacrifices he burnt incense, not himself,
(that was king Uzziah’s crime,) but the priest for
him, at his charge, and for his particular use. It is
said, He offered on the altar which he himself built.
He took care to build it, and then, 1. He himself
made use of it. Many will assist the .devotions of
others, that neglect their own. Solomon did not
think his building an altar would excuse him from
sacrificing, but rather engage him the more to it. 2.
He himself had the benefit and comfort of it.
Whatever pains we take, for the support of religion,
to the glory of God, and the edification of others,
we ourselves are likely to have the advantage of it.
IV. His merchandise. He built a fleet of trading
ships, at Ezion-geber, ( v . 26.) a port on the coast of
the Red-sea, the furthest stage of the Israelites,
when they wandered in the wilderness, Numb. 33.
35. That wilderness, probably, now began to be
peopled by the Edomites, which it was not then.
To them this port had belonged, but David having
subdued the Edomites, it now pertained to the
crown of Judah. The fleet traded to Ophir in the
East Indies; supposed to be that which is now
called Ceylon. Gold was the commodity traded for:
substantial wealth. It should seem, Solomon had,
before, been Hiram’s partner, or put a venture into
his ships, which made him a rich return of 120
talents, (-y. 14. ) that encouraged him to build a fleet
of his own. The success of others, in any employ¬
ment, should quicken our industry; for in all labour
there is profit. Solomon sent his own servants for
factors, and merchants, and super-cargoes, but
hired Tyrians for sailors, for they had knowledge
of the sea, v. 27. Thus one nation needs another;
Providence so ordering it, that there may be mu¬
tual commerce and assistance: for not only as Chris¬
tians, but as men, we are members one of another.
The fleet brought home to Solomon 420 talents of
gold, v. 28. Canaan, the holy land, the glory of all
lands, had no gold in it: which teaches us that that
part of the wealth of this world, which is for hoard¬
ing and trading, is not the best part of it, but that
which is more immediately for the present support
and comfort of life, our own and others; such were
the productions of Canaan. Solomon got much by
his merchandise, but, it should seem, "David g< t
I. KINGS, X.
much more by his conquests; what was Solomon’s
four hundred and twenty talents , to David’s hun¬
dred thousand talents of gold? 1 Chron. 22. 14. —
29. 4. Solomon got much by his merchandise, and
yet has directed us to a better trade, within reach
of the poorest, having assured us, from his own ex¬
perience of both, that the merchandise of Wisdom
is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereof than fine gold, Prov. 3. 14.
CHAP. X.
Still Solomon looks great, and every thing in this chapter
adds to his magnificence. We read nothing indeed of
his charity, of no hospitals he built, or alms-houses; he
made his kingdom so rich, that it did not need them; yet,
no question, many poor were relieved from the abun¬
dance of his table. A church he had built, never to be
equalled; schools or colleges he need not build any, his
own palace is an academy, and his court a rendezvous
of wise and learned men, as well as the centre of all the
circulating riches of that part of the world. I. What
abundance of wisdom there was there, appears from the
application the queen of Sheba made to him, and the
great satisfaction she had in her entertainment there,
(v. 1..1S.) and others likewise, v. 24. II. What
abundance of wealth there was there, appears here by
the gold imported, with other things, yearly, (r. 14, 15.1
and in a triennial return, v. 22. Gold presented, (v. 25.)
and gold used in targets and shields, (v. 16, 17.) and
vessels, v. 21. A stately throne made, v. 18.. 20. His
chariots and horsemen, v. 26. His trade with Egypt,
(v. 28, 29.) and the great plenty of silver and cedars
among his people, v. 27. So that, putting all together,
it must be owned, as it is here said, (v. 23.) that king
Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches,
and for wisdom. Yet what was he to the King of kings?
Where Christ is, by his word and Spirit, behold, a
greater than Solomon is there.
1. A ND when the queen of Sheba heard
Xl_ of the fame of Solomon, concern¬
ing the name of the Lord, she came to prove
him with hard questions. 2. And she came
to Jerusalem with a very great train, with
camels that bare spices, and very much
gold, and precious stones: and when she
was come to Solomon, she communed with
him of all that was in her heart. 3. And
Solomon told her all her questions: there
was not any thing hid from the king, which
he told her not. 4. And when the queen of
Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and
the house that he had built, 5. And the
meat of his table, and the sitting of his ser¬
vants, and the attendance of his ministers,
and their apparel, and his cup-bearers, and
his ascent by which he went up unto the
house of the Lord ; there was no more
spirit in her. 6. And she said to the king,
It was a true report that I heard in mine
own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. 7.
Howbeit I believed not the words, until I
came, and mine eyes had seen it ; and, be¬
hold, the half was not told me : thy wisdom
and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I
heard. 8. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually
before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 9.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which de¬
lighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of
Israel : because the Lord loved Israel for
501
ever, therefore made he thee king, to do
judgment and justice. 10. And she gave
the king a hundred and twenty talents of
gold, and of spices very great store, and
precious stones : there came no more such
abundance of spices as these which the
queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 1 1 .
And the navy also of Hiram, that brought
gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir
great plenty of almug-trees, and precious
stones. 1 2. And the king made of the al¬
mug-trees pillars for the house of the Lord,
and for the king’s house, harps also and
psalteries for singers : there came no such
almug-trees, nor were seen unto this day.
1 3. And king Solomon gave unto the queen
of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she
asked, besides that which Solomon gave her
of his royal bounty ; so she turned, and
went to her own country, she and her ser¬
vants.
We have here an account of the visit which the
queen of Sheba made to Solomon, no doubt, when
he was in the height of his piety and prosperity.
Our Saviour calls her the queen of the South, for
Sheba lay south from Canaan. The common opi¬
nion is, that it was in Africa; and the Christians in
Ethiopia, to this day, are confident that she came
from their country, and that Candace was her suc¬
cessor, who is mentioned Acts 8. 27. But it is more
| probable that she came from the south part of Ara¬
bia the Happy. It should seem, she was a queen-
regent, sovereign of her country. Many a kingdom
had been prevented of its greatest blessings, if a
Salique law had been admitted into its constitution.
Observe,
I. On what errand the queen of Sheba came;
not to treat of trade or commerce, to adjust the li¬
mits of their dominions, to court his alliance for
their mutual strength, or his assistance against some
common enemy, which are the common occasions
of the congress of crowned heads, and their inter¬
views: but she came, 1. To satisfy her curiosity;
for she had heard of his fame, especially for wis¬
dom, and she came to prove him, whether he was
so great a man as he was reported to be, v. 1. So¬
lomon’s fleet sailed near the coast of her country,
and, probably, might put in there for fresh water:
perhaps it was thus that she heard of the fame of
Solomon, that he excelled in wisdom all the children
of the east, and nothing would serve her, but she
would go herself, and know the truth of it. 2. To
receive instruction from him; she came to hear his
wisdom, and thereby to improve her own, (Matth.
12. 42.) that she might be the better able to govern
her own kingdom by his maxims of policy. Those
whom God has called to any public employment,
particularly in the magistracy and ministry, should
by all means possible, be still improving themselves
in that knowledge which will more and more quali¬
fy them for it, and enable them to discharge their
trust well. But, it should seem, that which she
chiefly aimed at, was, to be instructed in the things
of God; she was religiously inclined, and had heard
not only of the fame of Solomon, but concerning the
name of the Lord, ( v . 1.) the great name of that
God whom Solomon worshipped, and from whom
he received his wisdom, and with this God she de¬
sired to be better acquainted. Therefore does our
Saviour mention her inquiries after God, by Solo-
>502 1. KINGS, X.
mon, as an aggravation of the stupidity of those who
inquire not after God, by our Lord Jesus Christ,
though He, havii g lain in his bosom, was much bet¬
ter able to instruct them.
II. With what equipage she came; with a very
great retinue, agreeable to her rank, intending to
try Solomon’s wealth and generosity, as well as his
wisdom, what entertainment he could, and would,
give to a royal visitant, v. 2. Yet she came not as one
begging, but brought enough to bear her charges,
and abundantly to recompense Solomon for his at¬
tention to her; nothing mean or common, but gold,
and precious stones, and spices, because she came to
trade for wisdom, which she would purchase at any
rate.
III. What entertainment Solomon gave her; he
despised not the weakness of her sex, blamed her
not for leaving her own business at home, to come
so long a journey, and put herself and him to so
much trouble and expense, merely to satisfy her
curiosity; but bid her welcome, and all her train;
gave her liberty to put all her questions, though
some perhaps were frivolous, some captious, and
some over-curious; he allowed her to commune with
him of all that was in htr heart, (y. 2.) and gave
her a satisfactory answer to all her questions, (x>. 3. )
whether natural, moral, political, or divine. Were
they designed to try him : He gave them such turns
as abundantly satisfied her of his uncommon know¬
ledge. Were they designed for her own instruction?
(as we suppose most of them were,) She received
abundant instruction from him, and he made things
surprisingly easy, which she apprehended insuper¬
ably difficult, and satisfied her that there was a di¬
vine sentence in the li/is of this king. But he
informed her, no doubt, with particular care, con¬
cerning God, and his law and instituted worship.
He had taken it for granted, {ch. 8. 42.) that stran¬
gers would hear of his great name, and would come
thither to inquire after him ; and now that so great
a stranger came, we may be sure he was not want¬
ing to assist and encourage her inquiries, and give
her a description of the temple, and the officers and
services of it, that she might be persuaded to serve
the Lord whom she now sought.
IV. How she was affected with what she saw and
heard in Solomon’s court. Divers things are here
mentioned which she admired; the buildings and
furniture of his palace; the provision that was made
every day for his table. When she saw that, per¬
haps she wondered where were mouths for all that
meat; but when she saw the multitude of his at¬
tendants and guests, she was as ready to wonder
where was the meat for all those mouths. The
orderly sitting of his servants, every one in his
place, and the ready attendance of his ministers,
without any confusion, their rich liveries, and the
ropriety with which his cup-bearers waited at ta¬
le, these things she admired, as adding much to
his magnificence. But above all these, the first
thing mentioned, is, his wisdom, (v. 4.) of the tran¬
scendency of which she had now incontestable proof;
and the last thing mentioned, which crowned all, is,
his piety, the ascent by which he went ufi to the
house of the Lord, with what gravity and serious¬
ness, and an air of devotion in his countenance, he
appeared, when he went to the temple, to worship
God; with as much humility then, as majesty at
other times. Many nf the ancient versions read it,
The burnt-offerings which he offered in the house
of the Lord: she observed with what a generous
bounty he brought his sacrifices, and with what a
pious fervour he attended the offering of them; ne¬
ver did she see so much goodness with so much
greatness. Every thing was so surprising, that
there was no more spirit in her, but she stood
amazed; she had nc\er seen the like.
V. How she expressed herself upon this occasion.
1. She owned her expectation far outdone, though
it was highly raised by the report she had heard,
v. 6, 7. She is far from repenting her journey, or
calling herself a fool, for undertaking it, but ac¬
knowledges it was well worth her while to come so
far, for the sight of that which she could not believe
the report of. Usually, things are represented to
us, both by common fame and by our own imagina
tion much greater than we find them when we come
to examine them; but here the truth exceeded both
fame and fancy. Those who, through grace, are
brought to experience the delights of communion
with God, will say that the one half was not told
them of the pleasures of Wisdom’s ways, and the
advantages of her gates. Glorified saints, much
more, will say that it was a true report which they
hear of the happiness of heaven, but that the thou¬
sandth part was not told them, 1 Cor. 2. 9.
2. She pronounced them happy, that constantly
attended him, and waited on him at table; “ Happy
are thy men, and hapfiy are these thy servants ; (v.
8.) they may improve their own wisdom by hearing
thine,” She was tempted to envy them, and wish
herself one of them. Note, It is a great advantage
to be in good families, and to have opportunity of
frequent converse with those that are wise, and good,
and communicative. Many have this happiness,
who know not how to value it. With much more
reason may we say this of Christ’s servants, Blessed
are they that dwell in his house, they will be still
praising him.
3. She blessed God, the Giver of Solomon’s wis¬
dom and wealth, and the Author of his adv; nce-
ment, who had made him king, (1.) In kindness
to him, that he might have the larger opportunity
of doing good with his wisdom. He delighted in thee,
to set thee on the throne of Israel, v. 9. Solomon’s
preferment began in the prophet’s calling him Je-
didiah, because the Lord loved him, 2 Sam. 12. 25.
It more than doubles our comforts, rf we have reason
to hope they come from God’s delight in us. It was
his pleasure concerning thee, (so it may be read,) to
set thee on the throne ; not for thy merit’s sake, but
because so it seemed good unto him. (2.) In kind¬
ness to the people, because the Lord loved Israel
for ever, designing them alasting bliss, long to sur¬
vive him that laid the foundations of it. “ He has
made thee king, not that thou mayest live in pomp
and pleasure, and do what thou wilt, but to do judg¬
ment and justice .” This she kindly reminded So¬
lomon of, and, no doubt, he took it kindly. Both
magistrates and ministers must be more solicitous to
do the duty of their places, than to secure the ho¬
nours and profits of them. To this she attributes
his prosperity, not to his wisdom, for bread is not
always to the wise, (Eccl. 9. 11.) but whoso doeth
‘udgment and justice, it shall be well with him,
er. 22. 15. Thus giving of thanks must be made
for kings, for good kings, for such kings; they are
what God makes them to be.
VI. How they parted. 1. She made a noble pre¬
sent to Solomon, of gold and spices, v. 10. David
had foretold concerning Solomon, that to him should
be given of the gold of Sheba, Ps. 72. 15. The pre¬
sent of gold and spices which the wise men of the
east brought to Christ, was signified by this, Matth.
2. 11. Thus she paid for the wisdom she had learn¬
ed, and did not think she bought it dear. Let those
that are taught of God, give him their hearts, and
the present will be more acceptable than this of
gold and spices. Mention is made of the great abun¬
dance Solomon had of his own, notwithstanding she
presented, and he accepted, this gold. What we
present to Christ, he needs not, but will have us so
to express our gratitude. The almug-trees are here
spoken of, (r. 1 1,12.) as extraordinary, because, per
503
1. KINGS, X.
haps, much admired by the queen of Sheba. 2. So¬
lomon was not behindhand with her. He gave her
< whatsoever she asked, patterns, we may suppose, of
those things that were curious, by which she might
make the like; or, perhaps, lie gave her his pre¬
cepts of wisdom and piety in writing, beside that
which he gave her of his roijal bounty, v. 13. Thus
they who apply themselves to our Lord Jesus, will
find him not only greater than Solomon, and wiser,
but more kind; whatsoever we ask, it shall be done
for us; nay, he will, out of his divine bounty, which
infinitely exceeds royal bounty, even Solomon’s, do
for us more than we are able to ask or think.
14 Now the weight of gold that came to
Solomon in one year was six hundred three¬
score and six talents of gold, 1 5. Besides
that he had of the merchant-men, and of the
traffic of the spice-merchants, and of all the
kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the
country. 16. And king Solomon made two
hundred targets of beaten gold : six hun¬
dred shekels of gold went to one target. 1 7.
And he made three hundred shields of beat¬
en gold ; three pound of gold went to one
shield : and the king put them in the house
of the forest of Lebanon. 13. Moreover,
the king made a great throne of ivory, and
overlaid it with the best gold. 19. The
throne had six steps, and the top of the
throne ?ms round behind : and there were
stays on either side on the place of the seat,
and two lions stood beside the stays. 20.
And twelve lions stood there on the one side
and on the other upon the six steps : there
was not the like made in any kingdom. 21 .
And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were
of gold, and all the vessels of the house of
the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold;
none were of silver: it was nothing account¬
ed of in the days of Solomon. 22. For the
king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with
the navy of Hiram : once in three years
came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold
and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
23. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings
of the earth for riches and for wisdom. 24.
And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear
his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25. And they brought every man his present,
vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and
garments, and armour, and spices, horses,
and mules, a rate year by year. 26. And
Solomon gathered together chariots and
horsemen : and he had a thousand and four
hundred chariots, and twelve thousand
horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities
for chariots, and with the king at Jerusa¬
lem. 27. And the king made silver to he in
Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to
he as the sycamore-trees that are in the vale,
for abundance. 28. And Solomon had
horses brought out of Egypt, and linen
yarn : the king’s merchants received the
linen yarn at a price. 29. And a chariot
came up and went out of Egypt for six
hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a
hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings
of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria,
did they bring them out by their means.
We have here a further account of Solomon’s
prosperity:
I. How he increased his wealth. Though he had
much, he still coveted to have more, being willing
to try the utmost the things of this world could do,
to make men happy. 1. Beside the gold that came
from Ophir, ( ch . 9. 28.) he brought so much into
his country from other places, that the whole
amounted, every year, to six hundred and sixty-six
talents, (v. 14.) an ominous number; compare Rev.
13. 18, and Ezra 2. 13. 2. He received a greht deal,
in customs, from the merchants, and in land-taxes,
from the countries his father had conquered, and
made tributaries to Israel, v. 15. 3. He was Hi¬
ram’s partner in a Tharshish fleet, of and for Tyre,
which imported, once in three years, not only gold,
and silver, and ivory, substantial goods, and ser¬
viceable, but apes to play with, and peacocks to
please the eye with their feathers, v. 22. I wish
this may not be an evidence that Solomon and his
people, being overcharged with prosperity, by this
time, grew childish and wanton. 4. He had pre¬
sents made him every year, from the neighbouring
princes and great men, to engage the continuance
of his friendship, not so much because they feared
him, or were jealous of him, as because they loved
him, and admired his wisdom, had often occasion to
consult him as an oracle, and sent him these presents
by way of recompense for his advice in politics; and
(whether it berame his grandeur and generosity or
no, we will not inquire) he took all that came, even
garments and spices, horses and mules, v. 24, 25.
5. He traded to Egypt for horses, and linen-yarn,
(or, as some read it, linen-cloth,) the staple commo¬
dities of that country, and had his own merchants
or factors whom he employed in this traffic, and
who were accountable to him, v. 28, 29. The cus¬
tom to be paid to the king of Egypt for exported
chariots and horses cut of Egypt, was very high,
but, (as Bishop Patrick understands it) Solomon,
having married his daughter, got him to compound
for the customs, so that he could bring them up
cheaper than his neighbours, which obliged them
to buy them of him, which he was wise enough, no
doubt, to make his advantage of. This puts an ho¬
nour upon the trading part of a nation, and sets a
tradesman not so much below a gentleman as some
place him, that Solomon, one of the greatest men
that ever was, thought it no disparagement to him
to deal in trade. In all labour there is profit.
II. What use he made of his wealth. He did not
hoard it up in his coffers, that he might have it to
look upon, and leave behind him. He has, in his
Ecclesiastes, so much exposed the folly of hoarding,
that we cannot suppose he should himself be guiltv
of it. No; God that had given him riches, and
wealth, and honour, gave him also power to eat
thereof, and to take his portion, Eccl. 5. 19.
1. He laid out his gold in fine things for himself,
which he might the better be allowed to do, when
he had, before, laid out so much in fine things for
the house of God. (1.) He made 200 targets, and
300 shields of beaten goldj-(r. 16, 17.) not for ser¬
vice, but for state, to be cairried before him, when
he appeared in pomp. With us, magistrates have
swords and maces carried before them, as the Ro¬
mans their rods and axes, in token of their powei
60**
1. KINGS, XL
to correct and punish the bad, to whom they are to
be a terror; but Solomon had shields and targets
carried before him, to signify that he took more
pleasure in using Ids power for the defence and pro¬
tection of the good, to whom he would be a praise.
Magistrates are shields of the earth. (2.) He made
a stately throne, on which he sat, to give laws to
his subjects, audience to ambassadors, and judgment
upon appeals, v. 18 . . 20. It was made of ivory,
or elephants’ teeth, which was very rich; and yet,
as if he had so much gold that he knew not what to
do with it, he overlaid that with gold, the best gold.
Yet, some think, he did not cover the ivory all
over, but here and there. He rolled it, flowered it,
or inlaid it, with gold. The stays or arms of this
stately chair, were supported by the images of lions
in gold, so were the steps and paces by which he
went up to it, to be a memorandum to him of that
courage and resolution wherewith he ought to exe¬
cute judgment, not fearing the face of man The
righteous, in that post, is bold as a lion. (3.) He
made all his drinking-vessels, and all the furniture
of his table, even at his country-seat, of pure gold,
v. 21. He did not grudge himself what he had, but
took the credit and comfort of it, such as it was.
That is good, that does us good.
2. He made it circulate among his subjects, so
that the kingdom was as rich as the king; for he
had no separate interests of his own to consult, but
sought the welfare of his people. Those princes
are not governed by Solomon’s maxims, who think
it policy to keep their subjects poor. Solomon was,
herein, a type of Christ, who is not only rich him¬
self, but enriches all that are his. Solomon was in¬
strumental to bring so much gold into the country,
and disperse it, that silver was nothing accounted
of, v. 21. There was such plenty of it in Jerusalem,
that it was as the stones; and cedars, that used to
be great rarities, were as common as sycamore trees,
v. 27. Such is the nature of worldly wealth, plenty
of it makes it the less valuable, much more should
the enjoyment of spiritual riches lessen our esteem
of all earthly possessions. If gold in abundance
would make silver to seem so despicable, shall not
wisdom, and grace, and the foretastes of heaven,
which are far better than gold, make it seem much
more so?
Well, thus rich, thus great, was Solomon, and
thus did he exceed all the kings of the earth, v. 23.
Now let us remember, (1.) That this was he, who,
when he was setting out in the world, did not ask
for the wealth ana honour of it, but asked for a
wise and understanding heart. The more moderate
our desires are toward earthly things, the better
qualified we are for the enjoyment of them, and the
more likely to have them. See, in Solomon’s great¬
ness, the performance of God’s promise, (ch. 3.
13.) and let it encourage us to seek first the righte¬
ousness of God's kingdom. (2.) That this was he,
who, having tasted all these enjoyments, wrote a
whole book, to show the vanity of all worldly things,
and the vexation of spirit that attends them, their in¬
sufficiency to make us happy, and the folly of set¬
ting our hearts upon them; and to recommend to us
the practice of serious godliness, as that which is
the whole of man, and will do infinitely more to¬
ward the making of us easy and happy, than all the
wealth and power that he was master of; and
which, through the grace of God, is within our
reach, when the thousandth part of Solomon’s great¬
ness is a thousand times more than we can ever be
so vain as to promise ourselves in this world.
CHAP. XI.
This chapter begins with as melancholy a but as almost any
we find in all the Bible. Hitherto, we have read nothing
of Solomon, but what was great and good; but the lu»-
tre both of his goodness, and of his greatness, is here
sullied and eclipsed, and his sun sets under a cloud. I.
The glory of his piety is stained by his departure from
God, and his duty, in his latter days, by marrying strange
wives, and worshipping strange gods, v. 1 . .8. II. The
glory of his prosperity is stained by God’s displeasure
against him, and the fruits of that displeasure. 1. He
sent him an angry message, v. 9. .13. 2. He stirred up
enemies, who gave him disturbance; Hadad, v. 14 . . 22.
Rezon, v. 23.. 25. 3. He gave away ten tribes of his
twelve, from his posterity after him, to Jeroboam, whom
therefore he sought in vain to slay, (v. 26 . . 40.) and this
is all that remains here to be told concerning Solomon,
except his death and burial; (v. 41.. 43.) for there is
nothing perfect under the sun, but all is so above the sun.
1. "O UT king Solomon loved many strange
AJ women, (together with the daughter
of Pharaoh,) women of the Moabites, Am¬
monites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites :
2. Of the nations concerning which the
Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye
shall not go in to them, neither shall they
come in unto you: for surely they will turn
away your heart after their gods. Solomon
clave unto these in love. 3. And he had
seven hundred wives, princesses, and three
hundred concubines : and his wives turned
away his heart. 4. For it came to pass,
when Solomon was old, that his wives turn¬
ed away his heart after other gods : and his
heart was not perfect with the Lord his
God, as was the heart of David his father.
5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom
the abomination of the Ammonites. 6.
And Solomon did evil in the sight of the
Lord, and went not fully after the Lord,
as did David his father. 7. Then did Solo¬
mon build a high place for Chemosh, the
abomination of Moab, in the hill that is be¬
fore Jerusalem; and for Molech, the abo¬
mination of the children of Ammon. 8.
And likewise did he for all his strange wives
which burnt incense, and sacrificed unto
their gods.
This is a sad story, and very surprising, of Solo¬
mon’s defection and degeneracy.
I. Let us inquire into the occasions and particu¬
lars of it. Shall Solomon fall, that was the beauty
of Israel, and so great a blessing of his generation?
Yes, it is too true, and the scripture is faithful in re¬
lating it, and repeating it, and referring to it long af¬
ter; (Neh. 13. 26.) Inhere was no king like Solomon,
who was beloved of his God, yet even him did out¬
landish women cause to sin: there is the summary
of his apostasy; it was the women that deceived
him, and was first in the transgression.
1. He doted on strange women, many strange
women. Here his revolt began. (1.) He gave
himself to women, which his mother had particu¬
larly cautioned him against; (Prov. 31. 3.) Give not
thy strength unto women ; (perhaps alluding to
Samson, who lost his strength by giving informa¬
tion of it to a woman;) for it is that which, as much
as any thing, destroys kings. His father David’s
fall began with the lusts of the flesh, which he
should have taken warning by. The love of women
has cast down many wounded, (Prov. 7. 26. ) and
50i
I. KINGS, XI.
many (says Bishop Hall) have had their head
broken by their own rib. (2.) He took many wo¬
men, so many, that, at last, they amounted to TOO
wives, and 300 concubines; 1000 in all, and not one
good one among them, as he himself owns in his
penitential sermon, (Eccl. 7. 28.) for no woman of
established virtue would be one of such a set. God
had, by his law, particularly forbidden the kings to
multiply either horses or wives, Deut. 17. 16, 17.
How he broke the former law, in multiplying
horses, and having them out of -Egypt too, (which
was expressly prohibited in that law,) we read, ch.
10. 29. and here, how he broke the latter, (which
pro\edof more fatal consequence,) in multiplying
wives. Note, Lesser sins, made bold with, open the
door to greater. David had multiplied wives too
much, and, perhaps, that made Solomon presume
it lawful. Note, If those that are in reputation for
religion, in anything, set a bad example, they know
not what a deal of mischief they may do by it, par¬
ticularly to their own children. One bad act of a
good man may be of more pernicious consequence
to others, than twenty of a wicked man. Probably,
Solomon, when he began to multiply wives, intend¬
ed not to exceed his father’s number; but the way
of sin is down-hill, they that are got into it, cannot
easily stop themselves. Divine wisdom has ap¬
pointed one woman for one man, and did so, at first:
they who do not think one enough, will not think
two or three enough; unbridled lust will be un¬
bounded; and the loosened hind will wander end¬
lessly. But this was not all: (3.) They were strange
women, Moabites, Ammonites, &c. of the nations
which God had particularly forbidden them to in¬
termarry with, v. 2. Some think it was in policy
that he married these foreigners, by them to get
intelligence of the state of those countries. I rather
fear it was because the daughters of Israel were too
grave and modest for him, and those foreigners
pleased him with the looseness and wantonness of
their dress, and air, and conversation. Or, perhaps,
it was looked upon as a piece of state to have his
seraglio, as his other treasures, replenished with
that which was far-fetched; as if that were too great
an honour for the best of his subjects, which would
really have been a disgrace to the meanest of them
— to be his mistresses. And, (4.) To complete the
mischief, Solomon clave unto these in love, v. 2.
He not only kept them, but was extravagantly fond
of them, set his heart upon them, spent his time
among them, thought every thing well they said and
did, and despised Pharaoh’s daughter, his rightful
wife, who had been dear to him, and all the ladies
of Israel, in comparison of them. Solomon was
master of a great deal of knowledge, but to what
urpose, when he had no better a government of
is appetites?
2. He was drawn by them to the worship of
strange gods, as Israel to Baal-peor, by the daugh¬
ters of Moab. This was the bad consequence of
his multiplying wives. We have reason to think it
impaired his health, and hastened upon him the de¬
cays of age; it exhausted his treasure, which,
though vast indeed, would be found little enough to
maintain the pride and vanity of all these women;
perhaps it occasioned him, in his latter end, to neg¬
lect his business, by which he lost his supplies
from abroad, and was forced, for the keeping up of
his grandeur, to burthen his subjects with those
taxes which they complained of, ch. 12. 4. But
none of these consequences were so bad as this,
His wives turned away his heart after other gods,
v. 3, 4.
(1.) He grew cool and indifferent in his own re¬
ligion, and remiss in the service of the God of Is¬
rael. His heart was not perfect with the Lord his
God, (v. 4.) nor did he follow him fully, (v. 6.)|
• VoL. II. — 3 S
like David. We cannot suppose that he quite cast
off the worship of God, much less that he restrain¬
ed or hindered it; (the temple-service went on as
usual;) but he grew less frequent and less serious,
in his ascent to the house of the Lord, and his at¬
tendance on his altar; he left his first love, lost his
zeal for God, and did not persevere to the end as
he had begun; therefore it is said, he was not per¬
fect, because he was not constant ; and he followed
not God fully, because he turned from following
him, and did not continue to the end. His father
David had many faults, but he never neglected the
worship of God, nor grew remiss in that, as Solo¬
mon did, his wives using all their arts to divert him
from it, and there began his apostasy.
(2.) He tolerated and maintained his wives in
their idolatry, and made no scruple of joining with
them in it. Pharaoh’s daughter was proselyted (as
is supposed) to the Jews’ religion, but when he be¬
gan to grow careless in the worship of God himself,
he used no means to convert his other wives to
it; in complaisance to them, he built chapels for their
gods, (v. 7, 8. ) maintained their priests, and occa¬
sionally did himself attend their altars; making a
jest of it, as if there were no harm in it, but all re¬
ligions were alike; w hich (says Bishop Patrick) has
been the disease of some great wits ; when he hu¬
moured one thus, the rest would take it ill, if he
did not, in like manner, gratify them, so that he
did it for all his wives, (v. 8. ) and, at last, came to
that degree of impiety, that he set up a high place
for Chemosh in the hill that is before Jerusalem, the
mount of Olives, as if to confront the temple which
he himself had built; these high places continued
here, not utterly demolished, till Josiah did it, 2
Kings 23. 13. This is the account here given of
Solomon’s apostasy.
II. Let us now pause a while, and lament Solo¬
mon’s fall; and we may justly stand and wonder at
it. How is the gold become dim! How is the most
fine gold changed! Be astonished, O heavens, at
this, and be horribly afraid, as the prophet exclaims
in a like case, Jer. 2. 12. Strange ! 1. That Solo¬
mon, in his old age, should be insnared with fleshly
lusts, youthful lusts; as we must never presume
upon the strength of our resolutions, so neither upon
the weakness of our corruptions, so as to be secure
and off our guard. 2. That so wise a man as Solo¬
mon was, so famed for a quick understanding and
sound judgment, should suffer himself to be made
such a fool of by these foolish women. 3. That one
who had so often and so plainly warned others of
the danger of the love of women, should himself be
so wretchedly bewitched with it; it is easier to see a
mischief, and to show it others, than to shun it our¬
selves. 4. That so good a man, so zealous for the
worship of God, who had been conversant with di¬
vine things, and who prayed that excellent prayer
at the dedication of the temple, should do these sin¬
ful things — Is this Solomon? Are all his wisdom and
devotion come to this, at last? Never was gallant
ship so wrecked; never was crown so profaned.
What shall we say to this? (1.) Why God per¬
mitted it, it is not for us to inquire; his way is in the
sea, and his path in the great waters; he knew how
to bring glory to himself out of it. God foresaw it,
when he said concerning him that should build the
temple, If he commit iniquity , ifc. 2. Sam. 7. 14.
(2. ) But it concerns us to inquire what good use we
may make of it. [1.] Let him that thinks he stands,
take heed lest he fall; we see how weak we are of
ourselves, without the grace of God; let us there¬
fore live in a constant dependence on that grace.
[2.] See the danger of a prosperous condition, and
now hard it is to overcome the temptations of it;
Solomon, like Jeshurun, waxed fat, and then kicked;
the food convenient, which Agur prayed for, is safer
506
I. KINGS, XL
and better than the food abundant, which Solomon
was even surfeited with. [3.] See what need
those have to stand upon their guard, who have
made a great profession of religion, and showed
themselves forward and zealous in devotion, be¬
cause the Devil will set upon them most violently,
and if they misbehave, the reproach is the greater:
it is the evening that commends the day; let us
therefore fear, lest, having run >vell, we see n to
conr.e short.
9. And the Lord was angry with Solo¬
mon, because his heart was turned from the
Lord God of Israel, which had appeared
unto him twice, 10. And had commanded
him concerning this thing, that he should
not go after other gods : but he kept not
that which the Lord commanded. 11.
Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon,
Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou
hast not kept my covenant and my statutes,
which I have commanded thee, I will sure¬
ly rend the kingdom from thee, and will
give it to thy servant. 12. Notwithstand¬
ing, in thy days I will not do it, for David
thy father’s sake : but I will rend it out of
the hand of thy son. 1 3. Howbeit I will
not rend away all the kingdom ; but will
give one tribe to thy son for David my ser¬
vant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, which
1 have chosen.
Here is,
I. God’s anger against Solomon for his sin; the
thing he did, displeased the Lord: time was, when
the Lord loved Solomon, (2 Sam. 12. 24.) and de¬
lighted in him; (ch. 10. 9.) but now the Lord was
angry with Solomon, ( v . 9.) for there was in his
sin, 1. The most base ingratitude that could be; he
turned from the Lord which had appeared unto
him twice, once, before he began to build the tem¬
ple, ( ch . 3. 5. ) and once, after he had dedicated it,
ch. 9. 2. God keeps account of the gracious visits
he makes us, whether we do or no; knows how
often he has appeared to us, and for us, and will
remember it against us, if we turn from him.
God’s appearing to Solomon, was such a sensible
confirmation of his faith, as should have for ever
prevented his worshipping of any other God; it was
also such a distinguishing favour, and put such an
honour upon him, as he ought never to have for¬
gotten, especially considering what God said to
him in both these appearances. 2. The most wil¬
ful disobedience: this was the very thing concerning
which God had commanded him — that he should
not go after other gods, yet he was not kept right
by such an express admonition, v. 10. Those who
have dominion over men, are apt to forget God’s
dominion over them; and while they demand obe¬
dience from their inferiors, to deny it to him who
is the Supreme.
II. The message he sent him hereupon; ( v . 11.)
The Lord said unto Solomon, (it is likely by a
prophet,) that he must expect to smart for his
apostasy. And here, 1. The sentence is just, that
since he had revolted from God, part of his king¬
dom should revolt from his family; he had given
God’s glorv to the creature, and therefore God
would give his crown to his servant, “ I will rend
the kingdom from thee, in thy posterity, and will
give it to thy servant, who shall bear rule over
much of that for which -thou hast laboured.” This
was a great mortification to Solomon, who pleased
himself, no doubt, with the prospect of the entail
of his rich kingdom upon his heirs for ever; sin
brings ruin upon families, cuts off entails, alienates
estates, and lays men’s honour in the dust. 2. Yet
the mitigations of it are very kind, for David’s
sake; (v. 12, 13.) that is, for the sake of the pro¬
mise made to David; thus, all the favour God shows
to man, is for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of the
covenant made with him; the kingdom shall be rent
from Solomon’s house, but, (1.) Not immediately;
Solomon shall net live to see it done, but it shall be
rent out of the hand of his son, a son that was born
to him by one of his strange wives, for his mother
was an Ammonitess, (ch. 14. 31.) and, probably,
had been a promoter of idolatry. What comfort
can a man take in leaving children and an estate
behind him, if he do not leave a blessing behind
him? Yet if judgments be coming, it is a favour to
us, if they come not in our days, as 2 Kings 20. 19.
(2.) Not wholly; one tribe, that of Judah, the
strongest and most numerous, shall remain to the
house of Dav id, (v. 13.) for Jerusalem’s sake,
which David built, and for the sake of the temple
there, which Solomon built, these shall not go into
other hands; Solomon did not quickly nor wholly
turn away from God, therefore God did not quickly
nor wholly take the kingdom from him.
Upon this message which God graciously sent to
Solomon, to awaken his conscience and bring him
to repentance, we have reason to hope that he
humbled himself before God, confessed his sin,
begged pardon, and returned to his duty; that he
then published his repentance in the book of Eccle¬
siastes, where he bitterly laments his own folly and
madness, (ch. 7. 25, 26. ) and warns others to take
heed of the like evil courses, and to fear God and
keep his commandments, in consideration of the
judgment to come, which, it is likely, had made
him tremble, as it did Felix. That penitential
sermon was as true an indication of a heai t broken
for sin, and turned from it, as David’s penitential
psalms, though of another nature. God’s grace in
his people works variously. Thus, though Solo¬
mon fell, he was not utterly cast down; what God
had said to David concerning him, was fulfilled, I
will chasten him with the rod of men, but my mercy
shall not depart from him, 2 Sam. 7. 14, 15.
Though God may suffer these whom he loves to
fall into sin, he will not suffer them to lie still in it.
Solomon’s defection, though it was much his re¬
proach, and a great blemish to his personal charac¬
ter, yet did not so far break in upon the character
of his reign, but that it was afterward made the
pattern of a good reign, 2 Chron. 11. 17. where
they are said to do well, while they walked in the
way of David and Solo7non. But though we have
all this reason to hope he repented, and found
mercy, yet the Holy Ghost did not think fit ex¬
pressly to record it, but left it doubtful, for warn¬
ing to others, not to sin upon presumption of repent¬
ing, for it is but a peradventure whether God will
give them repentance, or if he do, whether he will
give the evidence of it to themselves or others;
great sinners may recover themselves, and have
the benefit of their repentance, and yet be denied
both the comfort and credit of it; the guilt may be
taken away, and yet not the reproach.
14. And the Lord stirred up an adver¬
sary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite:
he was of the king’s seed in Edom. 15.
For it came to pass, when David was in
Edom and Joab, the captain of the host
507
1. KINGS, XI.
was gone up to bury the slain, after he had
smitten every male in Edom, 16. (For six
months did Joab remain there with all Is¬
rael, until he had cut off every male in
Edom,) 17. That Hadad fled, he, and
certain Edomites of his father’s servants
with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being
yet a little child. 1 8. And they arose out
of Midian, and came to Paran: and they
took men with them out of Paran, and they
came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt;
which gave him a house, and appointed him
victuals, and gave him land. 19. And
Hadad found great favour in the sight of
Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the
sister of his own wife the sister of Taphenes
the queen. 20. And the sister of Taphenes
bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpe-
nes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: and Genu¬
bath was in Pharaoh’s household, among
the sons of Pharaoh. 21. And when
Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept
with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain
of the host, was dead, Hadad said to Pha¬
raoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine
own country. 22. Then Pharaoh said unto
him, But what hast thou lacked with me,
that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own
country? And he answered, Nothing:
howbeit let me go in any wise. 23. And
God stirred him up another adversary, Re-
zon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his
lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah. 24. And
he gathered men unto him, and became
captain over a band, when David slew them
of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and
dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus.
25. And he was an adversary to Israel all
the days of Solomon, besides the mischief
that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel,
and reigned over Syria.
White Solomon kept close to God and to his
duty, there was no adversary nor evil occurrent,
(ch. 5. 4. ) nothing to create him any disturbance or
uneasiness in the least, but here we have an account
of two adversaries that appeared against him, in¬
considerable, and that could not have done any
thing worth taking notice of, if Solomon had not
first made God his Enemy. What hurt could
H idafi or Rezon have done to so great and power¬
ful a king as Solomon was, if he had not, by sin,
made himself mean and weak? And then, those
little people menace and insult him. If God be on
our side, we need not fear the greatest adversary;
but if he be against us, he can make us fear the
least, and the very grashopper shall be a burthen.
Both these adversaries God stirred up, v. 14, 23.
Though they themselves were moved by princi¬
ples of ambition or revenge, God made use of them
to serve his design of correcting Solomon. The
principal judgment threatened, was deferred, name¬
ly, the rending of the kingdom from him, but he
himself was made to feel the smart of the rod, for
nis greater humiliation. Note, Whoever are, any
way, adversaries to us, we must take notice of the
hand of God stirring them up to be so, as he bade
Shimei curse David; we must look through the in¬
struments of our trouble to the Author of it, and
hear the Lord’s controversy in it.
Both these adversaries had the original of their
enmity to Solomon and Israel laid in David’s time,
and in his conquests of their respective countries,
v. 15, 24. Solomon had the benefit and advantage
of his father’s successes, both in the enlargement
of his dominion, and the increase of his treasure,
and would never have known any thing but the
benefit of them, if he had kept close to God; but
now he finds evils to balance the advantages, and
that David had made himself enemies, which were
thorns in his sides; they that are too free in giving
provocation, ought to consider that perhaps it may
be remembered in time to come, and returned with
interest to their’s after them; having so few friends
in this world, it is our wisdom not to make our¬
selves more enemies than we needs must.
1. Hadad, an Edomite, was an adversary to Solo¬
mon; we are not told what he did against him,
nor which way he gave him disturbance; only, in
general, that he was an adversary to him: but we
are told, ( 1. ) What induced him to bear Solomon a
grudge. David had conquered Edom; (2 Sam. 8.
14.) Joab put all the males to the sword; (<y. 15,
16.) a terrible execution he made, avenging on
Edom their old enmity to Israel, yet perhaps with
too great a severity. While Joab was burying the
slain, (for he left not any alive of their own people
to bury them, and buried they must be, or they
would be an annoyance to the country, Ezek. 39.
12.) Hadad, . a branch of the royal family, then a
little child, was taken and preserved by some of the
king’s servants, and brought to Egypt, v. 17. They
halted by the way, in Midian first, and then in
Paran, where they furnished themselves with men,
not to fight for them, or force their passage, but to
attend them, that their young master might come
into Egypt with an equipage agreeable to his quality;
there he was kindly sheltered and entertained by
Pharaoh, as a distressed prince, was well provided
for, and so recommended himself, that, in process
of time, he married the queen’s sister, (v. 19.) and,
by her, had a child, which the queen herself con¬
ceived such a kindness for, that she brought him
up in Pharaoh’s house, among the king’s children.
(2.) What enabled him to do Solomon a mischief.
He returned to his own country again, upon the
death of David and Joab, in which, it should seem,
he settled, and remained quiet, while Solomon con¬
tinued wise and watchful for the public good, but
from which he had opportunity of making inroads
upon Israel, when Solomon, having sinned away
his wisdom, as Samson did his strength, (and in the
same way,) grew careless of public affairs, was off
his guard himself, and had forfeited the divine pro¬
tection. What vexation he gave to Solomon, we
are not here told, but only how loath Pharaoh was
to part with him, and how earnestly he solicited
his stay ; (v. 22.) What hast thou lacked with me?
“Nothing,” says Hadad; “but, however, let me
go to my own country, my native air, my native
soil.” Peter Martyr has a pious reflection upon
this; “That heaven is our home, and we ought to
keep up a holy affection to that, and desire toward
it, even then when the world, the place of our
banishment, smiles most upon us.” Does it ask.
What have you lacked, that you are so willing to
be gone? We may answer, “Nothing that the
world can do for us; but however, let us go thither,
where our hope, and honour, and treasure, are.”
2. Rezon, a Syrian, was another adversary to
Solomon; when David conquered the Syrians, he
headed the remains, lived at large by spoil and
608
I. KINGS, XI.
rapine, till Solomon grew careless, and then he got
possession of Damascus, reigned there, (x\ 24.) and
over the country about; (i\ 25.) and he created
troubles to Israel, probably in conjunction with
Hadad, all the days of Solomon, namely, after his
apostasy; or he was an enemy to Israel, during all
Solomon’s reign, and upon all occasions vented his
then impotent malice against them; but till Solo¬
mon’s revolt, when his defence was departed from
him, he could not do them any mischief; it is said
of him, that he abhorred. Israel; other princes loved
and admired Israel and Solomon, and courted their
friendship, but here was one that abhorred them.
The greatest and best of princes and people, that
are ever so much respected by the most, yet per¬
haps will be hated and abhorred by some.
26. And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an
Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant,
(whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow
woman,) even he lifted up his hand against
the king. 27. And this was the cause that
he lifted up his hand against the king: Solo¬
mon built Millo, and repaired the breaches
of the city of David his father. 28. And
the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of
valour : and Solomon seeing the young man
that he was industrious, he made him ruler
over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
29. And it came to pass at that time, when
Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the
prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in
the way; and he had clad himself with a
new garment: and they two icere alone in
the field : 30. And Ahijah caught the new
garment that was on him, and rent it in
twelve pieces. 31. And he said to Jero¬
boam, Take the ten pieces; for thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will
rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solo¬
mon, and will give ten tribes to thee : 32.
But he shall have one tribe for my servant
David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the
city which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel: 33. Because that they
have forsaken me, and have worshipped
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,
Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Mil-
corn the god of the children of Ammon;
and have not walked in my ways, to do
that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep
my statutes and my judgments, as did David
his father. 34. Howbeit I will not take the
whole kingdom out of his hand : but I will
make him prince all the days of his life, for
David my servant’s sake, whom I chose,
because he kept my commandments and
my statutes; 35. But 1 will take the king¬
dom out of his son’s hand, and will give it
unto thee, even ten tribes. 36. And unto
his son will I give one tribe, that David my
servant may have a light always before me
in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen
me to put my name there. 37. And I will
take thee, and thou shalt reign according to
all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king
over Israel. 38. And it shall be, if thou
wilt hearken unto all that I command thee,
and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is
right in my sight, to keep my statutes and
my commandments, as David my servant
did; that I will be with thee, and build thee
a sure house, as I built for David, and will
give Israel unto thee. 39. And I will for
this afflict the seed of David, but not for
ever. 40. Solomon sought therefore to kill
Jeroboam: and Jeroboam arose, and fled
into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and
was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
We have, here, the first mention made of that
infamous name, Jeroboam , the son of Nebat, that
made Israel to sin; he is here brought upon the stage
as an adversary to Solomon, whom God had ex¬
pressly told, (r. 11.) that he would give the great¬
est part of his kingdom to his servant, and Jeroboam
was the man. We have here an account,
I. Of his extraction; (y. 26.) he was of the tribe
of Ephraim, the next in honour to Judah; his mo¬
ther was a widow, to whom Providence had made
up the loss of a husband in a son that was active
and ingenious, and (we may suppose) a great sup¬
port and comfort to her.
II. Of his elevation. It was Solomon’s wisdom,
when he had work to do, to employ proper persons
in it; he observed Jeroboam to be a very industrious
young man, one that minded his business, took a
pleasure in it, and did it with all his might, and
therefore he gradually advanced him, till, at length,
he made him receiver-general for the two tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh, or perhaps put him into
an office equivalent to that of lord-lieutenant of those
two counties, for he was ruler of the burthen, or tri¬
bute, that is, either of the taxes, or of the militia,
of the house of Joseph. Note, Industry is the way
to preferment; Seest thou a man diligent in his bu¬
siness, that will take care and pains, and go through
with it? He shall stand before kings, and not always
be on the level with mean men. Observe a differ¬
ence between David, and both his predecessor, and
his successor; when Saul saw a valiant man, he took
him to himself; (1 Sam. 14. 52.) when Solomon saw
an industrious man, he preferred him; but David’s
eyes were upon the faithful in the land, that they
might dwell with him: if he saw a godly man, he
preferred him, for he was a man after God’s own
heart, whose countenance beholds the upright.
III. Of his designation to the government of the
ten tribes, after the death of Solomon. Some think
he was himself plotting against Solomon, and con¬
triving to rise to the throne; that he was turbulent
and aspiring. The Jews say that when he was em¬
ployed by Solomon in building Millo, he took oppor¬
tunities of reflecting upon Solomon as oppressive to
his people, and suggesting that which would alien¬
ate them from his government; it is not indeed pro¬
bable that he should say much to that purport, for
Solomon would have got notice of it, and it would
have hindered his preferment; but it is plainly inti¬
mated that he had it in his thoughts, for the prophet
tells him, (i>. 37.) Thou shalt reign according to all
that thy soul desireth: but this was the cause, or, ra¬
ther, this was the story, of his lifting up his hand
against the king; he made him ruler over the tribes
of Joseph, and as he was going to take possession of
his government, he was told by a prophet, in God’s
name, that he should be king, which imboldened
509
I. KINGS, XII.
him to aim high, and, in some instances, to oppose
the king, and give him vexation.
1. The prophet, by whom this message was sent,
was, Ahijah of Shiloh ; we shall read of him again,
ch. 14. 2. It seems, Shiloh was not so perfectly
forsaken and forgotten of God, but that, in remem¬
brance of the former days, it was blessed with a
prophet; he delivered himself to Jeroboam in the
way, his servants being, probably, ordered to retire,
as in a like case, (1 Sam. 9. 27.) when Samuel de¬
livered his message to Saul; God’s word was not the
less sacred and sure, for being delivered to him thus
obscurely, under a hedge, it may be.
2. The sign by which it was represented to him,
was, the rending of a garment into twelve pieces,
and giving him ten, v. 30. It is not certain whether
the garment was Jeroboam’s, as is commonly taken
for granted, or Ahijah ’s, which is more probable;
he (that is, the prophet) clad himself with a new
garment, on purpose that he might with it give him
a sign. The rending of the kingdom from Saul was
signified by the rending of Samuel’s mantle, not
Saul’s, 1 Sam. 15. 27, 28. And it was more signi¬
ficant, to give him ten pieces of that which was not
his own before, than of that which was; the pro¬
phets, both true and false, used such signs, even in
the New Testament, as Agabus, Acts 21. 11.
3. The message itself, which is very particular.
(1.) He assures him that he should be king over
ten of the twelve tribes of Israel, v. 31. The mean¬
ness of his extraction and employment should be no
hinderance to his advancement, when the God of
Israel says, (by whom kings reign,) I will give ten
tribes unto thee.
(2.) He tells them the reason; not for his good
character or deserts, but for the chastising of Solo¬
mon’s apostasy, because he, and his family, and
many of his people with him, have forsaken me,
and worshiped other gods, v. 33. It was because
they had done ill, not because he was likely to do
much better; thus Israel must know, that it is not
for their righteousness that they are made masters
of Canaan, but for the wickedness of the Canaan-
ites, Deut. 9. 4. Jeroboam did not deserve so good
a post, but Isratel deserved so bad a prince. In
telling him tha't the reason why he rent the kingdom
from the house of Solomon, was, because they had
forsaken God, he warns him to take heed of sinning
away his preferment, in like manner.
(3.) He limits his expectations to the ten tribes
only, and to them, in reversion, after the death of
Solomon; lest he should aim at the whole, and give
immediate disturbance to Solomon’s government.
He is here told, [1.] That two tribes (called here
one tribe, because little Benjamin was, in a manner,
lost in the thousands of Judah) should remain sure
to the house of David, and he must never make any
attempt upon them; He shall have one tribe, ( v . 32.
and again, v. 36.) that David may have a lamp,
that is, a shining name and memoiy, (Ps. 132. 17.)
and his family, as a royal family, may not be extinct.
He must not think that David was rejected, as Saul
was; no, God would not take his loving-kindness
from him, as he did from Saul. The house of Da¬
vid must be supported and kept in reputation for all
this, because out of it the Messiah must arise. De¬
stroy it not, for that Blessing is in it. [2.] That
Solomon must keep possession during his life, v. 34,
35. Jeroboam therefore must not offer to dethrone
him, but wait with patience till his day shall come
to fall. Solomon shall be prince, all the days of his
life, not for his own sake, (he had forfeited his crown
to the justice of God,) but for David my sej-vant’s
sake, because he kept my commandments. Children
that do not tread in their parents’ steps, yet often
fare the better in this world for their good parents’
piety.
(4.) He is given to understand that he will be
upon his good behaviour. The grant of the crown
must lain quam diu se bene gesserit — during good
behaviour. If thou wilt do what is right in my sight,
I will build thee a sure house, and not otherwise;
( v . 38.) intimating, that if he forsook God, even
his advancement to the throne would, in time, lay
his family in the dust; whereas the seed of David,
though afflicted, should not be afflicted for ever,
( v . 39. ) but should flourish again, as it did in many
of the illustrious kings of Judah, who reigned in
| glory, when Jeroboam’s family was extirpated.
IV. Jeroboam’s flight into Egypt hereupon, v. 40.
Some way or other, Solomon came to 'know of all
this; probably, from Jeroboam’s own talk of it; he
could not conceal it, as Saul d.d, nor keep his own
counsel; if he had, he might have staid in his own
country, and been preparing there for his future ad¬
vancement; but, letting it be known, 1. Solomon
foolishly sought to kill his successor. Had not he
taught others, that whatever devices are in men’s
hearts, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand ?
And yet does he himself think to defeat that coun¬
sel? 2. Jeroboam prudently withdrew into Egypt;
though God’s promise would have secured him any
where, yet he would use means for his own preser¬
vation, and was content to live in exile and obscuri¬
ty for a while, being sure of a kingdom at last. And
shall not we be so, who have a better kingdom in
reserve?
41. And the rest of the acts of Solomon,
and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they
not written in the book of the acts of Solo¬
mon ? 42. And the time that Solomon
reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel, was
forty years. 43. And Solomon slept with
his fathers, and was buried in the city of Da¬
vid his father : and Rehoboam his son reign¬
ed in his stead.
We have here the conclusion of Solomon’s story,
and in it, 1. Reference is had to another history then
extant, but (not being divinely inspired) since lost.
the book of the acts of Solomon, v. 41. Probably,
this book was written by a chronologer or historic
grapher, whom he employed to write his annals,
out of which the sacred writer extracted what God
saw fit to transmit to the church. 2. A summary
of the years of his reign; (f. 42.) He reigned in Je¬
rusalem, (not as his father, part of his time in He¬
bron, and part in Jerusalem,) over all Israel, (not
as his son, and his father in the beginning of his
time, over Judah only,) forty years. His reign was
as long as his father’s, but not his life. Sin short¬
ened his days. 3. His death and burial, and suc¬
cessor, v. 43. (1.) He followed his fathers to the
grave; slept with them, and was buried in David’s
burying-place, with honour, no doubt. (2. ) His son
followed him in the throne. Thus the graves are
filling with the generations that go off, and houses
are filling with those that are growing up. As the
grave cries, “ Give, give,” so land is never lost for
want of an heir.
CHAP. XII.
The glory of the kingdom of Israel was in its height and
perfection, in Solomon; it was long in coming to it, but
it soon declined, and began to sink and wither in the very
next reign, as we find in this chapter, where we have the
kingdom divided; and thereby weakened, and made little,
in comparison with what it had been. Here is, I. Reho-
boam’s accession to the throne, and Jeroboam’s return
out of Egypt, v. 1,2. II. The people’s petition to Re¬
hoboam for the redress of grievances, and the rough an¬
swer he gave, by the advice of his young counsellors, to
510
I. KINGS, XII.
that petition, v. S . . 15. III. The revolt of the ten tribes,
thereupon, and their setting up of Jeroboam, v. 16.. 20.
IV'. Rehoboam’s attempt to reduce them, and the prohi¬
bition God gave to that attempt, v. 21 ..24. V. Jero¬
boam’s establishment of his government upon idolatry,
v. 25.-33. Thus did Judah become weak, being de¬
serted by their brethren; and Israel, by deserting the
house of the Lord.
1. 4 ND Rehoboam went to Shechem:
for all Israel were come to Shechem
to make him king. 2. And it came to pass,
when Jeroboam the son ofNebat, who was
yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled
from the presence of king Solomon, and Jer¬
oboam dwelt in Egypt,) 3. That they sent
and called him. And Jeroboam and all the
congregation of Israel came, and spake unto
Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy father made
our yoke grievous : now, therefore, make
thou the grievous service of thy father, and
his heavy yoke which he put upon us, light¬
er, and we will serve thee. 5. And he said
unto them, Depart yet for three days, then
come again to me. And the people depart¬
ed. 6. And king Rehoboam consulted with
the old men that stood before Solomon his
father while he yet lived, and Said, How do
you advise, that I may answer this people ?
7. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou
wilt be a servant unto this people this day,
and wilt serve them, and answer them, and
speak good words to them, then they will be
thy servants for ever. 8. But he forsook the
counsel of the old men, which they had giv¬
en him, and consulted with the young men
that were grown up with him, and which
stood before him ; 9. And he said unto
them, What counsel give ye, that we may
answer this people, who have spoken to me,
saying, Make the yoke which thy father did
put upon us lighter? 10. And the young
men that were grown up with him spake
unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak un¬
to this people that spake unto thee, saying,
Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make
thou it lighter unto us ; thus shalt. thou say
unto them, My little finger shall be thicker
than my father’s loins. 1 1 . And now, where¬
as my father did lade you with a heavy yoke,
I will add to your yoke: my father hath
chastised you with whips, but I will chas¬
tise you with scorpions. 1 2. So Jeroboam
and all the people came to Rehoboam the
third day, as the king had appointed, saying,
Come to me again the third day. 13. And
the king answered the people roughly, and
forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave
him ; 1 4. And spake to them after the
counsel of the young men, saying, My fa¬
ther made your yoke heavy, and I will add
to your yoke : my father a/so chastised you
with whips, but I will chastise you with
scorpions. 15. Wherefore the king heark¬
ened not unto the people ; for the cause was
from the Lord, that he might perform his
saying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah
the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Ne-
bat.
Solomon had 1000 wives and concubines, yet we
read but of one son he had to bear up his name, and
he a fool. It is said, (Hos. 4. 10.) They shall com¬
mit whoredom, and shall not increase. Sin is a bad
way of building up a family. Rehoboam was the
son of the wisest of men, yet did not inherit his fa¬
ther’s wisdom, and then it stood him in little stead
to inherit his father’s throne. Neither wisdom nor
grace runs in the blood. Solomon came to the crown
very young, yet he was then a wise man: Rehoboam
at forty years old, when men will be wise, if ever
they will, yet he was then foolish. Wisdom does
not go by age, nor is it the multitude of years, or
the advantage of education, that teaches it. Solo¬
mon’s court was a mart of wisdom, and the rendez¬
vous of learned men, and Rehoboam the darling of
the court; and yet all was not sufficient to make him
a wise man: the race is not to the swift, nor the bat¬
tle to the strong. No dispute is madeV f Rehoboam’s
succession; upon the death of his father, he was im¬
mediately proclaimed. But,
I. The people desire a treaty with him at She¬
chem, and he condescends to meet them there. 1.
Their pretence was, to make him king, but the de¬
sign was, to unmake him. They would give him a
public inauguration, in another place than the city
of David, that he might not seem to be king of Ju¬
dah only. They have ten parts in him, and will
have him among themselves, for once, that they
might recognize his title. 2. The place was omi¬
nous; at Shechem, where Abimelech set up himself,
Judg. 9. Yet it had been famous for the convention
of the states there, Josh. 24. 1. Rehoboam. we may
suppose, knew of the threatening, that the kingdom
should be rent from him, and hoped, by going to
Shechem, and treating there with the ten tribes, to
prevent it.: yet it proves the most impolitic thing he
could do, and hastens the rupture.
II. The representatives of the tribes address him,
praying to be eased of the taxes they were burthen-
ed with. The meeting being appointed, they sent
for Jeroboam out of Egypt to come and be their
speaker: which they needed not to have done, he
knew what God had designed him for, and would
have come, though he had not been sent for, for
now was his time to expect the possession of the
promised crown. In their address, 1. They com¬
plain of the last reign; Thy father made our yoke
grievous, v. 4. They complain not of his father’s
idolatry, and revolt from God; that which was the
greatest grievance of all, was none to them; so care¬
less and indifferent were they in the matters of
religion, as if God or Moloch were all one, so they
might but live at ease, and pay no taxes. Yet the
complaint was groundless and unjust. Never did
people live more at ease than they did, or in greatei
plenty. Did they pav taxes? It was to advance the
strength and magnificence of their kingdom. If
Solomon’s buildings cost them money, they cost
them no blood, as war would do. Were many ser¬
vile hands employed about them? They were not
the hands of the Israelites. Were the taxes a bur¬
then? How could that be, when Solomon imported
bullion in such plenty, that silver was, in a manner,
as common as the stones? So that they did but ren¬
der to Solomon the things that were Solomon’s.
Nav, suppose there was some hardship put upon
them, were they not told before that this would be
the manner of the king, and yet they would have
511
I. KINGS, XII.
one. The best government cannot secure itself from
reproach and censure, no not Solomon’s. Factious
spirits will never want something to complain of.
I know nothing in Solomon’s administration, that
could make the people’s yoke grievous, unless, per¬
haps, the women, whom in his latter days he doted
on, were connived at in oppressing them. 2. They
demand relief from him, ant, on that condition, will
continue in their allegiance to the house of David.
They asked not to be wholly free from paying taxes,
but to have the burthen made lighter; that was all
their care, to save their money, whether their re¬
ligion was supported, and the government protect¬
ed, or no. All seek their own.
III. Rehoboam consulted with those about him,
concerning the answer he should give to this ad¬
dress. It was prudent to take advice, especially
having so weak a head of his own; yet, upon this
occasion, it was impolitic to take time himself to
consider, for thereby he gave time to the disaf¬
fected people to ripen things for a revolt; and his
deliberating in so plain a case would be improved as
an indication of the little concern he had for the peo¬
ple’s ease. They saw what they must expect, and
prepared accordingly. Now,
1. The grave experienced men of his council ad¬
vised him, by all means, to give the petitioners a
kind answer, to promise them fair, and, this day,
this critical day, to serve them; that is, to tell them
that he was their servant, and that he would redress
all their grievances, and make it his business to
please them, and make them easy. “Deny thy¬
self’ (say they) “ so far as to do this, for this once,
and they will be thy servants for ever. When the
present heat is allayed with a soft answer, and the
assembly dismissed, their cooler thoughts will re¬
concile and fix them to Solomon’s family still.”
Note, The way to rule, is to serve; to do good, and
to stoop to do it; to become all things to all men,
and so win their hearts. Those in power, really
sit highest, and easiest, and safest, that do so.
2. The young men of his council were hot and
haughty, and they advised him to return a severe and
threatening answer to the people’s demands. It
was an instance of Rehoboam’s weakness, (1. ) That
he did not prefer aged counsellors, but had a better
opinion of the young men that had grown up with
him, and with whom he was familiar, v. 8. Days
should speak. It was a folly for him to think that
because they had been his agreeable companions in
the sports and pleasures of his youth, they were
therefore fit to have the management of the affairs
of his kingdom. Great wits have not always the
most wisdom; nor are those to be relied on as our
best friends, that know how to make us merry, for
that will not make us happy. It is of great conse¬
quence to young people that are setting out in the
world, to have suitable persons to associate with,
accommodate themselves to, and depend upon for
advice. If they reckon those that feed their pride,
gratify their vanity, and further them in their plea¬
sures, their best friends, they are already marked
for ruin. (2.) That he did not affect moderate
counsels, but was pleased with those that put him
upon harsh and rigorous methods, and advised him
to double the taxes, whether there was occasion for
it or no, and to tell them, in plain terms, that he
would do so, v. 10, 11. They thought the old men
expressed themselves but dully, v. 7. They affect
to be witty in their advice, and value themselves on
that. The old men did not undertake to put words
into Rehoboam’s mouth, only counselled him to
speak good words: but the young men will furnish
him with very pointed and pert similitudes; My lit¬
tle finger shall be thicker than my father's loins,
&c. That is not always the best sense that is best
worded.
IV. He answered the people according to the
counsel of the young men, v. 14, 15. He affected
to be haughty and imperious, and fancied he could
carry all before him with a high hand, and there
fore would rather i^n the risk of losing them, than
deny himself so far as to give them good words.
Note, Many ruin themselves by consulting their
humour more than their interest.
See, 1. How Rehoboam was infatuated in his
counsels. He could not have acted more foolishly
and impoliticly. (1.) He owned their reflections up¬
on his father’s government to be true, My father
made your yoke heavy ; and therein was unjust to
his father’s memory which he might easily have
vindicated from the imputation. (2.) He fancied
himself better able to manage them, and impose
upon them, than his father was; not considering that
he was vastly inferior to him in capacity. Could
he think to support the blemishes of his father’s
reign, who could never pretend to come near the
glories of it? (3. ) He threatened not only to squeeze
them by taxes, but to chastise them by cruel laws,
and severe executions of them; which should not
be as whips only, but as scorpions, whips with row¬
els in them, that will fetch blood at every lash. In
short, he would use them as brute-beasts, load them,
and beat them, at his pleasure; not caring whether
they loved him or no, he would make them fear
him. (4. ) He gave this provocation to a people that
by long ease and prosperity were made wealthy,
and strong, and proud, and would not be trampled
upon, as a poor cowed dispirited people may; that
were now disposed to revolt, and had one ready to
head them. Never, surely, was man so blinded by
pride, and affectation of arbitrary power, than which
nothing is more fatal.
2. How God’s counsels were hereby fulfilled. It
was from the Lord, v. 15. He left Rehoboam to
his own folly, and hid from his eyes the things which
belonged to his peace, that the kingdom might be
rent from him. Note, God serves his own wise and
righteous purposes by the imprudences and iniqui¬
ties of men, and snares sinners in the work of their
own hands. They that lose the kingdom of heaven,
throw it away, as Rehoboam did his, by their own
wilfulness and folly.
16. So when all Israel saw that the king
hearkened not unto them, the people an¬
swered the king, saying, What portion have
we in David ? neither have ive inheritance
in the son of Jesse : to your tents, O Israel :
Now see to thine own house, David. So
Israel departed unto their tents. 1 7. But
as for the children of Israel which dwelt in
the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over
them. 18. Then king Rehoboam sent
Adoram, who ivas over the tribute ; and all
Israel stoned him with stones, that he died:
therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get
him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
1 9. So Israel rebelled against the house of
David unto this day. 20. And it came to
pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam
was come again, that they sent and called
him unto the congregation, and made him
king over all Israel: there was none that
followed the house of David, but the tribe
of Judah only. 21. And when Rehoboam
was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all
the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benja
512
I. KINGS. XII.
min, a hundred and fourscore thousand
chosen men, which were warriors, to fight
against the house of Israel, to bring the
kingdom again to Rehob(^tm the son of
Solomon. 22. But the word of God came
unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23.
Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon,
king of Judah, and unto all the house of
Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant
of the people, saying, 24. Thus saith the
Lord, Ye shall not go up nor fight against
your brethren the children of Israel : return
every man to his house ; for this thing is from
me. They hearkened therefore to the word
of the Lord, and returned to depart, ac¬
cording to the word of the Lord.
We have here the rending of the kingdom of the
ten tribes from the house of David; to effect which,
I. The people were bold and resolute in their re¬
volt. They highly resented the provocation that
Rehoboam had given them, were incensed at his
menaces, concluded that that government would, in
the progress of it, be intolerably grievous, which,
in the beginning of it, was so very haughty; and
therefore immediately came to this resolve, one and
all. What portion have we in David? v. 16. They
speak here very unbecomingly of David, that great
oenefactor of their nation, calling him the son of
Jesse, no greater a man than his neighbours. How
soon are good men, and their good services to the
public, forgotten ! The rashness of their resolution
was also much to be blamed; in time, and with pru¬
dent management, they might have settled the ori¬
ginal contract with Rehoboam, to mutual satisfac¬
tion. Had they inquired who gave Rehoboam this
advice, and taken a course to remove those evil
counsellors, from about him, the rupture might have
been prevented: otherwise, their jealousy lor their
liberty and property well became that free people.
Israel is not a servant, is not a home-bom slave; why
should he be spoiled? Jer. 2. 14. They are willing
to be ruled, but not to be ridden; protection draws
allegiance, but destruction cannot. No marvel that
Israel falls away from the house of David, {y. 19.)
if the house of David fall away from the great ends
of their advancement, which was to be ministers of
God to them for good. But thus to rebel against
the seed of David, whom God had advanced to the
kingdom, (entailing it on his seed,) and to set up
another king in opposition to that family, was a great
sin; see 2Chron. 13. 5*»8. To this God refers, Hos.
8. 4, They have set up kings, but not by me. And
it is here mentioned, to the praise of the tribe of
Judah, that they followed the house of David, (y.
17, 20.) and, for aught that appears, they found
Rehoboam better than his word, nor did he rule
with the rigour which, at first, he threatened.
II. Rehoboam was imprudent in the further man¬
agement of this affair, and more and more infatuat¬
ed. Having foolishly thrown himself into a quick¬
sand, he sunk the further in, with plunging to get
out. 1. He was very unadvised, in sending Adoram,
who was over the tribute, to treat with them, v. 18.
The tribute was the thing, and, for the sake of that,
Adoram was the person, they most complained of;
the very sight of him, whose name was odious
among them, exasperated them, and made them
outrageous. He was one whom they could not so
much as give a patient hearing to, but stoned him to
death in a popular tumult Rehoboam was now as
unhappy in the choice of his ambassador, as before
of his counsellors. 2. Some think he was also unad¬
vised, in quitting his ground, and making so much
I haste to Jerusalem, for thereby he deserted hr*
friends, and gave advantage to his enemies, who
had gone to their tents indeed, {v. 16.) in disgust,
but did not offer to make Jeroboam king, till Reho-
| boam was gone, v. 20. See how soon this foolish
prince went from one extreme to the other. He
hectored and talked big, when he thought all was
his own, but sunk, and looked very mean, when he
saw himself in danger. It is common for those tha-
are most haughty in their prosperity, to be most
abject in adversity.
III. God forbade his attempt to recover what he
had lost by the sword. What was done, was of
God, who would not suffer, 1. That it should be
undone again, as it would be, if Rehoboam got the
better, and reduced the ten tribes. Nor, 2. That
more should be done to the prejudice of the house
of David, as would be, if Jeroboam should get the
better, and conquer the two tribes. The thing must
rest as it is, and therefore God forbids the battle.
(1.) It was brave in Rehoboam, to design the re¬
ducing of the revolters by force. His courage came
to him, when he was come to Jerusalem, v. 21.
There he thought himself among his fast friends,
who generously adhered to him, and appeared for
him. Judah and Benjamin (who feared the Lord
and the king, and meddled not with them that
were given to change) presently raised an army of
180,000 men, for the recovery of their king’s right
to the ten tribes, and were resolved to stand by him
(as we say) with their lives and fortunes; having
either not such cause, or rather not such a disposi¬
tion, to complain as the rest had.
(2.) It was more brave in Rehoboam, to desist,
when God, by a prophet, ordered him to lay down
his arms. He would not lose a kingdom tamely, for
then he had been unworthy the title of a prince;
and yet he would not contend for it, in opposition to
God, for then he had been unworthy the title of an
Israelite. To proceed in this war, would be not
only to fight against their brethren , (v. 24.) whom
they ought to love, but to fight against their God,
whom they ought to submit to; This thing is from
me. These two considerations should reconcile us
to our losses and troubles, that God is the Author
of them, and our brethren are the instruments of
them, let us not therefore meditate revenge. Reho¬
boam, and his people, hearken to the word of the
Z,orc?,disbandedthearmy, and acquiesced. Though,
in human probability, they had a fair prospect of
success; for their army was numerous and resolute,
Jeroboam’s party weak and unsettled: though it
would turn to their reproach among their neigh¬
bours, to lose so much of their strength, and never
have one push for it, to make a flourish, and do no¬
thing; yet, [1.] They regarded the command of
God, though sent by a poor prophet. When we
know God’s mind, we must submit to it, how much
soever it crosses our own mind. [2. ] They consult¬
ed their own interest; concluding that though they
had all the advantages, even that of right, on their
side, yet they could not prosper, if they fought in
disobedience to God : it was better to sit still, than
to rise up and fall. In the next reign, God allow¬
ed them to fight, and gave them victory, (2 Chron.
13.) but not now.
25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in
mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and
went out from thence, and built Penuel.
26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now
shall the kingdom return to the house of
David : 27. If this people go up to do sa
crifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusa-
513
T. KINGS, XII.
lem, then shall the heart of this people turn
again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam
king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and
go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made
two calves of gold, and said unto them, It
is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem :
behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29. And
he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put
he in Dan. 30. And this thing became a
sin : for the people went to worship , before
the one, even unto Dan. 31. And he made
a house of high places, and made priests of
the lowest of the people, which were not of
the sons of Levi. 32. And Jeroboam or¬
dained a feast in the eighth month, on the
fifteenth day of the month, like unto the
feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon
the altar, (so did he in Beth-el,) sacrificing
unto the calves that he had made: and he
placed in Beth-el the priests of the high
places which he had made. 33. So he of¬
fered upon the altar which he had made in
Beth-el, the fifteenth day of the eighth month,
even in the month which he had devised of
his own heart ; and ordained a feast unto
the children of Israel : and he offered upon
the altar, and burnt incense.
We have here the beginning of the reign of Jero¬
boam. He built Shechem first, and then Penuel —
beautified and fortified them, and probably, had a
palace in each of them for himself; ( v . 25.) the
former in Ephraim, the latter in Gad, on the other
side Jordan. This might be proper; but he formed
another project for the establishing of his kingdom,
which was fatal to the interests of religion in it.
I. That which he designed, was, by some effec¬
tual means to secure those to himself, who had now
chosen him their king, and to prevent their return
to the house of David, v. 26, 27. It seems, 1. He
was jealous of the people, afraid that, some time or
other, they would kill him, and go again to Reho¬
boam. Many that have been advanced in one tu¬
mult, have been hurled down in another. Jeroboam
could not put any confidence in the affections of his
people, though now they seemed extremely fond of
him : for what is got by wrong and usurpation, cannot
be enjoyed or kept with any security or satisfaction.
2. He was distrustful of the promise of God; could
not take his word, that if he would keep close to his
duty, God would build him a sure house, ( ch . 11.
38.) but he would contrive ways and means, and
sinful ones too, for his own safety. A practical dis¬
belief of God’s all-sufficiency, is at the bottom of
all our treacherous departures from him.
II. The way he took to do this, was, by keeping
the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship.
That was the place God had chosen to put his
name there; Solomon’s temple was there, which
God had, in the sight of all Israel, and in the
memory of many now living, taken solemn posses¬
sion of, in a cloud of glory. At the altar there, the
priests of the Lord attended, there all Israel were
to keep the feasts, and thither they were to bring
their sacrifices.
Now, 1. Jeroboam apprehended that if the peo¬
ple continued to do this, they would, in time, return
Vo i.. ii - -3 T
to the house of David, allured by the magnificence
both of the court and of the temple. If they cleave
to their old religion, they will go back to their old
king. We may suppose, if he had treated with
Rehoboam for the safe conduct of himself and his
people to and from Jerusalem, at the times appoint¬
ed for their solemn feasts, it would not h ive been
denied him ; therefore he fears not their being driven
back by force, but their going back to Rehoboam.
2. He therefore dissuaded them from going up
to Jerusalem, pretending to consult their ease; “It
is too much for you to go so far to worship God, ( v .
28. ) it is a heavy yoke, and it is time to shake it off;
you have gone long enough to Jerusalem .” So
some read it; “The temple, now that you are used
to it, does not appear so glorious and sacred as it
did at first:” (sensible glories wither, by degrees,
in men’s estimation:) “you have freed yourselves
from other burthens, free yourselves from this;
why should we now be tied to one place any more
than in Samuel’s time ?”
3. He provided for the assistance of their devo¬
tion at home. Upon consultation had with some of
his politicians, he came to this resolve, To set up
two golden calves, as tokens or signs of the divine
presence; and persuaded the people they might as
well stay at home, and offer sacrifice to those, as go
to Jerusalem to worship before the ark; and some
are so charitable as to think they were made to re¬
present the mercy-seat, and the cherubims over
the ark. But, more probably, he learnt it of the
Egyptians, in whose land he had sojourned for some
time, and who worshipped their god Apis, under
the similitude of a bull or calf. (1.) He would not
be at the charge of building a golden temple, as
Solomon had done; two golden calves are the most
that he can afford. (2.) He intended, no doubt, by
these to represent, or rather make present, not any
false god, as Moloch or Chemosh, but the true God
only, the God of Israel, the God that brought them
up out of the land of Egypt, as he declares, v. 28.
So that it was no violation of the first command¬
ment, but the second. And he chose thus to en¬
gage the people’s devotion, because he knew there
were many among them, so in love with images,
that, for the sake of the calves, they would willingly
quit God’s temple, where all images were forbid¬
den. (3. ) He set up two, by degrees to break
people off from the belief of the unity of the god¬
head, which would pave the way to the polytheism
of the Pagans. He set up these two at Dan, and
Beth-el, one the utmost border of his country north¬
ward, the other southward, as if they were the
guardians and protectors of the kingdom. Beth-el
lay close to Judah: he set up one there, to tempt
those of Rehoboam’s subjects over to him, who
were inclined to image-worship, in lieu of those of
his subjects, that would continue to go to Jerusalem.
He set up the other at Dan, for the convenience -of
those that lay most remote, and because Micah’s
images had been set up there, and great veneration
paid to them for many ages, Judg. 18. 30. Beth-el
\ signifies the house of God, which gave some colour
to the superstition; but the prophet called it Beth-
aven, the house of vanity, or iniquity.*
4. The people complied with him herein, and
were fond enough of the novelty; they went to
worship before the one, even unto Dan, ( v . 30.) to
that of Dan first, because it was first set up; or
even to that at Dan, though it lay such a great way
off. They that thought it much to go to Jerusalem,
to worship God according to his institution, made no
difficulty of going twice as far, to Dan, to worship
him according to their own inventions. Or, they
are said to go to one of the calves at Dan, because
Abijah, king of Judah, within twenty years, reco¬
vered Beth-el, (2 Chron. 13. 19.) and, it is likely.
514
1. KINGS, X1IJ.
removed the golden calf, or forbade the use of it,
and then they had only that at Dan to go to. This
became a sin; and a great sin it was, against the
express letter of the second commandment. God
had sometimes dispensed with the law concerning
worshipping in one place, but never allowed the
worship of him by images. Hereby they justified
their fathers in making the calf at Horeb, though
God had so fully shown his displeasure against them
for it, and threatened to visit for it in the day of
. visitation, Exod. 32. 34. So that it was as great a
contempt of God’s wrath as it was of his law; and
thus they added sin to sin. Bishop Patrick quotes
a saying of.the Jews, That till Jeroboam’s time the
Israelites picked but one calf, but from that time
they sucked two.
5. Having set up the gods, he fitted up accommo¬
dations for them: wherein he varied from the divine
appointment, we are here told; which intimates
that, in other things, he imitated what was done in
Judah, (i>. 32.) as well as he could. See how one
error multiplied into many.
(1.) He made a house of high places, or of al¬
tars; one temple at Dan, we may suppose, and an¬
other at Beth-el, (r. 31.) and in each many altars,
probably, complaining of it as an inconvenience,
that in the temple of Jerusalem there was but one.
The multiplying of altars passed with some for a
piece of devotion, but God, by the prophet, puts
another construction upon it; (Hos. 8. 11.) Ephraim
has made many altars to sin.
(2.) He made priests of the lowest of the people;
and the lowest of the people were good enough to
be priests to his calves, and too good. He made
priests from the extremest parts of the people, that
is, some out of every corner of the country, whom
he ordered to reside among their neighbours, to in¬
struct them in his appointments, and reconcile them
to them. Thus were they dispersed as the Levites,
but were not of the sons of Levi. But the priests
of the high places, or altars, he ordered to reside
in Beth-el, as the priests at Jerusalem, ( v . 32.) to
attend the public sen ice.
(3.) The feast of tabernacles, which God had
appointed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,
he adjourned to the fifteenth of the eighth month,
(r. 32.) the month which he devised of his own
heart, to show his power in ecclesiastical matters,
v. 33. The passover and pentecost he observed in
their proper season, or did not observe them at all,
or with little solemnity in comparison with this.
(4.) He himself assuming a power to make
priests, no marvel if he undertook to do the priests’
work with his own hands: He offered upon the al¬
tar twice ; it is mentioned, v. 32, 33. as also that
he burnt incense. This was connived at in him,
because it was of a piece with the rest of his irre¬
gularities; but in king Uzziah it was immediately
punished with the plague of leprosy. He did it
himself, to make him look great among the people,
and to get the reputation of a devout man; also to
grace the solemnity of his new festival, with which
it is likely, at this time, he joined the feast of the
dedication of Jiis altar.
And thus, [1.] Jeroboam sinned himself; yet
perhaps excused himself to the world and his own
conscience, with this, that he did not do so ill as
Solomon did, who worshipped other gods. [2. ] He
made Israel to sin, drew them off from the worship
of God, and entailed idolatry upon their seed. And
hereby they were punished for deserting the thrones
of the house of David.
The learned Mr. Whiston, in his chronology for
the adjusting of the annals of the two kingdoms of
Judah and Israel, supposes that Jeroboam changed
the calculation of the year, and made it to contain
but eleven months, and that by those years the
reigns of the kings of Israel are measured, till
Jehu’s revolution, and no longer; in which interval,
eleven years of the annals of Judah answer to
twelve in those of Israel.
CHAP. XIII.
In the close of the foregoing chapter, we left Jeroboam
attending his altar at Beth-el, and there we find him the
beginning of this, when he received a testimony from
God against his idolatry and apostasy. This was sent
him by a prophet, a man of God that lived in Judah, who
is the principal subject of the story of this chapter,
where we are told, I. What passed between him and the
new king. 1. The prophet threatened Jeroboam’s altar,
. (v. 1, ‘2. ) and gave him a sign, (v. 3.) which immediately
came to pass, v. 5. 2. The king threatened the prophet,
and was himself made another sign, by the withering oi
his hand, (v. 4.) and the restoring of it, upon his sub¬
mission, and the prophet’s intercession, v. 6. 3. The
prophet refused the kindness offered him thereupon, v.
7.. 10. II. What passed between him and the old pro¬
phet. 1. The old prophet fetched him back by a lie, and
gave him entertainment, v. 11 . . 19. 2. He, for accept¬
ing it, in disobedience to the divine command, is threat¬
ened with death, v. 20 . . 22. And, 3. The threatening
is executed, for he is slain by a lion, (v. 23, 24.) and
buried at Beth-el, v. 23- *32. 4. Jeroboam is hardened
in his idolatry, v. 33, 34. Thy judgments, Lord, are a
great deep.
1. A ND, behold, there came a man of
xJL God out of Judah by the word of
the Lord unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam
stood by the altar to burn incense. 2. And
he cried against the altar in the word of the
Lord, and said, O altar, altar ! thus saith
the Lord, Behold, a child shall be born un¬
to the house of David, Josiah by name ;
and upon thee shall he offer the priests of
the high places that burn incense upon thee,
and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3. And he gave a sign the same day, say¬
ing, This is the sign which the Lord hath
spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent,
and the ashes that are upon it shall be pour¬
ed out. 4. And it came to pass, when king
Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of
God, which had cried against the altar in
Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the
altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his
hand, which he put forth against him, dried
up, so that he could not pull it in again to
him. 5. The altar also was rent, and the
ashes poured out from the altar, according
to the sign which the man of God had given
by the word of the Lord. 6. And the king
answered and said unto the man of God,
Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God,
and pray for me, that my hand may be re¬
stored me again. And the man of God be¬
sought the Lord, and the king’s hand was
restored again, and became as it was before.
7. And the king said unto the man of God,
Come home with me, and refresh thyself,
and I will give thee a reward. 8. And the
man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt
give me half thine house I will not go in
with thee, neither will I eat bread nor chink
water in this place: 9. For so was it
515
1. KINGS, XIII.
charged me by the word of the Lord, say¬
ing, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn
again by the same way that thou earnest.
i0. So he went another way, and returned
not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
Here is,
I. A messenger sent to Jeroboam, to signify to
him God’s displeasure against his idolatry, v. 1.
The army of Judah that aimed to ruin him, was
countermanded, and might not draw a sword against
him; ( c/i . 12. 24.) but a prophet of Judah is, instead
thereof, sent to reclaim him from his evil way, and
is sent in time, while he is but dedicating his altar,
before his heart is hardened by the deceitfulness of
his sin, for God delights not in the death of sinners,
but would rather they would turn, and live. How
bold was the messenger, that durst attack the king
in his pride, and interrupt the solemnity he was
proud of ! They that go on God’s errand, must not
fear the face of man; they know who will bear
them out. How kind was He that sent him to warn
Jeroboam of the wrath of God revealed from hea¬
ven against his ungodliness and unrighteousness !
II. The message delivered in God’s name, not
whispered, but cried with a loud voice, denoting
both the prophet’s courage, that he was neither
afraid , nor ashamed to own it, and his earnestness,
that he desired to be heard and heeded by all that
were present, who were not a few, on this great
occasion. It is directed, not to Jeroboam, or to the
people, but to the altar, the stones of which will
sooner hear and yield, than they who were mad
upon their idols, and deaf to divine calls. Vet, in
threatening the altar, he threatens the founder and
worshippers, to whom it is as dear as their own
souls, and who might conclude, “If God’s wrath
fasten upon the lifeless guiltless altar, how shall
we escape ?” That which is foretold concerning
the altar, ( v . 2.) is, that, in process of time, a
prince of the house of David, Josiah by name,
should pollute this altar by sacrificing the idola¬
trous priests themselves upon it, and burning the
bones of dead men. Let Jeroboam know, and be
sure, 1. That the altar he now consecrated, should
be desecrated. Idolatrous worship will not con¬
tinue, but the word of the Lord will endure for
ever. 2. That the pri sts of the high places he
now made, should themselves be made sacrifices to
th° justice of Gnd, and the first and only sacrifices
up ai this altar that would be pleasing to him. If
the offering be such as is an abomination to God, it
would follow, of course, that the offerers must
themselves fall under his wrath, which will abide
upon them, since it is not otherwise remitted. 3.
That this should be done by a branch of the house
of David. That family which he and his kingdom
had despised, and treacherously deserted, should
recover so much power as to demolish that altar
which he thought to establish; so that right and
truth should, at length, prevail both in civil and
sacred matters, notwithstanding the present tri¬
umphs of those that were given to change the fear
both of God and the king. It was about 356 years,
ere this prediction was fulfilled, yet it was spoken
of as sure and nigh at hand, for a thousand years
with God are but as one day. Nothing more con¬
tingent and arbitrary than the giving of names
to persons, yet Josiah is here named above 300
years before he was born. Nothing future is hidden
from God. There are names in the book of the
divine prescience, (Philip. 4. 3.) names written in
heaven.
III. A sign is given for the confirming of the truth
of this prediction, that the altar should be shaken to
pieces by an invisible power, and the ashes of the
sacrifice scattered, (y. 3.) which came to pass im¬
mediately, v. 5. This was, 1. A proof that the
prophet was sent of God, who confirmed the word
with this sign following , Mark 16. 20. 2. A pre¬
sent indication of God’s displeasure against these
idolatrous sacrifices. How could the gift be ac¬
ceptable, when the altar that should sanctify it, w<..s
an abomination? 3. It was a reproach to the peo¬
ple, whose hearts were harder than these stones,
and rent not under the word of the Lord. 4. ‘It
was a specimen of what should be done to it in the
accomplishment of this prophecy by Joshua; it was
now rent, in token of its being then ruined.
IV. Jeroboam’s hand withered, which he stretch¬
ed out to seize or smite the man of God, v. 4. In¬
stead of trembling at the message, as he might well
have done, he assaulted him that brought it, in de¬
fiance of the wrath of which he was warned, and
contempt of that grace which sent him the warn¬
ing. Rebuke a sinner, and he will hate thee, and
do thee a mischief if he can; yet God’s prophets
must rather expose themselves than betray their
tnist: he that employs them, will protect them, and
restrain the wrath of man, as he did Jeroboam’s
here, by withering his hand, so that he couldjiei-
ther hurt the prophet, nor draw it in to help him¬
self. When his hand was stretched out to burn
incense to his -calves, it was not withered; but when
it was stretched out against a prophet, he shall have
no use of it, till he humble himself. Of all the
wickedness of the wicked, there is none more pro¬
voking to God than their malicious attempts against
his prophets, of whom he has said, Touch them
not, do them no harm. As this was a punishment
of Jeroboam, and answering to the sin, so it was the
deliverance of the prophet. God has many ways
of disabling the enemies of his church to execute
their mischievous purposes. Jeroboam’s inability to
pull in his hand, made him a spectacle to all about
him, that they might see and fear. If God, in jus¬
tice, harden the hearts of sinners, so that the hand
they have stretched out in sin, they cannot pull in
again by repentance, that is a spiritual judgment,
represented by this, and much more dreadful.
V. The sudden healing of the hand that was sud¬
denly dried up, upon his submission, v. 6. That
word of God which should have touched his con¬
science, humbled him not, but this which touched
his bone and his flesh, brings down his proud spirit.
He looks for help now, 1. Not from his calves, but
from God only, from his power and his favour. He
wounded, and no hand but his can make whole. 2.
Not bv his own sacrifice or incense, but by the
j prayer and intercession of the prophet, whom he
had just now threatened, and aimed to destroy.
The time may come, when those that hate the
preaching, would be glad of the prayers, of faithful
ministers. “ Pray to the Lord thy God,” says Jer¬
oboam; “thou hast an interest in him, improve it
• for me.” But observe, He does not desire him to
pray that his sin might be pardoned, and his heart
changed, only that his hand might be restored; thus
Pharaoh would have Moses to pray that God would
‘ take away this death only, (Exod. 10. 17. ) not this
sin. The prophet, as became a man of God, ren¬
ders good for evil, upbraids not Jeroboam with his
impotent malice, nor triumphs in his submission,
but immediately addresses himself to God for him.
Those only are entitled to the blessing Christ pro¬
nounced on the persecuted, that learn of him to
pray for their persecutors, Matth. 5. 10, 44. When
the prophet thus honoured God, by showing him¬
self of a forgiving spirit, God put this further ho¬
nour upon him, that, at his word, he recalled the
judgment, and by another miracle healed the with¬
ered hand; that by the goodness of God Jeroboam
might be led to repentance, and if he were not
5!G 1. KINGS, XIII.
broken by the judgment-, yet might be melted by
tire mercy. With both he seemed affected for the
present, but the impressions wore off.
VI. The prophet’s refusal of Jeroboam’s kind in¬
vitation: in which observe, 1. That God forbade
his messenger to eat or drink in Beth-el, (x>. 9.) to
show his detestation of their execrable idolatry,
and apostasy from God, and to teach us not to have
fellowship with the works of darkness, lest we
have infection from them, or give encouragement
to them. He must not turn back the same way , but
deliver his message, as it were, in transitu — as he
l tasses along . He shall not seem to be sent on pur¬
pose, (they were unworthy such a favour,) but as
if he only called by the way, his spirit being stirred,
like Paul’s at Athens, as he passed, and saw their
devotions. God would, by this command, try his
prophet, as he did Ezekiel, whether he would not
be rebellious, like that rebellious house, Ezek. 2. 8.
2. That Jeroboam was so affected with the cure of
his hand, that though we read not of his thanks¬
givings to God for the mercy, or of his sending an
offering to the altar at Jerusalem, in acknowledg¬
ment of it, yet he was willing to express his grati¬
tude to the prophet, and pay him for his prayers,
v. 7. Favours to the body will make even grace¬
less men seem grateful to good ministers. 3. That
the prophet, though hungry and weary, and, per¬
haps, poor, in obedience to the divine command,
refused both the entertainment, and the reward,
proffered him. He might have supposed his ac¬
ceptance of it would give him an opportunity of dis¬
coursing further with the king, in order to his
effectual reformation, now that he was convinced;
yet he will not think himself, wiser than God, but,
like a faithful careful messenger, hastens home
when he has done his errand. They have little
learned the lesson of self-denial, that cannot forbear
one forbidden meal.
11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in
Beth-el ; and his sons came and told him
all the works that the man of God had done
that day in Beth-el: the words which he
had spoken unto the king, them they told
also to their father. 12. And their father
said unto them, What way went he ? For
his sons had seen what way the man of God
went which came from Judah. 13. And
he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass.
So they saddled him the ass, and he rode
thereon, 14. And went after the man of
God, and found him sitting under an oak :
and he said unto him, Art thou the man of
God that earnest from Judah ? And he
said, I am. 15. Then he said unto him,
Come home with me, and eat bread. 1 6.
And he said, I may not return with thee,
nor go in with thee; neither will I eat
bread nor drink water with thee in this
place : 1 7. For it was said to me by the
word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no
bread nor drink water th<5re, nor turn again
to go by the way that thou earnest. 18.
He said unto him, I am a prophet also as
thou arG* and an angel spake unto me by
the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him
back with thee into thine house, that he
may eat bread and drink water. But he
lied unto him. 19. So he went back with
him, and did eat bread in his house, and
drank water. 20. And it came to pass, as
they sat at the table, that the word of the
Lord came unto the prophet that brought
him back : 21. And he cried unto the man
of God that came from Judah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou
hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and
hast not kept the commandment which the
Lord thy God commanded thee, 22. But
earnest back, and hast eaten bread and
drunk water in the place, of which the
LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and
drink no water; thy carcase shall not come
unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
The man of God had honestly and bravely re¬
fused the king’s invitation, though he promised him
a reward; yet was over-persuaded by an old pro¬
phet, to come back with him, and dine in Beth-el,
contrary to the command given him. Here we
find how dear his dinner cost him. Observe with
wonder,
I. The old prophet’s wickedness. I cannot but
call him a false prophet, and a bad man; it being
much easier to believe that from one of such a bad
character, should be extorted a confirmation of
what the man of God said, (as we find, v. 32.)
than that a true prophet, and a good man, should
tell such a deliberate lie as he did, and father it
upon God. Jl good tree could never bring forth
such corrupt fruit. Perhaps, he was trained up,
among the sons of the prophets, in one of Samuel’s
colleges not far off, whence he retained the name
of a prophet, but, growing worldly and profane,
the spirit of prophecy was departed from him. If
he had been a good prophet, he would have re¬
roved Jeroboam’s idolatry, and not have suffered
is sons to attend his altars, as, it should seem, thev
did.
Now, 1. Whether he had any good design in
fetching back the man of God, is not certain. One
may hope that he did it, in compassion to him,
concluding he wanted refreshment, and out of a
desire to be better acquainted with him, and more
fully to understand his errand than he could from
the report of his sons; yet, his sons having told him
all that passed, and particularly that the prophet
was forbidden to eat or drink there, which he had
openly told Jeroboam, it is supposed to have Oeen
done with a bad design, to draw him into a snare,
and so to expose him; for false prophets have ever
been the worst enemies to the true prophets, usually
aiming to destroy them, but sometimes, as here, to
debauch them, and draw them from their duty.
Thus they gave the Nazarites wine to drink, (Amos
2. 12.) that they might glory in their fall.
But, 2. It is certain that he took a very bad
method to bring him back. When the man of God
had told him, “I may not, and therefore I will not,
return to eat bread with thee;” (his resolutions
concurring with the divine command, t>. 16, 1~. )
he wickedly pretended that he had an order from
heaven to fetch him back; he impos.ed upon him
his former character as a prophet, I am a prophet
also as thou art; he pretended he had a vision of an
angel that sent him on this errand; but it was all a
lie, it was a banter upon prophecy, and profane in
the highest degree.. When this old prophet is
spoken of, (2 Kings 23. 18.) he is called the prophe’
that came out of Samaria, whereas there w s no
such place as Samaria, till long after; ( ch . 16. 24 )
jvinuo, Ain.
DU
therefore I take it he is so called there, though he
was at Beth-el, because he was like those who were
afterward the prophets of Samaria, who caused
God's people Israel to err, Jer. 23. 13.
II. The good prophet’s weakness, in suffering
himself to be thus imposed upon; He went back
with him, v. 19. He that had resolution enough to
refuse the invitation of the king, who promised him
a reward, could not resist the insinuations of one
that pretended to be a prophet; good people are
more in danger of being drawn from their duty by
the plausible pretences of divinity and sanctity than
by external inducements; we have therefore need
to beware of false prophets, and not believe every
spirit.
III. The proceedings of divine justice, hereupon;
and here we may well wonder that the wicked pro¬
phet, who told the lie, and did the mischief, went
unpunished, while the holy man of God, that was
drawn by him into sin, was suddenly and severely
punished for it What shall we make of this?
The judgments of God are unfathomable; the de¬
ceived. and the deceiver are his, and he giveth not
account of any of his matters: certainly there must
be a judgment to come, when these things will be
called over again, and when those that sinned most,
and suffered least, in this world, will receive ac¬
cording to their works. 1. The message delivered
to the man of God was strange; his crime is recit¬
ed; (r. 21, 22.) it was, in one word, disobedience to
an express command; judgment is given upon it.
Thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy
fathers; that is, “Thou shalt never reach thy own
house, but shalt be a carcase quickly, nor shall thy
dead body be brought to the place of thy fathers'
sepulchres, to be interred.” 2. Yet it was more
strange that the old prophet himself should be the
messenger: of this we can give no account, but that
God would have it so, as he spake to Balaam by his
ass, and read Saul his doom by the Devil in Sa¬
muel’s likeness; we may think God designed here¬
by, (1. ) To startle the lying prophet, and make him
sensible of his sin; the message could not but affect
him the more, when he himself had the delivering
of it, and had so strong an impression made upon
his spirit by it, that he cried out, as one in an ago¬
ny, v. 21. He had reason to think, if he must die
for his disobedience in a small matter, who sinned
by surprise, of how much sorer punishment he
should be thought worthy, who had belied an angel
of God, and cheated a man of God, by a deliberate
forgery. If this were done to the green tree, what
shall be done to the dry ? Perhaps, it had a good
effect upon him; those who preach God’s wrath to
others, have hard hearts indeed, if they fear it not
themselves. (2.) To put the greater mortification
upon the prophet that was deceived, and to show
what they must expect, who hearken to the great
deceiver, they that yield to him as a tempter, will be
terrified by him as a tormentor; whom he now fawns
, upon, he will afterward fly upon, and whom he draws
into sin, he will do what he can to drive to despair.
23. And it came to pass, after he had
eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that
he saddled for him the ass, to wit , for the
prophet whom he had brought back. 24.
And when he was gone, a lion met him by
the way, and slew him; and his carcase
was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it,
the lion also stood by the carcase. 25. And,
behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase
cast in the way, and the lion standing by
the carcase : and they came and told it iu
the city where the old prophet dwelt. 26.
And when the prophet that brought him
back from the way heard thereof, he said, It
is the man of God, who was disobedient unto
the word of the Lord ; therefore the Lord
hath delivered him unto the lion, which
hath torn him, and slain him, according to
the word of the Lord, which he spake unto
him. 27. And he spake to his sons, say¬
ing, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled
him. 28. And he went, and found his car¬
case cast in the way, and the ass and the
lion standing by the carcase : the lion had
not eaten the carcase, nor tom the ass. 29.
And the prophet took up the carcase of the
man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and
brought it back : and the old prophet came
to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30.
And he laid his carcase in his own grave ;
and they mourned over him, saying , Alas,
my brother! 31. And it came to pass,
after he had buried him, that he spake to his
sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury
me in the sepulchre wherein the man of
God is buried ; lay my bones beside his
bones: 32. For the saying which he cried
by the word of the Lord against the altar
in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the
high places which are in the cities of Sa¬
maria, shall surely come to pass. 33. After
this thing Jeroboam returned not from his
evil way, but made again of the lowest of
the people priests of the high places : who¬
soever would, he consecrated him, and he
became one of the priests of the high places
34. And this thing became sin unto th&
house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and
to destroy it from off the face of the earth
Here is,
I. The death of the deceived disobedient prophet.
The old prophet that had deluded him, as if ht
would make him some amends for the wrong he
had done him, or help to prevent the mischief
threatened him, furnished him with an ass to ride
home on; but, by the way, a lion set upon him, and
killed him, v. 23, 24. He did but turn back to re¬
fresh himself when he was hungry, and behold, he
must die for it; see 1 Sam. 14. 43. But we must
consider, 1. That his offence was great, and it would,
by no means, justify him, that he was drawn into it
by a lie; he could not be so certain of the counter¬
mand sent by another, as he was of the command
given to himself; nor had he any ground to think
that the command would be recalled, when the rea¬
son of it remained in force, which was, that he
might testify his detestation of the wickedness of
that place. He had great reason to suspect the ho¬
nesty of this old prophet, who did not himself bear
his testimony, nor did God think fit to make use of
him, as a witness against the idolatry of the city he
lived in: however, he should have taken time to beg
direction from God, and not have complied so soon.
Did he think this old prophet’s house safer to eat in
than other houses at Beth-el, when God had forbid¬
den him to eat in any? That was to refine upon the
518
I. KINGS, XIV.
command, and make himself wiser than God. Did
he think to excuse himself, that he was hungry?
Had he never read, that man lives not by bread
alone ? 2. That his death was for the glory of God;
for by this it appeared, (1.) That nothing is more
provoking to him than disobedience to an express
command, though in a small matter, which makes
his proceedings against our first parents, for eating
forbidden fruit, the easier to be accounted for. (2. )
That God is displeased at the sins of his own people,
and no man shall be protected in disobedience by
the s mctity of his profession, the dignity of his of¬
fice, his nearness to God, or any good services he
has done for him. Perhaps, God, by this, intended,
in a way of righteous judgment, to harden Jero¬
boam’s heart, since he was not reformed by the
withering of his hand: for he would be apt to make
a bad use of it, and to say that the prophet was well
enough served for meddling with his altar, he had
better have staid at home; nav, he would say that
Providence had punished him for his insolence, and
the lion had done that which his withered hand
.night not do; however, by this he intended to warn
all those whom he employs, strictly to observe their
orders, at their peril.
II. The wonderful preservation of his dead body,
which was a token of God’s mercy remembered in
the midst of wrath; the Hon that gently strangled
him, or tore him, did not devour his dead body, nor
so much as tear the ass, v. 24, 25, 28. Nay, what
was more, he did not set upon the travellers that
passed by, and saw it, nor upon the old prophet,
(who had reason enough to fear it,) when he came
to take up the corpse; his commission was, to kill
the prophet, hitherto he should go, but no further:
thus God showed that though lie was angry with
him, his anger was turned away, and the punish¬
ment went no further than death.
III. The care which the old prophet took of his
burial; when he heard of the unusual accident, he
concluded it was the man of God, who was disobe¬
dient to his Master, (and whose fault was that ?)
therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, v.
26. It had well become him to have asked why
the lion was not sent against him and his house,
rather than against the good man whom lie had
cheated. He took u/i the carcase, v. 29. If there
were any truth in the vulgar opinion, surely the
corpse bled afresh, when he touched it, for he was,
in effect, the murderer, and it was but a poor repa¬
ration for the injury, to inter the dead body: per¬
haps, when he cheated him into his ruin, he intended
to laugh at him ; yet now his conscience so far re¬
lents, that he weeps over him, and, like Joab at
Abner’s funeral, is compelled to be a mourner for
him whom he had been the death of; they said,
Alas, my brother! v. 30. The case was indeed very
lamentable, that so gord a man, a prophet so faith¬
ful, and so bold in God’s cause, should, for one of¬
fence, die as a criminal, while an old lying prophet
lives at ease, and an idolatrous prince in pomp and
power. Thy way, 0 God, is in the sea, and thy
fiath in the great ivaters. We cannot judge of men
by their sufferings, nor of sins by their present
punishments; with some, the flesh is destroyed,
that the spirit may be saved, while with others, the
flesh is pampered, that the soul may ripen for hell.
IV. The charge which the old prophet gave his
sons concerning his own burial, that they should be
sure to bury him in the same grave where the man
of God was buried; (u. 31.) “ Lay my bones beside
his bones, close by them as near as may be, so that
my dust may mingle with his;” though he was a
lying prophet, vet he desired to die the death of a
true prophet; “ Gather not my soul with the sinners
of Beth-el, but with this man of God. ” The reason
he gives, is, because what he cried against the altar
of Beth el, that men’s bones should be burnt upon
it, shall surely come to fiass, v. 32. Thus, 1. He
ratifies the. prediction, that out of the mouth of tsvo
witnesses, (and one of them such a one as St. Paul
quotes, Titus 1. 12, one of themselves, even a pro¬
phet of their own,) the word might be established,
if possible, to convince and reclaim Jeroboam. 2.
He does honour to the deceased prophet, as one
whose word would not fall to the ground, though he
did; ministers die, die prematurely it may be; but
the word of the Lord endures for ever, and does not
die with them. 3. He consults his own interest; it
was foretold that men’s bones should be burnt upon
Jeroboam’s altar; “Lay mine” (says he) “close to
his, and then they will not be disturbed ;” and it was,
accordingly, their security, as we find, 2 Kings 23.
18. Sleeping and waking, living and dying, it is
safe being in good company. No mention is made
here of the inscription on the prophet’s tomb; but it
is spoken of 2 Kings 23. 17. where Josiah asks,
What title is that ? And is told, It is the sepulchre
of the man of God, that came from Judah, who pro¬
claimed these things which thou hast done: so that
the epitaph upon the prophet’s grave preserved the
remembrance of his prophecy, and was a standing
testimony against the idolatries of Beth-el, which it
would not have been, so remarkably, if he had died,
and been buried elsewhere. The cities of Israel are
here called cities of Samaria, though that name was
not yet known; for, however the old prophet spake,
the inspired historian wrote in the language of his
own time.
V. The obstinacy of Jeroboam in his idolatry; ( v .
33.) He returned not from his evil way ; some hand
was found, that durst repair the altar God had rent,
and then Jeroboam offered sacrifice on it again, and
the more boldly, because the prophet who disturb¬
ed him before, was in his grave, (Rev. 11. 10.) and
because the prophecy was for a great while to come.
Various methods had been used to reclaim him, but
neither threats nor signs, neither judgments nor
mercies, wrought upon him, so strangely was he
wedded to his calves; he did not reform, no not his
priesthood, but whoever would, he filled his hand,
and made him priest, though ever so illiterate or
immoral, and of wjiat tribe soever; and this became
sin, that is, a snare first, and then a ruin, to Jero¬
boam’s house, to cut it off, v. 34. Note, The dimi¬
nution, disquiet, and desolation, of families, are the
fruit of sin; he promised himself that the calves
would secure the crown to his family, but it proved
they lost it, and sunk his family. Those betray
themselves, that think by any sin to support them¬
selves.
CHAP. XIV.
Tjie kingdom being divided into that of Judah and that of
Israel, vve must, henceforward, in these books of Kings,
expect and attend their separate history, the succession
of their kings, and the affairs of their kingdoms, account¬
ed for distinctly. In this chapter, we have, I. The pro¬
phecy of the destruction of Jeroboam’s house, v. 7 . . 16.
The sickness of his child was the occasion of it, (v. 1 . . 6.)
and the death of his child the earnest of it; (v. 17, 18.)
together with the conclusion of his reign, v. 19, 20. II.
The history of the declension and diminution of Reho-
boam’s house and his kingdom, (v. 21 . . 28.) and the
conclusion of his reign, v. 29 .. 31.) In both which, we
may read Ihe mischievous consequences of sin, and the
calamities it brings on kingdoms and families.
1. A T that time Abijah the son of Jero-
_i \ boam fell sick. 2. And Jeroboam
said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and dis¬
guise thyself, that thou be not known to be
the wife of Jeroboam ; and get thee to Shi¬
loh : behold, there is Abijah the prophet,
I. KINGS, XIV. 519
which told me that I should he king over
this people. 3. And take with thee ten
loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey,
and go to him : he shall tell thee what shall
become of the child. 4. And Jeroboam’s
wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh ;
and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahi-
jah could not see, for his eyes were set by
reason of his age. 5. And the Lord said
unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam
cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son, for
he is sick : thus and thus shalt thou. say unto
her ; for it shall be, when she cometh in, that
she shall feign herself to be another woman.
6. And it was so , when Ahijah heard the
sound of her feet, as she came in at the door,
that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jero¬
boam ; why feignest thou thyself to he an¬
other? for I am sent to thee with heavy
tidings.
How Jeroboam persisted in his contempt of God
and religion, we read in the close of the foregoing
chapter: here we are told how God proceeded in
his controversy with him; for when God judges, he
will overcome, and sinners shall either bend, or
break, before him.
I. His child fell sick, v. 1. It is probable that he
was his eldest son, and heir-apparent to the crown;
for, at his death, all the kingdom went into mourn¬
ing for him, v. 13. Neither his dignity as a firince,
nor his age as a young prince, nor his interest in j
heaven as a fiious prince, could exempt him from
sickness, dangerous sickness; let none be secure of j
the continuance of their health, but improve it, '
while it continues, for the best purposes; Lord, be- j
bold he, whom thou lovest, thy favourite, he whom
Israel loves, their darling, is sic/c. At that time,
when Jeroboam prostituted and profaned the priest¬
hood, ( ch . 13. 33.) his child sickened; when sickness
comes into our families, we should inquire whether
there be not some particular sin harboured in our
houses, which the affliction is sent to convince us of,
and reclaim us from.
II. He sent his wife in disguise to inquire of Ahi¬
jah the prophet, what should become of the child, v.
2, 3. The sickness of his child touched him in a
tender part; the withering of this branch of the fa¬
mily, would, perhaps, be as sore an affliction to him
i as the withering of that branch of his body, ch. 13.
4. such is the force of natural affection; our children
are ourselves but once removed.
Now, 1. Jeroboam’s great desire, under this af¬
fliction, is, to know what shall become of the child,
whether he will live or die. (1.) It had been more
prudent, if he had desired to know what means they |
should use for the recovery of the child, what they
should give him, and what they should do to him; |
but, by this instance, and that of Ahaziah, 2 Kings
1. 2. and Ben-hadad, 2 Kings 8. 8. it should seem,
they had then such a foolish notion of fatality, as j
took them off from all use of means; for if they were
sure the patient would live, they thought means
needless; if he would die, they thought them useless;
not considering that duty is our’s, events are God’s,
and that he that ordained the end, ordained the
means. Why should a prophet be desired to show
that which a little time will show? (2.) It had
been more pious, if he had desired to know where¬
fore God contended with him, had begged the pro¬
phet’s prayers, and cast away his idols from him;
then the child might have been restored to him, as |
his hand was; but most people would rather be told
their fortune, than their faults or their duty.
2. That he might know the child’s doom, he sent
to Ahijah the prophet, who lived obscure and ne¬
glected in Shiloh, blind through age, yet still bless¬
ed with the visions of the Almighty, which need
not bodily eyes, but are rather favoured by the
want of them, the eyes of the mind being then most
intent, and least diverted. Jeroboam sent not to him
for advice about the setting up of his calves, or the
consecrating of his priests, but has recourse to him
in his distress, when the gods he served, could give
him no relief; Lord, in trouble have they visited thee,
who before slighted thee; some have by sickness
been reminded of their forgotten ministers, and
praying friends: he sends to Ahijah, because he had
told him he should be king, v. 2. He was once the
messenger of good tidings, surely he will be so
again; those that by sin disqualify themselves for
comfort, and yet expect their ministers, because
they are good men, should speak peace and comfort
to them, greatly wrong both themselves and their
ministers.
3. He sent his wife to inquire of the prophet, be¬
cause she could best put the question without naming
names, or making any other description than this,
“Sir, I have a son ill; will he recover, or not?”
The heart of her husband safely trusted in her, that
she would be faithful both in delivering the message,
and bringing him the answer; and it seems there
were none of all his counsellors, in whom he could
repose such a confidence; otherwise, the sick child
could very ill have spared her, for mothers are the
best nurses, and it had- been much fitter for her to
have staid at home to tend him, than to go to Shiloh
to inquire what would become 6f him. If she go,
she must go incognito — must disguise herself, change
her dress, cover her face, and go by another name;
not only to conceal' herself from her own court, and
the country through which she past, (as if it were
below her quality to go upon such an errand, and
what she had reason to be ashamed of, as Nicode-
mus that came to Jesus by night, whereas it is no
disparagement to the greatest to attend God’s pro¬
phets,) but also to conceal herself from the prophet
himself, that he might only answer her question
concerning her son, and not enter upon the unpleas¬
ing subject of her husband’s defection; thus some
people love to prescribe to their ministers, limit
them to smooth things, and care not for having the
whole counsel of God declared to them, lest it prove
to prophesy no good concerning them, but evil. But
what a strange notion had Jeroboam of. God’s pro¬
phet, that he believed he could and would certainly
tell what would become of the child, and yet either
could not, or would not, discover who was the mo¬
ther; could he see into the thick darkness of futurity,
and yet not see through the thin veil of this disguise?
Did he think the God of Israel like his calves, just
what he pleased ? Be not deceived, God is not
mocked.
III. God gave Ahijah notice of the approach of
Jeroboam’s wife, and that she came in disguise, and
full instructions what to say to her, ( v . 5.) which
enabled him, as she came in at the door, to call her
by her name, to her great surprise, and so to disco¬
ver to all about him who she was; {v. 6.) Come in,
thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself
to be another ? He had no regard either, 1. To her
rank; she was a queen, but what was that to him,
who had a message to deliver her immediately
from God, before whom all the children of men
stand upon the same level? Nor, 2. To her present;
it was usual for those who consulted prophets, to
bring them tokens of respect, which they accepted,
and yet .were no hirelings; she brought him a hand¬
some country present, (v. 3.) but he did not think
520
1. KINGS, XIV.
himself obliged by that to give her any finer lan¬
guage than the nature of her message required.
Nor, 3. To her industrious concealment of herself;
it is a piece of civility not to take notice of those
who desire not to be taken notice of; but the prophet
was no courtier nor gave flattering titles; plain
dealing is best, and she shall know at the first word,
what she has to trust to; I am sent to thee with
heavy tidings. Note, Those who think by their
disguises to hide themselves from God, will be
wretchedly confounded, when they find themselves
disappointed in the day of discovery: sinners now
appear in the garb of saints, and are taken to be
such; but how will they blush and tremble, when
they find themselves stripped of their false colours,
and are called by their own name; “ Go out, thou
treacherous false-hearted hypocrite, I never knew
thee, why feignest thou thyself to be another ?”
Tidings of a portion with hypocrites will be heavy
tidings; God will judge men according to what they
are, not according to what they seem.
7. Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the
Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I ex¬
alted thee from among the people, and made
thee prince over my people Israel, 8. And
rent the kingdom away from the house of
David, and gave it thee; and yet thou hast
not been as my servant David, who kept
my commandments, and who followed me
with all his heart, to do that only which icas
right in mine eyes ; 9. But hast done evil
above all that were before thee : for thou
hast gone and made thee other gods, and
molten images, to provoke me to anger, and
hast cast me oehind thy back; 10. There¬
fore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house
of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam
him that pisseth against the wall, and him
th'at is shut up, and left in Israel, and will
take away the remnant of the house of Jero¬
boam, as a man thattaketh away dung, till
it be all gone. 11. Him that dieth of Jero¬
boam in the city shall the dogs eat ; and him
that dieth in the field shall the fowds of the
air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it. 12.
Arise thou, therefore, get thee to thine own
house; and when thy feet enter into the city,
the child shall die. 1 3. And all Israel shall
mourn for him, and bury him : lor he only
of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, be¬
cause in him there is found some good thing
toward the Lord God of Israel in the house
of Jeroboam. 14. Moreover, the Lord
shall raise him up a king over Israel, who
shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day:
but what ? even now. 15. For the Lord
shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the
w ater, and he shall root up Israel out of this
good land which he gave to their fathers,
and shall scatter them beyond the river, be¬
cause they have made their groves, pro¬
voking the Lord to anger. 16. And he
shall give Israel up, because of the sins of
Jeroboam who did sin, and who made Is¬
rael to sin. 17. And Jeroboam’s wife arose,
and departed, and came to Tirzah : ana
when she came to the threshold of the door,
the child died. 18. And they buried him;
and all Israel mourned for him, according to
the word of the Lord, which he spake by
the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam,
how he warred, and how he reigned, behold,
they are written in the book of the Chroni¬
cles of the kings of Israel. 20. And the
days which Jeroboam reigned were two and
twenty years : and he slept with his fathers,
and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
When those that set up idols, and keep them up,
go to inquire of the Lord, he determines to answer
them, not accordingto the pretensionsof their inquiry,
but according to the multitude of their idols; (Ezek.
14. 4) so Jeroboam is answered here. He prevent¬
ed her inquiry concerning the child, and foretells
the ruin of Jeroboam’s house for the wickedness of
it; no one else durst have carried such a message, a
servant would have smothered it, but his own wife
cannot be suspected of ill-will to him.
I. God calls himself the Lord God of Israel ;
though Israel had forsaken God, God had not cast
them off, nor given them a bill of divorce for their
whoredoms; he is Israel’s God, and therefore will
take vengeance on him who did them the greatest
mischief he could do them, and drew them away
from him.
II. He upbraids Jeroboam with the great favour
he had bestowed upon him, in making him king,
exalting him from among the people, the common
people, to be prince over God’s chosen Israel, and
taking the kingdom from the house of David, to be¬
stow it upon him. Whether we keep an account of
God’s mercies to us or no, he does, and will set
even them in order before us, if we be ungrateful,
to our greater confusion; otherwise, he gives, and
upbraids not.
III. He charges him with his impiety and apos¬
tasy, and his idolatry particularly; Thou hast done
evil above all that were before thee, v. 9. Saul, that
was rejected, never worshipped idols; Solomon did
it but occasionally, in his dotage, and never made
Israel to sin; Jeroboam’s calves, though pretended
to be set up in honour of the God of Israel, that
brought them up out of Egyfit, yet are here called
other gods, or strange gods, because in them he
worshipped God, as the heathen worshipped their
strange gods; because by them he changed the
truth of God into a lie, and represented him as
altogether different from what he is; and because
many of the ignorant worshippers terminated their
devotion in the image, and did not at all regard the
God of Israel. Though they were calves of gold,
the richness of the metal was so far from making
them acceptable to God, that they provoked him to
anger; designedly affronted him, under colour of
pleasing him. In doing this, 1. He had not set Da¬
vid before him; (r. 8.) Thou hast not been as my
servant David; who, though he had his faults, and
some bad ones, yet he never forsook the worship of
God, nor grew ioose or cold to that; his faithful ad¬
herence to that gained him this honourable charac¬
ter, that he followed God with all his heart, and
herein he was proposed for an example to all his
successors; those did not do well, that did not do
like David. 2. He had not set God before him; but,
( v . 9.) “ Thou hast cast me behind thy back, my
law, my fear; neglected me, forgotten me, and pre
ferred thy policies before my precepts.”
521
1. KINGS, XIV.
IV. He foretells the utter ruin of Jeroboam’s
house, x». 10, 11. He thought, by his idolatry, to
establish his government, and by that, he not only
lost it, but brought destruction upon his family; the
universal destruction of all the males, whether shut
up or left, married or unmarried. 1. Shameful
destruction; they shall be taken away as dung,
which is loathsome, and which men are glad to be
rid of. He worshipped dunghill-deities, and God
removed his family as a great dunghill; noble royal
families, if wicked, are no better, in God’s account.
2. Unusual destruction; their very dead bodies
should be meat for the dogs in the street, or the
birds of prey in the field, v. 11. Thus evil pursues
sinners. See this fulfilled, ch. 15. 29.
V. He foretells the immediate death of the child
that was now sick, v. 12, 13. 1. In mercy to him;
lest, if he live, he be infected with the sin, and so
involved in the ruin, of his father’s house. Observe
the character given of him, In him was found some
good thing toward the Lord God of Israel, in the
house of Jeroboam. He only had an affection for
the true worship of God, and disliked the worship
of the calves. Note, (1.) Those are good, in whom
are good things toward the Lord God of Israel;
good inclinations, good intentions, good desires, to¬
ward him. (2.) , Where there is but some good
thing of that kind, it will be found: God that seeks
it, sees it, be it ever so little, and is pleased with it.
(3.) A little grace goes a great way with great peo¬
ple. It is so rare to find princes well affected to re¬
ligion, that, when they are so, they are worthy of
double honour. (4.) Pious dispositions are, in a
peculiar manner, amiable and acceptable, when
they are found in those that are young. The divine
image, in miniature, has a peculiar beauty and lus¬
tre in it. (5.) Those that are good in bad times and
places, shine very bright in the eyes of God. A
good child in the house of Jeroboam, is a miracle
of divine grace: to be there untainted, is like being
in the fiery furnace unhurt, unsinged. Observe the
care taken of him : he only, of all Jeroboam’s family,
shall die in honour; shall be buried, and shall be la¬
mented, as one that lived desired. Note, Those
that are distinguished by divine grace, shall be dis¬
tinguished by divine providence. This hopeful
child dies first of all the family, for God often takes
them soonest, whom he loves best; heaven is the fit¬
test place for them, this earth is not worthy of
them. 2. In wrath to the family; it was a sign the
family would be ruined, when he was taken, by
whom it might have been reformed. The righteous
are removed from the evil to come in this world, to
the good to come in a better world. It is a bad
omen to a family, when the best in it are buried out
of it; when what was valuable, is picked out, the
rest is for the fire. It is likewise a present affliction
to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to
have been bettered. It aggravated it to the poor
mother, that she should not reach home time
enough to see her son alive. When thy feet enter
into the city, just then the child shall die. This was
to be a sign to her of the accomplishment of the rest
of the threatenings, as 1 Sam. 2. 34.
VI. He foretells the setting up of another family
to rule over Israel, v. 14. This was fulfilled in
Baasha of Issachar, who conspired against Nadab
.he son of Jeroboam, in the second year of his reign,
tiurdered him, and all his family. “ But what?
Even now. Why do I speak of it as a thing at a
listance? It is at' the door; it shall be done, even
•tow.” Sometimes God makes quick work with
sinners, he did so with the house of Jeroboam. It
was not twenty-four years from his first elevation
to the final extirpation of his family.
VII. He foretells the judgments which should
come upon the people of Israel, for conforming to i
Vol. II. — 3 U
the worship which Jeroboam had established. If
the blind lead the blind, both the blind leaders and
the blind followers shall fall into the ditch. It is
here foretold, (x». 15: ) 1. That they should never
be easy, nor rightly settled in their land, but con¬
tinually shaken like a reed in the water. After they
left the house of David, the government never con¬
tinued long in one family, but one undermined and
destroyed another, which must needs occasion great
disorders and disturbances among the people. 2.
That they should, ere long, be totally expelled out
of their land, that good land, and given up to ruin,
v. 16. This was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten
tribes by the king of Assyria. Families and king¬
doms are ruined by sin, ruined by the wickedness
of the heads of them. Jeroboam did sin, and made
Israel to sin. If great men do wickedly, they in¬
volve many others both in the guilt and in the snare;
multitudes follow their pernicious ways. They go
to hell with a long train, and their condemnation
will be more intolerable, who must answer not only
for their own sins, but for the sins which others
have been drawn into, and kept in, by their in¬
fluence.
Jeroboam’s wife has nothing to say against the
word of the Lord, but she goes home with a heavy
heart to their house in Tirzah, a sweet delightful
place, so the name signifies, famed for its beauty,
Cant. 6. 4. But death cannot be shut cut from it,
which will stain its beauty, and imbitter all its de¬
lights. Hither she came, and here we leave her
attending the funeral of her son, and expecting the
fate of her family.
(1.) The child died; (v. 17.) and justly did all Is¬
rael mourn, not only for the loss of so hopeful a
prince, whom they were not worthy of, but be¬
cause his death plucked up the flood-gates, and
made a breach, at which an inundation of judg¬
ments broke in.
(2.) Jeroboam himself died soon after, v. 20. It
is said, (2 Chron. 13. 20.) The Lord struck him
with some sore disease, so that he died miserably,
when he had reigned twenty-two years; and left his
crown to a son, who lost it, and his life too, and all
the lives of his family, within two years after. For
a further account of him, the reader is referred to
the annals of his reign; drawn up by his own secre¬
taries, or the public records, like those in the Tow¬
er, called here, The book, or register, of the Chro¬
nicles of the kings of Israel, to which recourse
might be had; but, not being divinely inspired, they
are long since lost.
21. And Rehoboam the son of Solomon
reigned in Judah. Rehoboam ivas forty
and one years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusa¬
lem, the city which the Lord did choose
out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name
there. And his mother’s name was Naamah,
an Ammonitess. 22. And Judah did evil
in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked
him to jealousy with their sins which they
had committed, above all that their fathers
had done. 23. For they also built them
high places, and images, and groves, on
every high hill, and under every green tree.
24. And there were also Sodomites in the
land ; and they did according to all the
abominations of the nations whicli the Lord
cast out before the children of Israel. 25.
And it came to pass, in the fifth year of
622
1. KINGS, XV.
king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt
came up against Jerusalem: 26. And he
took away the treasures of the house of
the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s
house ; he even took away all : and he took
away all the shields of'gold which Solomon
had made. 27. And king Rehoboam made
in their stead brazen shields, and committed
them unto the hands of the chief of the
guard, which kept the door of the king’s
house. 28. And it was so, when the king went
into the house of the Lord, that the guard
bare them, and brought them back into the
guard-chamber. 29. Now the rest of the
acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the Chroni¬
cles of the kings of Judah? 30. And there
was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam
all their days. 31. And Rehoboam slept
with his fathers, and was buried with his
fathers in the city of David. And his mo¬
ther’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.
And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
Judah’s story and Israel’s are intermixed in this
book. Jeroboam outlived Rehoboam four or five
years, yet his history is despatched first, that the
account of Rehoboam’s reign may be laid together;
and a sad account it is.
I. Here is no good said of the king. All the ac¬
count we have of him here, is, 1. That he was 41
years old, when he began to reign, by which reck¬
oning, he was born in the last year of David, and
had his education, and the forming of his mind, in
the best days of Solomon; yet he lived not up to it.
Solomon’s defection, at last, did more to corrupt
him, than his wisdom and devotion had done to give
him good principles. 2. That he reigned 17 years
in Jerusalem, the city where God put his name,
where he had opportunity enough to know his
duty, if he had had but a heart to do it. 3. That
his mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess; this is
twice mentioned, v. 21, 31. It was strange that
David would marry his son Solomon to an Ammon¬
itess, (for it was done while he lived,) but, it is
probable, Solomon was in love with her, because
she was JYaamah, a beauty, so it signifies, and his
father was loath to cross him, but it proved to have
a very bad influence upon posterity. Probably,
she was daughter to Shobi the Ammonite, who
was kind to David, (2 Sam. 17. 27.) and David was
too willing to requite him by matching his son into
his family. None can imagine how lasting and
how fatal the consequences may be, of being un¬
equally yoked with unbelievers/ 4. That he had
continual war with Jeroboam, {y. 30.) which could
not but be a perpetual uneasiness to him. 5. That
when he had reigned but 17 vears, he died, and
left his throne to his son. His father, and grand¬
father, and grandson, that reigned well, reigned
long, 40 years apiece; but sin often shortens men’s
lives and comforts.
II. Here is much said to the disadvantage of the
subjects, both as to their character and their con¬
dition.
1. See here how wicked and profane they were.
It is a most sad account that is here given of their
apostasy from God, v. 22.. 24. Judah, the only
professing people God had in the world, did evil in
his sight, in contempt and defiance of him, and the
tokens of his special presence with them; they pro
voked him to jealousy, as the adulterous wife pro
vokes her husband, by breaking the marriage-
covenant. Their fathers had been bad enough,
especially in the times of the judges, but they did
abominable things, above all that their fathers had
done. The magnificence of their temple, the pomp
of their priesthood, and all the secular advantages
with which their religion was attended, could not
prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than
the pouring out of the Spirit from on high, will
keep God’s Israel in their allegiance to him. The
account here given of the wickedness of the Jews,
agrees with that which the apostle gives of the wick¬
edness of the Gentile world; (Rom. 1. 21, 24.) so
that both Jew and Gentile are all alike under sin,
Rom. 3. 9. (1.) They became vain in their ima¬
ginations concerning God, and changed his glory
into an image, for they built them high places, im¬
ages, and groves, ( v . 23.) profaning God’s name, by
affixing it to their images, and God’s ordinances, by
serving their idols with them. They foolishly fan¬
cied that they exalted God, when they worshipped
him on high hills, and pleased him, when they wor¬
shipped him under the pleasant shadow of green
trees. (2.) They were given up to vile affections,
(as those idolaters, Rom. 1. 26, 27.) for there were
Sodomites in the land; (v. 24. ) men with men work¬
ing that which, is unseemly, and not to be thought of,
much less mentioned, without abhorrence and indig¬
nation. They dishonoured God by one sin, and then
God left them to dishonour themselves by another.
They profaned the privileges of a holy nation,
therefore God gave them up to their own hearts’
lusts, to imitate the abominations of the accursed
Canaanites; and herein the Lord was .righteous.
And when they did like them that were cast out,
how could they expect any other than to be cast
out like them?
2. See here how weak and poor they were; and
this was the consequence of the former. Sin ex-
oses, impoverishes, and weakens, any people,
hishak, king of Egypt, came against them, and so
far, either by force or surrender, made himself
master of Jerusalem itself, that he took away the
treasures both of the. temple and of the exchequer,
of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house,
which David and Solomon had amassed, v. 25, 26.
These, it is likely, tempted him to make this
descent; and, to save the rest, Rehoboam perhaps
tamely surrendered them, as Ahab, ch. 20. 4. He
also took away the golden shields, that were made
but in his father’s time; (r. 26.) these the king of
Egypt carried off as trophies of his victory; and,
instead of them, Rehoboam made brazen shields,
which the life-guard carried before him, when he
went to church in state, v. 27, 28. This was an
emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes
the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold,
and turns it into brass. We commend Rehoboam
for going to the house of the Lord, perhaps the
oftener for the rebuke he had been under, and do
not condemn him for going in pomp. Great men
should honour God with their honour, and then
they are themselves most honoured by it.
CHAP. XV.
In this chapter, we have an abstract of the history, I. Of
two of the kings of Judah , Abijam, the days of whose
reign were few and evil, (v. 1 . . 8.) and Asa, who reigned
well and long, v. 9 . . 24. II. Of two of the kings of
Israel, Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and Buasha the de¬
stroyer of Jeroboam’s house, v. 25 . . 3 '.
1. I^TOW, in the eighteenth year of king
-L^l Jeroboam the son of Nebat, reigned
Abijam over Judah. 2. Three years reign
523
1. KINGS, XV
ed he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s
na me was Maachah, the daughter of Abish-
alom. 3. And he walked in all the sins
of his father, which he had done before him :
and his heart was not perfect with the Lord
his God, as the heart of David his father.
4. Nevertheless, for David’s sake, did the
Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusa¬
lem, to set up his son after him, and to
establish Jerusalem : 5. Because David
did that which teas right in the eyes of the
Lord, and turned not aside from any thing
that be commanded him all the days of his
life, save only in the matter of Uriah the
Hittite. 6. And there was war between
Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of
his life. 7. Now the rest of the acts of
A bijam, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the Chronicles of the
kings of Judah? And there was war be¬
tween A bijam and Jeroboam. 8. And
Abijam slept with his fathers ; and they
buried him in the city of David : and Asa
his son reigned in his stead.
We have here a short account of the short reign
of Abijam the son of Rehoboam king of Judah. He
makes a better figure, 2 Chron. 13. where we have
an account of his war with Jeroboam, the speech
he made before the armies engaged, and the won- ,
derful victory he obtained by the help of God.
There he is called Abijah, My father is the Lord,
because no wickedness is there laid to his charge.
But here, where we are told of his faults, Jah, the j
name of God, is, in disgrace to him, taken away
from his name, and he is called Abijam, Jer. 22. 24.
Few particulars are related concerning him. 1.
He began his reign in the beginning of Jeroboam’s
18th year; for Rehoboam reigned but 17, ch. 14. 21.
Jeroboam indeed survived Rehoboam, but Reho-
boam’s Abijah lived to succeed him, and to be
a terror to Jeroboam, while Jeroboam’s Abijah
(whom we read of ch. 14. 1.) died before him. 2.
He reigned scarcely three years, for he died before
the end of Jeroboam’s 20th year, v. 9. Being made
proud and secure by his great victory over Jero¬
boam, (2 Chron. 13. 21.) God cut him off, to make
way for his son Asa, who would be a better man.
3. His mother's name was Maachah the daughter
of Abishalom, namely, Absalom, David’s son, as I
am the rather inclined to think, because two other
of Rehoboam’s wives were his near relations, (2
Chron. 11. 18.) one the daughter of Jerimoth, Da¬
vid’s son; and another the daughter of Eliab, Da¬
vid’s brother. He took warning by his father, not
to marry strangers; yet thought it below him to
marry his subjects, except they were of the royal
family. 4. He carried on his father’s wars with
Jeroboam. As there was continual war between
Rehoboam and Jeroboam, not set battles, (they
were forbidden, ch. 12. 24.) but frequent encoun¬
ters, especially upon the borders; one making in-
cursions and reprisals on the other: so there was,
between Abijam and Jeroboam, ( v . 7.) till Jero¬
boam, with a great army, invaded him, and then
Abijam, not being forbidden to act in his own de¬
fence, routed him, and weakened him, that he
compelled him to be quiet the rest of his reign, 2
Chron. 13. 20.
But, in general, we are told, (1.) That he was
not like David, had no hearty affection for the
ordinances of God; though, to serve his purpose
against Jeroboam, he pleaded his possession ot the
temple and priesthood, as that which he valued
himself upon, 2 Chron. 13. 10.. 12. Many boast
of their profession of godliness, who are strangers
to the power of it; and plead the truth of their
religion, who yet are not true to it. His heart was
not perfect with the Lord his God; he seemed to
have zeal, but he wanted sincerity; he began well,
but he fell off, and walked in all the sins of his fa¬
ther, followed his bad example, though he had
seen the bad consequences of it. He that was all
his days in war, ought to have been so wise as to
make and keep his peace with God, and not to
make him his Enemy, especially having found him
so good a Friend in his war with Jeroboam, 2
Chron. 13. 18. Let favour be showed the wicked,
yet Will he not learn righteousness, Isa. 26. 10.
(2.) That yet it was for David’s sake that he was
advanced to, and continued upon, the throne; it
was for his sake, ( v . 4, 5.) that God thus set up his
son after him; not for his own sake, or for the sake
of his father, whose steps he trod in, but for the
sake of David, whose example he would not fel¬
low. Note, It aggravates the sin of a degenerate
seed, that they fare the better for the piety of their
ancestors, and owe their blessings to it, and yet will
not imitate it. They stand upon that ground, and
yet despise it, and trample upon it, and unreasona¬
bly ridicule and oppose that which they enjoy the
benefit of. The kingdom of Judah was supported,
[1.] That David might have a lamp, pursuant to
the divine ordination of a lamp for his anointed, Ps.
132. 17. [2.] That Jerusalem might be establish¬
ed; not only that the honours put upon it, in Dav id’s
and Solomon’s time, might be preserved to it, but
that it might be reserved to the honours designed
for it in after-times. The character here gi\ en of
Da\ id, is very great, that he did that which was
right in the eyes of the Lord, but the exception very
remarkable, save only in the matter of Uriah, in¬
cluding both his murder, and the debauching of his
wife. That was a bad matter; it was a remaining
blot upon his name, a bar in his escutcheon, and
the reproach of it was not wiped away, though the
guilt was. David was guilty of other faults, but
they were nothing in comparison cf that; yet even
that, being repented of, though it be mentioned fer
warning to others, did not prevail to throw him out
of the covenant, nor to cut off the entail of the pro¬
mise upon his seed.
9. And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam
king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. 1 0.
And forty and one years reigned lie in Jeru¬
salem. And his mother’s name was Maa¬
chah, the daughter of Abishalom. 1 1 . And
Asa did that ivhich teas right in the eyes of
the Lord, as did David his father. 12.
And he took away the Sodomites out of the
land, and removed all the idols that his
fathers had made. 13. And also Maachah
his mother, even her he removed from being
queen, because she had made an idol in a
grove: and Asa destroyed her idol, and
burnt it by the brook Kidron. 14. But the
high places were not removed : nevertheless
Asa’s heart was perfect with the Lord all
his days. 15. And he brought in the things
which his father had dedicated, and the
things which himself had dedicated, into
62 4
I. KINGS, XV.
the house of the Lord* silver, and gold, and
vessels. 16. And there was war between
Asa and Baasha king of Israel all then-
days. 1 7. And Baasha king of Israel went
up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he
might not suffer any to go out or come in
to Asa king of Judah. 1 8. Then Asa took
all the silver and the gold that were left in
the treasures of the house of the Lord, and
the treasures of the king’s house, and de¬
livered them into the hand of his servants:
and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the
son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king
of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying,
1 9. There is a league between me and thee,
and between my lather and thy father : be¬
hold, I have sent unto thee a present of sil¬
ver and gold; come and break thy league
with Baasha king of Israel, that he may
depart from me. 20. So Ben-hadad hear¬
kened unto king Asa, and sent the captains
of the host which he had against the cities
of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and
Abel-beth-maachah, ana all Cinneroth, with
all the land of Naphtali. 21. And it came
to pass, when Baasha heard thereof \ that he
left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in
Tirzah. 22. Then king Asa made a pro¬
clamation throughout all Judah ; none was
exempted ; and they took away the stones
of Ramah, and the timber thereof, where¬
with Baasha had budded : and king Asa
built with them Geba of Benjamin, and
Mizpah. 23. The rest of all the acts of
Asa, and all his might, and all that he did,
and the cities which he built, are they not
written in the book of the Chronicles of the
kings of Judah? Nevertheless, in the time
of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
24. And Asa slept with his fathers, and was
buried with his father : in the city of David
his father : and Jehoshaphat his son reigned
in his stead.
We have here a short account of the reign of
Asa; we shall find a more copious history of it, 2
Chron. 14, 15, and 16.
Here is,
I. The length of it; He reigned forty-one years
, m Jerusalem , v. 10. In the account we have of the
kings of Judah, we find the number of the good
kings and the bad ones, nearly equal; but then we
may observe, to our comfort, that the reign of the
good kings was generally long, but that of the bad
kings short, the consideration of which will make
the state of God’s church not altogether so bad,
within that period, as it appears, at first sight
Length of days is in Wisdom’s right hand. Honour
thy father , much more thy heavenly Father, that
thy days may be long.
II. The general good character of it; (v. 11.)
Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord. That is right indeed, which is. so in God’s
eyes. Those are approved, whom he commends.
He did as did David his father, kept close to God,
and to his instituted worship, was hearty and zeal
ous for that, which gave him this honourable cha
racter, that he was like David, though he was not a
prophet, or psalmist, as David was. If we come
up to the graces of those that are gone before us, it
will be our praise with God, though we come short
of their gifts. Asa was like David, though he was
neither such a conqueror, nor such an author; for
his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days, (v.
14. ) that is, he was both cordial and constant in his
religion. What he did for God, he was sincere in,
steady and uniform, and did it from a good princi¬
ple, with a single eye to the glory of God.
III. The particular instances of Asa’s piety.
His times were times of reformation. For, 1. He
removed that which was evil. There reformaticn
begins; and a great deal of work of that kind his
hand found to do. For though it was but 20 years
after the death of Solomon, that he began to reign,
yet very gross corruption had spread far, and taken
deep root. Immorality he first struck at; he took
away the Sodomites out of the land , suppressed the
brothels ; for how can either prince or people pros¬
per, while those cages of unclean and filthy birds,
more dangerous than pest-houses, are suffered to
remain? Then he proceeded against idolatry; he
removed all the idols, even those that his father had
made, v. 12. His father having made them, he
was the more concerned to remove them, that he
might cut off the entail of the curse, and prevent
the visiting of that iniquity upon him and his. Nay,
(which redounds much to his honour, and shows
his heart was perfect with God,) when he found
idolatry in the court, he rooted it out thence, v. 13.
When it appeared that Maachah his mother, or
rather his grandmother, (but called his mother, be¬
cause she had the education of him in his child¬
hood,) had an idol in a grove, though she was his
mother, his grandmother, though it is likely, she
had a particular fondness for it, though, being old,
she could not live long to patronise it, though she
kept it for her own use only, yet he would by no
means connive at it. Reformation must begin at
home. Bad practices will never be suppressed
in the country, while they are supported in the
court. Asa, in every thing else, will honour and
respect his mother; he loves her well, but he loves
God better, and, like the Levite, (Deut. 33. 9.)
bravely forgets the relation, when it comes in com-
Setition with his duty. If she be an idolater, (1.)
ler idol shall be destroyed, publicly exposed to
contempt, defaced, and burnt to ashes, by the brook
Kidron, on which, it is probable, he strewed the
ashes, in imitation of Moses, (Exod. 32. 20. ) and in
token of his detestation of idolatry, and his indigna¬
tion at it, wherever he found it. Let no remains
of a court-idol appear. (2.) She shall be deposed:
he removed her from being queen, or from the
queen; that is, from conversing with his wife; he
banished her the court, and confined her to an ob¬
scure and private life. They that have power, are
happy, when thus they have hearts to use it well.
2. He re-established that which was good, v. 15.
He brought into the house of God the dedicated
things which he himself had vowed out of the spoils
of the Ethiopians he had conquered, and which his
father had vowed, but lived not to bring in, pursu¬
ant to his vow. We must not only cease to do evil,
but learn to do well; not only cast away the idols of
our iniquity, but dedicate ourselves and our all to
God’s honour and glory: When those who, in their
infancy, were, by baptism, devoted to God, make
it their own act and deed to join themselves to him,
and vigorously employ themselves in his service,
that is bringing in the dedicated things which they
and their fathers have dedicated: it is necessary
justice, rendering to God the things that are his.
I. KINGS, XV.
525
IV His political conduct. He built cities him¬
self, to encourage the increase of his people, ("u.
2:3. ) and to invite others to him by the conveniences
of habitation. And he was very zealous to hinder
Baasha from building Ramah, because he designed
it for the cutting off of communication between his
people and Jerusalem, and to hinder those who, in
obedience to God, would come to worship there.
An enemy must by no means be suffered to fortify
a frontier town.
V. The faults of his reign. In both the things
for which he was praised, he was found defective;
the fairest characters are not without some but or
other in them. 1. Did he take away the idols?
That was well: but the high filaces were not remov¬
ed; (y. 14.) therein his reformation fell short. He
removed all images which were rivals with the
true God, or false representations of him; but the
altars which were set up in high places, and to
which those sacrifices were brought, whicb should
have been offered on the altar in the temple, those
he suffered to stand, thinking there was no great
harm in them, they having been used by good men
before the temple was built, and being loath to dis¬
oblige the people who had a kindness to them, and
were wedded to them both by custom and conveni¬
ence; whereas in Judah and Benjamin, the only
tribes under Asa’s government, which lay so near
Jerusalem and the altars there, there was less pre¬
tence for them than in those tribes which lay more
remote. They were against the law, which obliged
them to worship at one place, Deut. 12. 11. They
lessened men’s esteem of the temple and the altars
there, and were an open gap for idolatry to enter in
at, while the people were so much addicted to it.
It was not well that Asa, when his hand was in, did
not remove these; nevertheless his heart was perfect
with the Lord. This affords us a comfortable note,
that those may be found honest and upright with
God, and be accepted of him, who yet, in some in¬
stances, come short of doing the good they -might
and should do. The perfection which is made the
indispensable condition of the new covenant, is not
to be understood of sinlessness, (then we were all
undone,) but sincerity. 2. Did he bring in the de¬
dicated things? That was well: but he afterward
alienated the dedicated things, when he took the
gold and silver out of the house of God, and sent
them as a bribe to Ben-hadad, to hire him to break
his league with Baasha, and, by making an inroad
upon his country, to give him a diversion from the
building of Ramah, v. 18, 19. Here he sinned,
(1.) In tempting Ben-hadad to break his league, and
so to violate the public faith. If he did wrong in'
doing it, as certainly he did, Asa did wrong in per¬
suading him to do it. (2.) In that he could not
trust God, who had done so much for him, to free
him out of this strait, without his using such indirect
means to help himself. (3.) In taking the gold out
of the treasury of the temple, which was not to be
made use of, but on extraordinary occasions. The
project succeeded; Ben-hadad made a descent upon
the land of Israel, which obliged Baasha to retire
with his whole force from Ramah, (i>. 20, 21.)
which gave Asa a fair opportunity to demolish his
works there, and the timber and stones served him
for the building of some cities of his own, v. 22.
But though the design prospered, we find it was
displeasing to God; and though Asa valued himself
upon the policy of it, and promised himself that it
would effectually securfe his peace, he is told by a
prophet, that he had done foolishly, and that from
thenceforth he should have wars; see 2 Chron. 16.
7. .9.
VI. The troubles of his reign. For the most part,
ne prospered: but, 1. Baasha king of Israel was a
very troublesome neighbour to him. He reigned
24 years, and, all his days, had war, more or less,
with Asa, v. 16. This was the effect of the divi¬
sion of the kingdoms, that they were continually
vexing one another, which made them both an ea¬
sier prey to the common enemy. 2. In his old age,
he was himself afflicted with the gout; he was dis¬
eased in his feet, which made him less fit for busi¬
ness, and peevish toward those about him.
VII. The conclusion of his reign. The acts of it
were more largely recorded in the common history
(to which reference is here had, v. 23.) than in
this sacred one. He reigned long, but finished, at
last, with honour, and left his throne to a successor
no way inferior to himself.
25. And Nadab the son of Jeroboam be¬
gan to reign over Israel in the second year
of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Is¬
rael two years. 26. And he did evil in the
sight of the Lord, and walked in the way
of his father, and in his sin wherewith he
made Israel to sin. 27. And Baasha the
son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar,
conspired against him : and Baasha smote
him at Gibbethon, which belongeth to the
Philistines; (for Nadab and all Israel laid
siege to Gibbethon ;) 28. Even in the third
year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay
him, and reigned in his stead. 29. And it
came to pass, when he reigned, that he
smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not
to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had
destroyed him, according unto the saying of
the Lord, which he spake by his servant
Ahijah the Shilonite: 30. Because of the
sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and
which he made Israel sin, by his provoca¬
tion wherewith he provoked the Lord God
of Israel to anger. 31. Now the rest of
the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the Chron¬
icles of the kings of Israel ? 32. And there
was war between Asa and Baasha king of
Israel all their days. 33. In the third year
of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son
of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah,
twenty and four years. 34. And he did
evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked
in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin
wherewith he made Israel to sin.
We are now to take a view of the miserable state
of Israel, while the kingdom of Judah was happy
under Asa’s good government. It was threatened
that they should be as a reed shaken in the water ,
(cA. 14. 15.) and so they were, when, during the
single reign of Asa, the government of the kingdom
was in six or seven different hands, as we find in
this and the following chapter. Jeroboam was up ¬
on the throne, in the beginning of his reign, and
Ahab at the end of it; between whom were Nadab,
Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, and Omri, undermin¬
ing and destroying one another. This they got by
deserting the house both of God and of David.
Here is, 1. The ruin and extirpation of the fami
ly of Jeroboam, according to the word of the Loro
by Ahijah. His son Nadab succeeded him. If thc-
death of his brother Abijah had had a due influence
526
1. KINGS, XVI.
upon him, to make him religious, and the honour
done him at his death had engaged him to follow his
good example, his reign might have been long and
glorious; but he walked in the way of his father,
( v . 26. ) kept up the worship of his calves, and for¬
bade his subjects to go up to Jerusalem to worship;
sinned, and made Israel to sin; and therefore God
brought ruin upon him quickly, in the second year
of his reign. He was besieging Gibbethon, a city
which the Philistines had taken from the Danites,
and was endeavouring to retake it; and there, in
the midst of his army, did Baasha, with others,
conspire against him, and kill him; [v. 27.) and so
little interest had he in the affections of his people,
that his army did not only avenge his death, but
chose his murderer for his successor. Whether
Baasha did it upon a personal pique against Nadab,
or to be avenged on the house of Jeroboam, for some
affront received from them; or whether, under
pretence of freeing his country from the tyranny
of a bad prince; or whether, merely from a princi¬
ple of ambition, or to make way for himself to the
throne, does not appear; but he slew him, and
reigned in his stead v. 28. And the first thing he
did, when he came to the crown, was, to cut off all
the house of Jeroboam, tnat he might the better se¬
cure himself, and his own usurped government. He
thought it not enough to imprison or banish them,
but he destroyed them; left not only no males, (as
was foretold, eh. 14. 10.) but none that breathed.
Herein, he was barbarous, but God was righteous.
Jeroboam’s sin was punished, ( v . 30.) for they that
provoke God, do it to their own confusion; see Jer.
7. 19. Ahijah’s prophecy was accomplished, ( v .
29.) for no word of God shall fall to the ground. Di¬
vine threatenings are not designed merely to terrify.
2. The elevation of Baasha. He shall be tried a
while, as Jeroboam was; 24 years he reigned, (z>.
33. ) but showed that it was not from anv dislike to
Jeroboam’s sins, that he destroyed his family, but
from malice and ambition; for when he had rooted
out the sinner, he himself clave to the sin, and
walked in the way of Jeroboam, (z>. 34.) though he
had seen the end of that way; so strangely .was his
heart hardened with the deceitfulness of sin.
CHAP. XVI.
This chapter relates wholly to the kingdom of Israel, and
the revolutions of that kingdom — many in a little time.
The utter ruin of Jeroboam’s family, after it had been
24 years a royal family, we read of in the chapter before.
In this chapter, we have, I. The ruin of Baasha’s family,
after it had been but 26 years a royal familv? foretold by
a prophet, (v. 1..7.) and executed by Zimri, one of his
captains, v. 8 .. 14. II. The seven days’ reign of Zimri,
and his sudden fall, v. 15.. 20. The struggle betyveen
Omri and Tibni, and Omri’s prevalency, and his reign,
v. 21 ..28. IV. The beginning of the reign of Ahab,
whom we shall afterward read much of v. 29 . .33. V.
The rebuilding of Jericho, v. 34. All this while, in Ju¬
dah things went well.
l.npHEN the word of the Lord came
JL. to Jehu the son of Hanani, against
Baasha, saying, 2. Forasmuch as 1 exalt¬
ed thee out of the dust, and made thee
prince over my people Israel, and thou hast
walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast
made my people Israel to sin, to provoke
me to anger with their sins; 3. Behold, 1
will take away the posterity of Baasha, and
the posterity of his house ; and will make
thy house like the house of Jeroboam the
son of Nebat. 4. Him that dieth of Baa-
sha in the city shall the dogs eat ; and him
that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls
of the air eat. 5. Now the rest of the acts
of Baasha, and what he did, and his might,
are they not written in the book of the
Chronicles of the kings of Israel l 6. So
Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buri
ed in Tirzah : and Flah his son reigned in
his stead. 7. And also by the- hand of the
prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, came the
word of the Lord against Baasha, and
against his house, even for all the e\il that
he did in the sight of the Lord, in provok¬
ing him to anger with the work of his hands,
in being like the house of Jeroboam; and
because he killed him. 8. In the twenty
and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began
Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel
in Tirzah, two years. 9. And his servant
Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspir¬
ed against him as he was in Tirzah, drink¬
ing himself drunk in the house of Arza,
steward of his house in Tirzah. 10. And
Zimri went in and smote him, and killed
him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa
king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 1 1.
And it came to pass, when he began to
reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he
slew all the house of Baasha : he left him
; not one that pisseth against a wall, neither
of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. 1 2. Thus
did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha,
according to the word of the Lord, which
he spake against Baasha by Jehu the proph¬
et ; 1 3. For all the sins of Baasha, and the
sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned,
and by which they made Israel to sin, in
I provoking the Lord God of Israel to an-
j ger with their vanities. 14. Now the rest
of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the Chroni¬
cles of the kings of Israel ?
Here is,
I. The ruin of the family of Baasha foretold: he
was a man likely enough to have raised and es¬
tablished his family, active, politic, and daring; but
he was an idolater, and that brought destruction
upon his family. God sent him warning of it be¬
fore, 1. That if he were thereby wrought upon to
repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented;
for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one
that desires not the death of sinners. 2. That, if
not, it might appear that the destruction, when it
did come, whoever might be instruments of it, was
the act of God’s justice, and the punishment of sin.
The warning was sent by Jehu, the son of Hanani.
The father was a seer, or prophet, at the same-
time, 2 Chron. 16, 7. He was sent to Asa king of
Judah; but the son, who wns young, and more ac¬
tive, was sent on this longer and more dangerous
• expedition to Baasha king of Israel. Juniores ad
labores — Toil and adventure are for the young. This
Jehu was a prophet, and worthy of a prophet.
Prophecy, thus happily entailed, was worthy of so
much the more honour. This Jehu continued lonu
527
1. KINGS, XVI.
in his usefulness, for we find him reproving Je-
hoshaphat (2 Chron. 19. 2.) above 40 years after,
and writing the annals of that prince, C Chron. 20.
34. The message which this prophet brought to
Baasha, is much the same with that which Ahijah
sent to Jeroboam by his wife. (1.) He reminds him
of the great things God had done for him; ( v . 2.)
I exalted thee out of the dust, to the throne of glory;
a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power,
1 Sam. 2. 8. Baasha seemed to have raised himseii
by his own treachery and cruelty, yet there was
the hand of Providence in it, to bring about God’s
counsel, concerning Jeroboam’s house; and God’s
owning his advancement as his act and deed, does
by no mehns amount to the patronising of his ambi¬
tion and treachery. It is God that puts power into
bad men’s hands, which he makes to serve his good
pu! poses, notwithstanding the bad use they make
of it. I made thee fxrince over my people. God
calls Israel his people still, though wretchedly cor¬
rupted, because they retained the covenant of cir¬
cumcision, and there were many good people among
them; it was not till long after, that they were call¬
ed Loammi, not a fieofile, Hos. 1. 9. (2.) He charges
him with high crimes and misdemeanors. [1. 1 That
he had made Israel to sin, had seduced God’s sub¬
jects from their allegiance, and had brought them
to pay the homage due to him only, to dunghill-
deities, and herein, he had •walked in the way of
Jeroboam, ( v . 2. ) and been like his house, v. 7. [2. ]
That he had himself provoked God to anger with
the work of his hands, that is, by worshipping images,
the work of men's hands; though others made them,
perhaps he served them, and thereby avowed the
making of them, and they are therefore called the
work of his hands. [3.] That he had destroyed the
house of Jeroboam, (v. 7.) because he killed him,
namely, Jeroboam’s son, and all his; if he had done
that, with an eye to God, and to his will and glory,
and from a holy indignation against the sins of Jero¬
boam and his house, he had been accepted and ap¬
plauded as a minister of God’s justice; but as he did
it, he was not only the tool of God’s justice, but a
servant to his own lusts, and is justly, punished for
the malice and ambition which governed him in all
he did. They who are, any way, employed in de¬
nouncing or executing the justice of God, (magis¬
trates or ministers,) are concerned to do it from a
good principle, and in a holy manner, lest it turn into
sin to them, and they make themselves obnoxious by
it. (3.) He foretel’s the same destruction to come upon
his family, which he himself had been employed to
bring upon the family of Jeroboam, v. 3, 4. They
who resemble others in their sins, may expect to
resemble them in their plagues, especially those who
seem zealous against such sins in others, as they al¬
low themselves in; the house of Jehu was reckoned
with for the blood of the house of Ahab, Hos. 1. 4.
II. A reprieve granted for some time, so long,
that Baasha himself dies in peace, and is buried with
honour in his own royal city; ( v . 6.) so far is he
from being a prey either to the dogs or to the fowls,
which yet was threatened to his house, v. 4. He
lives not either to see or feel the punishment threat¬
ened, yet he was himself the greatest delinquent;
certainly, there must be a future state, in which
impenitent sinners will suffer in their own persons,
and not escape, as often as they do in this world.
Baasha died under no visible stroke of divine ven¬
geance, for aught that appears, but God laid up his
iniquity for his children; (as Job speaks, ch. 21. 19.)
thus he often visits sins. Observe, Baasha is punished
by the destruction of his children after his death,
and his children are punished by the abuse of their
bodies after their death; that is the only thing which
the threatening specifies, (y. 4. ) that the dogs and
the fowls of the air should eat them, as if herein
were designed a tacit intimation, That there are
punishments after death, when death has done its
worst, which will be the sorest punishments, and
are most to be dreaded; these judgments on the body
I and posterity, signified judgments on the soul when
I separated from the body, by Him who, after he has
j killed, has power to cast into hell.
III. Execution done at last. Baasha's son Elah,
like Jeroboam’s son Nadab, reigned two years, and
! ihert was slain by Zimri, one of his own soldiers, as
he was by Baasha: so like was his house made to
that of Jeroboam, as was threatened, v. 3. Because
his idolatry was like his, and one of the sins for
which God contended with him, being the destruc¬
tion of Jeroboam’s family, the more like the destruc¬
tion of his own was to that, the nearer did the punish¬
ment resemble the sin, as face answers to face in
the glass.
1. As then, so now, the king himself was first
slain, but Elah fell more ingloriously than Nadab;
Nadab was slain in the field of action and honour,
he and his army then besieging Gibbethon; (ch. 15.
27. ) but the siege being then raised, upon that dis¬
aster, and the city still remaining in the Philistines’
hands, the army of Israel was now renewing the at¬
tempt, (v. 15.) and Elah should have been with
them to command in chief, but he loved his own
ease and safety better than his honour or duty, or
the public good, and therefore staid behind to take
his pleasure; and when he was drinking himself
drunk in his servant's house, Zimri killed him, v.
9, 10. Let it be a warning to drunkards, especially
to those who designedly drink themselves drunk,
that they know not but death may surprise them in
that condition. (1.) Death comes easily upon men,
when they are drunk; beside the chronical diseases
which men frequently bring themselves into by hard
drinking, and which cut them off in the midst of
their days, men, in that condition, are more easily
overcome by an enemy, as Amnon by Absalom, and
are liable to more bad accidents, being unable to
help themselves. (2.) Death comes terribly upon
men in that condition, finding them in the act of
sin, and incapacitated for any act of devotion; that
day comes upon them at unawares, (Luke 21. 34.)
like a thief.
2. As then, so now, the whole family was cut off,
and rooted out; the traitor was the successor, to
whom the unthinking people tamely submitted, as
if it were all one to them what king they had, so
that they had one; the first thing Zimri did, was,
to slay all the house of Baasha; thus he held by
cruelty what he got by treason; his cruelty seems
to have extended further than Baasha’s did against
the house of Jeroboam, for he left to Elah none of
his kinsfolk or friends; (v. 11.) none of his avengers,
so the word is, none that were likely to avenge his
death; yet divine justice soon avenged it so remark¬
ably, that it was used as a proverb long after, Had
Zimri peace, that slew his master? 2 Kings 9. 31.
In this, (1.) The word of God was fulfilled, v. 12.
(2. ) The sins of Baasha and Elah were reckoned
for, with which they provoked God with their vani¬
ties, v. 13. Their idols are called their vanities,
for they cannot profit nor help; miserable are those
whose deities are vanities. .
1 5. In the twenty and seventh year of Asa
king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in
Tirzah. And the people were encamped
against Gibbethon, which belonged to the
Philistines. 16. And the people that were
encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired,
and hath also slain the king : wherefore all
Israel made Omri, the captain of the host
528
1. KINGS, XVI.
king over Israel that day in the camp. 17.
And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all
Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah.
18. And it came to pass, when Zimri saw
that the city was taken, that he went into
the palace of the king’s house, and burnt
the king’s house over him with fire, and
died, 19. For his sins which he sinned in
doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walk¬
ing in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin
which he did, to make Israel to sin. 20.
Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his
treason that he wrought, are they not writ¬
ten in the book of the Chronicles of the
kings of Israel? 21. Then were the people
of Israel divided into two parts: half of the
people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to
make him king; and half followed Omri.
22. But the people that followed Omri pre¬
vailed against the people that followed Tibni
the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri
reigned. 23. In the thirty and first year of
Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over
Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he
in Tirzah. 24. And he bought the hill Sa¬
maria of Shemer for two talents of silver,
and built on the hill, and called the name
of the city which he built, after the name of
Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. 25.
But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the
Lord, and did worse than all that were be¬
fore him. 26. For he walked in all the way
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his
sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to pro¬
voke the Lord God of Israel to anger with
their vanities. 27. Now the rest of the acts
of Omri which he did, and his might that he
showed, are they not written in the book of
the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 28.
So Omri slept with his fathers, and was
buried in Samaria : and Ahab his son reign¬
ed in his stead.
Solomon observes, (Prov. 28. 2.) that for the trans¬
gression of a land, many were the princes thereof \
(so it was here in Israel,) but by a man of under¬
standing the state thereof shall be prolonged. So it
was with Judah at the same time, under Asa; when
men forsake God, they are out of the way of rest
and establishment; Zimri, and Tibni, and Omri,
are here striving .for the crown. Proud aspiring
men ruin one another, and involve others in the
ruin; these confusions end in the settlement of Omri;
we must therefore take him along with us, through
this part of the story.
I. How he was chosen; as the Roman emperors
often were, by the army in the field, now encamped
before Gibbethon: notice was soon brought thither,
that Zimri had slain their king, ( v . 16.) and set up
himself in Tirzah, the royal city, whereupon they
chose Omri king in the camp, that they might,
without delay, avenge the death of Elah upon Zimri;
though he was idle and intemperate, yet he was
their king, and they would not tamely submit to his
murderer, nor let the treason go unpunished; they
did not attempt to avenge the death of Nadab upon
Baasha, perhaps, because the house of Baasha had
ruled with more gentleness than the house of Jero¬
boam; but Zimri shall feel the resentments of the
provoked army; the siege of Gibbethon is quitted,
(Philistines are sure to gain when Israelites quarrel,)
and Zimri is prosecuted.
II. How he conquered Zimri: he is said to have
reigned 7 days, ( v . 15.) so long before Omri was
proclaimed king, and himself proclaimed traitor;
but we may suppose it a longer time before he died,
for he continued long enough to show his inclination
to the way of Jeroboam, and to make himself ob
noxious to the justice of God, by supporting his
idolatry, v. 19. Tirzah was a beautiful *city, but
not fortified, so that Omri soon made himself mas¬
ter of it ; (v. 17.) forced Zimri into the palace,
which, being unable to defend, and yet unwilling to
surrender, he burnt, and himself in it, v. 18. Un¬
willing that his rival should ever enjoy that sump¬
tuous palace, he burnt it; and fearing that if he fell
into the hands of the army, either alive or dead, he
should be ignominiously treated, he burnt himself
in it. See what desperate practices men’s wicked¬
ness sometimes brings them to, and how it hurries
them into their own ruin ; see the disposition of in¬
cendiaries, who set palaces and kingdoms on fire,
though they are themselves in danger of perishing
in the flame.
III. How he struggled with Tibni, and, at length,
got clear of him; half of the people followed this
Tibni, ( v . 21.) probably, those who were in Zimri’s
interest, with whom others joined, who would not
have a king chosen in the camp, (lest he should
rule by the sword, and a standing army,) but in a
convention of the states; the contest between these
two, lasted some years, and, it is likely, cost a great
deal of blood on both sides, for it was in the 27th
year of Asa, that Omri was first elected, (v. 15.)
and thence the 12 years of his reign are to be dated;
but it was not till the 31st year of Asa, that he be¬
gan to reign without a rival; then Tibni died, it is
likely, in battle, and Omri reigned, v. 22. Sir Wal¬
ter Raleigh, in his History of the World, (/. 2. c. 19.
§6.) inquires here, why it was, that in all these
confusions and revolutions of the kingdom of Israel,
they never thought of returning to the house of
David, and uniting themselves again to Judah, for
then it was better for them than now; and he thinks
the reason was, because the kings of Judah assumed
a more absolute, arbitrary, and despotic power,
than the kings of Israel; it was the heaviness of the
yoke that they complained of, when they first re¬
volted from the house of David, and the dread of
that made them, ever after, averse to it, and attach¬
ed to kings of their own, who ruled more by law,
and the rules of a limited monarchy.
IV. How he reigned, when he was, at length,
settled on the throne. 1. He made himself famous
by building Samaria, (which, ever after, was the
royal city of the kings of Israel, (the palace at Tir¬
zah being burnt,) and, in process of time, grew so
considerable, that it gave name to the middle part
of Canaan, which lay between Galilee on the north,
and Judea on the south,) and to the inhabitants ot
that country, who were called Samaritans. He
bought the ground for two talents of silver, some¬
what more than 700 pounds of our money, for a
talent was 353/. 11s. 10 l-2rf. Perhaps, Shemer,
who sold him the ground, let him have it con¬
siderably the cheaper, upon condition that the city
should be called after his name, which, otherwise,
would have borne the name of the purchaser; it was
called Samaria, or Shemeren, as it is in the He¬
brew, from Shemer, the former owner, x\ 24. The
kings of Israel changed their royal seats; Shechem
first, then Tirzah, now Samaria; but the kings ot
529
1. KINGS, XVI.
Judah were constant to Jerusalem, the city of God:
they that cleave to the Lord, fix; they that leave
him, ever wander. 2. He made himself infamous
by his wickedness, for he did worse than all that
were before him, v. 25. Though he was brought to
the throne with much difficulty, and Providence
had remarkably favoured him in his advancement,
yet he was more profane, or more superstitious,
and a greater persecutor, than either of the houses
of Jeroboam or Baasha; he went further than they
had done, in establishing iniquity by a law, and
forcing his subjects to comply with him in it; for we
read of the statutes of Omri, the keeping of which
made Israel a desolation , Mic. 6. 16. Jeroboam
made Israel to sin, by temptation, example, and al¬
lurement; but Omri did it by compulsion.
V. How he ended his reign, X'. 27, 28. He was
in some repute for the might which he showed;
many a bad man has been a stout man. He died in
his bed, as Jeroboam and Baasha did themselves;
but, like them, left it to his posterity to fill up the
measure, and then pay off the scores, of his ini¬
quity.
29. And in the thirty and eighth year of
Asa king of Judah, began Ahab the son of
Omri to reign over Israel : and Ahab the
son of Omri reigned over Israel, in Samaria,
twenty and two years. 30. And Ahab the
son of Omri did evil in the sight of the
Lord above all that were before him. 31.
And it came to pass, as if it had been a
light thing for him to walk in the sins of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to
wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king
of the Zidonians, and went and served
Baal, and worshipped him. 32. And he
reared up an altar for Baal in the house of
Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33.
And Ahab made a grove ; and Ahab did
more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to
anger than all the kings of Israel that were
before him. 34. In his days did Hiel the
Beth-elite build Jericho : he laid the foun¬
dation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and
set up the gates thereof in his youngest son
Segub, according to the word of the Lord,
which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
We have the beginning of the reign of Ahab, of
whom we have more particulars recorded, than of
any of the kings of Israel; we have here only a
general idea given us of him, as the worst of all the
kings, that we may expect what the particulars will
be; he reigned 22 years, long enough to do a deal
of mischief.
I. He exceeded all his predecessors in wicked¬
ness, did evil above all that were before him; {y. 30.)
and, as if it were done with a particular enmity both
to God and Israel, to affront him, and ruin them, it
is said, He did more, purposely to provoke the Lord'
God of Israel to anger, and, consequently, to send
judgments on his land, than all the kings of Israel
that went before him, v. 33. It was bad with the
people, when their kings were each worse than the
other; what would they come to at last? He had
seen the ruin of other wicked kings and their fami¬
lies, yet, instead of taking warning, his heart was
hardenf 1 and enraged against God by it. He
thought .t a light thing to walk in the sins of Jero
Vcl. II. — 3 X
boam, v. 31. It was nothing to break the second
commandment by image-worship, he would set
aside the first also bv introducing other gods; his lit¬
tle finger should fali heavier upon God’s ordinances
than Jeroboam’s loins. Making light of lesser sins
makes way for greater; and they that endeavour to
extenuate other people’s sins will but aggravate
their own.
II. He married a wicked woman, who, he knew,
would bring in the worship of Baal, and seemed to
marry her with that design. Hs if it had been a
light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, he took
to wife Jezebel, ( v . 31.) a zealous idolater, ex¬
tremely imperious and malicious in her natural
temper, addicted to witchcrafts and whoredoms,
(2 Kings 9. 22.) and every way vicious. The
false prophetess spoken of, Rev. f.. 20. is there
called Jezebel; for a wicked woman could not be
called by a worse name than her’s: what mischiefs
she did, and what mischief, at last, befell her, (2
Kings 9. 33.) we shall find in the following story;
this one strange wife debauched Israel more than
all Solomon’s.
III. He set up the worship of Baal, forsook the
God of Israel, and served the god of the Zidonians,
Jupiter instead of Jehovah; the sun, so some think;
a deified hero of the Phenicians, so others: he was
weary of the golden calves, and thought they had
worshipped them long enough: such vanities were
they, that those who had been fondest of them, at
length grew disgusted with them, and, like adul¬
terers, must have variety. In honour of this mock
deity, whom they called Baal, lord, and for the
convenience of his worship, 1. Ahab built a temple
in Samaria, the royal city, becav.se the temple of
God was in Jerusalem, the royal city of the other
kingdom; he would have Baai’s temple near him,
that he might the better frequent it, protect it, and
put honour upon it. 2. He reared an altar in that
temple, on which to offer sacrifice to Baal, by
which they acknowledged their dependence upon
him, and sought his favour. O the stupidity of
idolaters, who are at a great expense to make one
their friend, whom they might have chosen whether
they would have made a god of or no! 3. He made
a grove about his temple; either a natural one, by
planting shady trees there, or, if those would be too
long in growing, an artificial one in imitation of it;
for it is not said, He planted, but, He made a grove,
something that answered the intention, which was
to conceal, and so, countenance, the abominable
impurities that were committed in the filthy wor¬
ship of Baal. He that doeth evil, hateth the light.
IV. One of his subjects, in imitation of his pre¬
sumption, ventured to build Jericho, in defiance of
the curse Joshua had long since pronounced! on him
that should attempt it, v. 34. It comes in as an in¬
stance of the height of impiety men were then ar¬
rived at, especially at Beth-el, where one of the
calves was, for of that citv this daring sinner was.
Observe, 1. How ill he did; like Achan, he med¬
dled with the accursed thing; turned that to his own
use, which was devoted to God’s honour: he began
to build, in defiance of the curse well known in Is¬
rael, jesting with it, perhaps, as a bugbear, or fan¬
cying it was worn out by length of time; for it was
above 500 years since it was pronounced, Josh. 6.
26. He went on to build, in defiance of the execu¬
tion of the curse in part; for though his eldest son
died, when he began, yet he would proceed in con¬
tempt of God, and his wrath revealed from heaven
against his ungodliness. 2. How ill he sped; hr
built for his children, but God wrote him c.hildlesc;
his eldest son died, when he began, the youngest,
when he finished, and all the rest, (it is supposed,)
between. Note, Those whom God curses, are
cursed indeed; none ever hardened his heart against
I. KINGS, XVII.
God, and prospered. God keep us back from pre¬
sumptuous sins, those great transgressions!
CHAR XVII.
So sad was the character of both the princes and the peo¬
ple of Israel in the foregoing chapter, that one would ex¬
pect God should cast off a people that had so cast him
off; but as an evidence to the contrary, never was Israel
so blessed with a good prophet, as when it was so
plagued with a bad king; never was king so bold to sin i
as Ahab, never was prophet so bold to reprove and j
threaten as Elijah, whose story begins in this chapter, j
and is full of wonders. Scarcely any part of the Old '
Testament history shines brighter than the history of j
the spirit and power of Elias; he only, of all the prophets, I
had the honour of Enoch, the first prophet, to be trans- j
lated, that he should not see death, and the honour of
Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Saviour in his
transfiguration: other prophets prophesied and wrote, he
prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing; but his actings
cast more lustre on his name than their writings on
their’s. In this chapter, we have, I. Ilis prediction of
a famine in Israel, through the want of rain, v. 1. II.
The provision made for him in that famine, 1. By the
ravens at the brook Cherith, v. 2 . . 7. 2. When that fail¬
ed, by a widow at Zarephath, who received him in the
name of a prophet, and had a prophet’s reward; for, (1.)
He multiplied her meal and her oil, v. 8- -16. (2.) He
raised her dead son to life, v. 17 • .24. Thus his story be¬
gins with judgments and miracles, designed to awaken
that stupid generation that had so deeply corrupted
themselves.
1. 4 ND Elijah the Tishbite, who was of
J\_ the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto
Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth,
before whom I stand, there shall not be
dew nor rain these years, but according to
my word. 2. And the word of the Lord
came unto him, saying, 3. Get thee hence,
and turn thee eastward, and bide thyself by
the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4.
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the
brook ; and I have commanded the ravens
to feed thee there. 5. So he went and did
according unto the word ot the Lord: for
he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith,
that is before Jordan. 6. And the ravens
brought him bread and flesh in the morning,
and bread and flesh in the evening: and he
drank of the brook. 7. And it came to
pass, after a while, that the brook dried up,
because there had been no rain in the land.
The history of Elijah begins somewhat abruptly:
usually, when a prophet enters, we have some ac¬
count of his parentage, are told whose son lie was,
and of what tribe; but Elijah drops (so to speak)
out of the clouds, as if, like Melchisedek, he were
without father, without mother, and without de¬
scent, which made some of the Jews fancy that he
was an angel sent from heaven; but the apostle has
assured us that he was a man subject to like passions
as we are , (James 5. 17.) which perhaps intimates,
not only that he was liable to the common infirmities
of the human nature, but that, by his natural tem¬
per, he was a man of strong passions, more hot and
eager than most other men, and therefore the more
fit to deal with the daring sinners of the age he lived
in. So wonderfully does God suit men to the work
he designs them for; rough spirits are called to
rough services; the reformation needed such a man
as Luther, to break the ice.
Observe, 1. His name; Elijahu, “ My God Jeho¬
vah is he” (so it signifies,) “ is he who sends me,
and will own me, and bear me out, is he to whom I
would bring Israel back, and who alone can effect
that great work.” 2. His country; he was of the
\ inhabitants of Gilead, on the other side Jordan;
i either of the tribe of Gad, or that half of Manas-
j seii, for Gilead was divided between them: but
i whether a native of either of those tribes, is uncer
!:' tain; the obscurity of his parentage was no prejudice
! to his eminency afterward; sve need not inquire
! whence men are, but what they are; if it be a good
thing, no matter though it come cut of Nazareth.
| Israel was sore wounded, when God sent them this
balm from Gilead, and thisphysician thence. He
i is called a Tishbite, from 1 ishbe, a town in that
country.
Two things we have an account of here in th*”
beginning of his story.
I. How he foretold a famine, a long and grievous
famine, with which Israel should be punished foi
their sins; that fruitful land, for want of rain, should
be turned into barrenness, for the iniquity of them
that dwelt therein; he went, and told Ahab this; did
not whisper it to the people, to make them disaf¬
fected to the government, but proclaimed it to the
king, in whose power it was to reform the land, and
so, to prevent the judgment. It is probable that he
reproved Ahab for his idolatry and other wicked¬
ness, and told him that unless he repented and re¬
formed, this judgment would be brought upon his
land. There should be neither dew nor rain for
some years, none but according to my word; that is,
“Expect none, till you hear from me again.” The
apostle teaches us to understand this, not only of
the word of prophecy, but the word of prayer,
which turned the key of the clouds, James 5. 17,
IS. He prayed earnestly, (in a holy indignation at
Israel’s apostasy, and a holy zeal for the glory of
God, whose judgments were defied,) that it might
not rain; and, according to his prayers, the hea¬
vens became brass, till he prayed again that it
might rain. In allusion to this story, it is said of
God’s witnesses, (Rev. 11. 6.) These have power
to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their
prophecy.
Elijah lets Ahab know, 1. That the Lord Jehovah
is the God of Israel, whom he had forsaken. 2.
That he is a living God, and not like the gods he
worshipped, wtyich were dead dumb idols. 3. ThatAe
j was his servant in office, and a messenger from him;
; “ It is he before whom I stand, to minister to him,”
or “ whom I now represent, in whose stead I stand,
and in whose name I speak, in defiance of the pro¬
phets of Baal and the groves.” 4. That notwith¬
standing the present peace and prosperity of then-
kingdom, God was displeased with them for their
idolatry, and would chastise them for it by the want
of rain, which, when he withheld it, it was not in
the power of the gods they served, to bestow; for
are there any of the vanities of the heathen, that can
give rain? (Jer. 14. 22.) which would effectually
prove their impotency, and the folly of those who
left the living God, to make their court to such as
could do neither good nor evil; and this he confirms
with a solemn oath, As the Lord God of Israel
liveth; that Ahab might stand the more in awe of
the threatening, the divine life being engaged for
the accomplishment of it. 5. He lets him know
what interest he had in heaven; It shall be accord¬
ing to my word. With what dignity does he
speak, when he speaks in God’s name, as one who
well understood that commission of a prophet,
(Jer. 1. 10.) I have set thee over the nations and
over the kingdoms. See the power of prayer, and
the truth of God’s word; for he performeth th<
counsel of his messengers.
II. How he was himself taken care of in tha*
famine.
1. How he was hidden; God bade him go and
I. KINGS, XVII.
53)
hide himself by the brook Cherith, v. S. This was
intended, not so much for his preservation, for it
does not appear that Ahab immediately sought his
life, but as a judgment to the people, to whom, if
ne had publicly appeared, he might have been a
olessing, both by his instructions and his interces¬
sion, and so have shortened the days of their cala¬
mity; but God had determined it should last three
years and a half, and therefore, so long, appointed
Elijah to abscond, that he might not be solicited to
revoke the sentence, the execution whereof he had
said should be according to his word. When God
s/ieaks concerning a nation to pluck up and destroy ,
he finds some way or other to remove those that
would stand in the gap, to turn away his wrath; it
bodes ill to a people, when good men and good mi¬
nisters are ordered to hide themselves; when God
intended to send rain upon the earth, then he bade
Elijah go show himself to Ahab, ch. 18. 1. For the
present, in obedience to the divine command, he
went, and dwelt all alone in some obscure unfre¬
quented place, where he was not discovered; proba¬
bly, among the reeds of the brook. If Providence
calls us to solitude and retirement, it becomes us to
acquiesce; when we cannot be useful, we must be
patient, and when we cannot work for God, we
must sit still quietly for him.
2. How he was fed; though he could not work
there, having nothing to do but to meditate and pray,
(which would help to prepare him for his useful¬
ness afterward,) yet he shall eat, for he is in the
way of his duty, and verily he shall be fed, in the
day of famine he shall be satisfied. When the wo¬
man, the church, is driven into the wilderness, care
is taken that she be fed and nourished there, time,
times, and half a time, that is, three years and a
half, which was just the time of Elijah’s conceal¬
ment. See Rev. 12. 6, 14. Elijah must drink of
the brook, and the ravens were appointed to bring
him meat, ( v . 4. ) and did so, v. 6. Here,
(1.) The provision was plentiful, and good, and
constant; bread and flesh twice a day, daily bread,
and food convenient. We may suppose that he fared
not so sumptuously as the prophets of the groves,
who did eat at Jezebel's table, (ch. 18. 19. ) and yet
better than the rest of the Lord’s prophets, whom
Obadiah fed with bread and water, ch. 18. 4. It ill
becomes God’s servants, especially his servants the
prophets, to be nice and curious about their food,
and to affect dainties and varieties; if nature be sus¬
tained, no matter though the palate be not pleased;
instead of envying those who have daintier fare, we
should think how many there are, better than we,
who live comfortably' upon coarser fare, and would
be glad of our leavings. Elijah had but one meal
brought him at a time, every morning and every
evening, to teach him not to take thought for the
morrow; let those who have but from hand to
mouth, learn to live upon Providence, and trust it
for the bread of the day in the day; thank God for
bread this day, and let to-morrow bring bread with
it.
(2.) The caterers were very unlikely; the ravens
brought it him. Obadiah and others in Israel, that
had not bowed the knee to Baal, would gladly have
entertained Elijah; but he was a man by himself,
and shall he fed in an extraordinary wav, he was a
figure of John the Baptist, whose meat was locusts
and wild honey. God could have sent angels to
minister to him, as he did afterward, (ch. 19. 5.)
and as he did to our Saviour; (Matth. 4. 11.) but he
chose to send by winged messengers of another na¬
ture, to show that when he pleases, he can serve
his own purposes by the meanest creatures as effec¬
tually as by the mightiest. If it be asked, whence
the ravens had this provision, how and where it was
cooked, and whether they came honestly by it, we
must answer as Jacob did, (Gen. 27. 20. ) The Lord
our God brought it to them, whose the earth is, and
the fulness thereof, the world, arid they that dwell
therein. But why ravens? [1.] They are birds of
prey, greedy devouring creatures, more likely to
have taken his meat from him, or to have picked
out his eyes, (Prov. 30. 17.) but thus Samson’s rid¬
dle is again unriddled, Out of the eater comes forth
meat. [2.] They are unclean creatures; even
raven after his kind was, by the law, forbidden to
be eaten; (Lev. 11. 15.) yet Elijah did not think the
meat they brought ever the worse for that, but ate
and gave thanks, asking no question for conscience-
sake. Noah’s dove was to him a more faithful mes¬
senger than his raven; yet here the ravens are
faithful and constant to Elijah. [3. ] Ravens feed
on insects and carrion themselves, yet they brought
the prophet man’s meat, and wholesome food; it is
a pity that those who bring the bread of life to
others, should themselves take up with that which
is not bread. [4. ] Ravens could bring but a little,
and broken meat, yet Elijah was content with such
things as he had, and thankful that he was fed,
though not feasted. [5.1 Ravens neglect their own
young ones, and do not feed them; yet, when God
pleases, they shall feed his prophet; young lions
and young ravens may lack, and suffer hunger, but
not they that fear the Lord, Ps. 34. 10. [6.] Ra¬
vens are themselves fed by special providence,
(Job. 38. 41. Ps. 147. 9.) and now thev feed the
prophet. Have we experienced God’s special
goodness to us and our’s? Let us reckon ourselves
obliged, thereby, to be kind to those that are his,
for his sake. Let us learn from hence, First, To
acknowledge the sovereignty and power of God
over all the creatures; he can make what use he
pleases of them, either for judgment or mercy. Se¬
condly, To encourage ourselves in God in the great¬
est straits, and never to distrust him; he that could
furnish a table in the wilderness, and make ravens
purveyors, cooks, and servitors, to his prophet, is
able to supply all our needs according to his riches
in glory.
Thus does Elijah, for a great while, eat his mor¬
sels alone, and his provision of water which he has,
in an ordinary way, from the brook, fails him be¬
fore that which he had by miracle. The powers
of nature are limited, but not the powers of the God
of nature. Elijah’s brook dried up, (v. 7.) becaust
there was no rain; if the heavens fail, earth fails of
course; such are all our creature-comforts; we lose
them, when we most need them, like the brooks in
summer, Jcb 6. 15. But there is a river which
makes glad the city of God; that never runs drv;
(Ps. 46. 4.) a well of water that springs up to eter¬
nal life; Lord, give us that living water!
8. And the word pf the Lord came unto
him, saying, 9. Arise, get thee to Zare-
phath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell
there : behold, I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee. 10. So he
arose, and went to Zarephath. And when
he came to the gate of the city, behold, the
widow woman was there gathering of
sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch
me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel,
that I may drink. 11. And as she was
going to fetch it, he called to her, and said,
Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in
thine hand. 1 2. And she said, As the Lord
thy God liveth, I have not a cake, hut a
handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil
1. KINGS, XVJJ.
532
in a cruse : and, behold, I am gathering two
sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me
and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go,
and do as thou hast said: but make me
a little cake first thereof, and bring it unto
me, and after make for thee and for thy
son : 14. For thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste,
neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the
day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the
earth. 15. And she went, and did accord¬
ing to the saying of Elijah : and she, and
he, and her house, did eat many days. 1 6.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither
did the cruse of oil fail, according to the
word of the Lord, which he spake by
Elijah.
We have here an account of the further protec¬
tion Elijah was taken under, and the further pro¬
vision made for him, in his retirement; at destruc¬
tion and famine tie shall laugh, that has God for his
Friend, to guard and maintain him; the brook Che-
rith is dried up, but God’s care of his people, and
kindness to them, never slacken, never fail, but are
still the same, are still continued and drawn out to
them that know him, Ps. 36. 10. When the brook
was dried up, Jordan was not; why did not God
send him thither? Surely, because he would show
that he has a variety of ways to provide for his peo¬
ple, and is not tied to any one. God will now pro¬
vide for him there where he shall have some com¬
pany and opportunity of usefulness, and not be, as
he had been, buried alive. Observe,
I. The place he is sent to; to Zarefihath, or Sa-
repta, a city of Sidon, out of the borders of the land
of Israel, v. 9. Our Saviour takes notice of this as
an early and ancient indication of the favour of God
designed for the poor Gentiles, in the fulness of
time, Luke 4. 25, 26. Many widows were in Is¬
rael in the days of Elias, and some, it is likely, that
would have bidden him welcome to their houses;
yet he is sent to honour and bless with his presence
a city of Sidon, a Gentile city, and so becomes
(says Dr. Lightfoot) the first firofihet of the Gen¬
tiles. Israel had corrupted themselves with the
idolatries of the nations, and were become worse
than they; justly therefore is the casting off of them
the riches of the world. Elijah was hated and
driven out by his countrymen, therefore, Lo, he
turns lo the Gentiles, as the apostles were after¬
ward ordered to do, Acts 18. *6. But why to a city
of Sidon? Perhaps, because the worship of Baal,
which was now the crying sin of Israel, came late¬
ly from thence with Jezebel, who was a Sidonian;
( ch . 16. 31.) therefore thither he shall go, that
thence may be fetched the destroyer of that idola¬
try; “ Even out of Sidon have I called my prophet,
my reformer.” Jezebel was Elijah’s greatest ene¬
my; yet to show her the impotency of her malice,
God will find a hiding-place for him even in her
country; Christ never went among the Gentiles,
except once into the coast of Sidon, Matth. 15. 21.
II. The person that is appointed to entertain him;
not one of the rich merchants, or great men, of Si¬
don, not such a one as Obadiah, that was governor
of Ahab’s house, and fed the prophets, but a poor
widow woman, destitute and desolate, is command¬
ed (that is, made both able and willing) to sustain
him. It is God’s way, and it is his glory, to make
use of, and put honour upon, the weak and foolish I
things of the world. He is, in a special manner,
the widow’s God, and feeds them, and therefore
they must study what they shall render to him.
III. The provision made for him there; Provi¬
dence brought the widow woman to meet him
very opportunely at the gate of the city, (x>. 10.)
and by what is here related of what passed between
Elijah and her, we find,
1. Her case and character; and it appears,
(1.) That she was very poor and necessitous; she
had nothing to live upon, but a handful of meal, and
a little oil, needy at the best, and now, by the ge¬
neral scarcity, reduced to the last extremity; when
she has eaten the little she has, for aught she yet
sees, she must die for want, she and her son, v. 12.
She had no fuel but the sticks she gathered in the
streets, and, having no servant, she must gather
them herself; (x\ 10. ) more likely to receive alms
than give entertainment; to her Elijah is sent, that
he might still live upon Providence, as much as he
did when the ravens fed him; and it was in com¬
passion to the low estate of his handmaiden, that
God sent the prophet to her, not to beg of her, but
to board with her, and he would pay well for his
table.
(2.) That she was very humble and industrious;
he found her gathering sticks, and preparing to
bake her own bread, v. 10, 12. Her mind was
brought to her condition, and she complains not of
the hardship she was brought to, nor quarrels with
the Divine Providence for withholding rain, but ac¬
commodates herself to it as well as she can; such as
are of this temper, in a day of trouble, are best
prepared for honour and relief from God.
(3.) That she was very charitable and generous;
when this stranger desired her to go fetch him some
water to drink, she readily Went, at the first word,
v. 10, 11. She objected not the present scarcity
of it, nor asked him what he would give her for a
draught of water, for now it was worth money, nor
hinted that he was a stranger, an Israelite, with
whom, perhaps, the Sidonians cared not for having
any dealings, any more than the Samaritans, John
4. 9. She did not excuse herself on account of her
weakness through famine, or the urgency of her
own affairs; did not tell him she had something else
to do than to go on his errands, but left her gather¬
ing of the sticks for herself, to fetch water for him,
which perhaps she did the more willingly, being
moved with the gravity of his aspect. W e should
be ready to do any office of kindness, even to stran¬
gers; if we have not wherewith to give to the dis¬
tressed, we must be the more ready to work for
them; a cup of cold water, though it cost us no
more than the labour of fetching, shall, in no wise,
lose its reward.
(4.) That she had a great confidence in the word
of God; it was a great trial of her faith and obe¬
dience, when, having told the prophet how low her
stock of meal and oil was, and that she had but just
enough for herself and her son, he bade her make
a cake for him, and make his first, and after, pre¬
pare for herself and her son; if we consider, it
will appear as great a trial as could be, in so small
a matter; “Let the children first be served;”
(might she have said;) “charity begins at home; I
cannot be expected to give, having but little, and
not knowing, when that is gone, where to obtain
more.” She had much more reason than Nabal to
ask, “Shall I take my meal and my oil, and give u
to one that I know not whence he is?” Elijah, it i,
true, made mention of the God of Israel, ( v . 14. )
but what was that to a Sidonian? Or, if she had a
veneration for the name Jehovah, and valued the
God of Israel as the true God, yet ■ hat assu once
had she that this stranger was his prophet, or had
I any warrant to speak in his name? It was easy for
I. KINGS, XVII. 533
a hungry vagrant to impose upon her; but she gets
over all these objections, and obeys the precept, in
dependence upon the promise; she went ana did
according to the saying of Elijah, v. 15. O wo¬
man, great was thy faith; one has not found the
like, no not in Israel: all things considered, it ex¬
ceeded that of the widow, who, when she had but
two mites, cast them into the treasury; she took the
prophet’s word, that she should not lose by it, but
it should be repaid with interest. Those that can
venture upon the promise of God, will make no
difficulty of exposing and emptying themselves in
his service, by giving him his dues out of a little,
and giving him his part first. They that deal with
God, must deal upon trust; seek first his kingdom,
and then other things shad be added: by the law,
the first-fruits were God’s, the tithe was taken out
first, and the heave-offering of their dough was
first offered, Numb. 15. 20, 21. But surely the in¬
crease of this widow’s faith, to such a degree as to
enable her thus to deny herself, and to depend upon
the divine promise, was as great a miracle in the
kingdom of grace, as the increase of her oil was, in
the kingdom of providence. Happy are they, who
can thus, against hope, believe, and obey in hope.
2. The care God took of her and her guest; the
barrel of meal wasted not, nor did the cruse of oil
fail, but still as they took from them, more was
added to them by the divine power, v. 16. Never
did corn or olive so increase in the growing (says
Bishop Hall) as these did in the using; but the mul¬
tiplying of the seed sown, (2 Cor. 9. 10.) in the
common course of Providence, is an instance of the
power and goodness of God, not to be overlooked
because common. The meal and the oil multipli¬
ed, not in the hoarding but in the spending; for
there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; when
God blesses a little, it will go a great way, even be¬
yond expectation; as, on the contrary, though there
be abundance, if he blow upon it, it comes to little,
Hag. 1. 9. — 2. 16.
(1.) This was a maintenance for the prophet:
still miracles shall be his daily bread; hitherto, he
was fed with bread and flesh, now, with bread and
oil, which they used as we do butter; manna was
both, for the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil,
Numb. 11. 8. This Elijah was thankful for, though
he had been used to flesh twice a day, and now had
none at all: those that cannot live without flesh,
once a day, at least, because they have been used
to it, could not have boarded contentedly with Eli¬
jah, no not to live upon a miracle.
(2.) It was a maintenance for the poor widow and
her son, and a recompense to her for entertaining
the prophet: there is nothing lost by being kind to
God’s people and ministers; she that received a
prophet, had a prophet’s reward; she gave him
house-room, and he repaid her with food for the
household. Christ has promised to those who
open their doors to him, that he will come into
them, and sup with them, and they with him, Rev.
3. 20. Like Elijah here, he brings to those who
bid him welcome, not only his own entertainment,
but their’s too. See how the reward answered the
service; she generously made one cake for the pro¬
phet, and was repaid with many for herself and her
son. When Abraham offers his only son to God,
he is told he shall be the father of multitudes;
what is laid out in piety, or charity, is let out to the
best interest, upon the best securities. One poor
meal’s meat this poor widow gave the prophet, and
in recompense of it, she and her son did eat many
days, (y. 15.) above two years, in a time of general
scarcity ; and to have their food from God’s special
favour, and to eat it in such good company as Eli¬
jah’s, made it more than doubly sweet. It is pro¬
mised to them that trust in God, that they shall not
be ashamed in the evil time, but in the days of fa
mine they shall be satisfied, Ps. 37. 19.
17. And it came to pass, after these
things, that the son of the woman, the mis¬
tress of the house, fell sick ; and his sick¬
ness was so sore, that there was no breath
left in him. 18. And she said unto Elijah,
What have I to do with thee, O thou man
of God ? art thou come unto me to call my
sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ?
19. And he said unto her, Give me thy son.
And he took him out of her bosom, and
carried him up into a loft where he abode,
and laid him upon his own bed. 20. And
he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord
my God, hast thou also brought evil upon
the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying
her son? 21. And he stretched himself
upon the child three times, and cried unto
the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, 1
pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him
again. 22. And the Lord heard the voice
of Elijah, and the soul of the child came
into him again, and he revived. 23. And
Elijah took the child, and brought him
down out of the chamber into the house,
and delivered him unto his mother: and
Elijah said, See, thy son liveth ! 24. And
the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I
know that thou art a man of God, and that
the wTord of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
We have here a further recompense made to the
widow for her kindness to the prophet: as if it were
a small thing to be kept alive, her son, when dead,
is restored to life, and so restored to her. Observe,
I. The sickness and death of the child; for aught
that appears, he was her only son, the comfort of
her widowed estate. He was fed miraculously, and
yet that did not secure him from sickness and
death; Your fathers did eat manna, and are dead,
but there is bread, of which a man may eat, and not
die, which was given for the life of the world, John
6. 49, 50. This affliction was to this widow as a
thorn in the flesh, lest she should be lifted up above
measure with the favours that were done her, and
the honours that were put upon her. 1. She was
nurse to a great prophet, was employed to sustain
him, and had strong reason to think the Lord would
do her good; yet now, she loses her child. Note,
We must not think it strange, if we meet with very
sharp afflictions, even then when we are in the way
of duty, and of eminent service to God. 2. She
was herself nursed by miracle, and kept a good
house without charge or care, by a distinguishing
blessing from heaven; and in the midst of all this
satisfaction she is thus afflicted. Note, When we
have the clearest manifestations of God’s favour and
good will toward us, even then we must prepare
for the rebukes of Providence; our mountain never
stands so strong, but it may be moved, and there¬
fore, in this world, we must rejoice with trembling.
II. Her pathetic complaint to the prophet, of this
affliction; it should seem the child died suddenly,
else she would have applied to Elijah, while he was
sick, for the cure of him; but being dead, dead in
her bosom, she expostulates with the prophet upon
it, rather to give vent to her sorrow, than in any
hope of relief, v. 18.
534
J. KINGS, XVIII.
]. She expresses herself passionately; JVhathave
I to do with thee, 0 thou man of God? How calmly |
had she spoken cf her own, and her child’s death,
when she expected to die for want; (x>. 12.) That
xue may eat, and die! Yet now that her child dies,
and not so miserably as by famine, she is extremely
disturbed at it: we may speak lightly of an affliction
at a distance, but when it toucher h us, we are trou¬
bled, Job 4. 5. Then she spake deliberately, now
in haste; the death of the child was now a surprise j
to her, and it is hard to keep our spirits composed,
when troubles come upon us suddenly and unex¬
pectedly, and in the midst of our peace and prospe¬
rity. She calls him a man of God, and yet quarrels
with him, as if he had occasioned the death of her
child, and is ready to wisli she had never seen him,
forgetting past mercies and miracles; “What have
I done against thee?” So some understand it;
“Wherein have I < ffended thee, or been wanting
in mv duty? Show me wherefore thou contendest
with me.”
2. Yet she expresses herself penitently; “ Art
thou come to call my sin to thy remembrance, as the
cause of the affliction, and so to call it to my remem¬
brance, as the effect of the affliction?” Perhaps she
knew of Elijah’s intercession against Israel, and, be¬
ing conscious to herself of sin, perhaps her former
worshipping of Baal, the god of the Sidonians, she
apprehends he had made intercession against her.
Note, (1.) When God removes our comforts from
us, he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the
iniquities of our youth, though long since past, Job
13.26. Our sins are the death of our children. (2.)
When God thus remembers our sins against us, he
designs, thereby, to make us remember them against
ourselves, and repent of them.
III. The prophet’s address to God, upon this oc¬
casion; he gave no answer to her expostulation, but
brought it to God, and laid the case before him, not
knowing what to say to it himself: he took the dead
child from his mother’s bosom to his own bed, v. 19.
Probably, he had taken a particular kindness to the
child, and found the affliction his own, more than
by sympathy; he retired to his chamber, and, 1.
He humbly reasons with God concerning the death
of the child, v. 20. He sees death striking by com¬
mission from God; Thou hast brought this eanl; for
is there any evil of this kind in the city, in the fa¬
mily, and the Lord has not done it? He pleads the
greatness of the affliction to the poor mother; “ It
is evil upon the widow; thou art the widows’ God,
and dost not usually bring evil upon widows; it is
affliction added to the afflicted.” He pleads his
own concern; “ It is the widow with whom I so¬
journ; wilt thou, that art mv God, bring evil upon
one of the best of my benefactors? I shall be re¬
flected upon, and others will lie afraid of entertain¬
ing me, if I bring death into the house where I come.”
2. He earnestly begs of God to restore the child to
life again, v. 21. We do not read, before this, of
any that were raised to life; yet Elijah, by a divine
impulse, prays for the resurrection of this child,
which yet will not warrant us to do the like: David
expected not, by fasting and prayer, to bring his
child back to life, (2 Sam. 12. 23.) but Elijah had a
power to work miracles, which David had not; he
stretched himself u/ion the child, to affect himself
with the case; and to show how much he wts af¬
fected with it, and how desirous he was of the res¬
toration of the child, he would, if lie could, put life
into him by his own breath and warmth; also to give
a sign of what God would do by his power, and what
he does bv his grace, in raising of dead souls to a
spiritual life; the Holy Ghost comes upon them,
overshadows them, and puts life into them; he is
very particular in his prayer, I pray thee let this
child's soul come into him again; which plainly sup¬
poses the existence of the soul in a state of separa
tion from the body, and, consequently, its immorta¬
lity; which, Grotius thinks, God designed by this
miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the
encouragement of his suffering people.
IV. The resurrection of the child, and the great
satisfaction it gave to the mother; the child revived,
v. 22. See the power of prayer, and the power of
Him who hears prayer, who kills and makes alive.
Elijah brought him to his mother, who, we may
suppose, could scarcely believe her own eyes, and
therefore Elijah assures her it is her own; “It ’s
thy son that liveth, see it is thy own, and not ano¬
ther,” v. 23. The good woman hereupon cries out,
jYow I know that thou art a man of God; though
she knew it before, by the increase of her meal, yet
the death of her child she took so unkindly, that she
began to question it; (a good man surely would not
serve her so;) but now she was abundantly satisfied
i that he had both the power and goodness of a man
of God, and will never doubt of it again, but give up
herself to the direction of his word, and the wor¬
shipping of the God of Israel. Thus the death of
the child, like that of Lazarus, (John 11. 4.) was
for the glory of God, and the honour of his prophet.
CHAP. XVIII.
We left the prophet Elijah wrapt up in obscurity ; it- does
not appear that either the increase of the provision, or
the raising of the child, had made him taken notice of at
Zarephath, for then Ahab would have discovered him ;
he would rather do good than be known to do it: but in
this chapter his appearance was as public, as, before, his
retirement was close ; the days appointed for his con¬
cealment, (which was part of the judgment upon Israel,)
being finished, he is now commanded to show himself to
Ahab, and expect rain upon the earth, v. 1. Pursuant
to this order, we have here, I. His interview with Oba-
diah, one of Ahab’s servants, by whom he sends notice
to Ahab of his coming, v. 2.. 16. II. His interview
with Ahab himself, v. 17.. ly. III. His interview with
all Israel upon mount Carmel, in order to a public trial
of titles, between the Lord and Baal ; a most distin¬
guished solemnity it was, in which, 1. Baal and his pro¬
phets were confounded. 2. God and Elijah were ho¬
noured, v. 21 .39. IV. The execution he did upon the
prophets of Baal, v. 40. V. The return of the mercy
of rain, at the word of Elijah, v. 41 . . 46. It is a chap¬
ter in which are many things very observable.
1. A ND it came to pass, after many
l days, that the word of the Lord
came to Elijah in the third year, saying,
Go show thyself unto Ahab ; and 1 will
send rain upon the earth. 2. And Elijah
went to show himself unto Ahab. And
there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3.
And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the
governor of his house. (Now Obadiah
feared the Lord greatly: 4. For it was
so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the
Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred pro¬
phets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and
fed them with bread and water.) 5. And
Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land,
unto all fountains of water, and unto all
brooks: peradventure we may find grass
to save the horses and mules alive, that we
lose not all the beasts. 6. So they divided
the land between them, to pass throughout
it : Ahab went one way by himself, and
Obadiah went another way by himself. 7.
And as Obadiah was in the way, behold,
I. KINGS, XVIII.
Elijah met him : and he knew him, and fell
3n his face, and said, Art thou that my lord
Elijah? 8. And he answered him, 1 am:
go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 9.
And he said, What have 1 sinned, that
thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the
hand of Ahab, to slay me? 10. As the
Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or
kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to
seek thee : and when they said, He is not
there , he took an oath of the kingdom and
nation, that they found thee not. 11. And
now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold,
Elijah is here. 12. And it shall come to
pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that
the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee
whither I know not ; and so when 1 come
and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he
shall slay me : but I thy servant fear the
Lord from my youth. 13. Was it not told
my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the
prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred
men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a
cave, and fed them with bread and water?
14. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord,
Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay
me. 15. And Elijah said, As the Lord of
hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will
surely show myself unto him to-day. 16.
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told
him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
In these verses we find,
I. The sad state of Israel at this time, upon two
accounts :
1. Jezebel cut off the f irofihets of the Lord, (m 4. )
s lew them, v. 13. Being an idolater, she was a per¬
secutor, and made Ahab one. Even in those bad
times, when the calves were worshipped, and the
temple at Jerusalem deserted, yet there were some
good people that feared God and served him, and
some good prophets that instructed them in the
knowledge of him, and assisted them in their devo¬
tions. The priests and the Levites were all gone to
Judah and Jerusalem; (2 Chron. 11. 13, 14.) but in¬
stead of them, God raised up these prophets, who
read and expounded the law in private meetings,
or in the families that retained their integrity, for
we read not of any synagogues at this time; they had
not the spirit of prophecy as Elijah, nor did they of¬
fer sacrifice, or burn incense, but taught people to
live well, and keep close to the God of Israel.
These Jezebel aimed to extirpate, and put many of
them to death; which was as much a public calami¬
ty as a public iniquity, and threatened the utter ruin
of religion’s poor remains in Israel. Those few
that escaped the sword, were forced to abscond, and
hide themselves in caves, where they were buried
alive, and cut off, though not from life, yet from use¬
fulness, which is the end and comfort of life; and
when the prophets were persecuted and driven
into corners, no doubt, their friends, those few good
people that were in the land, were treated in like
manner.
Yet, bad as things were, (1.) There was one very-
good man, who was a great man at court, Obadiah,
who answers his name, a servant of the Lord, one
who feared God, and was faithful to him, and yet
was a steward of the household to Ahab Ob¬
serve his character; he feared the Lord greatly ;
{v. 3.) was not only a good man, but zealously and
eminently good; his great place put a lustre upon
his goodness, and gave him great opportunities of
doing good; and he feared the Lord from his youth;
(v. 12.) he began betimes to be religious, and had
continued long. Note, Early piety-, it is to be
hoped, will be eminent piety; those that are good
betimes, are likely to be very good; he that feared
God from his youth, came to fear him greatly. He
that will thrive, must rise betimes. But it is
strange to find such an eminent good man, gover¬
nor of Ahab’s house, an office of great honour,
power, and trust. [1.] It was strange that so wick¬
ed a man as Ahab, would prefer him to it, and
continue him in it; certainly it was because he was
a man of celebrated honesty, industry, and ingenui¬
ty, and one whom he could repose a confidence in,
whose eyes he could trust as much as his own, as
appears here, v. 5. Joseph and Daniel were pre¬
ferred, because there were none so fit as thev, for
the places they were preferred to. Note, Those
who profess religion, should study to recommend
themselves to the esteem even of these that are
without, by their integrity, fidelity-, and application
to business. [2.] It was strange that so good a
man as Obadiah, would accept of preferment in a
court so addicted to idolatry, and all manner of
wickedness. We may be sure, it was net made
necessary to qualify him for preferment, that he
should be of the king’s religion, that he should con¬
form to the statutes of Omri, or the law of the
house of Ahab. Obadiah would nrt have accepted
the place, if he could not have had it without bow¬
ing the knee to Baal, nor was Ahab so impolitic as
to exclude those from offices, that were fit to serve
him, merely because they would not join with him
in his devotions; that man that is true to God, will
be faithful to his prince. Obadiah therefore could,
with a good conscience, enjoy the place, and there¬
fore would not decline it, or give it up, though he
foresaw he could not do the good he desired to do in
it; they that fear God, need not go out of the
wrrld, bad as it is. [3.] It was strange that either
he did not reform Ahab, or Ahab corrupt him; but,
it seems, they were both fixed; he that was filthy,
would be filthy still, and he that was holy, would
be holy still. Those that fear God greatly, will
keep up the fear of him in bad times and places;
thus Obadiah did. God has his remnant among all
sorts, high and low; there were saints in Nero’s
household, and in Ahab’s. (2.) This great good
man used his power for the protection of God’s
prophets; he hid 100 of them in two caves, when
the persecution was hot, and fed them with bread
and water, v. 4. He did not think it enough to
fear God himself, but, having wealth and power
wherewithal to do it, he thought himself obliged to
assist and countenance others that feared God ; nor
did he think his being kind to them would excuse
him from being good himself, but he did both, he
both feared God greatly himself, and patronised
those that feared him likewise. See how wonder¬
fully God raises up friends for his ministers and
people, for their shelter in difficult times, there
where one should least expect them; bread and
water were now scarce commodities, yet Obadi: h
will find a competency of both for God’s prophets,
to keep them alive for service hereafter, though
now- thev were laid aside.
2. When Jezebel cut o ff God’s prophets, God cut
off their necessary provisions by the extremitv <\
the drought. Perhaps Jezebel persecuted God’s
prophets, under pretence that they were the cause
of the judgment, because Elijah had foretold :t;
Christianas ad leones — Away with Christians to the
lions But God made them knew the contrary, for
.536 i. KilNGS, XVIII.
the f imine continued till Baal’s- prophets were
sacrificed, and so great a scarcity of water there
was, that the king himself and Obadiah went in
person throughout the land, to seek for grass for
the cattle, v. 5, 6. Providence ordered it so, that
Ahab might, with his own eyes, see how bad the
consequences of this judgment were, that he might
be the better inclined to hearken to Elijah, who
would direct him into the only way to put an end
to it Ahab’s care was not to lose all the beasts,
many being already lost; but he took no care about
his soul, not to lose that; took a deal of pains to
seek grass, but none to seek the favour of God;
fencing against the effect, but not inquiring how to
remove the cause. The land of Judah lay close to
the land of Israel, yet we find no complaint there
of the want of rain; for Judah yet ruled with God,
and was faithful with the saints and prophets;
(Hos. 11. 12.) by which distinction Israel might
plainly have seen the ground of God’s controversy,
when God caused it to rain upon one city, and not
upon another ; (Amos 4. 7, 8.) but they blinded
their eyes, and hardened their hearts, and would
not see.
II. The steps taken toward redressing the griev¬
ance, by Elijah’s appearing again upon the stage,
to act as a Tishbite, a converter or reformer of Is¬
rael, for so (some think) that title of his signifies.
Turn them again to the Lord God of hosts, from
whom they have revolted, and all will be well
quickly; this must be Elijah’s doings. See Luke 1.
16, 17.
1. Ahab had made diligent search for him ; ( v .
10.) had offered rewards to any one that would dis¬
cover him; sent spies into every tribe and lordshi/i
of his own dominions, as some understand it, or, as
others, into all the neighbouring nations and king¬
doms that were in alliance with him; and when
they denied that they knew any thing of him, he
would not believe them, unless they swore it, and,
as should seem, promise likewise, upon oath, that
if ever they found him among them, they would
discover him, and deliver him up. It should seem,
he made this diligent search for him, not so much
that he might punish him for what he had done in
denouncing the judgment, as that he might oblige
him to undo it again by recalling the sentence, be¬
cause he had said it should be according to his word;
having such an opinion of him as men foolishly con¬
ceive of witches, that if they can but compel them
to bless that which they have bewitched, it will be
well again, or such as the king of Moab had of Ba¬
laam: I incline to this, because we find, when they
c irae together, Elijah, knowing what Ahab wanted
him for, appointed him to meet him on mount Car¬
mel, and Ahab complied with the appointment,
though Elijah took such a way to revoke the sen¬
tence, and bless the land, as perhaps he little
thought of.
2. God, at length, ordered Elijah to present him¬
self to Ahab, because the time was now come, when
he would send rain upon the earth, (v. 1.) or, ra¬
ther, upon the land: above two years, he had lain
hid with the widow at Zarephath, after he had
been concealed one year by the brook Cherith; so
that the third year of his sojourning there, here
spoken of, (i/. 1.) was the fourth of the famine,
which lasted, in all, three years and six months, as
we find, Luke 4. 25. James 5. 17. Such was Eli¬
jah’s zeal, no doubt, against the idolatry of Baal,
and such his compassion to his people, that he
thought it long to be thus confined to a corner; yet
he appeared not, till God bade him, “Go show thy¬
self to Ahab, for now thine hour is come, even the
time to favour Israel . ” Note, It bodes well to any
people, when God calls his ministers out of their
corners, and bids them show themselves; a sign
that he will give rain on the earth; however, we
may the better dispense with the bread of affliction,
while our eyes see our teachers, Isa. 30. 20, 21.
3. Elijah first surrendered, or, rather, discover¬
ed, himself to Obadiah. He knew, by the Spirit,
where to meet him, and we are here told what
passed between them.
(1.) Obadiah saluted him with great respect, fell
on his face, and humbly asked, Art thou that my
lord Elijah? v. 7. As he had showed the tender¬
ness of a father to the sons of the prophets, so he
showed the reverence of a son to this father of the
prophets; and by this made it appear that he did
indeed fear God greatly, that he did honour to one
that was his extraordinary ambassador, and had a
great interest in heaven.
(2.) Elijah, in answer to him, [1.] Transfers the
title of honour he gave him, to Ahab; “Call him
thy lord, not me;” that is a fitter title for a prince
than for a prophet, who seeks not honour from men.
Prophets should be called seers, and shepherds, and
watchmen, and ministers, rather than lords; as
those that mind duty more than dominion. [2.]
He bids Obadiah go tell the king that he was there
to speak with him. Tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah
is forth-coming, v. 8. He would have the king
know before, that it might not be a surprise to him,
and that he might be sure it was the prophet’s own
act, to present himself to him.
(3.) Obadiah begs to be excused from carrying
this message to Ahab, for it might prove as much
as his life was worth. [1.] He tells Elijah what
great search Ahab had made for him, and how
much his heart was upon it to find him out, v. 10.
[2.] He takes it for granted, that Elijah would
again withdraw, v. 12, The Spirit of the Lora
shall carry thee (as it is likely he had done some¬
times, when Ahab thought he had been sure of
him,) whither I know not. See 2 Kings 2. 16. He
thought Elijah was not in good earnest, when he
bade him tell Ahab where he was, but intended
only to expose the impotency of his malice; for he
knew Ahab was not worthy to receive any kindness
from the prophet, and it was not fit that the prophet
should receive any mischief from him. [3.] He is
sure Ahab would be so enraged at the disappoint¬
ment, that he would put him to death for making a
fool of him, or for not laying hands on Elijah him¬
self, when he had him in his reach, v. 12. Tyrants
and persecutors, in their passion, are often unrea¬
sonably outrageous, even toward their friends and
confidants. [4. ] He pleads that he did not deserve
to be thus exposed, and put in peril of his life;
What have I sinned? v. 9. Nay, ( v . 13.) Was it
not told my lord, how I hid the pro/ihets? He
mentions tliis, not in pride or ostentation, but to
convince Elijah that though he was Ahab’s servant,
he was not in his interest, and therefore deserved
not to be bantered as one of the tools of his persecu¬
tion. He that had protected so many prophets, he
hoped, should not have his own life hazarded by so
great a prophet.
(4.) Elijah satisfies him that he might, with
safety, deliver this message to Ahab, by assuring
him, with an oath, that he would, this very day,
present himself to Ahab, v. 15. Let but Obadiah
know that he spake seriously, and really intended it,
and he will make no scruple to carry the message
to Ahab. Elijah swears by the Lord of hosts, who
has all power in his hands, and was therefore able
to protect his servant against all the powers of hell
and earth.
(5.) Notice is hereby soon brought to Ahab, that
Elijah had sent him a challenge to meet him imme¬
diately at such a place, and Aliab accepts the chal¬
lenge, he went to meet Elijah, v. 16. We may
suppose it a great surprise to Ahab, to hear that
1. KINGS, XVIII.
537
Elijah, whom he had so long sought, and not found,
was now found without seeking. He went in quest
of grass, and finds him, from whose word, at God’s
mouth, he must expect rain. Yet his guilty con¬
science gives him little reason to hope for it, but
rather, to fear some other more dreadful judgment.
Had he, by his spies, surprised Elijah, he would
have triumphed over him, but now that he was
thus surprised by him, we may suppose he even
trembled to look him in the face; hated him, and
yet feared him, as Herod did John.
1 7. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw
Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou
he that troubleth Israel? 18. And he an¬
swered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou
and thy father’s house, in that ye have for¬
saken the commandments of the Lord, and
thou hast followed Baalim. 19. Now there¬
fore send, and gather to me all Israel unto
mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal
four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of
the groves four hundred, which eat at Jeze¬
bel’s table. 20. So Ahab sent unto all the
children of Israel, and gathered the prophets
together unto mount Carmel.
We have here the meeting between Ahab and
Elijah; as bad a king as ever the world was plagued
with, and as good a prophet as ever the church was
blessed with.
1. Ahab, like himself, basely accuses Elijah; he
dares not strike him, remembering that Jeroboam’s
hand was withered when it was stretched out
against a prophet, but gives him bad language,
which was no less an affront to him that sent him.
It is a very coarse compliment with which he
accosts him, at the first word, Art thou he that
troubleth Israel, v. 17. How unlike was this to
that with which his servant Obadiah saluted him; ■
( v . 7.) Art thou that my lord Elijah ‘I Obadiah
feared God greatly, Ahab had sold himself to work
wickedness; and both discovered their character by
the manner of their address to the prophet. One
may guess how people stand affected to God, by
observing how they stand affected to his people and
ministers. Elijah now came to bring blessings to
Israel, tidings of the return of the rain ; yet he is
thus affronted. Had it been true that he was the
troubler of Israel, Ahab, as king, had been obliged
to animadvert upon him. There are those who
trouble Israel by their wickedness, whom the con¬
servators of the public, peace are concerned to in¬
quire after. But it was utterly false concerning
Elijah; so far was he from being an enemy to Is¬
rael’s welfare, that he was the stay of it, the chariots
and horsemen of Israel. Note, It has been the lot
of the best and most useful men, to be called and
counted the troublers of the land, and to be run
down as public grievances. Ev en Christ and his
apostles were thus misrepresented, Acts 17. 6.
2. Elijah, like himself, boldly returned the
charge upon the king, and proved it upon him,
that he was the troubler of Israel, v. 18. Elijah is
not the Achan; “/ have not troubled Israel, have
neither done them any wrong, nor designed them
any hurt.” They that procure God’s judgments, do
the mischief, not he that foretells them only, and
gives warning of them, that the nation may repent,
and prevent them. I would have healed Israel,
but they ivouid not be healed. Ahab is the Achan,
the troubler, who follows Baalim, those accursed
things. Nothing creates more trouble to a land 1
Vol. II.— 3 Y
than the impiety and profaneness of princes and
their families.
3. As one having authority immediately from the
King of kings, he orders a convention of the states
to be forthwith summoned to meet at mount Car¬
mel, where there had been an altar built to God, v.
30. Probably, on that mountain they had had an
eminent high place, where, formerly, the pure
worship of God had been kept up as well as it
i could be any where but at Jerusalem. Thither all
Israel must come, to give Elijah the meeting, and
the prophets of Baal who were dispersed all the
country over, with those of the groves who were
Jezebel’s domestic chaplains, must there make
their personal appearance.
4. Ahab issues out writs accordingly, for the con¬
vening of this great assembly, (r. 20.) either be¬
cause he feared Elijah, and durst not oppose him;
(Saul stood in awe of Samuel more than of God;)
or because he hoped Elijah would bless the land,
and speak the word that they might have rain, and,
upon those terms, they would be all at his beck.
I hose that slighted and hated his counsels, would
gladly be beholden to him for his prayers. Now
God made those who said they were Jews and were
not, but were of the synagogue of Sata?i, to come,
and, in effect, to worship at his feet, and to know
that God had loved him, Rev. 3. 9.
21. And Elijah came unto all the people
and said, How long halt ye between two
opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow him:
but if Baal, then follow him. And the peo¬
ple answered him not a word. 22. Then
said Elijah unto the people, I, even 1 only,
remain a prophet of the Lord ; but Baal’s
prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23. Let them therefore give us two bullocks;
and let them choose one bullock for them¬
selves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on
! wood, and put no fire under: and 1 will
dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood,
and put no fire under: 24. And call ye on
the name of your gods, and I will call on
the name of the Lord : and the God that
answereth by fire, let him be God. And all
the people answered and said, It is well
spoken. 25. And Elijah said unto the pro¬
phets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for
yourselves, and dress it first ; for ye are
many : and call on the name of your gods,
but put no fire under : 26. And they took
the bullock which was given them, and tbev
dressed it, and called on the name of Baal,
from morning even until noon, saying, O
Baal, hear us! But there teas no voice, nor
any that answered. And they leaped upon
the altar which was made. 27. And it
came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked
them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god
either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he
is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth,
and must be awaked. 28. And they cried
aloud, and cut themselves, after their man¬
ner, with knives and lancets, till the blood
gushed out upon them. 29. And it came
to pass, when mid-day was past, and they
538
*
1. KINGS, XV111.
prophesied until the time of the offering of
the evening sacrifice, that there was neither
voice, nor any to answer, nor any that re¬
garded. 30. And Elijah said unto all the
people, Come near unto me. And all the
people came near unto him. And he re¬
paired the altar of the Lord that was bro¬
ken down. 31. nd Elijah took twelve
stones, according to the number of the tribes
of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word
of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be
thy name: 32. And with the stones he
built an altar in the name of the Lord : and
he made a trench about the altar, as great
as would contain two measures of seed.
33. And he put the wood in order, and cut
the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the
wood, and said, Eill four barrels with water,
and pour it on the burnt-sacrifice, and on
the wood. 34. And he said, Do it the
second time : and they did it the second
time. And he said, Do it the third time :
and they did it the third time. 35. And
the water ran round about the altar; and he
filled the trench also with water. 36. And
it came to pass, at the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the pro¬
phet came near, and said, Lord God of
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be
known this day that thou art God in Israel,
and that l am thy servant, and that I have
done all these things at thy word. 37.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me; that this peo¬
ple may know that thou art the Lord God,
and that thou hast turned their heart back
again. 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell,
and consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the
wood, and the stones, and the dust, and
licked up the water that was in the trench.
39. And when all the people saw it , they
fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord,
he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.
40. And Elijah said unto them, Take the
prophets of Baal ; let not one of them
escape. And they took them: and Elijah
brought them down to the brook Kishon, and
slew them there.
Alr-ib and the people expected that Elijah should,
in this solemn assembly, bless the land, and pray
for rain; but he has other work to do first. The
people must be brought to repent and reform, and
then they may look for the removal of the judg¬
ment, but not till then. This is the right method;
God will first prepare our heart, and then cause his
ear to hear; will first turn us to him, and then turn
to us, Ps. 10. 17. — 70. 3. Deserters must not look
for God’s favour, till they return to their allegiance.
Elijah might have looked for rain seventy times se¬
ven times, and not have seen it, if he had not thus
begun his work at the right end.
Three veal’s and a half’s famine would not bring
them back to God; Elijah will endeavour to convince
their judgments, and, no doubt, by special warrant
and direction from heaven, he put the controversy
between God and Baal upon a public trial. It was
great condescension in God, that he would suffer so
plain a case to be disputed, and would permit Baal
to be a competitor with h'm; but thus God would
have every mouth to be stepped, and all flesh to
become silent before him. God’s cause is so incon¬
testably just, that it needs not fear to ha\ e the evi¬
dences of its equity searched into, and weighed.
I. Elijah reproves the people for mixing the wor¬
ship of God, and the worship of Baal, together. Not
only some Israelites worshipped God, and otheis
Baal, but the same Israelites sometimes worshipped
one, and sometimes the other. This he calls, ( v .
21.) Halting between two opinions or thoughts.
They worshipped God, to please the prophets, but
worshipped Baal, to please Jezebel, and curry fa¬
vour at court. They thought to trim the matter,
and play on both sides, as the Samaritans, 2 Kings
17. 33. Now Elijah shows them the absurdity of
this; he does not insist upon their relation to Jeho¬
vah. “ Is he not your’s, and the God of your fathers,
while B lal is the God of the S;d< nians ? And will a
nation change their God? Jer. 2. 11. No, he waves
the prescription, and enters upon the merits of the
cause.” There can be but one God, but one infinite
and but one supreme; there needs but one God, one
omnipotent, one all-sufficient: what occasion for ad¬
dition to that which is perfect ? Now, if, upon trial,
it appears that Baal is that rne infinite omnipotent
Being, that one supreme Lord and all-sufficient Be¬
nefactor, you ought to renounce Jehovah, and cleave
to Baal only: but if Jehovah be that one God, Baal
is a cheat, and you must have no more to do with
him. Note, 1. It is very wrong to halt between
God and Baal. “ In reconc.il; ble differences (says
Bishop Hall) nothing more safe than indifferenev both
of practice and opinion; but in cases of so necessary
hostility, as betwixt God and Baal, he that is not
with God, is against him.” Compare Mark 9. 38,
39. with Matth. 12. 30. The service of God, and
the service of sin, the dominion of Christ, and the
dominion of our lusts, these are the two thoughts
which it is dangerous halting between. Those do
so, that are unresolved under their convictions; un¬
stable and unsteady in their purposes; promise fair,
but do not perform; begin well, but do not hold on;
that are inconsistent with themselves, indifferent
and lukewarm in that which is good. Their heart
is divided, (Hos; 10. 2.) whereas God will have all
or none. 2. We are fairly put to our choice, whom
we will serve, Josh. 24. 15. If we can find one that
has more right to us, or will be a better master to us,
than God, we may take him at our peril. God de¬
mands no more from us than he can make out a
title to.
This fair proposal of the case which Elijah here
makes, the people knew not what to say to, they
answered him not a word. They could say nothing
to justify themselves, and they would say nothing to
condemn themselves, but, as people confounded, let
him say what he would.
II. He proposes to bring the matter to a fair trial ;
and it was so much the fairer, because Baal had all
the external advantages on his side. The king and
court were all for Baal: so was the body of the peo¬
ple. The managers of Baal’s caute were 450 men,
fat, and well-fed, (v. 22.) beside 400 more, their
supporters or seconds, 7’. 19. The manager of God’s
cause was but one man, lately a poor exile, hardlv
kept frrm starving; so that God’s cause has nothing
to support it but its own right. However, it is put
to this experiment; “Let each side prep; re a sacri¬
fice, and pray to it’s God, and the C od that answer-
eth by fire, let him be God; if neither do, let them
turn Atheists; if both, let t’ em c.ont'uvre to halt be¬
tween two.” Elijah, doubtless, lmd a special com-
539
I. KINGS, XVI11.
mission from God to put it to this test, else he had
tempted God and affronted religion; but the case
was extraordinary, and the judgment upon it would
be of use, not only then, but in all ages. It is an
instance of the courage of Elijah, that he durst
stand alone in the cause of God against such powers
and numbers; and the issue encourages all God’s
witnesses and advocates never to fear the face of
man. Elijah does not say, “The God that answers
by water,” (though that was the thing the country
needed,) but “ that answers by fire, let him be God;”
because the atonement was to be made by sacrifice,
before the judgment could be removed in mercy.
The God therefore that has power to pardon sin,
and to signify it by consuming the sin-offering, must
needs be the God that can relieve us against the
calamity. He that can give fire, can give rain; see
Matth. '9. 2, 6.
III. The people join issue with him: It is well
spoken, v. 24. They allow the proposal to be fair
and unexceptionable. “God had often answered by
fire; if Baal cannot do so, let him be cast off for a
usurper.” They were very desirous to see the ex¬
periment tried, and seemed resolved to abide by the
issue, whatever it should be. They that were firm
for God, doubted not but it would end to his honour:
they that were indifferent, were willing to be de¬
termined. Ahab and the prophets of Baal durst not
oppose, for fear of the people, and hoped that either
they could obtain fire from heaven, (though they
never had yet,) and the rather, because, as some
think, they worshipped the sun in Baal; or, that
Elijah could not, because not at the temple, where
God was wont thus to manifest his glorv. If, in this 1
trial, they could but bring it to a drawn battle, their
other advantages would give them the victory. Let
it go on therefore to a trial.
IV. The prophets of Baal try first, but in vain, 1
with their God. They covet the precedency, not
only for the honour of it, but th at if thev cmld but
in the least seem to gain their point, Elijah might
not be admitted to make the trial. Elijah allows it ;
them; (x>. 25.) gives them the leading for their j!
greater confusion; only, knowing that the working
of Satan is with lying wonders, he takes care to pro- j
vent a fraud, Be sure to put no fire under. Now in
their experiment observe,
1. How importunate and noisy the pronhets of
Baal were, in their applications to him. They got
their sacrifices ready; and we may well imagine
what a noise 450 men made, when they cried as one
man, and with all their might, O Paal, hear us; O
Baal, answer us; as it is in the margin: and this,
for some hours together, longer th<n Diana’s wor¬
shippers made their crv, Great is Diana of the
Ephesians, Acts 19. 34. How senseless, how brutish,
were they in their addresses to Baal ! (1.) Like
fools, they leaped upon the altar, as if they would
themsel es become sacrifices with their bullock:
or, thus they expressed their great earnestness of
mind. They leaped up and down, or danced about
the altar: they hoped, by their dancing, to please
their deity, as Herodias did Herod, and so obtain
their request. (2.) Like madmen, they cut them¬
selves in pieces with knives and lancets, (x>. 28.) for
vexation that they were not answered, or in a sort
of prophetic fury, hoping to obtain the favour of
their god, by offering to him their own blood, when
thev could not do it with the blood of their bullock.
God neve- required his worshippers thus to honour
h'!m; b t the service of the Devil, though, in some
instances, it pleases and pampers the body, yet, in
other things, it is really c> uel to it, as in envy and
drunkenness. It seems, this was the manner of the
worshippers of Baal: God expressly forbade his
worshippers to cut themselves, Deut. 14. 1. He
insists upon it, that we mortify our lusts and corrup¬
tions; but corporeal penances and severities, such
as the Papists use, which have no tendency to that,
are no pleasure to him: Who has required these
things at your hands. ?
2. How sharp Elijah was upon them, v. 27. He
stood by them, and patiently heard them for many
hours, praying to an idol, yet with secret indigna¬
tion and disdain; and, at noon, when the sun was at
the hottest, and they too expecting fire, then, if
ever, he upbraided them with their folly; and not¬
withstanding the gravity of his office, and the se¬
riousness of the work lie had before him, banters
them, “ Cry aloud, for he is a god; a goodly god
that cannot be made to hear without all this clamour.
Surely you think he is talking, or meditating,” as
the word is, “ or he is pursuing some deep thoughts,
thinking of somewhat else, and not minding his own
matter, when not your credit only, but all his ho¬
nour, lies at stake, and his interest in Israel. His
new conquest will be Irst, if he do not look about
him quickly.” Note, The worship of idols is a most
ridiculous thing, and it is but justice to represent it
so, and expose it to scorn. This will, by no means,
justify those who ridicule the worshippers of God
in Christ, because the worship is not performed just
in their way. Baal’s prophets were so far from
being convinced and put to shame by the just re-
pvoach Elijah cast upon them, that it made them
the more \ iolent, and act more ridiculously. A de¬
ceived heart having turned them aside, they could
not deliver their souls by saying, Is there not a lie
in our right hand ?
3. How de f Baal was to them. Elijah did net
interrupt them, but let them go cn, till they were
tired, and quite despaired of success, which was not
till the time of the evening sacrifice, v. 29. During
all that time, some of them prayed, while others
of them prophesied, sang hymns, perhaps, to the
praise of Baal, or, rather, encouraged those that
were praying to proceed, telling them, Baal would
answer them at last; but there was no answer, nor
anv that regarded. Idols could do neither good nor
evil. The prince of the power of the air, if God
had permitted him, could have caused fire to come
down from heaven on this occasion, and gladly
would have done it for the support of his Baal. We
find that the beast which deceh es the world, dees
it, Rev. 13. 13. He maketh fire come down from
heaxren in the sight of men, and so deceiveth them,
v. 14. But God would not suffer the Devil to do it
now, because the trial of his title was put on that
issue by consent of parties.
V. Elijah soon obtains from his God an answer by
fire. The Baalites are forced to give up their
cause, and now it is Elijah’s turn to produce his.
Let us see if he speed better.
1. He fitted up an altar. He would not make
use of their’s, which had been polluted with their
prayers to Baal, but, finding the ruins of an altar
there, which had formerly been used in the service
of the Lord, he chose to repair that, (7’. 30. ) to inti
mate to them that he was not about to introduce an\
new religion, but to revive the faith and worship of
their fathers’ God, and reduce them to their first
love, their first works. He could not bring them to
the altar at Jerusalem, unless he could have united
the two kingdoms again, (which, for correction to
both, God designed should not now be dene,) there¬
fore by his prophetical authority, he builds an altai
on mount Carmel, and so owns that which had for¬
merly been built there. When we cannot carry a
reformation so far as we would, we must do what
we can, and rather comply with seme corruptions
than not do our utmost toward the extirpation of
Baal. He repaired this altar with twelve stones, ac¬
cording to the number of the twelve tribes, v. 31.
Though ten of the tribes were revolted to Baal, he
540
I. KINGS, XVIII.
will look upon them as belonging to God still, by
virtue of the ancient covenant with their fathers;
and though those ten were unhappily divided from
the other two in civil interest, yet in the worship of
the God of Israel they had communion with each
< ther, and they twelve were one. Mention is made
of God’s calling their father Jacob by the name of
Israel, a prince with God, (v. 31.) to shame his de¬
generate seed, who worshipped a god, which, they
saw, could not hear or answer them, and to encou¬
rage the prophet, who was now to wrestle with God
as Jacob did; he also shall be a prince with God,
Ps. 24. 6, Thy face, O Jacob. Hos. 12. 4, There he
spake with us.
2. Having built his altar in the name of the Lord,
[y. 32.) by direction from him, and with an eye to
him, and not for his own honour, he prepared his
sacrifice, v. 33. Behold the bullock and the wood:
but where is the fire ? (Gen. 22. 7, 8.) God will pro¬
vide himself fre. If we, in sincerity, offer our
hearts to God, he will, by his grace, kindle a holy
fire in them. Elijah was no priest, nor his atten¬
dants Levites; Carmel had neither tabernacle nor
temple, it was a great way distant from the ark of
the testimony, and the place God had chosen; this
was not the altar that sanctified the gift; yet never
was any sacrifice more acceptable to God than this.
The particular Levitical institutions were so often
dispensed with, (as in the time of the Judges, Sa¬
muel’s time, and now,) that one would be tempted
to think they were more designed for types to be
fulfilled in the evangelical anti-types, than for laws
to be fulfilled in the strict observance of them.
Their perishing thus in the using, as the apostle
speaks of them, (Col. 2. 22.) was to intimate the
utter abolishing of them, after a while, Heb. 8. 13.
3. He ordered abundance of water to be poured
upon his altar, which he had prepared a trench for
the reception of, (m. 32.) and, some think, made the
altar hollow. Twelve barrels of water, (probably
sea-water, for the sea was near, and so much fresh
water, in the time of drought, was too precious for
him to be so prodigal of it,) thrice four, he poured
upon his sacrifice, to prevent the suspicion of any
fire under; for if there had been any, this would
have put it out; and to make the expected miracle
the more illustrious.
4. He then solemnly addressed himself to God by
praver, before his altar, humbly beseeching him to
turn to ashes his burnt-offering, (as the phrase is,
Ps. 20. 3.) and to testify his acceptance of it. His
prayer is not long, for he used no vain repetitions,
nor thought he should be heard for his much speak¬
ing: but it is very grave and composed, and shows
his mind to be calm and sedate, and far from the
heats and disorders that Baal’s prophets were in, v.
36, 37. Though he was not at the place appointed,
he chose the appointed time of the offering of the
evening sacrifce, thereby to testify his communion
with the altar at Jerusalem. Though he expected
an answer by fire, yet he came near to the altar with
boldness, and feared not that fire. He addressed
hims rif to God, as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, acting faith on God’s ancient covenant, and
reminding the people too (for prayer may prevail)
of their relation both to God and to the patriarchs.
Two things he pleads here; (1.) The glory of God;
“Lord, hear me, and answer me, that it may be
known (for it is now by the most denied or forgot¬
ten) that thou art God in Israel, to whom alone the
homage and devotion of Israel are due, and that I
am thy servant, and do all I have done, am doing,
and shall do, as thine agent, at thy word, and not
to gratify any humour or passion of my own. Thou
employest me; Lord, make it appear that thou dost
so;” see Numb. 16. 28, 29. Elijah sou eh t not his
own glory, but in subserviency to God’s, and for
|j his own necessary vindication. (2.) The edification
of the people: “ That they may know that thou art
the Lord, and may experience thy grace, turning
their heart, by this miracle, as a means, back again
to thee, in order to thy return in a way of merev to
them.”
5. God immediately answered by fire, v. 38.
Elijah’s God was neither talking nor pursuing,
needed not to be either awakened or quickened;
while he was yet speaking, the fre of the Lord fell,
and not only, as at other times, (Lev. 9. 24. 1 Chron.
21. 26. 2 Chron. 7. 1.) consumed the sacrifce and
the wood, in token of God’s acceptance of the offer¬
ing, but licked up all the water in the trench, exhal¬
ing that, and drawing it up as a vapour, in order to
the intended rain, which was to be the fruit of
this sacrifice and prayer, more than of natural
causes. Compare Ps. 135. 7, He causeth vapours
to ascend, and maketh lightnings for the rain; for
this rain he did both. Those who fall as victims to
the fire of God’s wrath, no water can shelter from
it, any more than briers or thorns, Isa. 27. 4, 5. But
this was not all; to complete the miracle, the fire
consumed the stones oj the altar, and the very dust,
to show that it was no ordinary fire, and perhaps
to intimate that though God accepted this occasion¬
al sacrifice from this altar, yet, for the future, they
ought to demolish all the altars on their high places,
and, for their constant sacrifices, make use of that
at Jerusalem only. Moses’s altar and Solomon’s
were consecrated by the fire from heaven; but this
was destroyed, because no more to be used. We
may well imagine what a terror the fire struck on
guilty Ahab, and all the worshippers of Baal, and
how they fled from it as far and as fast as they
could, Lest it consume us also, alluding to Numb.
16. 34.
Lastly, What was the result of this fair trial.
The prophets of Baal had failed in their proof, and
could give no evidence at all, to make out their pre¬
tensions on the behalf of their God, but were per¬
fectly nonsuited; Elijah had, by the most convinc¬
ing and undeniable evidence, proved his claims on
behalf of the God of Israel.
And now, 1. The people, as the jury, give in their
verdict upon the trial, and they are all agreed in it;
the case is so plain, they need not go from the bar
to consider of their verdict, or consult about it, they
fell on their faces, and all, as one man, said, “Je¬
hovah, he is the God, and not Baal; we are convinc¬
ed and satisfied of it, Jehovah, he is the God,” v.
39. Whence, one would think, they should have
inferred, “ If he be the God, he shall be our God,
and we will serve him only,” as Josh. 24. 24. Some,
we hope, had their hearts thus turned back, but
the generality of them were convinced only, not
converted; yielded to the truth of God, that he is
the God, but consented not to his covenant, that he
should be their’s. Blessed are they that have not
seen what they saw, and yet have believed, and been
wrought upon by it, more than they that saw it.
Let it for ever be looked upon as a point adjudged
against all pretenders, (for it was carried, upon a
full hearing, against one of the most daring and
threatening competitors that ever the God of Israel
was affronted by,) that Jehovah, he is God, God
alone.
2. The prophets of Baal, as criminals, are seized,
condemned, and executed, according to law, v. 40.
If Jehovah be the true God, Baal is a false God, to
whom these Israelites had revolted, and seduced
others to the worship of him; and therefore, by the
express law of God, they were to be put to death,
Deut. 13. 1- - 1 1. There needed no proof of the
fact, all Israel were witnesses of it, and therefore
Elijah (acting still by an extraordinary commission,
which is not to be drawn into a precedent) orders
T. KINGS, XJX.
541
them all to be slain immediately, as the troublers
of the land; and Ahab himself is so terrified, for the
present, with the fire from heaven, that he dares
not oppose it. These were the 450 prophets of
Baal; the 400 prophets of the groves, (who, some
think, were Sidonians,) though summoned, (n. 19.)
yet, as it should seem, did not attend, and so escap¬
ed this execution, which fair escape perhaps Ahab
and Jezebel thought themselves happy in; but it
proved they were reserved to be the instruments of
Ahab’s destruction, some time after, by encouraging
him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead, ch. 22. 6.
41. And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get
thee up, eat anti drink ; for there is a sound
of abundance of rain. 42. So Ahab went
up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went
up to the top of Carmel ; and he cast him¬
self down upon the earth, and put his face
between his knees, 43. And said to his
servant, Go up now, look toward the sea.
And he went up, and looked, and said,
There is nothing. And he said, Go again
seven times. 44. And it came to pass at
the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a
man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto
Ahab, Prepare thy chariot , and get thee
down, that the rain stop thee not. 45. And
it came to pass in the mean while, that the
heaven was black with clouds and wind,
and there was a great rain. And Ahab
rode, and went to Jezreel. 46. And the
hand of the Lord was on Elijah: and he
girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to
the entrance of Jezreel.
Israel being thus far reformed, that they had ac¬
knowledged the Lord to be God, and had consented
to the execution of Baal’s prophets, that they might
not seduce them any more, though it was far short
of a thorough reformation, yet was so far accepted,
that God, thereupon, opened the bottles of heaven,
and poured out blessings upon his land, that very
evening (as it should seem) on which they did this
good work, which should have confirmed them in
their reformation; see Hag. 2. 18, 19.
1. Elijah sends Ahab to eat and drink, for joy that
God had now accented his works, and that rain was
coming; see Eccl. 9. 7. Ahab had continued fasting
all day, either religiously, it being a day of prayer,
or for want of leisure, it being a day of great expec¬
tation; but now let him eat and drink, for though
others perceive no sign of it, Elijah, by faith, hears
the sound of abundance of rain, v. 41. God reveals
his secrets to his servants the prophets; and yet,
without a revelation, we may foresee that when
man’s judgments run down like a river, God’s mer¬
cy will. Rain is the river of God, Ps. 65. 9.
2. He himself retires to pray, (for though God
has promised rain, he must ask it, Zech. 10. 1.)
and to give thanks for God’s answer by fire, now
hoping for an answer by water. What he said, we
are not told: but, (1.) He withdrew himself to the
top. of Carmel, which was very high and very pri¬
vate. Hence we read of those that hide themselves
in the top o f Carmel, Amos 9. 3. There he would
be alone. Those who are called to appear, and act
tn public, for God, must yet find time to be private
with him, and keep up their converse with him in
•.olitude. There he set himself, as it were, upon
his watch tower, like the prophet, Hab. 2. 1. (2.)
He cast himself down on his knees upon the eaith,
in token of humility, reverence, and importunity;
and put his face between his knees, that is, bowed
his head so low that it touched his knees, thus abas¬
ing himself in the sense of his own meanness, now
that God had thus honoured him.
3. He orders his servant to bring him notice, as
soon as he discerned a cloud arising out of the sea,
the Mediterranean sea, which he had a great pros¬
pect of from the top of Carmel. The sailors at this
day call it Cape Carmel. Six times his servant
goes to the point of the hill, and sees nothing, brings
no good news to his master; yet Elijah continues
praying; will not be diverted so far as to go and see
with his own eyes, but still sends his servant to see
if he could discover any hopeful cloud, while he
keeps his mind close and intent in prayer, and
abides by it, as one tljat had taken up his father Ja¬
cob’s resolution, I will not let thee go, except thou
bless me. Note, Though the answer of cur fervent
and believing supplications does not come quickly,
yet we must continue instant in prayer, and not faint
or give over; for, at the end, it shall speak, and not
lie.
4. A little cloud, at length, appears, no bigger
than a man’s hand, which presently overspreads the
heavens, and waters the earth, v. 44, 45. Great
blessings often arise from small beginnings, and
showers of plenty from a cloud a span long. Let us
therefore never despise the daij of small things, but
hope and wait for great things from it. This was
not as a morning-cloud, which passes away, (though
Israel’s goodness was so,) but one that produced a
plentiful rain, (Ps. 68. 9. ) and an earnest of more.
5. Elijah, hereupon, hastens Ahab home, and at
tends him himself. Ahab rode in his chariot, at
ease and in state, v. 45. Elijah ran on foot before
him. If Ahab had paid the respect to Elijah that
he deserved, he would have taken him into his cha¬
riot, as the eunuch did Philip, that he might honour
him before the elders of Israel, and confer with him
further about the reformation of the kingdom : but
his corruptions got the better of his convictions, and
he was glad to get clear of him, as Felix cf Paul,
when he dismissed him, and adjourned his confer¬
ence with him to a more convenient season. But
since Ahab invites him not to ride with him, he will
run before him, (v. 46.) as one of his footmen, that
he might not seem to be lifted up with the great ho¬
nour God had put upon him, or to abate in his civil re¬
spect to this prince, though he reproved him faith¬
fully. God’s ministers should make it appear that
how great soever they look when they deliver God’s
messages, yet they are far from affecting worldly
grandeur: let them leave that to the kings of the
earth.
CHAP. XIX.
We left Elijah at the entrance of Jezreel, still appearing
publicly, and all the people’s eyes upon him. In this
chapter, we have him again absconding, and driven into
obscurity, at a time when he could ill have been spared,
but we are to look upon it as a punishment to Israel for
the insincerity and inconstancy of their reformation.
When people will not learn, it is just with God to remove
their teachers into corners. Now observe, I. How he
was driven into banishment bv the malice of Jezebel, his
sworn enemy, v. 1 . . 3. II. How he was met, in his
banishment, by the favour of God, his covenant Friend.
1. How he fed him, v. 4. . 8. 2. How he conversed with
him, and manifested himself to him, (v. 9, 11.. 13.)
heard his complaint, (v. 10, 1 4. ) directed him what to do,
(v. 15 . . 17.) and encouraged him, v. 18. III. How his
hands were strengthened, at his return out of banish¬
ment, by the joining of Elisha with him, v. 19. .21.
1. A ND Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah
had done and withal how he had
542
I. KINGS, XIX.
slain all the prophets with the sword. 2.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah,
saying, So let the gods do to me, and more
also, it' 1 make not thy life as the life of one
of them by to-morrow about this time. 3.
And when lie saw that, he arose, and went
for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which
belongeth to Judah, and left his servant
there. 4. But he himself went a day’s jour¬
ney into the wilderness, and came and sat
down under a juniper-tree: and he request¬
ed for himself that he might die ; and said,
It is enough ; now, O Lord, take away
my life ; for I am not better than my fathers.
5. And as he lay and slept under a juni¬
per-tree, behold, then an angel touched him,
and said unto him, Arise, and eat. 6. And
he looked, and, behold, there teas a cake
baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at
his head. And he did eat and drink, and
laid him down again. 7. And the angel of
the Lord came again the second lime, and
touched him, and said, Arise and eat ; be¬
cause the journey is too great for thee. 8.
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and
went in the strength of that meat forty days
and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of
God.
One would have expected, after such a public
and sensible manifestation of the glory of God, and
such a clear decision of the controversy depending
between him and Baal, to the honour of Elijah, the
confusion of Baal’s prophets, and the universal satis¬
faction of the people; after they had seen both fire
and water come from heaven, at the prayer of Eli-
iah, and both, in mercy to them; the one, as it sig¬
nified the acceptance of their offering, the other, as
it refreshed their inheritance, which was weary ; that
now they should all, as one man, have returned to
the worship of the God of Israel, and taken Elijah
for their guide and oracle, that he should from
henceforward have been prime minister of state,
and his directions laws both to king and kingdom.
But it is quiteotherwise; he is neglected, whom God
honoured; no respect is paid him, no care taken of
him ; nor any use made of him, but, on the contrarv,
in the land of Israel, to which he had been, and
might have been, so great a blessing, he finds it im¬
possible to dwell.
I. Ahab incensed Jezebel against him. That
queen- consort, it seems, was, in effect, queen-re¬
gent, as she was afterward, when she was queen-
dowager; an imperious woman that managed king
and kingdom, and did what she would. Ahab’s
conscience would not let him persecute Elijah,
(some remains he had in him of the blood and spirit
of an Israelite, which tied his hands,) but he told
Jezebel all that Elijah had done, (u. 1.) not to con¬
vince, but to exasperate her. It is not said, he told
her what God had done, but what Elijah had done;
as if he, by some spell or charm, had brought fire
from heaven, and the hand of the Lord had not been
in it. Especially, he represented to her, as that
which would make her outrageous against him,
that he had slain the prophets; the prophets of Baal
he calls the firojihets, as if none but they were wor¬
thy of the name. They were the gods his heart
was upon, and he aggravates the slaying of them
as Elijah’s crime, without taking notice that it was
< a just reprisal upon her for killing God’s prophets,
ch. 18. 4. Those who, when they cannot, for
shame or fear, do-mischief themselves, yet stir up
others to do it, will have it laid to their charge, as
if they had themselves done it.
II. Jezebel sent him a threatening message, (v.
2.) that she had vowed and sworn to be the death
of him within 24 hours. Something prevented her
from doing it ju$t now, but she resolves it shall not
be long undone. Note, Carnal hearts are hardened
and enraged against God by that which should con¬
vince and conquer them, and bring them into sub¬
jection to him. She swears by her gods, and raging,
like one distracted, cursed herself if she slay not
him, without any proviso of a divine permission.
Cruelty and confidence often meet in persecutors:
/ will / lursue , I will overtake, Exod. 15. 9. But
how came she to send him word of her design, and
so, to give him an opportunity of making his escape?
Did she think him sodaring, that he would net flee;
or did she think herself able to prevent it? Or was
there a special providence in it, that she should be
thus infatuated by her own fury? I am apt to think
that though she desired nothing more than his blood,
yet, at this time, she durst not meddle with him,
for fear of the feo/ile, all counting him a ] irofihet , a
great prophet, and therefore sent this message to
him, merely to frighten him, and get him out of
the way, for the present, that he might not carry
on what he had begun. The backing of her threats
with an oath and imprecation, does not at all prove
that she really intended it, but only intended to
make him believe it. The gods she sware by, could
do her no harm.
III. Elijah, hereupon, in a great fright, fled f t
his life, it is likely by night, anti came to Beer-sheba,
v. 3. Shall we praise him for this? We praise him
not. Where was the courage with which he had
lately confronted Ahab, and all the prophets of Baal ?
Nay, which kept him by his sacrifice, when the
fire of God fell upon it? He that .stood undaunted
in the midst of the terrors both of heaven and earth,
trembles at the impotent menaces of a proud pas¬
sionate woman. Lord, what is man! Great f ith
is not always alike strong. He could not but know
that he might be very serviceable to Israel at this
juncture, and had all the reason in the world to de¬
pend upon God’s protection, while he was doing
God’s work; yet he flies. In his former danger,
God had bidden him hide himself, (ch. 17. 3.) there¬
fore he supposed he might do it now.
IV. From Beer-sheba he went forward into the
wilderness, that vast howling wilderness in which
the Israelites wandered. Beer-sheba was so far
distant from Jezreel, and within the dominion of so
good a king as Jehoshaphat, that he could not but
be safe there; yet, as if his fears haunted him, even
then when he was out of the reach of danger, he
cannot rest there, but went a day’s journey into the
desert. Yet perhaps he retired thither, not so much
for his safety, as that he might be wholly retired
from the world, in order to a more free and intimate
communion with God. He left his seramnt at Beer-
sheba, that he might be private in the wilderness,
as Abraham left his servants at the bottom of the
hill when he went up into the mount to worship God,
and as Christ in the garden was withdrawn from his
disci/iles: or perhaps it was because he would not
expose his servant, who was young and tender, to
the hardships of the wilderness; that would be
putting new wine into old bottles. We ought thus
to consider the frame of those who are under cur
charge, for God considers our’s.
V. Being wearied with his journey, he grew cross,
(like children when they are sleepy,) and wishea
he might die, v. 4. He requested for his life, (so i'
543
1. KINGS, XIX.
is in the margin,) that he might die; for death is life
to a good man; the death of the body is the life of
the soul. Yet that was not the reason why he wish¬
ed to die; it was hot the deliberate desire cf grace,
as Paul’s, to depart and be with Christ, but the pas¬
sionate wish of his corruption, as Job’s. Those that
re, in this manner, forward to die, are not in the
ttest frame for it. Jezebel has sworn his death,
and therefore he, in a fret, prays for it, runs from
death to death, yet with this difference, he wishes
to die by the hand of the Lord, whose tender mer¬
cies are great, and not to fall into the hands of man,
whose tender mercies are cruel. He would rather
die in the wilderness, than as Baal’s prophets died,
according to Jezebel’s threatening, (i\ 2.) lest the
worshippers of Baal triumph, and blaspheme the
God of Israel, whom they will think themselves too
hard for, if they can run down his advocate. He
pleads, “It is enough; I ha\e done enough, and
suffered enough; I am weary of living.” Those
that have secured such a happiness in the other
world, will soon have enough of this world. He
pleads, “/ am not better than my fathers, nor better
able to bear those fatigues; and therefore why should
I be longer burthened with them than they were? ’
But is this that my lord Elijah ? Can that great and
gallant spirit shrink thus? God thus left him to him¬
self, to show that when he was bold and strong, it
was in the Lord, and the power of his might, but of
himself he was no better than his fathers, or brethren.
VI. God, by an angel, fed him in that wilderness,
into the wants and perils of which he had wilfully
thrown himself, and in which, if God had not gra¬
ciously succoured him, he had perished. How much
better does God deal with his froward children than
they deserve! Elijah, in a fit of despondency, wish¬
ed to die; God needed him not, yet designed further
to honour him, and therefore sent an angel to keep
him alive. Our case would be bad sometimes, if
God should take us at our word, and grant us our
foolish passionate requests. Having prayed that he
might die, he laid down and slept, (t;. 5.) wishing
it might be to die in his sleep, and not to wake
again; but he is awakened out of his sleep, and finds
himself not only well provided for with bread and
water, (v. 6. ) but, which was more, attended by an
angel, who guarded him when he slept, and twice
called him to his food when it was ready for him, v.
5, 7. He needed not complain of the unkindnesses of
men, when it was thus made up by the ministration
of angels. Thus provided for, he had reason to think
he fared better than the prophets of the groves, that
did eat at Jezebel's table. Wherever God’s children
are, as they are still upon their Father’s ground, so
they are still under their Father’s eye and care.
They may lose themselves in a wilderness, but God
has not left them; there they may look at him that
lives, and sees them, as Hagar, Gen. 16. 13.
Lastly, He is carried, in the strength of this meat,
to Horeb, the mount of God, v. 8. Thither the
Spirit of the Lord led him, probably, beyond his
own intention, that he might have communion with
God in the same place where Moses had, the law
that was given by Moses, being revived by him.
The angel bade him eat the second time, because
of the greatness of the journey that was before him,
v. 7. Note, God knows what he designs us for,
though we do not, what services, what trials, and
will take care for us, when we, for want of foresight,
cannot for ourselves, that we be furnished for them
with grace sufficient. He that appoints what the
voyage shall be, will victual the ship accordingly.
See how many different ways God took to keep
Elijah alive; fed him by ravens, with multiplied
meals — then by an angei — and now, to show that
man lives not by bread alone, he kept him alive 40
day® without meat, not resting and sleeping, which
might make him the less to crave sustenance, but
continually traversing the mazes of the desert, a
day for a year of Israel’s wanderings; yet he neither
needs food, nor desires it. The place, no doubt,
reminds him of the manna, and encourages him to
hope that God would sustain him here, and, in due
time, bring him hence, as he did Israel, though,
like him, fretful and distrustful.
9. And he came thither unto a cave, and
lodged there; and, behold, the word of the
Lord came to him, and he said unto him,
What doest thou here, Elijah? 10. And he
said, I have been very jealous for the Lord
God of hosts: for the children of Israel have
forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine al¬
tars, and slain thy prophets with the sword :
and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my
life, to take it away. 1 1 . And he said, Go forth,
and stand upon the mount before the Lord.
And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great
and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake
in pieces the rocks, before the Lord ; but the
Lord was not in the wind : and after the wind
an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the
earthquake: 12. And after the earthquake
a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire:
and after the fire a still small voice. 13.
And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that
he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went
out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.
And, behold, there came.A voice unto him,
and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
14. And he said, I have been very jealous
for the Lord God of hosts : because the
children of Israel have forsaken thy cove¬
nant, thrown down thine altars, and slain
thy prophets with the sword: and I, even 1
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take
it away. 15. And the Lord said unto him,
Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of
Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint
Hazael to be king over Syria. 1 6. And Jehu
the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king
over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat,
of Abel-ineholah, shalt thou anoint to be pro¬
phet in thy room. 1 7. And it shall come to
pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Ha¬
zael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth
from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 1 8.
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
Here is,
I. Elijah housed in a cave at mount Horeb, which
is called the mount of God, because on it God had
formerly manifested his glory. And, perhaps, this
was the same cave, or cleft of a rock, in which
Moses wras hidden, when the Lord passed by before
him, and proclaimed his name, Exod. 34. 6. What
Elijah proposed to himself, in coming to lodge here,
I cannot conceive, unless it were either to indulge
his melancholy, or to satisfy his curiosity, and assist
his faith and devotion, with the sight cf that famous
544
I. KINGS, XIX
place where the law was given, and so many great
things were done, and hoping to meet with God
himself, there where Moses met with him; or, in
token of his abandoning his people Israel, who hated
to be reformed; and so it agrees with Jeremiah’s
wish, (Jer. 9. 2.) 0 that I had in the wilderness a
ludging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave
my people and go Jrom them, for they be all adul¬
terous; and so it was a bad omen of God’s forsaking
them: or, it was because he thought he could not
be safe any where else; and to this instance of the
hardships this good man was reduced to, the apos¬
tle refers, Heb. 11. 38, They wandered in deserts
and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
II, The visit God made him there, and the in¬
quiry he made concerning him: The word of the
Lord came to him. We cannot go any whither, to
be out of the reach of God’s eye, his arm, and his
word. Whither can I flee from thy Spirit? Ps.
139. 7, &c. God will take care of his out-casts;
and those who, for his sake, are driven cut from
among men, he will find, and own, and gather with
everlasting loving-kindnesses. St. John saw the
visions of the Almighty, when he was in banishment
in the isle of Patmos, Rev. 1. 9.
The question God puts to him, is, What doest
thou here, Elijah ? v. 9. and again, v. 13. This is
a reproof, 1. For his fleeing thither. “What brings
thee so far from home? Dost thou flee from Jezebel?
Couldest thou not depend upon almighty power for
thy protection:” Lay the emphasis upon [thou].
What thou! So great a man, so great a prophet, so
famed for resolution — dost thou run thy country, run
thy colours thus?” This cowardice had been more
excusable in another, and not so bad an example.
Should such a man as I am flee? Neh. 6. 11. Howl,
fir-trees, if the cedars be thus shaken. 2. For his
fixing here. “What doest thou here in this cave?
Is this a place for a prophet of the Lord to lodge in?
Is this a time for such men to retreat, when the
public has such need of them?” In the retirement
to which God sent Elijah, ch. 17. he was a bless¬
ing to a poor widow at Sarepta, but here he had no
opportunity of doing good. Note, It concerns us
often to inquire, whether we be in our place, and in
the way of our duty. “Am I where I should be;
whither God calls me, where my business lies, and
where I may be useful?”
III. The account he gives of himself, in answer to
the question put to 'him, ( v . 10. ) and repeated, in
answer to the same question, v. 14. In which, 1.
He excuses his retreat, and desires it may not be
imputed to his want of zeal for reformation, but to
his despair of success. For God knew, and his own
conscience witnessed for him, that as long as there
was any hope of doing good, he had been very jeal¬
ous for the Lord God. of hosts ; but now that he had
laboured in vain, and all his endeavours were to no
purpose, he thought it was time to give up the cause,
and mourn for what he could not mend. Abi in
cellam, et die, Miserere mei — “ Away to thy cell,
and cry, Have com/iassion on me.” 2. He complains
of the people, their obstinacy in sin, and the height
of impiety they were got to; “ The children of Is¬
rael have forsaken thy covenant, and that is the rea¬
son I have forsaken them ; who can stay among them,
to see every thing that is sacred, ruined, and run
down?” This the apostle calls his making intercession
against Israel, Rom. 11. 2, 3. He had often been,
of choice, their advocate, but now is necessitated to
be their accuser, before God. Thus, (John 5. 45. )
There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom
ye trust. Those are truly miserable, that have the
testimony and prayers of God’s prophets against
them. 3. He charges them with having forsaken
God’s covenant; though they retained circumcision,
the sign and seal of it, yet they had quitted his wor¬
ship and service, which was the intention of it.
Those who neglect God’s ordinances, and let fall
their communion with him, do really forsake his
covenant, and break their league with him. He
charges them with having thrown down his altars;
they not only deserted them, and suffered them to
go to decay, but, in their zeal for the worship of
Baal, had wilfully demolished them. He alludes to
private altars which the prophets of the Lord had,
and which good people attended, who could not go
up to Jerusalem, and would not worship the calves
nor Baal; these separate altars, though breaking in
upon the unity of the church, yet, being erected and
attended by those that sincerely aimed at the glory
of God, and served him faithfully, were excused
from the charge of schism; God owned them for his
altars, as well as that at Jerusalem, and the putting
of them down is charged upon Israel as a crying sin.
But this was not all; They have slain thy prophets
with the sword, who, it is probable, ministered at
those altars. Jezebel, a foreigner, did it, ( ch . 18.
4. ) but it is charged upon the body of the people,
because the generality of them were consenting to
their death, and pleased with it. 4. He gives the
reason why he retired into this desert, and took up
his residence in this cave. (1.) It was because he
could not appear to any purpose: “/ only am left,
and have none to second or support me in any good
design. They all said, The Lord he is God, but
none of them would stand by me, or offer to shelter
me. That point then gained, was presently lost
again, and Jezebel can do more to debauch them,
than I can to reform them. What can one do against
thousands?” Despair of success hinders many a good
enterprise. None are willing to venture alone; for¬
getting that those are not alone, who have God with
them. (2. ) It was because he could not appear with
any safety; “ 'They seek my life to take it away; and
I had better spend my life in a useless solitude, than
lose my life in a fruitless endeavour to reform those
that hate to be reformed.”
IV. God’s manifestation of himself to him. Did
he come hither to meet with God? He shall find that
God will not fail to give him the meeting. Moses
was put into the cave, when God’s glory passed be¬
fore him; but Elijah was called out of it, to stand
upon the mount before the Lord, v. 11. He saw no
manner of similitude, any more than Israel did, when
God talked to them in Horeb: but, 1. He heard a
strong wind, and saw the terrible effects of it, for it
rent the mountains, and tore the rocks. Thus was
the trumpet sounded before the Judge of heaven
and earth, by his angels, whom he makes spirits, or
winds; (Ps. 104. 4.) sounded so loud, the earth not
only rang, but rent air: in. 2. He felt the shock of
an earthquake. 3. He saw an eruption of fire, v.
12. These were to usher in the designed manifesta¬
tion of the divine glory, angels being employed in
them, whom he maketh a flame of fire, and who, as
his ministers, march before him, to prepare hi this
desert a high way for our God. But, 4. At last, he
perceived a still small voice, in which the Lord was,
that is, by which he spake to him, and not out of
the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire. Those
struck an awe upon him, awakened his attention,
and inspired humility and reverence; but God chose
to make known his mind to him in soft whispers,
not in those dreadful sounds. Which when he per¬
ceived, (1.) He wrapped his face in his mantle, as
one afraid to look upon the glory of God, and appre¬
hensive that it would dazzle his eyes, and overcome
him. The angels cover their faces before God, in
token of reverence, Isa. 6. 2. Elijah hid his face,
ashamed that he should have been such a coward
as to shrink from his duty, when he had such a God
of power to stand by him in it. The wind, and
earthquake, and fire, did not make him cover his
545
I. KINGS, XIX.
face, but the still voice did. Gracious souls are
more affected by ftie tender mercies of the Lord,
than by his terrors. (2.) He stood at the entrance
of the cave, ready to hear what God had to say to
him. This method of God’s manifesting himself
here at mount Horeb, seems to refer to the discove¬
ries God formerly made of himself at this place to
Moses. [1.] Then there was a tempest, and earth¬
quake, and fire; (Heb. 12. 18.) but when God would
show Moses his glory, he proclaimed his goodness;
and so here, He was the word, was in the still small
voice. [2.] Then the law was thus given to Israel,
with the appearances of terror first, and then with
a voice of words; and Elijah, being now called to
revive that law, especially the two first command¬
ments of it, is here taught how to manage it; he
must riot only awaken and terrify the people with
amazing signs, like the earthquake and fire, but he
must endeavour, with a still small voice, to convince
and persuade them, and not forsake them, when he
should do that. Faith comes by hearing the word
of God: miracles do but make way for it. [3.] Then
God spake to his people with terror; but in the gos¬
pel of Christ, which was to be introduced by the
spirit and power of Elias, he would speak with a
still small voice, the dread of which should not make
us afraid; see Heb. 12. 18, 8cc.
V. The orders God gives him to execute. He
repeated the question he had put to him before,
“ What doest thou here ? This is not a place for thee
now.” Elijah gives the same answer, (y. 14.)
complains of Israel’s apostasy from God, and the
ruin of religion among them. To this, God gives
him a reply. When he wished he might die, (y.
4. ) God answered him not according to his folly,
but was so far from letting him die, that he not only
kept him alive then, but provided that he should
never die, but be translated. But when he com¬
plained of his discouragement, (and whither should
God’s prophets go with their complaints of that
kind, but to their Master ?) God gave him an an¬
swer. He sends him back with directions to ap-
foint Hazael king of Syria, (v. 15. ) Jehu king of
srael, and Elisha his successor in the eminency of
the prophetical office; ( v . 16.) which is intended as
a prediction, that by these God would chastise the .
degenerate Israelites, plead his own cause among
them, and avenge the quarrel of his covenant, v.
17. Elijah complained that the wickedness of Is¬
rael was unpunished; the judgment of famine was
too gentle, and had not reclaimed them; it was re¬
moved, before they were reformed. “ I have been
jealous,” says he, “ for God’s name, but he himself
has not appeared jealous for it.” . “Well,” says
God, “ be content, it is all in good time, judgments
are prepared for those scorners, though they are
not yet inflicted; the persons are pitched upon, and
shall now be nominated, for they are now in being,
who shall do the business.” 1. “When Hazael 1
comes to be king of Syria, he shall make, bloody
work among the people, (2 Kings 8. 12.) and so
correct them for their idolatry.” 2. “ When Jehu
comes to be king of Israel, he shall make bloody
work with the royal family, and shall utterly de¬
stroy the house of Ahab, that set up and maintained
idolatry,” 3. “ Elisha, while thou art on earth,
shall strengthen thy hands; and when thou art
gone, shall carry on thy work, and be a remaining
witness against the apostasy of Israel, and even he
shall slay the children of Beth-el, that idolatrous
city.” Note, The wicked are reserved to judg¬
ment. Evil pursues sinners, and there is no escap¬
ing it; to attempt an escape, is but to run from one
sword’s point upon another. See Jer. 48. 44, He
that flees from the fear, shall fall into the pit; and
he that gets up out of the pit, shall be taken in the
snare. Elisha, with the sword of the Spirit, shall
Vul. II.— 3Z
terrify and wound the consciences of those who es¬
cape Hazael’s sword of war, and Jehu’s sword of
justice; With the breath of his lips shall he slay the
wicked, Isa. 11. 4. 2 Thess. 3. 8. Hos. 6. 5. It is
a great comfort to good men, and good ministers, to
think that God will never want instruments to do
his work, in his time, but when they are gone,
others shall be raised up to carry it on.
VI. The comfortable information God gives him
of the number of Israelites who retained their in
tegrity, though he thought he was left alone; (x\
18.) I have left me seven thousand in Israel, (be¬
side Judah,) which have not bowed the knee to Baal.
Note, 1. In times of the greatest degeneracy and
apostasy, God has always had, and will have, a
remnant faithful to him, some that keep their in¬
tegrity, and do not go down the stream. The apos¬
tle mentions this answer of God to Elijah, (Rom.
11. 4.) and applies it to his own day, when the Jews
generally rejected the gospel; Yet, says he, at this
time also there is a remnant, v. 5. 2. It is God’s
work to preserve that remnant, and distinguish
them from the rest, for without his grace they cculd
not have distinguished themselves: I have left me;
it is therefore said to be a remnant, according to the
election of grace. 3. It is but a little remnant, in
comparison with the degenerate race; what is 7,000
to the thousands of Israel ? Yet when those of
every age come together, they will be found many
more, 12,000 sealed out of each tribe, Rev. 7. 4.
4. God’s faithful ones are often his hidden ones,
(Ps. 83. 3.) and the visible church scarcely visible;
the wheat lost in the chaff, and the gold in the dross,
till the sifting, refining, separating, day comes. 5.
The Lord knows them that are his, though we do
not; he sees them in secret. 6. There are more
good people in the world, than some wise and holy
men think there are. Their jealousy of themselves,
and for God, makes them think the corruption is
universal; but God sees not as they do. When we
come to heaven, as we Shall miss a great many
whom we thought to have met there, so shall we*
meet a great many whom we little thought to have
met there. God*s love often proves larger than
man’s charity, and more extensive.
1 9. So he departed thence, and found Eli¬
sha the son of Shaphat, who teas ploughing
with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he
with the twelfth : and Elijah passed by him,
and cast his mantle upon him. 20. And he
left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said,
Let me, 1 pray thee, kiss my father and my
mother, and then I will follow thee. And
he said unto him, Go back again : for what
have I done to thee ? 21. And he returned
back from him, and took a yoke of oxen,
and slew them, and boiled their flesh with
the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto
the people, and they did eat : then he arose,
and went after Elijah, and ministered unto
him.
Elisha was named last in the orders God gave to
Elijah; but is first called, for by him the other two
were to be called. He must come in Elijah’s room;
yet Elijah is forward to raise him, and is far from
being jealous of his successor, but rejoices to think
that he shall leave the work of God in such good
hands.
Concerning the call of Elisha, observe,
1. That it was a surprising call: Elijah feund him
546
1. KINGS, XX
by divine direction, or, perhaps, he was before
acquainted with him, and knew where to find him.
He found him, not in the schools of the prophets,
but in the field; not . reading, or praying, or sacri¬
ficing, but ploughing, v. 19. Though a great man,
(as appears by his feast, v. 21.) master of the
ground, and oxen, and servants, yet he did not think
it any disparagement to him, to follow his business
himself, and not only to inspect his servants, but
himself to lay his hand to the plough. Idleness is
no man’s honour, nor is husbandry any man’s dis¬
grace. An honest calling in the world, does not at
all put us out of the way of our heavenly calling;
any more than it did Elisha, who was taken from
following the plough, to feed Israel, and to sow the
seed of the word; as the apostles from fishing, to
catch men. Elisha inquired not after Elijah, but
was anticipated with this call. We love God, and
choose him, because he chose us, and loved us, first.
2. That it was a powerful call: Elijah did but
cast his mantle ufion him, (y. 19.) in token of friend¬
ship, that he would take him under his care and
tuition, as he did under his mantle, and to be one
with him in the same clothes, or, in token of his be¬
ing clothed with the spirit of Elijah; now he put
some of his honour upon him, as Moses on Joshua;
(Numb. 27. 20.) but when Elijah went to heaven,
he had the mantle entire, 2 Kings 2. 13. And im¬
mediately he left the oxen to go as they would, and
ran after Elijah, and assured him that he would
f How him presently, v. 20. An invisible hand
0 -ached his heart, and unaccountably inclined him
by a secret power, without any external persua¬
sions, to quit his husbandry, and give himselt to the
ministry. It is in a day of power, that Christ’s sub¬
jects are made willing, (Ps. 110. 3.) nor would any
come to Christ, unless they were thus drawn.
Elisha came to a resolution presently, but begged
a little time, not to ask leave, but only to take leave,
of his parents. This was not an excuse for delay,
like his (Luke 9. 61.) that desired he might bid
• t u rn farewell that were at home; but only a reser¬
vation of the respect and duty he owed to his father
and mother. Elijah bade him go back, and do it,
he would n t hinder him: nay, if he would, he
might go back, and not return, for any thing he had
done to him. He will’not force him, nor take, him
against his will; let him sit down and count the cost,
and make it his own act. The. efficacy of God’s
grace preserves the native liberty of man’s will, so
that they who are good, are good of choice, and not
by constraint; not pressed men, but volunteers.
3. That it was a pleasant and acceptable call to
him, which appears by the farewell feast he made
for his family, v. 21. Yet he not only quitted all the
comforts of his father’s house, but exposed himself
to the malignity of Jezebel, and her party; it was a
discouraging time for prophets to set out in. A man
that had consulted with flesh and blood, would not
be fond of Elijah’s mantle, nor willing to wear his
coat; yet Elisha, cheerfully, and with a great deal
of satisfaction, leaves all, to accompany him. Thus
Matthew made a great feast, when he left the re¬
ceipt of custom to follow Christ'.
4. That it was an effectual call: Elijah did not
stay for him, lest he should seem to compel him,
but left him to his own choice, and he soon arose,
went after him, and not only associated with him,
but ministered to him, as his servitor, floured water
on his hands, 2 Kings 3. 11. It is of great advan¬
tage to young ministers, to spend some time under
- the direction of those that are aged and experi¬
enced, whose years teach wisdom ; and not to think
much, if occasion be, to minister to them. Those
that would be fit to teach, must have time to learn:
and those that hope, hereafter, to rise and rule,
must be willing, at first, to stoop and serve.
CHAP. X£.
This chapter is the history of a war between Ben-hadad
king of Syria, and Ahab king of Israel, in which Ahab
was once, and again, victorious. We read nothing of
Elijah or Elisha in all this story; Jezebel’s rage, it is
probable, was abated, and the persecution of the pro¬
phets began to cool ; which gleam of peace Elijah im¬
proves ; he appears not at court, but, being told how
many thousand good people there were in Israel, more
than he thought of, employs himself, as we may suppose,
in founding religious houses, schools, or colleges, of
prophets, in several parts of the country, to be nurseries
of religion, that they may help to reform the nation,
when the throne and court would not be reformed : while
they were thus busied, God favoured the nation with
the successes we here read of, which were the more
remarkable, because obtained against Ben-hadad king of
Syria, whose successor, Hazael, was ordained to be a
scourge to Israel ; they must shortly suffer by the Sy¬
rians, and yet now triumph over them, that, if possible,
they might be led to repentance by the goodness of God.
Here is, I. Ben-hadad’s descent upon Israel, and his in¬
solent demand, v. 1 . .12. II. The defeat Ahab gave
him, encouraged and directed by a prophet, v. 13.. 21.
III. The Syrians rallying again, and the second" defeat
Ahab gave them, v. 22 . . 30. IV. The. covenant of peace
Ahab made with Ben-hadad, when he had him at his
mercy, (v. 31 . . 34.) for which he is reproved and threat¬
ened by a prophet, v. 35 . . 43.
1. A ND Ben-hadad the king of Syria
gathered all his host together : and
there were thirty and two kings with him,
and horses and chariots : and he went up
| and besieged Samaria, and warred against
it. 2. And he sent messengers to Ahab
king of Israel into the city, and said unto
him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, 3. Thy silver
and thy gold is mine ; thy wives also and
thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.
4. And the king of Israel answered and
said, My lord, O king, according to thy
! saying, I am thine, and all that I have. 5.
j And the messengers came again, and said,
; Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although
1 have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt
{ deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy
I wives, and thy children; 6. Yet I will
; send my servants unto thee to-morrow
about this time, and they shall search thine
house, and the houses of thy servants ; and
it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in
thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand,
and take it away. 7. Then the king of Is¬
rael qalled all the elders of the land, and
said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this
man seeketh mischief : for he sent unto me
for my wives, and for my children, and for
my silver, and for my gold, and 1 denied
him not. 8. And all the elders and all the
people said unto him, Hearken not unto
him , nor consent. 9. Wherefore he said
unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell
my lord the king, All that thou didst send
for to thy servant at the first I will do:
but this thing I may not do. And the mes¬
sengers departed, and brought him word
again. 10. And Ben-hadad sent unto him,
54?
I. KINGS, XX.
and said, The gods do so unto mt, and
more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suf¬
fice for handfuls for all the people that fol¬
low me. 11. And the king of Israel an¬
swered and said, Tell him, Let not him that
girdeth on his harness boast himself, as he
that putteth it off.
Here is,
I. Ben-hadad’s threat to make a descent upon
Ahab’s kingdom, and the siege he laid to Samaria,
his royal city, v. 1. What the ground of the quar¬
rel was, we are not told; covetousness and ambition
were the principle, which would never want some
pretence or other. David, in his time, had quite
subdued the Syrians, and made them tributaries to
Israel, but Israel’s apostasy from God makes them
formidable again. Asa had tempted the Syrians to
invade Israel once, (ch. 15. 18. . 20.) and now they
did it of their own accord: it is dangerous bringing
in a foreign ' force into a country, posterity may pay
dear for it. Ben-hadad had with him 32 kings, who
were either tributaries to him, and bound in duty to
attend him, or confederates with him, and bound in
interest to assist him; how little did the title of king
look, when all these poor petty governors pretended
to it !
II. The treaty between these two kings; surely
Israel’s Defence was departed from them, or else
the Syrians could not have marched so readily, and
with so little opposition, to Samaria, the head and
heart of the country, a city lately built, and there¬
fore, we may suppose, not well fortified, but like to
fall quickly into the hands of the invaders; both
sides are aware of this, and therefore,
1. Ben-hadad’s proud spirit sends Ahab a very
insolent demand, v. 2, 3. A parley is sounded, and
a trumpeter (we may suppose) is sent into the city,
to let Ahab know that upon these terms he will raise
the siege — that Ahab become his vassal, nay, his
villain,* and not only pay him a tribute out of what
he has, but make over his title to Ben-hadad, and
hold all at his will, even his wives and children, j
the goodliest of them: the manner of expression is
designed to gall them; “ All shall be mine, without
exception.”
2. Ahab’s poor spirit sends Ben-hadad a very
disgraceful submission; it is general indeed, he can¬
not mention particulars in his surrender, with so
much pleasure as Ben-hadad did in his demand,
but it is effectual, I am thine, and all that I have, |
v. 4. See the effect of sin: (1.) If he had not, bv j
sin, provoked God to depart from him, Ben-hadad '
could not have made such a demand; sin brings
men into such strdts, by putting them out of divine
protection; if God do not rule us, our enemies
shall; a rebel to God, is a slave to all besides. Ahab
had prepared his silver and gold for Baal, (Hos. 2.
8.) justly therefore it is taken from him; such an
alienation amounts to a forfeiture. (2.) If he had i
not, by sin, wronged his own conscience, and set I
that against him, he could not have made such a
mean surrender; guilt dispirits men, and makes '
them cowards; he knew Baal could not help, and
had no reason to think that God would, and there¬
fore is content to buy his life upon any terms; skin
for skin, and all that is dear to him, he will give for I
it; he will rather live a beggar, than not die a
prince.
3 Ben-hadad’s proud spirit rises, upon his sub¬
mission, and becomes yet more insolent and im¬
perious, v. 5, 6. Ahab had laid his all at his feet,
at his mercy, expecting that one king would use
another generously, that this acknowledgment of
■* That is, a person appropriated and enslaved.— Ed.
Ben-hadad’s sovereignty would have contented him,
the honour was sufficient for the present, and he
might, hereafter, make use of it if he saw cause;
Satis est firostrasse leoni — it suffices the lion to have
laid his antagonist firostrate; but this will not serve:
(1.) Ben-hadad is as -covetous as he is proud, and
cannot go away, unless he have the possession as
well as the dominion; he thinks it not enough to call
it his, unless he have it in his hands; he will not so
much as lend Ahab the use of his own goods above
a day longer. (2.) He is as spiteful as he is haugh¬
ty; had he come himself to select what he had a
mind for, it "had been some respect to a crowned
head, but he ryill send his servants to insult the
prince, and hector over him, to rifle the palace,
and strip it of all its ornaments; nay, to give Ahab
the more vexation, they shall be ordered, not only
to take what they please, but, if they can leant
which are the persons or things that Ahab is, in a
particular manner, fond of, to take those; Whatso-
ver is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall take that
away. We are often crossed in that which we
most doat upon; and that proves least safe, which is
most dear. (3.) He is as unreasonable as he is un¬
just, and will construe the surrender Ahab made
for himself, as made for all his subjects too, and will
have them also to lie at his mercy. “They shall
search, not only thy house, but the houses of thy
servants too, and plunder them at discretion.”
Blessed be God for peace and prosperity, and that
what we have, we can call our own.
4. Ahab’s poor spirit begins to rise too, upon his
growing insolence; and if it becomes not bold, yet
it becomes desperate, an<J he will rather hazard his
life than give up all thus. (1.) Now he takes ad¬
vice of his privy-council, who encourage him to
stand it out. He speaks but poorly, (i\ 7.) appeals
to them whether Ben-hadad were not an unreasona¬
ble enemy, and did not seek mischief. What other
could he expect from one who, without any provo¬
cation given him, had invaded his country, and be¬
sieged his capital city? He owns to them how he
had truckled to him before, and would have them
advise him what he should do in this strait; they
speak bravely, (i;. 8.) Hearken not to him, nor con¬
sent; promising, no doubt, to stand by him in the
refusal. (2.) Yet he expresses himself very mo¬
destly in his denial; ( v . 9.) he owns Ben-hadad’s
dominion over him; “ Tell my lord the king, I have
no design to affront him, nor to recede from the
surrender I have already made; what I offered at
first, I will stand to, but this thing I may not do; I
must not give what is none of my own.” It was a
mortification to Ben-hadad, that even such an ab¬
ject spirit as Ahab’s was, dares deny him; yet it
should seem by his manner of expressing himself,
that he durst not have done it, if his people had not
animated him.
5. Ben-hadad proudly swears the ruin of Sama¬
ria: the threatening waves of his wrath, meeting
with this check, rage and foam, and make a noise;*
in his fury, he imprecates the impotent revenge of
his gods. If the dust of Samaria ser~ve for hand¬
fuls for his army, ( v . 10.) so numerous, so reso¬
lute, an army will he bring into the field against
Samaria; and so confident is he of their success, it
will be done as easily as the taking up of a handful
of dust; all shall be carried away, even the ground
on which the city stands. Thus confident is his
pride, thus cruel is his malice; this prepares him
to be ruined, though such a prince and such a peo¬
ple are unworthy of the satisfaction of seeing him
ruined.
6. Ahab sends him a decent rebuke to his assur¬
ance; dares not defy his menaces, oyly reminds him
of the uncertain turns of war; (v. 11.) “Let not
him that begins a war, and his girding on his sword.
1. KINGS, XX.
U s armour, his harness, boast of victory, or think
himself sure of it, as if he had put it off, and were
come home a conqueror.” This, was one of the
wisest words that ever Ahab spake, and is a good
item or memento to us all: it is folly to boast before,
of any day, since we know not what it may bring
forth; (Prov. 27. 1.) but especially to boast of a day
of battle, which may prove as much against us, as
we promise ourselves it will be for us. It is im¬
politic to despise an enemy, and to be too sure of
victory is the way to be beaten. Apply it to our
spiritual conflicts; Peter fell by his confidence:
while we are here, we are but girding on the har¬
ness, and therefore must never boast as though we
had put it off. Happy is the man that feareth
always, and is never off his watch.
12. And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad
heard this message, as he ivas drinking, he
and the kings in the pavilions, that he said
unto his servants, Set yourselves in array:
and they set themselves in array against the
city. 13. And, behold, there came a pro¬
phet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus
saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this
great multitude ? behold, I will deliver it
into thine hand this day; and thou shalt
know that I am the Lord. 14. And Ahab
said, By whom ? And he said, Thus saith
the Lord, Even by the young men of the
princes of the provinces. Then he said,
Who shall order the battle ? And he an¬
swered, Thou. 15. Then he numbered
the young men of the princes of the provin¬
ces, and they were two hundred and thirty-
two: and after them he numbered all the
people, even all the children of Israel, being
seven thousand. 16. And they went out
at noon : but Ben-hadad was drinking him¬
self drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings,
the thirty and two kings that helped him.
1 7. And the young men of the princes of
the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad
sent out, and they told him, saying, There
are men come out of Samaria. 18. And
he said, Whether they be come out for
peace, take them alive; or whether they
be come out for war, take them alive. 19.
So these young men of the princes of the pro¬
vinces came out of the city, and the army
.which followed them. 20. And they slew
every one his man : and the Syrians fled ;
and Israel pursued them : and Ben-hadad
the king of Syria escaped on a horse with
the horsemen. 21. And the king of Israel
went out, and smote the horses and chariots,
and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
The treaty between the besiegers and the be¬
sieged being broken off abruptly, we have here an
account of the battle that ensued immediately.
I. The Syrians, the besiegers, had their direc¬
tions from a drunken king, who gave orders over
his cups, as he Was drinking, (v. 12.) drinking him¬
self drunk (v. 16.) with the kings in the pavilions,
and this, at noon. Drunkenness is a sin, which
armies and their officers have, of old, been addict¬
ed to. Say not thou then the former days were, in
this respect, better than these, though these are bad
enough; had he not been very secure, he would not
have sat to drink; and had he not been intoxicated,
he would not have been so very secure: security
and sensuality went together in the old world, and
Sodom, Luke 17. 26, &c. Ben-hadad’s drunken¬
ness was the forerunner of his fall, as Belshazzar’s
was, Dan. 5. How could he prosper, that pre-
1 ferred his pleasure before his business, and kept his
kings to drink with him, when they should have
been at their respective posts to fight for him? In
his drink, 1. He orders the town to be invested, the
engines fixed, and every thing got ready for the
making of a general attack, (v. 12.) but stirs not
from his drunken club to see it done; Woe unto
thee, O land, when thy king is such a child. 2.
When the besieged made a sally, (and, by that
time, he was far gone,) he gave orders to take them
alive, ( v . 18.) not to kill them, which might have
been done more easily and safely, but to seize them,
which gave them an opportunity of killing the ag¬
gressors; so imprudent was he in the orders he gave,
as well as unjust, in ordering them to be taken pri¬
soners, though they came for peace, and to renew
the treaty; thus, as is usual, he drinks, and forgets
the law, both the policies and the justice of war.
If. The Israelites, the besieged, had .their direc
tions from an inspired prophet, one of the prophets
of the Lord, whom Ahab had hated and persecuted:
And behold, a prophet, even one, drew near to the
king of Israel; so it may be read, v. 13. Beheld,
and wonder, that God should send a prophet with
a kind and gracious message to so wicked a prince
as Ahab was; but he did it, 1. For his people Is¬
rael’s sake, who, though wickedly degenerated,
were the seed of Abraham his friend, and Jacob
his chosen, the children of the covenant, and net
yet cast off. 2. That h'e might magnify his mercy,
in doing good to one so evil and unthankful; might
either bring him to repentance, or leave him the
more inexcusable. 3. That he might mortify the
pride of Ben-hadad, and check his insolence:
Ahab’s idolatry shall be punished hereafter, but
Ben-hadad’s haughtiness shall be chastised now;
for God resists the proud, and is pleased to say that
he fears the wrath of the enemy, Deut. 32. 26, 27.
There was but one prophet, perhaps, to be had in
Samaria, and he drew near with this message, inti¬
mating that he had been forced to keep at a dis¬
tance; Ahab, in his prosperity, would not have
borne the sight of him, but now he bids him wel¬
come, when none of the prophets of the groves
could give him any assistance; he inquired not for a
prophet of the Lord, but God sent one to him, un¬
asked, for he waits to be gracious.
Now, (1.) This prophet animates him with an
assurance of victory, which was more than all the
elders of Israel could give him, {v. 8.) though they
promised to stand by him. This prophet, who is
not named, (for he spake in God’s name,) tells him,
from God, that this very day the siege should be
raised, and the army of the Syrians routed, v. ' 3.
When the prophet said, 7'hus saith the Lord, we
may suppose Ahab began to tremble, expecting a
message of wrath: but lie is revived, when it prove*
a gracious one. He is reminded of the use he must
make of this blessed turn of affairs; “ Thou shalt
know that I am Jehovah, the sovereign Lord of
all:” God’s foretelling a thing that was so very un¬
likely, proved that it was his own doing. (2.) He
instructs him what to do for the gaining of this vic¬
tory. [1.] He must not stay till the enemy had
attacked him, but must sally out upon them, and
surprise them in their trenches. [2.] The person?
employed must be the young men of the princes of
549
1. KINGS, XX.
the provinces , the pages, the footmen, who were
few in number, but 232, utterly unacquainted with
war, and the unlikeliest men that could be thought'
of, for such a bold attempt; yet these must do it,
those weak and foolish things must be the instru¬
ments of confounding the wise and strong, that
while Ben-hadad’s boasting is punished, Ahab’s
might be prevented and precluded, and the excel¬
lency of the flower of God. [3.] Ahab must him-
felf so far testify his confidence in the word of God,
as to command in person, though, in the eye of rea¬
son, he exposed himself to the utmost danger by it;
but it is fit that those who have the benefit of God’s
promises, should venture upon them. Yet, [4.] He
is allowed to make use of what forces he had at
hand, to follow the blow, when these young men
had broken the ice. All he had in Samaria, or
within call, were but 7000 men, v. 15. It is observ¬
able that it is the same number with their’s that
had not bowed the knee to Baal, (cA. 19. 18.)
though, it is likely, not the same men.
III. The issue was accordingly; the proud Syri¬
ans were beaten, and the poor despised Israelites
were more than conquerors; the young men gave an
alarm to the Syrians, just at noon, at high dinner
time, supported by what little force they had, v.
16. Ben-hadad despised them, at first, (x>. 18.)
but when they had, with unparalleled bravery and
dexterity, slain every one his man, and so put the
army into disorder, that proud man durst not face
them, but mounted immediately, drunk as he was,
and made the best of his way, v. 20. See how God
slips off the spirit of princes, and makes himself
terrible to the kings of the earth. Now where are
the silver and gold he demanded of Ahab? Where
the handfuls of Samaria’s dust? Those that are
most secure, are commonly least courageous. Ahab
failed not to improve this advantage, but slew the
Syrians with a great slaughter, v. 21. Note, God
oftentimes makes one wicked man a scourge to
another.
22. And the prophet came to the king
of- Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen
thyself, and mark and see what thou doest :
for at the return of the year the king of
Syria will come up against thee. 23. And
the servants of the king of Syria said unto
him, Their gods are gods of the hills, there¬
fore they were stronger than we : but let us
fight against them in the plain, and surely
we shall be stronger than they. 24. And
do this thing: Take the kings away, every
man out of his place, and put captains in
their rooms: 25. And number thee an
army like the army that thou hast lost, horse
for horse, and chariot for chariot : and we
will fight against them in the plain, and
surely we shall be stronger than they. And
he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.
26. And it came to pass, at the return of
the year, that Ben-hadad numbered the
Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight
against Israel. 27. And the children of
Israel were numbered, and were all pre¬
sent, and went against them : and the chil¬
dren of Israel pitched before them like two
little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled
the country. 28. And there came a man
of God, and spake unto the king of Israel,
and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because
the Syrians have said, The Lord is God
of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys,
therefore will I deliver all this great multi¬
tude into thine hand, and ye shall know
that I afti the Lord. 29. And they pitched
one over against the other seven days ; and
so it was, that in the seventh day the battle
was joined: and the children of Israel slew
of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen
in one day. 30. But the rest fled to Aphek,
into the city; and there a wall fell upon
twenty and seven thousand of the men that
were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came
into the city, into an inner chamber.
We have here an account of another successful
campaign, which Ahab, by divine aid, made against
the Syrians, in which he gave them a greater de¬
feat than in the former. Strange ! Ahab idolatrous,
and yet victorious; a persecutor, and yet a conquer¬
or! God has wise and holy ends, in suffering wicked
men to prosper, and in it glorifies his own name.
I. Ahab is admonished by a prophet to prepare
for another war, v. 22. It should seem, he was
now secure, and looked but a little way before him;
those that are careless of their souls, are often as
careless of their outward affairs; but the prophet
(to whom God made knowm the following counsels
-of the Syrians) told him, they would renew their
attempt, at the return of the year, hoping to re¬
trieve the honour they had lost, and be avenged for
the blow they had received. He therefore bade him
strengthen himself, put himself into a posture of
defence, and be ready to give them a warm recep¬
tion. God had decreed the end, but Ahab must
use the means, else he tempts God: “Help thyself,
strengthen thyself, and God will help and strength¬
en thee.” The enemies of God’s Israel are restless
in their malice, and though they may take some
breathing time for themselves, yet are still breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the church.
It concerns us always to expect assaults from our
spiritual enemies, and therefore to mark and see
what we do.
II. Ben-hadad is advised by those about him con¬
cerning the operations of the next campaign.
1. They advised him to change his ground, v. 23.
They take it for granted that it was not Israel, but
Israel’s gods, that beat them; (so great a regard
was then universally had to invisible powers;) but
they speak very ignorantly of Jehovah — that he was
many, whereas he is One, and his name One — that
he was their God only, a local deity, peculiar .to that
nation, whereas he is the Creator and Ruler of all
the world — and that he was a God of the hills only,
because David, their great prophet, had said, I will
lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my
help, (Ps. 121. 1.) and that his foundation was in
the holy mountain; (Ps. 87. 1. — 78. 54.) and much
was said of his holy hilt, (Ps. 15. 1. — 24. 3. ) suppos¬
ing him altogether such a one as their imaginarv
deities: they fancied he was confined to his hills,
and could not, or would not, come down from them,
and therefore an army in the valley would be below
his cognizance, and from under his protection: thus
vain were the Gentiles in their imaginations con¬
cerning God, so wretchedly were their foolish hearts
darkened, and, pro fessing themselves to be wise, they
became fools. 2. They advise him to change his
officers; (v. 24, 25.) not to employ the kings, who.
were commanders by birth, but captains rather.
550
I. KINGS, XX.
who were commanders by merit, who, being inured
' co war, would not affect to make a show like the
kings, but would go through with business; let every
man be employed in that which he is brought up
to, and used to, and preferred to th .t which he is
fit for. Syria, it seems, was rich and populous,
when it could furnish recruits sufficient, after so
great a defeat, horse for horse, chariot for chariot.
III. Both armies take the field: Ben-hadad, with
his Syrians, encamps near Aphek, in the tribe of
Asher, a city, it is likely, in his own possession, one
of those which his father had won, (v. 34.) and the
country about, flat and level, and fit for his purpose,
i’. 26. Ahab, w .th his forces, posted himself at some
d stance over against them, v. 27. The dispropor¬
tion of numbers was very remarkable; ( v . 27.) the
children of Israel, who were cantoned in two bat¬
talions, looked like two little flocks of kids, their
numbers small, their equipage mean, and the figure
they made contemptible; hut the Syrians filled the
country with their numbers, their noise, their cha¬
riots, their carriages, and their baggage.
IV. Ahab is encouraged to fight the Syrians, not¬
withstanding their advantages and confidence. A
man of God is sent to him, to tell him that his nu¬
merous army should all be delivered into his hand,
( v . 28.) but not for his sake; be it known to him,
he was utterly unworthy, for whom God should do
this: God would not do it, because Ahab had prais¬
ed God, or prayed to him, (we do not read that he
did either,) but because the Syrians had blasphemed
God, and had said, He is the God of the hills and not
of the valleys; therefore God will do it in his own vin¬
dication, and to preserve the honour of his own name:
if the Syrians had said, “Ahab and his people have
forsaken their God, and so put themselves out of his
protection, and therefore we may venture to attack
them,” God would probably have delivered Israel in¬
to their hands: but when they go upon a presumption
so very injurious to the divine omnipotence, and the
honour of him who is Lord of all hosts, not only in
hills find valleys, but in heaven and earth, which
they are willingly ignorant of, they shall be unde¬
ceived, at the expense of that vast army which is
so much their pride and confidence.
V. After the armies had faced one another seven
days, (the Syrians, it is likely, boasting, and the
Israelites trembling,) they engaged, and the Syri¬
ans were totally routed; 100,000 men slain by the
sword of Israel, in the field of battle, (v. 29.) and
27,000 men, that thought themselves safe under the
walls of Afihek, a fortified city, (from the walls of
which, the shooters might annoy the enemy if they
pursued them, 2 Sam. 11. 24.) found their bane
where they hoped for protection, the wall fell upon
them, probably, overthrown by an earthquake, and,
the cities of Canaan being walled up to heaven, it
reached a great way, and they were all either kill¬
ed, or hurt, or overwhelmed with dismay. Ben-
hadad, ’who thought his city Aphek should have
held out against the conquerors, finding it thus un¬
walled, and the remnant of his forces dispirited and
dispersed, had nothing but secrecy to rely upon for
safety, and therefore hid himself in a chamber within
a chamber, lest the pursuers should seize him. See
how the greatest confidence often ends in the great-
test cowardice; “Now, is the God of Israel the
God of the valleys, or no?” He shall know, now
that he is forced into an inner chamber to hide him¬
self. See ch. 22. 25.
31. Anri his servants said unto him, Be¬
hold now, we have heard that the kings of
the house of Israel are merciful kings: let
us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins,
and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the
king of Israel ; peradventure he will save
thy life. 32. So they girded sackcloth on
their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and
came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy
servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let’ me
live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my
brother. 33. Now the men did diligently
observe whether any thing would come from
him, and did hastily catch it : and they said,
Thy brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go
ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth
to him ; and he caused him to come up into
the chariot. 34. And Ben-hadad said unto
him, The cities which my father took from
thy father 1 will restore; and thou shalt make
streets for thee in Damascus, as my father
made in Samaria. Then said Ahab , 1 will
send thee away with this covenant. So he
made a covenant with him, and sent him
away. 35. And a certain man of the sons
of the prophets said unto his neighbour in
the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray
thee. And the man refused to smite him.
36. Then said he unto him, Because thou
hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, be¬
hold, as soon as thou art departed from me,
a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he
was departed from him, a lion found him,
and slew him. 37. Then he found another
man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And
the man smote him, so that in smiting he
wounded him. 38. So the prophet departed,
and waited for the king by the way, and
disguised himself with ashes upon his face.
39. And as the king passed by, he cried
unto the king: and he said, Thy servant
went out into the midst of the battle ; and,
behold, a man turned aside, and brought a
man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if
by any means he be missing, then shall thy
life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a
talent of silver. 40. And as thy servant
was busy here and there, he was gone. And
the king of Israel said unto him, So shall
thy judgment be ; thyself hast decided it.
4 1 . And he hasted, and took the ashes away
from his face; and the king of Israel dis¬
cerned him that he was of the prophets. 42.
And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a
man whom I appointed to utter destruction,
therefore thy life shall go for his life, and
thy people for his people. 43. And the
king of Israel went to his house heavy and
displeased, and came to Samaria.
Here is an account of what followed the victory
which Israel obtained over the Syrians.
I. Ben-hadad’s tame and mean submission; even
in his inner chamber he fears, and would, if he
could, flee further, though none pursues; his ser¬
vants, seeing him and themselves reduced to the
551
I. KINGS, XX.
last extremity, advise that they surrender at discre¬
tion, and make themselves prisoners and petitioners
to Ahab for their lives, v. 31. The servants will
put their lives in their hands, and venture first, and
their master shall act according as they speed.
Their inducement to take this qourse, is, the great
reputation the kings of Israel had for clemency above
any of their neighbours; “We have heard that they
are merciful kings, not oppressive to their subjects
that are under their power,” (as governments then
went, that of Israel was one of the most easy and
gentle,) “and therefore not cruel to their enemies,
when they lie at their mercy. ” Perhaps they had
this notion of the kings of Israel, because they had
heard that the God of Israel proclaimed his name
racious and merciful, and they concluded their
ings would make their God their pattern; it was
an honour to the kings of Israel to be thus repre¬
sented, as indeed every Israelite is then dressed as
becomes him, when he puts on bowels of mercies.
“ They are merciful kings, therefore we ‘may hope
to find mercy, upon our submission;” this encou¬
ragement poor sinners have to repent and humble
themselves before God; “ Have we not heard that
the God of Israel is a merciful God? Have we not
found him so? Let us therefore rend our hearts and
return to him.” Joel 2. 13. That is evangelical
repentance, which flows from an apprehension of the
mercy of God in Christ; there is forgiveness with him.
Two things they undertake to represent to Ahab;
1. Their master a penitent; for they girded sack¬
cloth on their loins, as mourners, and put ropes on
their heads, as condemned criminals going to ex¬
ecution, pretending to be sorry that they had invad¬
ed his country, and disturbed his repose, and to own
that they deserved to be hanged for it; here they
are ready to do penance for it, and throw themselves
at the fqet of him whom they had injured; many
take upon them to repent of their wrong-doing,
when it does not succeed, who, if they had prosper¬
ed in it, would have justified it, and gloried in it.
2. Their master a beggar, a beggar for his life;
Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, “ I pray thee, let me
live, v. 32. Though I live a perpetual exile from
my own country, and captive in this, yet, upon any
terms, let me live!” What a great change is here,
(1.) In his condition; how is he fallen from the
height of power and prosperity, to the depths of
disgrace and distress, and all the miseries of pover¬
ty and slavery ! See the uncertainty of human aff drs ;
such turns are they subject to, that the spoke which
was uppermost, may soon come to be undermost.
(2.) In his temper; in the beginning of the chapter,
hectoring, swearing, and threatening, and none
more high in his demands; but here, humbling and
bemoaning himself, and none more low in his re¬
quests: how poorly does he beg his life at the hand
of him whom he had there been trampling upon !
The most haughty in prosperity are commonly most
abject in adversity; an evil spirit will thus affect a
man in these conditions; see how God glorifies him¬
self, when he looks upon proudmen, and abases them,
and hides them in the dust together. Job, 40. 1 1 • • 13.
II. Ahab's foolish acceptance of his submission,
and the league he suddenly made with him, upon
it; he was proud to be thus courted by him whom
he had feared, inquires for him with great tender¬
ness, Is he yet alive? He is my brother, brother
king, though not brother Israelite; and Ahab valued
himself more on his royalty, than on his religion,
and others accordingly. “Is he thy brother, Ahab?
Did he use thee like a brother, when he sent thee
that barbarous message? x\ 5, 6. Would he have
called thee brother, if he had been the conqueror?
Would he now have called himself thy servant, if
he had not been reduced to the utmost strait? Canst
thou suffer thyself to be thus imposed upon by a
forced and counterfeit submission?” This word
brother they catch at, ( v . 33.) and were encouraged
by that to go and fetch him to the king; hethat calls
him brother, will let him live; let poor penitents
hear God, in his word, calling them children, (Jer.
31. 20.) catch at it, echo to it, and call him Father.
Ben-hadad, upon his submission, shall not only be
honourably conveyed, (he look him up into the cha
riot,) but treated with as an ally; {v. 34.) he made
a covenant with him, not consulting either God’s
prophets, or the elders of the land, or himself, con¬
cerning what was fit to be insisted on, but, as if
Ben-hadad had been conqueror, he shall make his
own terms: he might now have demanded some of
Ben-hadad’s cities, when all of them lay at the
mercy of his victorious army, but is content with
the restitution of his own; he might now have de¬
manded the stores, and treasures, and magazines,
of Damascus, to augment the wealth and strength
of his own kingdom, but is content with a poor
liberty, at his own expense, to build streets there,
a point of honour, and no advantage, or no more
than what the kings of Syria had had in Samaria,
though they never had had so much power as he
had now, to support the demand of it. With this
covenant he sent him away, without so much as re¬
proving him for his blasphemous reflections upon
the God of Israel, whose honour Ahab had no con¬
cern for. Note, There are those on whom success
is ill bestowed; they know not how to serve either
God or their generation, or even their own true in¬
terests, with their prosperity : Let favour be showed
to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness.
III. The reproof given to Ahab for his clemency
to Ben-hadad, and his covenant with him; it was
given him by a prophet, in the name of the Lord;
the Jews say it was Micaiah, and not unlikely, for
Ahab complains of him, ( ch . 22. 8.) that he used to
prophesy evil concerning him; this prophet designed
to reprove Ahab by a parable, that he might oblige
him to condemn himself, as Nathan and the woman
of Tekoa did David; to make his parable the more
plausible, he finds it necessary to put himself into
the posture of a wounded soldier.
1. W ith some difficulty, he gets himself wounded,
for he would not do it with his own hands; he com¬
manded cne of his brother prophets, his neighbour,
or companion, (for so the word signifies,) to smite
him, and this, in God’s name, (t>. 35.) but finds him
not so willing to give the blow as he is to receive it;
he refused to smite him, others were forward
enough to smite prophets, they need not smite one
another; we cannot but think it was from a good
principle he declined it; “ If it must be done, let
another do it, not I; I cannot find in my heart to
strike my friend.” Good men can much more easi¬
ly receive a wrongful blow than give one; yet be¬
cause he disobeyed an express command of God,
(which was so much the worse if he were himself a
prophet, )like that other disobedient prophet, ch. 13.
24. he was presently slain by a lion, v. 36. This
was intended, not only to show, in general, how pro¬
voking disobedience is, (Col. 3. 6. ) but to intimate
to Ahab, who, no doubt, was told the story, that if
a good prophet were thus punished for sparing his
friend and God’s, when God said, Smite, of much
sorer punishment should a wicked king be thought
worthy, who spared his enemy and God’s, when
God said, Smite. Shall mortal man pretend to be
more just than God, more pure or more compas¬
sionate than his Maker? We must be merciful as
he is merciful, and not otherwise. The next he met
wuth, made no difficulty of smiting him, ( Volenti
non fit injuria — Hethat asks for an injury is not
wronged by it,) and did it so that he wounded him;
(y. 37.) he fetched blood with the blow; it is likely,
in his face.
i>52
KINGS, XXI.
If
2. Wounded as lie was, and disguised with ashes,
that he might not be known to be a prophet, he
made his application to the king in a story, where¬
by he ciiarged himself with such a crime as the king
was now guilty of irt sparing Ben-hadad, and waits
for the king’s judgment upon it; the case, in short,
is this: — A prisoner taken in the battle was com¬
mitted to his custody, by a man, (we may suppose
one tfmt had authority over him as his superior of¬
ficer,) with this charge, If he be missing, thy life
shall be for his life, v. 39. The prisoner has made
his escape through his carelessness. Can the chan¬
cery in the king’s breast relieve him against his
captain, who demands his life in lieu of the prison¬
er’s? “By no means,” says the king, “thou shouldest
either net have undertaken the trust, or been more
careful and faithful to it, there is no remedy, (Curat
lex — Let the lam take its course ,J thou hast forfeit¬
ed thy bond, and execution must go out upon it; so
shall thy doom be, thyself hast decided it.” Now
the prophet has what lie would have, puts off his
disguise, and is known by Ahab himself to be a pro¬
phet, (x\ 41.) and plainly tells him, “ Thou art the
man. Is it my doom? No, it is thine; thyself hast
decided it; out of thine own mouth art thou judged;
God, thy Superior and Commander in chief, deliver¬
ed into thy hands one plainly marked for destruc¬
tion, both by his own pride, and God’s providence,
and thou hast not carelessly lost him, but wittingly
and willingly dismissed him, and so hast been false
to thy trust, and lost the end of thy victory; expect
therefore no other than that thy life shall go for his
life, which thou hast spared,” (and so it did, ch. 22.
35.) “and thy Jieofile for his people, whom likewise
thou hast spared;” and so they did afterward, 2
Kings JO. 32, 33. When their other sins brought
them low, this came into the account. There Is a
time, when keeping back the. sword from blood, is
doing the work of the Lord deceitfully, Jer. 48. 10.
Foolish pity spoils the city.
3. We are told how Ahab took this reproof; he
went to his house heavy and displeased; (v. 43.) not
truly penitent, or seeking to undo what he had done
amiss, but enraged at the prophet, exasperated
against God, (as if lie h id been too severe in the
sentence passed upon him,) and yet veked at him¬
self, every way out of humour, notwithstanding his
victory; he who, by his providence, had mortified
the pride of one king, by his word, cast a damp upon
the triumphs of another: Be wise therefore, 0 ye
kings, and be instructed to serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling, Ps. 2. 10, 11.
CHAP. XXI.
Ahab is still the unhappy subject of the sacred history; from
the yreat.affairs of his camp and kingdom this chapter
leads us into his garden, and gives us an account of some
ill tilings, (and ill indeed they proved to him,) relating to
his domestic affairs. I. Ahab is sick for Naboth’s vine¬
yard, v. 1..4. II. Naboth dies by Jezebel’s plot, that
the vineyard may escheat to Ahab, v. 5 . .14. III. Ahab
goes to take possession, v. 15, 16. IV. Elijah meets him,
anil denounces the judgments of God against him for his
injustice, v. 17 . . £4. V. Upon his humiliation a reprieve
is granted, v. 25 . 29.
1 . 4 ND it came to pass after these things,
A that Naboth the Jezreelite had a
vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the
palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2. And
Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me
thy vineyard, that I may have it for a gar¬
den of herbs, because it is near unto my
house ; and I will give thee for it a better
vineyard than it : or , if it seem good to thee,
T will give thee the worth of it in money. 3.
| And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord for
I bid it me, that I should give the inheritance
j of my fathers unto thee. 4. And Ahab came
into his house heavy and displeased, be¬
cause of the word which Naboth the Jez¬
reelite had spoken to him ; for he had said,
I will not give thee the inheritance of my
fathers. And he laid him down upon his
bed, and turned away his face, and would
eat no bread.
Here is,
I. Ahab’s coveting his neighbour’s vineyard,
which, unhappily, lay near his palace, and was con¬
venient for a kitchen-garden: perhaps, Naboth had
been pleased that he had a vineyard which lay so
advantageously for a prospect of the royal gardens,
or the vending of its productions to the royal family
— but the situation of it proved fatal to him; if he
had had no vineyard, or it had lain obscure in some
remote place, he had preserved his life; but many a
man’s possessions have been his snare, and his neigh¬
bourhood to greatness, of pernicious consequence.
Ahab sets his eye and heart on this vineyard; (v. 2. )
it will be a pretty addition to his demesne, a conve¬
nient outlet to his palace, and nothing will serve
him but it must be his own. He is welcome to the
fruits of it, welcome to walk in it; Naboth perhaps
would have made him a lease of it, for his life, to
please him, but nothing will please him, unless he
have an absolute property in it, he and his heirs
for ever: yet he is not such a tyrant as to take it by
force, but fairly proposes, either to give him the
full value of it in money, or a 1 letter vineyard in ex¬
change; he had tamely quitted the great advantages
God had given him, of enlarging his donjinion. for
the honour of his kingdom, by his victory over the
Syrians, and now is eager to enlarge his garden,
only for the convenience of his house, as if to be
penny-wise, would atone for being pound-foolish.
To desire a convenience to his estate, was not evil;
(there would be no buying, if there was no desire
of what is bought; the virtuous woman considers a
field and buys it;) but to desire any thing inordinate¬
ly, though we would compass it by lawful means, is
a fruit of selfishness, as if we must engross all the
conveniences, and none must live, or live comfort¬
ably by us; contrary to the law of contentment, and
the letter of the tenth commandment, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour’s house.
II. The repulse he met with in this desire; Na¬
both would by no means part with it, (v. 3. ) The
Lord forbid it me; and the Lord did forbid it, else
he would not have been so rude and unciv il to his
prince, as not to gratify him in so small a matter.
Canaan was, in a peculiar manner, God’s land; the
Israelites were his tenants; and this was one of the
conditions of their leases, that they should not alien¬
ate, (no not to one another,) any part of that which
fell to their lot, unless in case of extreme necessity,
and then only till the year of Jubilee, Lev. 25. 28.
Now Naboth foresaw that if his vineyard were sold
to the crown, it would never return to his heirs, no
not in the jubilee; he would gladly oblige the king,
but he must obey God rather than men, and there¬
fore in this matter he desires to be excused. Ahab
knew the law, or should have known it, and there¬
fore did ill to ask that which his subject could not
grant without sin. Some conceive that Naboth look¬
ed upon his earthly inheritance as an earnest of his
lot in the heavenly Canaan, and therefore would not
part with the former, lest it should amount to a
forfeiture of the latter: he seems to have been a
conscientious man, who would rather hazard the
king’s displeasure than offend God; and, probably,
553
1. KINGS, XXI.
was one of the 7000 that had not bowed the knee to
Baal , for which, it may be, Ahab owed him a grudge.
I] I. Ahab’s great discontent and uneasiness, here¬
upon; he was, as before, ( ch . 20. 43.) heavy and
dis'ileased; (z>. 4. ) grew melancholy upon it, threw
h'mself upon his bed, would not eat, nor admit com¬
pany to come to him; he coiild by no means digest
the affront; his proud spirit aggravated the indigni¬
ty Naboth did him in denying him, as a thing not to
be suffered; he cursed the squeamishness of his con¬
science, which he pretended to consult the peace
of, and secretly meditated revenge; nor could he
bear the disappointment, it cut him to the heart to
be crossed in his desires, and he was perfectly sick
for vexation. Note, 1. Discontent is a sin that is its !
own punishment, and makes men torment them¬
selves; it makes the spirit sad, the body sick, and
all the enjoyments sour; it is the heaviness of the
heart,, and the rottenness of the bones. 2. It is a
sin that is its own parent; it arises not from the con¬
dition, but from the mind; as we find Paul content¬
ed in a prison, so Ahab discontented in a palace; he
had all the delights of Canaan, that pleasant land,
at command, the wealth of a kingdom, the pleasures
of a court, and the honours and powers of a throne ;
and yet all this avails him nothing without Naboth’s
vineyard. Inordinate desires expose men to con¬
tinual vexations, and they that are disposed to fret,
be they ever so happy, will always find something
or other to fret at.
5. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and
said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that
thou eatest no bread ? 6. And he said unto
her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jez-
reelite, and said- unto him, Give me thy vine¬
yard for money ; or else, if it please thee, I
will give thee another vineyard for it : and
he answered, I will not give thee my vine¬
yard. 7. And Jezebel his wife said unto
him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of
Israel ? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine
heart be merry : I will give thee the vine¬
yard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8. So she
wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed
them with his seal, and sent the letters unto
the elders and to the nobles that were in his
city, dwelling with Naboth. 9. And she
wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast,
and set Naboth on high among the people ;
10. And set two men, sons of Belial, before
him, to bear witness against him, saying,
Thou didst blaspheme God and the king:
and then carry him out, and stone him, that
he may die. 11. And the men of his city,
even the elders and the nobles, who were
the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel
had sent unto them, and as it was written in
the letters which she had sent unto them :
12. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth
on high among the people. 13. And there
came in two men, children of Belial, and
sat before him : and the men of Belial wit¬
nessed against him, even against Naboth, in
the presence of the people, saying, Naboth
did blaspheme God and the king. Then they
carried him forth out of the city, and stoned
Vol. n. — 4 A
him with stones, that he died. 14. Then
they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is
stoned, and is dead. 15. And it came to
pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was
stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to
Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard
of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused
to give thee for money : for Naboth is not
alive, but dead. 16. And it came to pass,
when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,
that Ahab rose up to go down to the vine¬
yard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take pos¬
session of it.
Nothing but mischief is to be expected when Je¬
zebel enters into the story — that cursed woman, 2
Kings 9. 34.
I. Under pretence of comforting her afflicted
husband, she feeds his pride and passion, and blows
the coals of his corruptions. It became her to take
notice of his grief, and to inquire into the cause of it,
v. 5. Those have forgotten both the duty and af¬
fection of the conjugal relation, that interest not
themselves in each other’s troubles. He tells her
what troubled him, (v. 6.) yet invidiously conceals
Naboth’s reason for his refusal, representing it as
peevish, when it was conscientious; I will not give
it thee, whereas he said, / may not. What! (says
Jezebel, v. 7. ) Dost thou govern Israel ? Arise ,
and eat bread. She does well to persuade him to
shake off his melancholy, and not to sink under his
burthen, to be easy and cheerful; whatever was his
grief, grieving would not redress it, but pleasant¬
ness would alleviate it; her plea is, Dost thou now
govern Israel ? This is capable of a good sense,
“ Does it become so great a prince as thou art, to
cast thyself down for so small a matter ? Thou
shamest thyself, and profanest thy crown; it is below
thee to take notice of so inconsiderable a thing. Art
thou fit to govern Israel, who hast no better a go¬
vernment of thine own passions? Or hast thou so
rich a kingdom at command, and canst not thou be
without this one vineyard ?” We should learn to
quiet ourselves, under our crosses, with the thoughts
of the mercies we enjoy, especially our hopes of the
kingdom. But she meant it in a bad sense, “Dost
thou govern Israel, and shall any subject thou hast,
deny thee any thing thou hast a mind to? Art thou a
king ? It is below thee to buy and pay, much more
to beg and pray; use thy prerogative, and take by
force what thou canst not compass by fair means;
instead of resenting the affront thus, revenge it. If
thou knowest not how to support the dignity of a
king, let me alone to do it; give me but leave to
make use of thy name, and I will soon give thee the
vineyard of Naboth; right or wrong, it shall be thy
own shortly, and cost thee nothing.” Unhappy
princes those are, and hurried apace toward their
ruin, w’ho have those about them, that stir them up
to acts of tyranny j and teach them how to abuse
their power.
II. In order to the gratifying of him, she projects
and compasses the death of Naboth; no less than
his blood will serve to atone for the affront he had
given to Ahab, which she thirsts after the more
greedily, because of his adherence to the law of the
God of Israel. Had she aimed only at his land,
her false witnesses might have sworn him out of
that by a forged deed; (she could not have set up so
weak a title, but the elders of Jezreel would have
adjudged it good;) but the adulteress will hunt for
the firecious life, Prov. 6. 26. Revenge is sweet;
Naboth must die, and die as a malefactor, to grati¬
fy it.
554
l. KJNGJ5, XXI.
1. Never were more wicked orders given by any
prince, than these which Jezebel sent to the magis¬
trates of Jezreel, v. 8* • 10. She- borrows the privy-
seal, but the king shall not know what she will do
with it: it is probable this was not the fust time he
had lent it her, but that with it she had signed
warrants for the slaying of the prophets. She
makes use of the king’s name, knowing the thing
would please him when it was done, yet fearing he
might scruple the manner of doing it; in short, she
commands them, upon their allegiance, to put Na¬
both to death, without giving them any reason. Had
she sent witnesses to inform against him, the judges
(who must go secundum allegata et probata — ac¬
cording to allegations and proofs) might have been
imposed upon, and their sentence had been rather
their unhappiness than their crime; but to oblige
them to find the witnesses, sons of Belial, to suborn
them themselves, and then to give judgment upon a
testimony which they knew to be false, was such an
impudent defiance to every thing that is just and sa¬
cred, as we hope cannot be paralleled in any story;
she must look upon the elders of Jezreel as men per¬
fectly lost to every thing that is honest and honoura¬
ble, ' when she expected these orders should be
obeyed; but she will put them in a way how to do
it, having as much of the serpent’s subtilty as she
had of his poison.
(1.) It must be done under colour of religion. —
“ Proclaim a fast, signify to your city that you are
apprehensive of some dreadful judgment coming
upon you, which you must endeavour to avert, not
only by prayer, but by finding out and putting away
the’ accursed thing; take on you to be afraid that
there is some great offender among you undiscover¬
ed, for whose sake God is angry with your city;
charge the people, if they know of any such, on that
solemn occasion to inform against him, as they ten¬
der the welfare of the city, and at last let Naboth
be fastened upon as the suspected person, probably,
because he does not join with his neighbours in their
worship : that may serve for a pretence to set him
on high among the people, to call him to the bar; let
proclamation be made, if any one can inform the
court against the prisoner, and prove him to be the
Achan, they shall be heard; and then let the wit¬
nesses appear to give evidence against him.” Note,
There is no wickedness so vile, so horrid, but reli¬
gion has sometimes been made a cloak and cover
for it. W e must not at all think the worse of fast¬
ing and praying for their having been sometimes
thus abused, but much the worse of those wicked
designs that have at any time been carried on under
the umbrage of them.
(2.) It must be done under colour of justice too,
and with the formalities of a legal process. Had
she sent to them to hire some of their banditti, some
desperate ruffians to assassinate him, to stab him as
he went along the streets in the night, it had been
bad enough; but to do it by a course of law, to use
that power for the murdering of the innocent,
which ought to be their protection, was such a vio¬
lent perverting of justice and judgment as yet we
ave bid not to marvel at, Eccl. 5. 8. The crime
thev must lay to his charge, was blaspheming God
and the king ; a complicated blasphemy. Sure she
could not think to put a blasphemous sense upon
the answer he had given to Ahab, as if denying him
his vineyard were blaspheming the king, and giv¬
ing the divine law for the reason, were blaspheming
God. No, she pretends not any ground at all for
the charge; though there was no colour of truth in
it, though witnesses* must swear it, and Naboth
must not be permitted to speak for himself, or
cross-examine the witnesses, but immediately, un¬
derpretence of a universal detestation of the crime,
they must carry him out and stone him. His
blaspheming God would be the forfeiture of his
life, but not of his estate, and therefore he is aiso
charged with treason, in blaspheming the king, for
which his estate was to be confiscated, that so
Ahab might have his vineyard.
2. Never were wicked orders more wickedly
obeyed, than these were by the magistrates cf Jez-
reel". They do not so much as dispute the com¬
mand, or make any objections against it, though so
palpably unjust; but punctually observed all the
particulars of it, either because they feared Jez¬
ebel’s cruelty, or because they hated Naboth’s
piety, or both. They did as it was written in the
letters ; (u. 11, 12.) neither made any difficulty cl
it, nor met with any difficulty in it, but clc\eih
carried on the villany ; they stc ned Naboth to death,
{y. 13.) and, as it should seem, his sons with him,
or after him: for when Gcd came to make inquisi¬
tion for blood, we find that article in the account,
(2 Kings 9. 26.) / have seen the blood of A’abot/
and the blood of his sons. Perhaps they were se¬
cretly murdered, that they might not claim their
father’s estate, or c< mplain of the wrong dene him.
Let us take occasion from this sad story, (1.) To
stand amazed at the wickedness of the wicked, and
the power of Satan in the children of disobedience.
What a holy indignation may we be filled with, to
see wickedness in the place of judgment, Eccl. 3.
16. (2.) To lament the hard case of oppressed in-
nocency, and to mingle our tears with the tears of
the oppressed that have no comforter, while on the
side of the oppressors there is power , Eccl. 4. 1.
(3.) To commit the keeping c f nur lives and com¬
forts to God, for innocency itself will not always be
our security. (4.) To rejoice in the belief of a
judgment to come, in which such wrong judgments
as these will be called over. Now we see that
there be just men to whom it happens according to
the work of the wicked, (Eccl. 8. 14.) but all will be
set to rights in the great day.
III. Naboth being taken off, Ahab takes posses¬
sion of his vineyard. 1. The elders of Jezreel sent
notice to Jezebel very unconcernedly, sent it her as
a piece of agreeable news, Araboth is stoned, and is
dead, v. 14. Here let us observe, that as obsequi¬
ous as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel’s
orders, which she sent from Samaria for the murder
of Naboth, so obsequious were the elders of Sa¬
maria afterwards to Jehu’s orders, which he sent
from Jezreel for the murder of Ahab’s seventy sons,
only that was not done by course of law^2 Kings
10. 6, 7. Those tyrants, that by their wicked or¬
ders debauch the consciences of their inferior ma¬
gistrates, may, perhaps, find at last the wheel
return upon them; and that those who will not
stick to do one cruel thing for them, will be as rea¬
dy to do another cruel thing against them. 2. Jeze¬
bel, jocund enough that her plot succeeded so well,
brings notice to Ahab, that J\raboth is not alive, but
dead, therefore Arise, take possession of his vine¬
yard, v. 15. He might have taken possession by
one of his officers, but so pleased is he with this ac¬
cession to his estate, that he will make a journey to
Jezreel himself to enter upon it; and it should seem
he went in state too, as if he had got some mightv
victory, for Jehu remembers long after, that he and
Bidkar attended him at this time, 2 Kings 9. 25.
If Naboth’s sons were all put to death, Ahab
thought himself entitled to the estate, ob defectum
sanguinis (as our law expresses it.) If not, vet
Naboth dying as a criminal, he claimed it ob delic¬
tum criniinis. Or if neither would make him a
good title, the absolute power of Jezebel will give it
him, and who dares oppose it? Might often pre¬
vails against right, and wonderful is the divine
patience that suffers it to do so. God 's oertainlv
of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and yet for a
555
I. KINGS, XXL
time keeps silence when the wicked devours the man
that is more righteous than he, Hab. 1. 13.
17. And the word of the Lord came to
Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 13. Arise, go
down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which
is in Samaria : behold, he is in the vineyard
of Naboth, whither he is gone down to pos¬
sess it. 1 9. And thou shalt speak unto him,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou
killed, and also taken possession ? And
thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus
saith the Lord, In the place where dogs
licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick
thy blood, even thine. 20. And Ahab said
to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine ene¬
my ? And he answered, I have found thee ;
because thou hast sold thyself to work evil
in the sight of the Lord. 21. Behold, I
will bring evil upon thee, and will take away
thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab
him that pisseth against the wall, and him
that is shut up and left in Israel. 22. And
will make thine house like the house of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the
house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. forthe
provocation wherewith thou hast provoked
me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 23.
And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, say¬
ing, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall
of Jezreel. 24. Him that dieth of Ahab in
the city the dogs shall eat ; and him that
dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air
eat. 25. But there was none like unto
Ahab, which did sell himself to work wick¬
edness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jeze¬
bel his wife stirred up. 2G. And he did
very abominably in following idols, accord¬
ing to all things as did the Amorites, whom
the Lord cast out before the children of
Israel. 27. And it came to pass, when
Ahab heard those words, that he rent his
clothes, and put. sackcloth upon his flesh,
and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went
softly. 23. And the word of the Lord
came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29.
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself be¬
fore me ? Because he humbleth himself
before me, I will not bring the evil in his
days ; but in his son’s days will I bring the
evil upon his house.
In these verses, we may observe,
I. The very bad character that is given of Ahab,
(v. 25, 26. ) which comes in here, to justify God in the
heavy sentence passed upon him, and to show that
though it was passed upon occasion of his sin, in the
matter of Naboth, (which David’s sin, in the mat¬
ter of Uriah, did too much resemble,) yet God
would not have punished him so severely, if he had
not been guiltv of many other sins, especially idola¬
try; whereas David, except- in that one matter, did
that which was right. But for Ahab there was
none like him; so ingenious an 1 industrious in sin,
and that made a trade of it. He sold himself to
work wickedness; that is, he made himself a per¬
fect slave to his lusts, and was as much at their
beck and command, as ever any servant was at his
master’s. He was wholly given up to sin, and,
upon condition he might have the pleasures of it,
he would take the wages of it, which is death,
Rom. 6. 23. Blessed Paul complains that he was
sold under sin, (Rom. 7. 14.) as a poor captive
against his will; but Ahab was voluntary, he sold
himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and
deed, he submitted to the dominion of sin. Yet
this did not excuse him. Jezebel his wife stirred
him up to do wickedly, and made him, in many
respects, worse than otherwise he would have been:
to what a pitch of impiety did he arrive, who had
such tinder of corruption in his heart, and such a
tempter in his bosom to strike fire into it. In many
things, he did ill, but he did most abominably , in
following idols, like the Canaanites; his immorali¬
ties were very provoking to God, but his idolatries
were especially so. Israel's case was sad, when a
prince of such a character as this reigned over
them.
II. The message which Elijah was sent with to
him, when he went to take possession of Naboth’s
vineyard, v. 17- *19. Hitherto, God kept silence,
did not intercept Jezebel’s letters, nor stay the pro¬
cess of the elders of Jezreel; but now, Ahab is re¬
proved, and his sin set in order before his eyes. 1.
| The person sent, is, Elijah. A prophet of lower
r.mk was sent with messages of kindness to him,
ch. 20. 13. But the father of the prophets is sent
I to try him, and condemn him, for his murder. 2.
The place is Naboth’s vineyard; the time, just
when he was taking possession of it; then, and
there, must his doom be read him. By taking pos¬
session, he avowed all that was done, and made
himself guilty, ex post facto — as an accessary after
j the fact. There he was taken in the commissibn
, of the errors, and therefore the conviction would
come upon him with so much the more force.
“What hast thou to do in this vineyard? What
j good canst thou expect from it, when it is pur¬
chased with blood, (Hab. 2. 12.) and thou hast
caused the owner thereof to lose his life?” Job 31.
39. Now that he was pleasing himself with his ill-
gotten wealth, and giving direction for the turning
of this vineyard into a flower-garden, his meat in his
bowels is turned. He shall not feel quietness.
When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast
the fury of his wrath upon him. Job 20. 14, 20, 23.
Let us see what passed between them.
(1.) Ahab vents his wrath against Elijah, falls
1 into a passion at the sight of him, and, instead of
humbling himself before the prophet, as he ought
to have done, (2 Chron 36.12.) is ready to flv in
his face, Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy? v.
20. This shows, [1.] That he hated him; the last
time we found them together, they parted very
good friends; (ch. 18. 46. ) then Ahab had counte¬
nanced the reformation, and therefore then all was
well between him and the prophet; but now he was
relapsed, and worse than ever; his conscience told
him he had made God his Enemy, and therefore he
could not expect Elijah should be his friend. Note,
That man’s condition is very miserable, that has
made the word of God his enemy, and very des
perate, that reckons the ministers of that word his
enemies, because they tell him the truth. Gal. 4.
16. Ahab, having sold himself to sin, was resolved
to stand to his bargain, and could not endure him
that would have helped to recover himself. [2.]
That he feared him. Hast thou found me? Inti¬
mating that he shunned him all he could, and it was
now a terror to him to see him. The sight of him
was like that of the hand-writing upon the wall, to
554
L. KJNGJ5, XXI.
1. Never were more wicked orders given by any
prince, than these which Jezebel sent to the magis¬
trates of Jezreel, v. 8- • 10. She- borrows the privy-
seal, but the king shall not know what she will do
with it: it is probable this was not the hist time he
had lent it her, but that with it she had signed
warrants for the slaying of the prophets. She
makes use of the king’s name, knowing the thing
would please him when it was done, yet fearing he
might scruple the manner of doing it; in short, she
commands them, upon their allegiance, to put Na¬
both to death, without giving them any reason. Had
she sent witnesses to inform against him, the judges
(who must go secundum allegata et firobatu — ac¬
cording to allegations and proof's) might have been
imposed upon,' ' and their sentence had been rather i
their unhappiness than their crime; but to oblige ,
them to find the witnesses, sons of Belial, to suborn
them themselves, and then to give judgment upon a
testimony which they knew to be false, was such an
impudent defiance to every thing that is just and sa¬
cred, as we hope cannot be paralleled in any story;
she must look upon the elders of Jezreel as men pe’r-
fectlv lost to every thing that is honest and honoura¬
ble, ’ when she expected these orders should be
obeyed; but she will put them in a way how to do
it, having as much of the serpent’s subtilty as she
had of his poison.
(1.) It must be done under colour of religion. —
“ Proclaim a fast, signify to your city that you are
apprehensive of some dreadful judgment coming
upon you, which you must endeavour to avert, not
only by prayer, but by finding out and putting away
the accursed thing; take on you to be afraid that
there is some great offender among you undiscover¬
ed, for whose sake God is angry with your city;
charge the people, if they know of any such, on that
solemn occasion to inform against him, as they ten¬
der the welfare of the city, and at last let Naboth
be fastened upon as the suspected person, probably,
because he does not join with his neighbours in their
worship: that may serve for a pretence to set him
on high among the people, to call him to the bar; let
proclamation be made, if any one can inform the [
court against the prisoner, and prove him to be the
Achan, they shall be heard; and then let the wit¬
nesses appear to give evidence against him.” Note,
There is no wickedness so vile, so horrid, but reli¬
gion has sometimes been made a cloak and cover
for it. We must not at all think the worse of fast¬
ing and praying for their having been sometimes
thus abused, but much the worse of those wicked
designs that have at any time been carried on under
the umbrage of them.
(2.) It must be done under colour of justice too,
and with the formalities of a legal process. Had
she sent to them to hire some of their banditti, some
desperate ruffians to assassinate him, to stab him as
he went along the streets in the night, it had been
bad enough; but to do it by a course of law, to use
that power for the murdering of the innocent,
which ought to be their protection, was such a vio¬
lent / lerverting of justice and judgment as yet we
are bid not to marvel at, Eccl. 5. 8. The crime
they must lay to his charge, was blaspheming God
and the king ; a complicated blasphemy. Sure she
could not think to put a blasphemous sense upon
the answer he had given to Ahab, as if denying him
his vineyard were blaspheming the king, and giv¬
ing the divine law for the reason, were blaspheming
God. No, she pretends not any ground at all for
the charge; though there was no colour of truth in
it, though witnesses* must swear it, and Naboth
must not be permitted to speak for himself, or
cross-examine the witnesses, but immediately, un¬
der pretence of a universal detestation of the crime,
they must carry him out and stone him. His i!
blaspheming God would be the forfeiture of his
life, but not of his estate, and therefore he Is aiso
charged with treason, in blaspheming the king, for
which his estate was to be confiscated, that so
Ahab might have his vineyard.
2. Ne'er were wicked orders more wickedly
obeyed, than these were by the magistrates of Jez-
reel". They do not so much as dispute the com¬
mand, or make any objections against it, though so
palpably unjust; but punctually observed all the
particulars of it, either because they feared Jez¬
ebel’s cruelty, or because they hated Naboth’s
piety, or both. They did as it was written in the
letters ,- ( v . 11, 12.) neither made any difficulty oi
it, nor met with any difficulty in it, but clc\eilt
carried on the villany; they stc ned Naboth to death,
( v . 13.) and, as it should seem, his sons with him,
or after him: for when Gcd came to make inquisi¬
tion for blood, we find that article in the account,
(2 Kings 9. 26.) Z have seen the blood of Nabot)
and the blood of his sons. Perhaps they were se¬
cretly murdered, that they might not claim their
father's estate, or c< mplain of the wrong dene him.
Let us take occasion from this sad story, (1.) To
stand amazed at the wickedness of the wicked, and
the power of Satan in the children of disobedience.
What a holy indignation may we be filled with, to
see wickedness in the place of judgment, Eccl. 3.
16. (2.) To lament the hard case of oppressed in-
noc.ency, and to mingle our tears with the tears of
the oppressed that have no comforter, while on the
side of the oppressors there is power, Eccl. 4. 1.
(3.) To commit the keeping of our lives and com¬
forts to God, for innocency itself will not always be
our security. (4.) To rejoice in the belief of a
judgment to come, in which such wrong judgments
as these will be called over. Now we see that
there be just men to whom it happens according to
the work of the wicked, (Eccl. 8. 14.) but all will be
set to rights in the great day.
III. Naboth being taken off, Ahab takes posses¬
sion of his vineyard. 1. The elders of Jezreel sent
notice to Jezebel very unconcernedly, sent it her as
a piece of agreeable news, Naboth is stoned, and is
dead, v. 14. Here let us observe, that as obsequi¬
ous as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel’s
orders, which she sent from Samaria for the murder
of Naboth, so obsequious w'ere the elders of Sa¬
maria afterwards to Jehu’s orders, which he sent
from Jezreel for the murder of Ahab’s seventy sons,
only that was not done by course of law^2 Kings
10. 6, 7. Those tyrants, that by their wicked or¬
ders debauch the consciences of their inferior ma¬
gistrates, may, perhaps, find at last the wheel
return upon them; and that those who will not
stick to do one cruel thing for them, will be as rea¬
dy to do another cruel thing against them. 2. Jeze¬
bel, jocund enough that her plot succeeded so well,
brings notice to Ahab, that Naboth is not alive, but
dead, therefore Arise, take possession of his vine¬
yard, v. 15. He might have taken possession by
one of his officers, but so pleased is he with this ac¬
cession to his estate, that he will make a journey to
Jezreel himself to enter upon it; and it should seem
he went in state too, as if he had got some mighty
victory, for Jehu remembers long after, that he and
Bidkar attended him at this time, 2 Kings 9. 25.
If Naboth’s sons were all put to death, Ahab
thought himself entitled to the estate, ob defectum
sanguinis (as our law expresses it.) If not, vet
Naboth dying as a criminal, he claimed it ob delic¬
tum criminis. Or if neither would make him a
good title, the absolute power of Jezebel will give it
him, and who dares oppose it? Might often pre¬
vails against right, and wonderful is the divine
patience that suiters it to do so. God *s certainlv
of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and yet for y
555
I. KINGS, XXL
time keeps silence when the wicked devours the man
that is more righteous than he, Hab. 1. 13.
17. And the word of the Lord came to
Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 13. Arise, go
down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which
is in Samaria : behold, he is in the vineyard
of Naboth, whither he is gone down to pos¬
sess it. 1 9. And thou shalt speak unto him,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou
killed, and also taken possession ? And
thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus
saith the Lord, In the place where dogs
licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick
thy blood, even thine. 20. And Ahab said
to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine ene¬
my ? And he answered, I have found thee ;
because thou hast sold thyself to work evil
in the sight of the Lord. 21. Behold, I
will bring evil upon thee, and will take away
thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab
him that pisseth against the wall, and him
that is shut up and left in Israel. 22. And
will make thine house like the house of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the
house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the
provocation wherewith thou hast provoked
me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 23.
And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, say¬
ing, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall
of Jezreel. 24. Him that dieth of Ahab in
the city the dogs shall eat; and him that
dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air
eat. 25. But there was none like unto
Ahab, which did sell himself to work wick¬
edness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jeze¬
bel his wife stirred up. 2G. And he did
very abominably in following idols, accord¬
ing to all things as did the Amorites, whom
the Lord cast out before the children of
Israel. 27. And it came to pass, when
Ahab heard those words, that he rent his
clothes, and pur. sackcloth upon his flesh,
and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went
softly. 28. And the word of the Lord
came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29.
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself be¬
fore me ? Because he humbleth himself
before me, I will not bring the evil in his
days ; but in his son’s days will I bring the
evil upon his house.
In these verses, we may observe,
I. 'Die very bad character that is given of Ahab,
( v . 25, 26. ) which comes in here, to justify God in the
heavy sentence passed upon him, and to show that
though it was passed upon occasion of his sin, in the
matter of Naboth, (which David’s sin, in the mat¬
ter of Uriah, did too much resemble,) yet God
would not have punished him so severely, if he had
not been guilty of many other sins, especially idola¬
try; whereas David, except in that one matter, did
that which was right. But for Ahab there was
none like him; so ingenious an l industrious in sin,
and that made a trade of it. He sold himself to
work wickedness; that is, he made himself a per¬
fect slave to his lusts, and was as much at their
beck and command, as ever any servant was at his
master’s. He was wholly given up to sin, and,
upon condition he might have the pleasures of it,
he would take the wages of it, which is death,
Rom. 6. 23. Blessed Paul complains that he was
sold under sin, (Rom. 7. 14.) as a poor captive
against his will; but Ahab was voluntary, he sold
himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and
deed, he submitted to the dominion of sin. Yet
this did not excuse him. Jezebel his wife stirred
him up to do wickedly, and made him, in many
respects, worse than otherwise he would have been:
to what a pitch of impiety did he arrive, who had
such tinder of corruption in his heart, and such a
tempter in his bosom to strike fire into it. In many
things, he did ill, but he did most abominably , in
following idols, like the Canaanites; his immorali¬
ties were very provoking to Gcd, but his idolatries
were especially so. Israel’s case was sad, when a
prince of such a character as this reigned over
them.
II. The message which Elijah was sent with to
him, when he went to take possession of Naboth’s
vineyard, v. 17-«19. Hitherto, God kept silence,
did not intercept Jezebel’s letters, nor stay the pro¬
cess of the elders of Jezreel; but now, Ahab is re¬
proved, and his sin set in order before his eyes. 1.
The person sent, is, Elijah. A prophet of lower
r.mk was sent with messages of kindness to him,
ch. 20. 13. But the father of the prophets is sent
to try him, and condemn him, for his murder. 2.
The place is Naboth’s vineyard; the time, just
when he was taking possession of it; then, and
there, must his doom be read him. By taking pos¬
session, he avowed all that was done, and made
himself guilty, ex post facto — as an accessary after
the fact. There he was taken in the commissibn
of the errors, and therefore the conviction wmuld
come upon him with so much the more force.
“What hast thou to do in this vineyard? What
good canst thou expect from it, when it is pur¬
chased with blood, (Hab. 2. 12.) and thou hast
caused the owner thereof to lose his life 7” Job 31.
39. Now that he was jdeasing himself with his ill-
gotten wealth, and giving direction for the turning
of this vineyard into a flower-garden, his meat in his
bowels is turned. He shall not feel quietness.
When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast
the fury of his wrath upon him, Job 20. 14, 20, 23.
Let us see what passed between them.
(1.) Ahab vents his wrath against Elijah, falls
into a passion at the sight of him, and, instead of
humbling himself before the prophet, as he ought
to have done, (2 Chron 36.12.) is ready to fly in
his face, Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy? v.
20. This shows, [1.] That he hated him; the last
time we found them together, they parted very
good friends; (ch. 18. 46.) then Ahab had counte¬
nanced the reformation, and therefore then all was
well between him and the prophet; but now he was
relapsed, and worse than ever; his conscience told
him he had made God his Enemy, and therefore he
could not expect Elijah should be his friend. Note,
That man’s condition is very miserable, that has
made the word of God his enemy, and very des
perate, that reckons the ministers of that word his
enemies, because they tell him the truth. Gal. 4.
16. Ahab, having sold himself to sin, was resolved
to stand to his bargain, and could not endure him
that would have helped to recover himself. [2.]
That he feared, him. Hast thou found me? Inti¬
mating that he shunned him all he could, and it was
now a terror to him to see him. The sight of him
was like that of the hand-writing upon the wall, to
556
1. KINGS, XXII.
Belshazzar, it made his countenance change, the
joints of his loins mere loosed, and his knees smote
me against another. Never was poor debtor or
criminal so confounded at the sight of the officer that
came to arrest him. Men may thank themselves,
if they make God and his word a terror to them.
(2.) Elijah denounces God’s wrath against Ahab;
[ have found thee, (says he, v. 20.) because thou
hast sold thyself to work evil. Note, Those that
give up themselves to sin, will certainly be found
out, sooner or later, to their unspeakable horror
and amazement. Ahab is now set to the bar, as
Naboth was, and trembles more than he did.
[1.] Elijah finds the indictment against him, and
convicts him, upon the notorious evidence of the
fact; (v. 19.) Hast thou killed, and also taken pos¬
session? He is here charged with the murder of
Naboth; and it would not serve him to say the law
killed him; (perverted justice is the highest injus¬
tice;) or, that if he were unjustly prosecuted, it was
not his doing, he knew nothing of it: for it was to
please him, that it was done, and he had showed
himself pleased with it, and so had made himself
guilty of all that was done in the unjust prosecution
of Naboth. He killed, for he took possession. If
he takes the garden, he takes the guilt with it.
Terra transit cum onere — The land with the in¬
cumbrance.
[2.] He passes judgment upon him. That his
family should be ruined and rooted out, ( v . 21.) and
all his posterity cut off. That his house should be
made like the houses of his wicked predecessors,
Jeroboam and Baasha; (y. 22.) 'particularly, that
they who died in the city, should be meat for dogs,
and they who died in the field, meat for birds, (z».
24.) which had been foretold of Jeroboam’s house,
( ch . 14. 11.) and of Baasha’s ch. 16. 4. That Jeze¬
bel, particularly, should be devoured by dogs, (v.
23.) which was fulfilled; (2 Kings 9. 36.) and as for
Afiab himself, that the dogs should lick his blood in
the very same place where they licked Naboth’s;
(7;. 19.) “ Thy blood, even thine, though it be royal
blood, though it swell thy veins with pride, and boil
in thy heart with anger, ere long it shall be an eh-
tertainment for the dogs;” which was fulfilled, ch.
22. 38. This intimates that he should die a violent
death, should come to his grave with blood, and
that disgrace should attend him, the foresight of
which must needs be a great mortification to a
proud man. Punishments after death are here most
insisted on, which, though such as affect the body
only, perhaps, were designed as figures of the soul’s
misery after death.
III. Ahab’s humiliation under the sentence pass¬
ed upon him, and the favourable message sent him,
thereupon.
1. Ahab was a kind of penitent. The message
Elijah delivered him in God’s name, put him into a
fright for the present, so that he rent his clothes, and
put on sackcloth, v. 27. He was still a proud har¬
dened sinner, and yet thus reduced. Note, God can
make the stoutest heart to tremble, and the proud¬
est to humble itself. His word is quick and power¬
ful, and is, when he pleases to make it so, like a
fire, and a hammer , Jer. 32. 29. It made Felix
tremble. Ahab put on the garb and guise of a pe¬
nitent, and yet his heart was unhumbled and un¬
changed. After this, we find, he hated a faithful
prophet, ch. 22. 8. Note, It is no new thing to find
the show and profession of repentance, where vet
the truth and substance of it are wanting. Ahab’s
repentance was only what might be seen of men:
Seest thou (says God to Elijah) how Ahab humbles
himself? It was external only; and the garments
rent, but not the heart. An hypocrite may go very
far in the outward performances of holy duties, and
yet come short.
2. He obtained, hereby, a reprieve, which I may
call a kind of pardon. Though it was but an cut-
side repentance, (lamenting the judgment only, and
not the sin,) though he did not leave his idols, nor
restore the vineyard to Naboth’s heirs, yet because
he did hereby give some glory to God, God took
notice of it, and bade Elijah take notice of it; Seest
thou how Ahab humbles himself? v. 29. In con¬
sideration of this, the threatened ruin of his house,
which had not been fixed to any time, should be ad¬
journed to his son’s days. The sentence should not
be revoked, but the execution suspended. Now,
(1. ) This discovers the great goodness of God, and
his readiness to show mercy, which here rejoices
against judgment. Favour is showed to this wicked
man, that God might magnify his goodness, (says
Bishop Sanderson,) even to the hazard of his other
divine perfections; as if, (says he,) God would be
thought unholy, or untrue, or unjust, (though he be
none of these,) or any thing, rather than unmerciful.
(2.) This teaches us to take notice of that which is
good, even in those who are not so good as they
should be: let it be commended as far as it goes.
(3.) This gives a reason why wicked people some¬
times prosper long: God is rewarding their external
services with external mercies. (4.) This encou¬
rages all those that truly repent, and unfeignedly
believe the holy gospel. If a pretending partial pe¬
nitent shall go to his house, reprieved, doubtless, a
sincere penitent shall go tohis house, justified.
CHAP. XXII.
This chapter finishes the history of Ahab’s reign. It was
promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that the
ruin of his house should not come in his days, but his
days were soon at an end. His war with the Syrians
at Ramoth-gilead, is that which we have an account of in
this chapter. I. His preparations for that war. He con¬
sulted, 1. His privy-council, v. 1 . . 3. 2. Jehoshaphat,
v. 4. 3. His prophets. (1.) His own, who encouraged
him to go on this expedition, (v. 5, 6.) Zedekiah particu¬
larly, v. 11, 12. (2.) A prophet of the Lord, Micaiah,
who was desired to come by Jehoshaphat, (v. 7, 8.) sent
for, (v. 9, 10, 13, 14.) upbraided Ahab with his confidence
in the false prophets, (v. 15.) but foretold his fall in this
expedition, (16.. 18.) and gave him an account how he
came to be thus imposed upon by his prophets, v. 19 . . 23.
He is abused by Zedekiah, (v. 24, 25.) and imprisoned
by Ahab, v. 26 . . 28. II. The battle itself; in which 1.
Jehoshaphat is exposed. But, 2. Ahab is slain, v. 29 . .
40. In the close of the chapter, we have a short account,
(1.) Of the good reign of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, v.
41 . . 50. (2.) Of the wicked reign of Ahaziah king of
Israel, v. 51 . . 53.
1. AND they continued three years vvith-
. out war between Syria and Israel.
2. And it came to pass, in the third year,
that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came
down to the king of Israel. 3. And the
king of Israel said unto his servants, Know
ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we
be still, and take it not out of the hand of
the king of Syria? 4. And he said unto
Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle
to Ramoth-gilead ? And Jehoshaphat said
to the king of Israel, I am as thou art , my
people as thy people, my horses as thy hor¬
ses. 5. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king
of Israel, Inquire, 1 pray thee, at the word
of the Lord to-day. 6. Then the king. of
Israel gathered the prophets together, about
four hundred men, and said unto them,
Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle,
1. KINGS, XXII.
557
or shall I forbear ? And they said, Go up;
for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand
of the king. 7. And Jehoshaphat said, Is
there not here a prophet of the Lord be¬
sides, that we might inquire of him ? 8. And
the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat,
There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of
Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the
Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not
prophesy good concerning me, but evil.
And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say
so. 9. Then the king of Israel called an
officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the
son of Imlah. 10. And the king of Israel
and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each
on his throne, having put on their robes, in
a void place in the entrance of the gate of
Samaria : and all the prophets prophesied
before them. 1 1. And Zedekiah the son of
Chenaanah made him horns of iron : and
he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these
shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have
consumed them. 12. And all the prophets
prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-
gi-lead, and prosper : for the Lord shall de¬
liver it into the king’s hand. 1 3. And the
messenger that was gone to call Micaiah
spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the
words of the prophets declare good unto the
king with one mouth : let thy word, I pray
thee, be like the word of one of them, and
speak that which is good. 14. And Micaiah
said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord
saith unto me, that will I speak.
Though Ahab continued under guilt and wrath,
and the dominion of the lusts to which he had sold
himself, yet, as a reward for his professions of re¬
pentance and humiliation, though the time drew
near when he should descend into battle and perish,
yet we have him blessed with a three years’ peace,
(i\ 1.) and an honourable visit made him by Jeho¬
shaphat king of Judah, v. 2. The Jews have a
fabulous conceit, that when Ahab humbled himself
for his sin, and lay in sackcloth, he sent for Jeho¬
shaphat to come to him, to chastise him; and that
he staid with him for some time, and gave him so
many stripes every day. That is a groundless tra¬
dition. He came now, it is probable, to consult with
him about the affairs of their kingdoms. It is
strange that so great a man as Jehoshaphat, would
pay so much respect to a kingdom revolted from
the house of David; and that so good a man would
show so much kindness to a king revolted from the
worship of God.* But though he was a godly man,
his temper was too easy, which betrayed him into
snares and inconveniences.
The Syrians durst not give Ahab any disturbance.
But,
I. Ahab here meditates a war against the Sy¬
rians, and advises concerning it with those about
him, v. 3. The king of Syria gave him the provo¬
cation; when he lay at his mercy, he promised to
restore him his cities, (ch. 20. 34.) and Ahab fool¬
ishly took his word, when he ought not to have dis¬
missed him, till the cities had been put into his pos¬
session. But now, he knows by experience, wh .t
he ought to have considered, that as the kisses, so
the promises, of an enemy are deceitful ; and there
is no confidence to be put in leagues extorted by dis¬
tress. Ben-hadad is one of those princes that think
themselves bound by their word no further and no
longer, than it is for their interest. Whether any
other cities were restored, we do not find, but Ra-
moth-gilead was not: a considerable city in the tribe
of Gad, on the other side Jordan, a Levites’ city»
and one of the cities of refuge. Ahab blames him¬
self, and his people, that they did not bestir them¬
selves to recover it out of the hands of the Syrians,
and to chastise Ben-hadad’s violation of his league;
and resolves to let that ungrateful perfidious prince
know that as he had given him peace, he1 could give
him trouble. Ahab has a good cause, yet succeeds
not. Equity is not to be judged of by prosperity.
II. He engages Jehoshaphat, and draws him in,
to join with him in this expedition, for the recovery
of Ramoth-gilead, v. 4. And here, I do not won¬
der that Ahab should desire the assistance of so
pious and prosperous a neighbour. Even bad men
have often coveted the friendship of the good. It is
desirable to have an interest in those that have an in¬
terest in heaven; and to have those with us, that have
God with them. But it is strange that Jehoshaphat
will go so entirely into Ahab’s interests, as to say, 1
am as thou art, and my people as thy people. I hope
not; Jehoshaphat, and his people, are not so wicked
and corrupt as Ahab and his people. Too great a
complaisance to evil-doers, has brought many good
people, through unwariness, into a dangerous fel¬
lowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
Jehoshaphat had like to have paid dear for his
compliment, when, in the battle, he was taken for
Ahab. Yet some observe, that in joining with Israel
against Syria, he atoned for his father’s fault, in
joining with Syria against Israel, ch. 15. 19, 20.
III. At the special instance and request of Jeho¬
shaphat, he asks counsel of the prophets concern¬
ing this expedition. Ahab thought it enough to con¬
sult with his statesmen, but Jehoshaphat moves that
they should inquire of the word of the Lord, v. 5.
Note, 1. Whithersoever a good man goes, he de¬
sires to take God along with him, and will acknow¬
ledge him in all his ways, ask leave of him, and
look up to him for success. Whithersoever a good
man goes, he ought to take his religion along with
him, and not be ashamed to own it, no not when he
is with those who have no kindness for it. Jeho-'
shaphat has not left behind him, at Jerusalem, his
affection and veneration for the word of the Lord ,
but both avows it, and endeavours to introduce it
into Ahab’s court. If Ahab drew him into his wars,
he will draw Ahab into his devotions.
IV. Ahab’s 400 prophets, the standing regiment
he had of them, ( prophets of the groves they called
them,) agreed to encourage him in this expedition,
and to assure him of success, v. 6. He put the
question to them with a seeming fairness, Shall I go,
or shall I forbear ? But they knew which way his
inclination was, and designed only to humrur the
two kings. To please Jehoshaphat, they made use
of the name Jehovah, He shall deliver -it into the
hand of the king; they stole the word from the true
prophets, (Jer. 23. 30.) and spake then- language.
To please Ahab, they said, Go up. They had,
indeed, probabilities on their side; Ahab had, not
long since, beaten the Syrians twice; he had now a
good cause, and was much strengthened by h s
alliance with Jehoshaphat; but they pretended to
speak by prophecy, not by rational conjecture; by
divine, not human, foresight: “Thou shalt certainly
recover Ramoth-gilead. ” Zedekiah, a leading man
among these prophets, in imitation of the true pro¬
phets, illustrated his false prophecy with a sign, t'.
11. He made him a pair of iron horns, represent-
658
I. KINGS, XXII.
ing the two kings, and their honour and power, II
(both which were signified by horns, exaltation and
force,) and with these the Syrians must be pushed.
All the prophets agreed, as one man, that Ahab
should return from this expedition, a conqueror, v.
12. Unity is not always the mark of a true church,
and true ministry. Here were 400 men that pro¬
phesied with one mind and one mouth, and yet all
in an error.
V. Jehoshaphat cannot relish this sort of preach¬
ing; it is not like what he was used to; the false
prophets cannot so mimic the true, but that he who
had spiritual senses exercised, could discern the
fallacy, and therefore he inquires for a / irophet of
the Lord besides, v. 7. He is too much a courtier
to say any thing by way of reflection on the king’s
chaplains, but he waits to see a f irofihet of the
Lord ; intimating that he could not look upon these
to be so. They seemed tofbe somewhat, (whatever
they were, it made no matter to him,) but in con¬
ference, they added nothing' to him, they gave him
no satisfaction, Gal. 2. 6. One faithful prophet of
the Lord was worth them all.
VI. Ahab has another, but one he hates, Micaiah
by name, and, to please Jehoshaphat, he is willing
to have him sent for, v. 8- *10. Ahab owned they
might inquire of the Lord by him, that he was a
true prophet, and one that knew God’s mind. And
yet, 1. He hated him, and was not ashamed to own
to the king of Judah that he did so, and to give this
for his reason, He doth not prophesy good concern¬
ing me, but evil. And whose fault was that ? If
Ahab had done well, he had heard accordingly,
from heaven; if he do ill, he may thank himself
for all the uneasiness which the reproofs and threats
of God’s word give him. Note, Those are wretch¬
edly hardened in sin, and are ripening apace for'
ruin, who hate God’s ministers, because they deal
plahily with them, and faithfully warn them of
their misery and danger by reason of sin, and rec¬
kon those their enemies, that tell them the truth.
2. He had (it should seem) imprisoned him; for
when he committed him, (7;. 26.) -he bade the offi¬
cer carry him back; namely, to the place whence
he came. We may suppose that this was he that
reproved him for his clemency to Ben-hadad, ( ch .
20. 38, &c.) and for that was cast into prison, where
he had lain these three years. And hence Ahab
knew where to find him so readily, v. 9. But his im¬
prisonment had not excluded him fr m divine visits,
the spirit of prophecy continued with him there; he
was bound, but the word of the Lord was not.
Nor did it in the least abate his courage, or make
him less confident or faithful in delivering his mes¬
sage. Jehoshaphat gave too gentle a reproof to
Ahab, for expressing his indignation against a faith¬
ful prophet, Let not the king say so, v. 8. He
should have said, “ Thou art unjust to the prophet,
unkind to thyself, and puttest an affront upon his
Lord and thine, in saying so.” Such sinners as
Ahab, must be rebuked sharply. However, he so
far yielded to the reproof, that, for fear of pro¬
voking Jehoshaphat to break off from his alliance
with him, .he orders Micaiah to be sent for with all
speed, v. 9. The two kings sat each in their robes
and chairs of state, in the gate of Samaria, ready to
receive this poor prophet, and to hear what he has
10 say; for many will give God’s word the hearing,
that will not lend it an obedient ear. They were
attended with a crowd of flattering prophets, that
could not think of prophesying any thing but what
was very sweet, and very smooth, to two such glo¬
rious princes now in confederacy. They that love
:o be flattered, shall not want flatterers.
Lastly, Micaiah is pressed by the officer that
fetched him, to follow the cry, v. 13. That officer
vas unworthy the name of an Israelite, who pre¬
tended to prescribe to a prophet; but he thought
him altogether such a one as toe rest, who s.ucned
to please men, and not God. He to-; Is him how
unanimous the other prophets were in foretelling the
king’s good success; how agreeable it was to the
king: that it was his interest to say as they said; he
might gain not only enlargement, but preferment,
by it. They that dote upon worldly things them¬
selves, think every body else should do so too, and,
true or false, right or wrong, speak and act for their
secular interest only. He intimates likewise, that
it would be to no purpose to contradict such a nu¬
merous and unanimous vote; he would be ridiculed,
as affecting a foolish singularity, if he should. But
Micaiah knows better things, protests it, and backs
his protestation with an oath, that he will deliver
his message from God with all faithfulness, whether
it be pleasing or displeasing to his prince; (t\ 14.)
What the Lord saith to me, that will I speak, with¬
out addition, ’diminution, or alteration. Bravely re¬
solved! And as became one who had his eye to a
greater King titan either of these, arrayed with
brighter robes, and sitting on a higher throne.
15. So he came lo the king. And the
king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go
against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we
forbear ? And he answered him, Go, and
prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into
the hand of the king. 16. And the king
said unto him, How many times shall I ad¬
jure thee that thou tell me nothing but l/iat
which is true in the name of the Lord ? 17.
And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon
the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd :
and the Lord said, These have no master ;
let them return every man to his house in
peace. 18. And the king of Israel said unto
Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he
would prophesy no good concerning me, but
evil? 19. And he said, Hear thou, there¬
fore, the word of the Lord : I saw the
Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host
of heaven standing by him, on his right hand
and on his left. 20. And the Lord said,
Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go
up and fall at Ramoth-gilead ? And one said
on this manner, and another said on that man¬
ner. 21. And there came forth a spirit, and
stood before the Lord, and said, l will per
suade him. 22. And the Lord said unto him.
Wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth,
and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of
all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt
persuade him, and prevail also : go forth, and
do so. 23. Now therefore, behold, the Lord
hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all
these thy prophets, and the Lord hath
spoken evil concerning thee. 24. But Ze-
dekiah the son of Chenaanah went near,
and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said,
Which way wTent the Spirit of the Lord
from me to speak unto thee ? 25. And Mi¬
caiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that
day, when thou shalt go into an inner cham-
559
I. KINGS, XXII.
ber to hide thyself. 26. And the king: of
Israel said, Take JYIicaiah, and carry him
back unto Amon the governor of the city,
and to Joash the king’s son ; 2.7. And say,
Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the
prison, and feed him with bread of affliction,
and with water of affliction, until \ come in
peace. 28. And JYIicaiah said, If thou re¬
turn at all in peace, the Lord hath not
spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O
people, every one of you.
Here Micaiah does well, but, as is common, suf¬
fers ill for so doing.
I. We are here told how faithfully he delivered
his message, as one that was more solicitous to
please God than to humour either the great or the
many. Three ways he delivers the message, and
all displeasing to Ahab.
1. He speaks as the rest of the prophets did, but
ironically, Go, and prosper, v. 15. Ahab put the
same question to him, that he had put to his own
prophets. Shall we go, or shall we forbear ? Seem¬
ing desirous to know God’s mind, when, like Ba¬
laam, he was strongly bent to do his own; which
Micaiah plainly took notice of, when he bade him
go, but with such an air of pronunciation, as plainly
showed he spake it by way of derision; as if he had
said, “I know you are determined to go, and I hear
your own prophets are unanimous in assuring you
of success; go then, and take what follows. They
say, The Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the
king; but I do not tell thee that thus saith the Lord;
no, he saith otherwise. ” Note, Those deserve to
be bantered, that love to be flattered; and it is just
with God to give up those to their own counsels,
that give up themselves to their own lusts, Eccl.
11. 9. In answer to this, Ahab adjures him to tell
him the truth, and not to jest with him, (v. 16.) as
if he sincerely desired to know both what God
would have him do, and what he would do with
him; yet intending to represent the prophet as a
perverse ill-humoured man, that would not tell him
the truth, till he was thus put to his oath, or adjured !
to do it.
2. Being thus pressed, he plainly foretold that the j
king would be cut off in this expedition, and his ar¬
my scattered, v. 17. He saw them in a vision, or
dream, dispersed upon the mountains, as sheep that
have no one to guide them: Smite the shepherd and
the sheep will be scattered, Zech. 13. 7. This inti- I
mates, (1.) That Israel should be deprived of their
king, who was their shepherd; God took notice of
it. These have no master. (2. ) That they would be I
obliged to retire re infecta — without accomplishing
what they went for. He does not foresee any great
slaughter in the army, but that they should make a
dishonourable retreat; Let them return every man
to his house in peace: put into disorder indeed for
the present, but no great losers, by the death of their
king: he shall fall in war, but they shall go home in
peace. Thus Micaiah, in his prophecy, testified
what he had seen and heard, (let them take it how i
they pleased,) while the others prophesied merely !
out of their own hearts; see Jer. 23. 28. The pro- !
phet that has a dream, let him tell that, and so
quote his authority; and he that has my word, let
him speak my word faithfully , and not his own; for
what is the chaff to the wheat ? Now Ahab finds 1
himself aggrieved, turns to Jehoshaphat, and ap¬
peals to him, whether Micaiah had not manifestly
a spite against him, v. 18. They that bear malice
to others, are generally willing to believe that they j
Dear malice to them, though they have no cause for I
it, and therefore to put the worst constructions upon
all they say. What evil did Micaiah prophesy to
Ahab, in telling him, if he proceeded in this expe¬
dition, it would be fatal to him, while he might
choose whether he would proceed in it or no? The
greatest kindness we can do to one that is going in
a dangerous way, is, to tell him of his danger.
3. He informed the king how it was, that all his
prophets encouraged him to proceed; God permit¬
ted Satan, by them, to deceive him into his ruin,
and he, by vision, knew of it: it was represented to
him, and he represented it to Ahab, that the God
of heaven had determined he should fall at Rumoth-
gilead; (y. 19, 20.) that the favour he had wickedly
shown to Ben-hadad, might be punished by him and
his Syrians, and that he being in some doubt whe¬
ther he should go to Ramoth-gilead or no, and re¬
solving to be advised by his prophets, they should
persuade him to do it, and prevail; (y. 21, 22.) and
hence it was, that they encouraged him with so
much assurance; (r. 23 ) it was a lie from the father
of lies, but by the divine permission. This matter
is here represented after the manner of men; we
are not to imagine that God is ever put upon new
counsels, or is ever at a loss for means whereby to
effect his purpose, or that he needs to c< mult with
angels, or any creature, about the methods he
should take, or that he is the Author of sin, or the
cause of any man’s either telling or believing a lie;
but beside what was intended by this, with refer¬
ence to Ahab himself, it is to teach us, (1.) That
God is a great King above all kings, and has a
throne above all the thrones of earthly princes;
“You have your thrones,” (said Micaiah to these
two kings,) “ and you think you may do what you
will, and we must all say as you would have us; but
I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and every
man’s judgment proceeding from him, and there¬
fore I must say as he says; he is not a man, as you
are.” (2.) That he is continually attended and
served by an innumerable company of angels, those
heavenly hosts, who stand by him, ready to gc
where he sends them, and to do what he bids them,
messengers of mercy on his right ha?td, of wrath on
his left hand. (3.) That he not only takes cogni¬
zance of, but presides over, all the affairs of this
lower world, and overrules them according to the
counsel of his own will : the rise and fall of princes,
the issues of war, and all the great affairs of state,
which are the subject of the consultation of wise and
great men, are no more abovd God’s direction, than
the meanest concerns of the poorest cottagers are
below his notice. (4. ) God has many ways of bring¬
ing about his own counsels, particularly concerning
the fall of sinners when they are ripe for ruin; he
can do it either in this manner or in that manner.
(5.) That there are malicious and lying spirits,
which go about continually seeking to devour, and,
in order to that, seeking to deceive, and especially
to put lies into the mouths of prophets, by them
to entice many to their destruction. (6.) It is not
without the divine permission, that the Devil de¬
ceives men. Thereby God serves his own pur¬
poses. With him is strength and wisdom; the
deceived and the deceiver are his, Job. 12. 16. When
he pleases, for the punishment of those who receive
not the truth in the love of it, he not only lets Satan
loose to deceive them, (Rev. 20. 7, 8.) but gives up
men to strong delusions to believe him, 2 Thess. 2.
11, 12. (7.) Those are manifestly marked for ruin,
that are thus given up; God has certainly spoken
evil concerning those whom he has given up to be
imposed upon by lying prophets; thus Micaiah gave
Ahab fair warning, not only of the danger of pro¬
ceeding in this war, but of the danger of believing
those that encouraged him to proceed; thus we are
warned to beware of false prophets, and to try the
560
I. KINGS, XXII.
spirits-; the lying spirit never deceives so fatally,
as in the mouth of prophets.
II. We are here told, how he was abused for de¬
livering his message thus faithfully, thus plainly, in
a way so very proper both to convince and to affect.
1. Zedekiah, a wicked prophet, impudently in¬
sulted him in the face of the court, smote him on the
cheek, to reproach him, to silence him and stop his
mouth, and to express his indignation at him; (thus
was our blessed Saviour abused, Matth. 26. 67. that
Judge of Israel, Mic. 5. 1. ) and as if he not only had
the Spirit of the Lord, but the monopoly of this Spi¬
rit, that he might not go without his leave, he asks,
Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to
speak to thee? v. 24. The false prophets were al¬
ways the worst enemies the true prophets had, and
not only stirred up the government against them,
but were themselves abusive to them, as Zedekiah
here. To strike within the \erge of the court,
especially in the king’s presence, is looked upon by
our law as a high misdemeanour, yet this wicked
prophet gives this abuse to a prophet of the Lord,
and is not reprimanded or bound to his good beha¬
viour for it; Ahab was pleased with it, and Jehosha-
phat had not courage to appear for the injured
prophet, pretending it was out of his jurisdiction;
but Micaiah, though he returns not his blow, (God’s
prophets are no strikers nor persecutors, dare not
avenge themselves, render blow for blow, or be,
any way, accessary to the breach of the peace,) yet,
since he boasted so much of the Spirit, as those com¬
monly do, that know least of his operations; he
leaves him to be convinced of his error by the event,
Thou shalt know when thou hidest thyself in an
inner chamber, v. 25. It is likely, Zedekiah went
with Ahab to the battle, and took his horns of iron
with him, to encourage the soldiers, to see with
pleasure the accomplishment of his prophecy, and
return in triumph with the king; but the army being
routed, he fled among the rest from the sword of
the enemy, sheltered himself as Ben-hadad had
done, in a chamber within a chamber, ( ch . 20. 30.)
lest he should perish, as he knew he deserved to
do, with those whom he had deluded, as Balaam
did, (Numb. 31. 8.) and lest the blind prophet
should fall into the ditch, with the blinded prince
whom he had misled. Note, Those that will not
have their mistakes rectified in time by the word of
God, will be undeceived, when it is too late, by the
judgments of God.
2. Ahab, that wicked king, committed him to
fmson; (n. 27.) not only ordered him to be taken
nto custody, or remitted to the prison whence he
came, but to be fed with bread and water, coarse
bread and puddle- water, till he should return; not
doubting but he should return a conqueror, and then
he would put him to death for a false prophet, v. 27.
Hard usage for one that would have prevented his
ruin ! But by this it appeared that God had deter¬
mined to destroy him, as 2 Chron. 25. 16. How con¬
fident is Ahab of success! He doubts not but he shall
return in peace, forgetting what he himself had re¬
minded Ben-hadad of, Let not him that girdeth on
the harness, boast; but there was little likelihood of
his coming home in peace, when he left one of God’s
prophets behind him in prison. Micaiah puts it up¬
on the issue, and calls all the people to be witnesses
that he did so, “ If thou return in peace, the Lord
has not spoken by me, v. 28. Let me incur the re¬
roach and punishment of a false prophet, if the
ing come home alive.” He ran no hazard by this
appeal, for he knew whom he had believed; he that
is terrible to the kings of the earth, and treads upon
princes as mortar, will rather let thousands of them
Fall to the ground, than one jot or tittle of his own
word; he will not fail to confirm the word of his
servants, Isa. 44. 26.
29. So the king of Israel, and Jehosha
phat the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-
gilead. 30. And the king of Israel said
unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself,
and enter into the battle ; but put thou on
thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised
himself, and went into the battle. 31. But
the king of Syria commanded his thirty and
ttvo captains that had rule over his chariots,
saying, Fight neither w ith small nor great,
save only with the king of Israel. 32. And
it came to pass, when the captains of the
chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said,
Surely, it is the king of Israel. And they
turned aside to fight against him : and Je
hoshaphat cried out. 33. And it came to
pass, when the captains of the chariots per¬
ceived that it was not the king of Israel, that
they turned back from pursuing him. 34.
And a curtain man drew a bow at a venture,
and smote the king of Israel between the
joints of the harness : wherefore he said un¬
to the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand,
and carry me out of the host; for I am
wounded. 35. And the battle increased
that day ; and the king was stayed up in his
chariot against the Syrians, and died at
even : and the blood ran out of the wound
into the midst of the chariot. 36. And there
went a proclamation throughout the host
about the going down of the sun, saying,
Every man to his city, and every man to his
own country. 37. So the king died, and
was brought to Samaria; and they buried
the king in Samaria. 38. And one washed
the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the
dogs licked up his blood, (and they washed
his armour,) according unto the word of the
Lord which he spake. 39. Now the rest
of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and
the ivory house which he made, and all the
cities that he built, are they not written in
the book of the Chronicles of the kings of
Israel ? 40. So Ahab slept with his fathers;
and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
The matter in contest between God’s prophet and
Ahab’s prophet, is here soon determined, and it is
made to appear which was in the right. Here,
I. The two kings march with their forces to Ra-
moth-gilead, v. 29. That the king of Israel, who
hated God’s prophet, should so far disbelieve his
admonition, as to persist in his resolution, not¬
withstanding, is not strange; but that Jehoshaphat,
that pious prince, who had desired to inquire by a
prophet of the Lord, as disrelishing and discredit¬
ing Ahab’s prophets, should yet proceed, after so
fair a warning, is matter of astonishment; but by the
easiness of his temper he was carried away Avith
the delusion (as Barnabas was with the dissimula¬
tion, Gal. 2. 13.) of his friends; he gave too much
heed to Ahab’s prophets, beause they pretended to
speak from God too, and in his country he had never
been imposed upon by such cheats; he Avas ready to
I. KINGS. XXII.
561
give his opinion with the majority, and to conclude
that it was 400 to one but they should succeed;
Micaiah had not forbidden them to go; nay, at first,
he said, Go, and prosper; if it came to the worst,
it was only Ahab’s fall that was foretold, and there¬
fore he hoped he might venture.
II. Ahab contrives to secure himself, and expose
his friend; (y. 30.) t( I will disguise myself, and
go in the habit of a common soldier, but let Jehosh-
a/ihaC put on his robes, to appear in the dress of a
fenera'.” He pretended hereby to do honour to
ehoshaphat, and to compliment him with the sole
command of the army in this action; he shall direct
and give orders, and Ahab will serve as a soldier
under him; but he intended, 1. To make a liar of a
good prophet; thus he hoped to elude the danger,
and so to defeat the threatening, as if, by disguising
himself, he could escape the divine cognizance, and
the judgments that pursued him. 2. To make a fool
of a good king, whom he did not cordially love, be¬
cause he was one that adhered to God, and so con¬
demned his apostasy; he knew that if any perished,
it must be the shepherd, so Micaiah had foretold;
and perhaps he had intimation of the charge the
enemy had, to fight chiefly against the king of Is¬
rael, and therefore basely intended to betray Je-
hoshaphat to the danger, that he might secure him¬
self. Ahab was marked for ruin: one would not
have been in his attire for a great sum; yet he will
over-persuade this godly king to muster for him.
See what they get, that join in affinity with vicious
men, whose consciences are debauched, and who
are lost to every thing that is honourable. How can
it be expected that he should be true to his friend,
that has been false to his God?
III. Jehoshaphat, having more piety than policy,
put himself into the post of honour, though it was
the post of danger, and was thereby brought into
peril of his life, but God graciously delivered him:
the king of Syria charged his captains to level their
force, not against the king of Judah, for with him he
had no quarrel, but with the king of Israel only,
(y. 31.) to aim at his person, as if against him he
had a particular enmity; now Ahab was justly re¬
paid for sparing Ben-hadad, who, as the seed of the
serpent commonly do, stung the bosom in which he
was fostered, and saved from perishing; some think
that he designed only to have him taken prisoner,
that he might now give him as honourable a treat¬
ment as he had formerly received from him. What¬
ever was the reason, this charge the officers receiv¬
ed, and endeavoured to oblige their prince in this
matter; for, seeing Jehoshaphat in his royal habit,
they took him for the king of Israel, and surrounded
him. Now, 1. By his danger, God let him know
that he was displeased with him for joining in con¬
federacy with Ahab; he had said, in compliment to
Ahab, (v. 4. ) I am as thou art, and now he was
indeed taken for him; they that associate with evil
doers, are in danger of sharing in their plagues. 2.
By his deliverance, God let him know that though
he was displeased with him, yet he had not desert¬
ed him; some of the captains that knew him, per¬
ceived thei>- mistake, and so retired from the pur¬
suit of him; but it is said, (2 Chrnn. 18. 31.) God
moved them (for he has all hearts in his hand) to de¬
part from him; to him he cried out, not in cowardice,
but devotion, and from him his relief came; Ahab
was in no care to succour him ; God is a F riend that
will not fail us, when other friends do.
IV. Ahab received his mortal wound in the battle,
notwithstanding his endeavours to secure himself in
the habit of a private sentinel. Let no man think
to hide himself from God’s judgments, no, not in
masquerade; Thine hand shall find out all thine ene¬
mies, whatever disguise they are in, v. 34. The
Syrian that shot him, little thought of doing such a
Vol ii. — 4 B
piece of service to God and his king, for he drew a
bow at a venture, not aiming particularly at any
man; yet God so directed the arrow, that, 1. He
hit the right person, the man that was marked for
destruction, whom, if they had taken alive, as was
designed, perhaps Ben-hadad would have spared;
those cannot escape with life, whom God hath
doomed to death. 2. He hit him in the right place,
between the joints of the harness, the only place
about him where this arrow of death could find en¬
trance. No armour is proof against the darts of
divine vengeance: case the criminal in steel, and it
is all one; he that made him, can make his sword to
approach to him. That which to us seems alto¬
gether casual, is done by the determinate counsel
and fore-knowledge of God.
V. The army was dispersed by the enemy, and
sent home by the king. Either Jehoshaphat or
Ahab ordered the retreat of the sheep, when the
shepherd was smitten: “ Every man to his city, for
it is to no purpose to attempt any thing more,” v.
36. Ahab himself lived long enough to see that
part of Micaiah’s prophecy accomplished, that all
Israel should be scattered upon the mountains of
Gilead, (y. 17.) and perhaps with his dying lips did
himself give orders for it; for though he would be
carried out of the army, to'have his wounds dressed,
(t'. 34.) yet he would be stayed up in his chariot, to
see if his army were victorious; but when he saw
the battle increase against them, his spirits sunk,
and he died, but his death was so lingering, that
he had time to feel himself die; and we may well
imagine with what horror he now reflected upon the
wickedness he had committed, the warnings he had
slighted, Baal’s altars, Naboth’s vineyard, Micaiah’s
imprisonment; now he sees himself flattered into his
own ruin, and Zedekiah’s horns of iron, pushing,
not the Syrians, but himself, into destruction. Thus
is he brought to the king of terrors, without hope in
his death.
VI. The royal corpse was brought to Samaria,
and buried there, (y. 37.) and thither were brought
the bloody chariot and bloody armour in which he
died, v. 38. One particular circumstance is taken
notice of, because there was in it the accomplish¬
ment of a prophecy, That when they brought the
chariot to the pool of Samaria, to be washed, the
dogs (and swine, says the Septuagint) gathered
about it, and, as is usual, licked the blood, or, as
some think, the water in which it was washed, with
which the blood was mingled: the dogs made no
difference between royal blood and other blood.
Now Naboth’s blood was avenged, {eh. 21. 19.) and
that word of David, as well as Elijah’s word, was
fulfilled, (Ps. 68. 23.) That thy foot may be dipped
in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy
dogs in the same. The dogs licking the guilty blood,
was perhaps designed to represent the terrors that
prey upon the guilty soul after death.
Lastly, The sto: y of Ahab is here concluded in
the usual form, v. 39, 40. Among his works, men¬
tion is made of an ivory house which he built, so
called, because many parts of it were inlaid with
ivory; perhaps it was intended to vie with the stately
palace of the kings of Judah, which Solomon built.
41. And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa be¬
gan to reign over Judah in the fourth year
of Ahab king of Israel. 42. Jehoshaphat
was thirty and five years old when he be¬
gan to reign ; and he reigned twenty and
five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s
name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
43. And he walked in all the ways of Asa
his father ; he turned not aside from it, doing
582
I. KINGS, XXII.
/Aa/ was right in the eyes of the Lord : 1
nevertheless the high places were not taken
away ; for the people offered and burnt in¬
cense yet in the high places. 44. And Je- j
hoshaphat made peace with the king of
Israel. 45. Now the rest of the acts of Je-
hoshaphat, and his might that he showed,
and how he warred, are they not written in
the book of the Chronicles of the kings of
Judah? 46. And the remnant of the Sodom¬
ites, which remained in the days of his father
Asa, he took out of the land. 47. There ivas
then no king in Edom : a deputy ivas king.
48. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to
go to Ophir for gold ; but they went not :
for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.
49. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto
Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy
servants in the ships : but Jehoshaphat would
not. 50. And Jehoshaphat slept with his
fathers, and was buried with his fathers in
the city of David his father: and Jehoram
his son reigned in his stead. 51. Ahaziah
the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel
in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehosha¬
phat king of J udah, and reigned two years
over Israel. 52. And he did evil in the sight
of the Lord, and walked in the way of his
father, and in the way of his mother, and in
the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin : 53. For he served Baal,
and worshipped him, and provoked to anger
the Lord God of Israel, according to all
that his father had done.
Here is,
I. A short account of the reign of Jehoshaphat
king of Judah, which we shall have a much fuller j
narrative of in the book of Chronicles, and of the !
greatness and goodness of that prince, neither of
which was lessened nor sullied by any thing but his
intimacy with the house of Ahab, which, upon
several accounts, was a diminution to him ; his
confederacy with Ahab in war, we have already
found dangerous to him, and his confederacy with
Ahaziah his son in trade, sped no better; he offered
to go partner with him in a fleet of merchant-
ships, that should fetch gold from Ophir as Solo¬
mon’s navy did, v. 48. See 2 Chron. 20. 35, 36.
But while they were preparing to set sail, they were
exceedingly damaged and disabled by a storm,
broken at Ezion-geber, which a prophet gave Je¬
hoshaphat to understand was a rebuke to him for
his league with wicked Ahaziah, 2 Chron. 20. 37.
And therefore, as we are told here, (v. 49.) when
Ahaziah desired a second time to be a partner with
him, or, if that could not be obtained, that he might
but send his servants with some effects on board Je-
hoshaphat’s ships, he refused; Jehoshafihat would
not; the rod of God, expounded by the word of
God, had effectually broken him off from his con-
|| federacy with that ungodly unhappy prince. Bet¬
ter buy wisdom dear than be without it; but expe-
j! rience is therefore said to be the mistress of fools,
I because they are fools that will not learn till they
J! are taught by experience, and particularly, till they
are taught the danger of associating with wicked
people.
iNow Jehoshaphat’s reign appears here to ha\e
been none of the longest, but one of the best. 1. It
was none of the longest, for he reigned but 25 years;
(v. 42.) but then it was in the prime of his time,
etween 35 and 60, and these 25, added to his father’s
appy 41, give us a grateful idea of the flourishing
condition of the kingdom of Judah, and of religion
in it, for a great while, even when things were
very bad, upon all accounts, in the kingdom of Is¬
rael. If Jehoshaphat reigned not so long as his fa¬
ther, to balance that, he had not those blemishes on
the latter end of his reign, thaw his father had; (2
Chron. 16. 9, 10, 12.) and it is better for a man that
has been in reputation for wisdom and honour, to
die in the midst of it, than to outlive it. 2. Yet it
was one of the best, both in respect of piety and
prosperity. (1. ) He did well, he did that which was
right in the eyes of the Lord; {y. 43.) observed the
commands of his God, and trod in the steps of his
good father, and persevered therein, he turned not
aside from it; yet every man’s character has some
but or other, so had his; the high places were not
taken away, no, not out of Judah and Benjamin,
though those tribes lay so near Jerusalem, that they
might easily bring their offerings and incense to the
altar there, and could not pretend, as some other of
the tribes, the inconveniency of lying remote; but
old corruptions are with difficulty rooted cut, es¬
pecially when they have formerly had the patronage
of those that were good, as the high places had of
Samuel, Solomon, and some others. (2.) His affairs
did well; he prevented the mischiefs which had at¬
tended their wars with the kingdom of Israel, es¬
tablishing a lasting peace, ( 'y . 44.) which had been
a greater blessing, if he had contented himself with
a peace, and not carried it on to an affinity with Is¬
rael: he put a deputy, or viceroy, in Edom, so that
that kingdom was tributary to him ; {y. 47. ) and
therein the prophecy concerning Esau and Jacob
was fulfilled, that the elder should serve the younger;
and, in general, mention is made of his might and
his wars, v. 45. He pleased God, and God blessed
him with strength and success; his death is spoken
of, (n. 50. ) to shut up his story, yet, in the history
of the kings of Israel, we find mention of him after¬
ward, 2 Kings 3. 7.
II. The beginning of the story of Ahaziah the son
of Ahab; (i\ 51. . 53.) his reign was very short, not
two years. Some sinners God makes quick work
with. It is a very bad character that is here given
him; he not only kept up Jeroboam’s idolatry, but
the worship of Baal likewise: though he had heard
of the ruin of Jeroboam’s family, and had seen his
own father drawn into destruction by the prophets
of Baal, who had often been proved false prophets,
yet he received no instruction, took no warning, but
followed the example of his wicked father, and the
counsel of his more wicked mother Jezebel, who
was still living. Miserable are the children that
not only derive a stock of corruption from their
parents, but are thus taught by them to trade with
it; and unhappy, most unhappy parents, they that
help to damn their children’s souls.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE SECOND BOOK OF
KINGS.
This second book of the Kings (which the Septuagint, numbering from Samuel, calls the fourth) is a
continuation of the former book; and, some think, might better have been made to begin with the 51st
verse of the foregoing chapter, where the reign of Ahaziah begins. The former book had an illustrious
beginning, in the glories of the kingdom of Israel, when it was entire; this has a melancholy conclusion,
in the desolations of the kingdoms of Israel first, and then of Judah, after they had been long broken
into two; for a kingdom, divided against itself, cometh to destruction. But as Elijah’s mighty works
were very much the glory of the former book, toward the latter end of it; so were Elisha’s the glory of
this, toward the beginning of it. These prophets outshone their princes; and therefore, as far as they
go, the history shall be accounted for in them. Here is,
I. Elijah fetching fire from heaven, and ascending in fire to heaven, ch. 1, 2.
II. Elisha working many miracles, both for prince and people, Israelites and foreigners, ch. 3 >-7,
III. Hazael and Jehu anointed, the former for the correction of Israel, the latter for the destruction of
the house of Ahab, and the worship of Baal, ch. 8* *10.
IV. The reigns of several of the kings, both of Judah and Israel, ch. 11- *16.
V. The captivity of the ten tribes, ch. 17.
VI. The good and glorious reign of Hezekiah, ch. 18* *20.
VII. Manasseh’s wicked reign, and Josiah’s good one, ch. 21* -23.
VIII. The destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, ch. 24, 25. This history, in the several
passages of it, confirms that observation of Solomon, That righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is the
refiroach of any fie o file.
II. KINGS, I.
CHAP. I.
We here find Ahaziah, the genuine son and successor of
Ahab, on the throne oflsrael. His reign continued not two
years; he died by a fall in his own house; which, after the
mention of the revolt of Moab, (v. 1.) we have here an
account of. I. The message, which, on that occasion,
he sent to the god of Ekron, v. 2. II. The message he
received from the God of Israel, v. 3.. 8. III. The
destruction of the messengers he sent to seize the pro¬
phet, once and again, v. 9 . . 12. IV. His compassion to,
and compliance with, the third messenger, upon his sub¬
mission, and the delivery of the message to the king
himself, v. 13.. 16. V. The death of Ahaziah, v. 17, 18.
In the story we may observe how great the prophet
looks, and how little the prince.
I. ^ g^HEN Moab rebelled against Israel
JL after the death of Ahab. 2. And
Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his
upper chamber that ivas in Samaria, and
was sick . and he sent messengers, and said
unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the
god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of
this disease. 3. But the angel of the Lord
said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to
meet the messengers of the king of Samaria,
and say unto them, Is it not because there is
not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of
Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron ? 4. Now,
therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt
not come down from that bed on which thou
art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Eli¬
jah departed. 5. And when the messen¬
gers turned back unto him, he said unto
them, Why are ye now turned back? 6.
And they said unto him, There came a man
up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn
again unto the king that sent you, and say
unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not
I]. KINGS, I.
a 9 1
because there is not a God in Israel, that
tliou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub, the
god of Ekron ? therefore thou shalt not come
down from that bed on which thou art gone
up, but shalt surely die. 7. And he said un¬
to them, What manner of man was he
which came up to meet you, and told you
these words ? 8. And they answered him,
He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle
of leather about his loins. And he said It
is Elijah the Tishbite.
We have here, Ahaziah, the wicked king of Is¬
rael, under God’s rebukes, both by his providence
and by his prophet; by his rod and by his word.
I. He is crossed in his affairs. How can those ex¬
pect to prosper, that do evil in the sight of the Lord,
and provoke him to anger? When he rebelled
against God, and rev olted from his allegiance to
him, Moab rebelled against Israel, and revolted
from the subjection they had long paid to the kings
of Israel, v. 1. The Edom.tes that bordered on Ju¬
dah, and were tributaries to the kings of Judah,
still continued so, as we find in the chapter before,
(x>. 47.) till, in the wicked reign of Joram, they
broke that yoke, ( ch . 8. 22.) as the Moabites did
low. If men break their covenants with us, and
withdraw their duty, we must reflect upon our
breach of covenant with God, and the neglect of our
duty to him. Sin weakens and impoverishes us.
We shall hear of the Moabites, ch. 3. 5.
II. He is seized with sickness in body, not from
any inward cause, but by a severe accident; He fell
down through a lattice, and was much bruised with
the fall; perhaps it threw him into a fever, v. 2.
Wherever we go, there is but a step between us
and death. A man’s house is his castle, but not to
secure him against the judgments of God. The
cracked lattice is as fatal to the son, when God
pleases to make it so, as the bow drawn at a ven¬
ture, was to the father. Ahaziah would not attempt
to reduce the Moabites, lest he should perish in the
field of battle; but he is not safe, though he tarry at
home. Royal palaces do not always yield firm foot¬
ing. The snare is laid for the sinner in the ground
where he thinks least of it, Job 18. 9, 10. The
whole creation, which groans under the burthen of
man’s sin, will, at length, sink and break under the
weight, like this lattice. He is never safe, that has
God for his Enemy.
III. In his distress, he sends messengers to in¬
quire of the god of Ekron, whether he should re¬
cover or no, v. 2. And here, 1. His inquiry was
very foolish; Shall I recover? Even nature itself
would rather have asked, “What means may I
use, that I may recover?” But as one solicitous only
to know his fortune, not to know his duty, his ques¬
tion is ’ only this, Shall I recover? which a little
time would give an answer to. We should be more
thoughtful what will become of us after death, than
how, or when, or where, we shall die; and more
desirous to be told how we may conduct ourselves
well in our sickness, and get good to our souls by it,
than whether we shall recover from it. 2. His
sending to Baal-zebub was very wicked; to make a
dead and dumb idol, perhaps newly erected, (for
idolaters were fond of new gods,) his oracle, was no
less a reproach to his reason than to his religion.
Baal-zebub signifies the lord of a fly; one of their
Baals, that, perhaps, gave his answers either by the
power of the demons, or the craft of the priests,
with a humming noise, like that of a great flv; or
that had (as they fancied) rid their country of the
swarms of flies wherewith it was infested, or of
some pestilential disease brought among them by
flies. Perhaps this dunghill-deity was as famous
then, as the oracle of Delphos was, long after, in
Greece. In the New Testament, the prince of the
devils is called Beel-zebub; (Matth. 12. 24.) for the
gods of the Gentiles were devils, and this, perhaps,
grew to be one of the most famous.
IV. Elijah, by direction from God, meets the
messengers, and turns them back with an answer
that shall save them the labour of going to Ekron.
Had Ahaziah sent for Elijah, humbled himself, and
begged his prayers, he might have had an answer
of peace; but if he send to the god of Ekron, in¬
stead of the God of Israel, that, like Saul’s consult-
| ing the witch, shall fill the measure of his iniquity,
and bring upon him a sentence of death. They that
will not inquire of the word of God for their com¬
fort, shall be made to hear it, whether they will or
no, to their amazement.
1. He faithfully reproves his sin; (t>. 3.) Is it not
because there is not (that is, because you think there
is not) a God in Israel, ( because there is no God .
none in Israel, so it may be read,) that ye go to
inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, a despi¬
cable town of the Philistines, (Zech. 9. 7.) long
since vanquished by Israel? Here, (1.) The sin was
bad enough, giving that honour to the Devil, which
is due to God alone, which was done as much by
their inquiries, as by their sacrifices. Note, It is a
very wicked thing, upon any occasion or pretence
whatsoever, to consult with the Devil. This wick¬
edness reigned in the heathen world, (Isa. 47. 12,
13.) and remains too much even in the christiar
world, and the Devil’s kingdom is supported by it.
(2. ) The construction which Elijah, in God’s name,
puts upon it, makes it much worse: “ It is because
you think not only that the God of Israel is not able
to tell you, but that there is no God at all in Israel;
else you would not send so far for a divine answer.’
Note, A practical and constructive atheism is the
cause and malignity of our departures from God.
Surely we think there is no God in Israel, when we
live at large, make flesh our arm, and seek a por¬
tion in the things of this world.
2. He plainly reads his doom; “ Go, tell him, he
shall surely die, v. 4. Since he is so anxious to know
his fate, this is it; let him make the best of it. ” The
certain fearful looking for of judgment and indigna¬
tion which this message must needs cause, cannot
but cut him to the heart.
V. The message being delivered to him by his
servants, he inquires of them by whom it was sent
him, and concludes, by their description of him,
that it must be Elijah, v. 7, 8. For, 1. His dress
was the same that he had seen him in, in his
father’s court. He was clad in a hairy garment,
and had a leathern girdle about him, ’ plain and
homely in his garb. John Baptist, the Elias of the
New' ’Testament, herein resembled him, for his
clothes were made of hair-cloth, and he was girt
with a leathern girdle, Matth. 3. 4. He that was
clothed with the Spirit, despised all rich and gay
clothing. 2. His message was such as he used to
deliver to his father, to whom he never prophesied
good, but evil. Elijah is one of t’.iose witnesses that
i still torment the inhabitants of the earth, Rev. 11.
10. He that was a thorn in Ahab’s eyes, will be so
in the eyes of his son, while he treads in the steps
of his wickedness; and he is ready to cry cut, as his
father did, Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy?
Let sinners consider, that the word which took hold
of their fathers, is still as quick and powerful a:
ever. See Zech. 1. 6. Heb. 4. 12.
9. Then the king; sent unto him a captain
of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to
him; (and, behold, he sat on the top of a
II. Kli
hill ;) and he spake unto him, Thou man
of God, the king hath said, Come down. 1 0.
And Elijah answered and said to the cap¬
tain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let
fire come down from heaven, and consume
thee and thy fifty. And there came down
fire from heaven, and consumed him and
his fifty. 1 1 . Again also he sent unto him
another captain of fifty with his fifty. And
he answered and said unto him, O man of
God, thus hath the king said, Come down
quickly. 12. And Elijah answered and
said unto them, If I be a man of God, let
fire come down from heaven, and consume
thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God
came down from heaven, and consumed
him and his fifty. 13. And he sent again
a captain of the third fifty with his fifty.
And the third captain of fifty went up, and
came and fell on his knees before Elijah,
and besought him,- and said unto him, O
man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and
the life of these fifty thy servants, be pre¬
cious in thy sight. 14. Behold, there came
fire down from heaven, and burnt up the
two captains of the former fifties with their
fifties : therefore let my life now be precious
in thy sight. 15. And the angel of the
Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him ;
be not afraid of him. And he arose, and
went down with him unto the king. 16.
And he said unto him, Thus saith the
Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast sent mes¬
sengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god
of Ekron, (is it not because there is no God
m Israel to inquire of his word?) therefore
thou shalt not come down off that bed on
which thou art gone up, but shalt surely
die. 1 7. So he died, according to the word
of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken : and
Jehoram reigned in his stead, in the second
year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat,
king of Judah; because he had no son. 1 8.
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which
he did, are they not written in the book of
the Chronicles of the kings of Israel ?
Here,
I. The king issues out a warrant for the appre¬
hending of Elijah. If the God of Ekron had told him
he should die, it is probable he would have taken it
quietly; but now that a prophet of the Lord tells
him so, reproving him for his sin, and reminding
him of the God of Israel, he cannot bear it: so far
is he from making any good improvement of the
warning given him, that he is enraged against the
prophet; neither his sickness, nor the thoughts of
death, made any good impressions upon him, or
possessed him with any fear of God: no external
alarms will startle and soften secure sinners, but
rather exasperate them. Did the king think Elijah
a prophet, a true prophet? Why then durst he
oersecute him? Did he think him a common per¬
son? What occasion was there to send such a force.
J’GS, 1. 565
in order to seize him? Thus a band of men must
take our Lord Jesus.
II. The captain that was sent with his fifty sol¬
diers, found Elijah on the top of a hill, (some think
Carmel,) and commanded him, in the king’s name,
to surrender himself, v. 9. Elijah was now so far
from absconding, as formerly, in the close recesses
of a cave, that he makes a bold appearance on the
top of a hill; experience of God’s protection makes
him more bold. The captain calls him a man of
God, not that he believed him to be so, or reverenc¬
ed him as such a one, but because he was common
ly called so; had he really looked upon him as a
prophet, he would not have attempted to make him
his prisoner; and had he thought him intrusted with
the word of God, he would not have pretended to
command him with the word of a king.
III. Elijah calls for fire from heaven, to consume
this haughty daring sinner, not to secure himself,
he could have done that some other way, nor to
avenge himself, for it was not his own cause that he
appeared and acted in; but to prove his mission,
and to reveal the wrath of God from heaven against
the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. This
captain had, in scorn, called him a man of God:
“If I be so,” says Elijah, “thou shalt pay dear for
making a jest ot it.” He valued himself upon his
commission, (the king has said, Come down,) but
Elijah will let him know that the God of Israel is
superior to the king of Israel, and has a greater
power to enforce his commands. It was not long
since Elijah had fetched fire from heaven, to con¬
sume the sacrifice, (1 Kings 18. 38.) in token of
God’s acceptance of that sacrifice as an atonement
for the sins of the people; but they having slighted
that, now the fire falls, not on the sacrifice, but on
the sinners themselves, v. 10. See here, 1. What
an interest the prophets had in heaven ; what the
Spirit of God in them demanded, the power of God
effected; Elijah did but speak, and it was done; he
that formerly had fetched water from heaven, now
fetches fire. O the power of prayer ! Concerning
the work of my hands, command ye me, Isa. 45. 11.
2. What an interest heaven had in the prophets!
God was always ready to plead their cause, and
avenge the injuries done to them. Kings shall still
be rebuked for their sakes, and charged to do his
prophets no harm. One Elijah is more to God
than 10,000 captains and their fifties. Doubtless
Elijah did this by a divine impulse, and yet our Sa¬
viour would not allow the disciples to draw it into a
precedent, Luke 9. 54. They were now not far
from the place where Elias did this act of justice
upon provoking Israelites, and would needs, in like
manner, call for fire upon those provoking Samari¬
tans; “No,” says Christ, “ by no means; you know
not what manner of spirit you are of that is, (1.)
“ You do not consider what manner of spirit, as dis¬
ciples, you are called to, and how different from
that of the Old Testament dispensation; it was
agreeable enough to that dispensation of terror, and
of the letter, for Elias to call for fire; but the dis¬
pensation of the Spirit and of grace will by no
means allow of it. ” (2. ) “You are not aware what
manner of spirit you are, upon this occasion, actuat¬
ed by, and how different from that of Elias: he did
it in holy zeal, you in passion; he was concerned for
God’s glory, you for your own reputation only.”
God judges men’s practices by their principles, and
his judgment is according to truth. *
IV. This is repeated a second time; would one
think it? 1. Ahaziah sends, a second time, to ap¬
prehend Elijah, (y. 11.) as if he were resolved not
to be baffled by omnipotence itself; obstinate sin¬
ners must be convinced and conquered, at last, bv
the fire of hell, for fire from heaven, it seems, will
not do it. 2. Another captain is readv with his
366
II. KINGS, II.
fifty, who, in his blind rage against the prophet,
and his blind obedience to the king, dares engage in
that service which had been fatal to the last under¬
takers; this is as impudent and imperious as the last,
and more in haste; not only, “ Come down quietly ,
and do not struggle,” but, without taking any notice
of what had been done, he says, “ Come down
quickly, and do not trifle, the king’s business re¬
quires haste; come down, or I will fetch thee
down.” 3. Elijah relents not, but calls for another
flash of lightning, which instantly lays this cap¬
tain and his fifty dead upon the spot; they that will
sin like others, must expect to suffer like them;
God is inflexibly just.
V. The third captain humbled himself, and cast
himself upon the mercy of God and Elijah. It
does not appear that Ahaziali ordered him to do so,
(his stubborn heart is as hard as ever; so regardless
is he of the terrors of the Lord, so little affected
with the manifestations of his wrath, and withal so
prodigal of the lives of his subjects, that he sent a
third with the same provoking message to Elijah,)
but he took warning by the fate of his predecessors,
who, perhaps, lay dead before his eyes; and, in¬
stead of summoning the prophet down, fell down
before him, and begged for his life and the lives of
his soldiers, acknowledging their own evil deserts,
and the prophet’s power; (r;. 13, 14.) Let my life be
precious in thy sight. Note, There is nothing to be
got by contending with God: if we would prevail
with him, it must be by supplication; if we would
not fall before God, we must bow before him; and
those are wise fi r themselves, who learn submis¬
sion from the fatal consequences which others entail
by their obstinacy.
VI. Elijah does more than grant the request of
this third captain. God is not severer with those
that stand it out against him, than he is ready to
dhow mercy to those that repent, and submit to
him; never any found it in vain to cast themselves
upon the mercy of God. This captain not only has
his life spared, but is permitted to carry his point;
Elijah, being so commanded by the angel, goes
down with him to the king, v. 15. Thus he shows
that he, before, refused to come, not because he
feared the king or court, but because he would not
be imperiously summoned, and would not lessen the
honour of his master; he magnifies his office. He
comes boldly to the king, and tells him, to his face,
(let him take it as he may,) what he had, before,
sent to him, (v. 16.) that he should surely and
shortly die; he mitigates not the sentence, either for
fear of the king’s displeasure, or in pity to his mise¬
ry: the God of Israel has condemned him, let him
send to see whether the God of Ekron can deliver
him. So thunder-struck is Ahaziah with this mes¬
sage, when it comes from the prophet’s own mouth,
that neither he, nor any of those about him, durst
offer him any violence, nor so much as give him an
affront; but out of that den of lions he comes un¬
hurt, like Daniel. Who can harm those whom
God will shelter?
Lastly, The prediction is accomplished in a few
days; Ahaziah died, ( [v . 17.) and, dying childless,
left his kingdom to his brother Jehoram; his father
reigned wickedly twenty-two years, he not two;
sometimes the wicked live, become old, yea, are
mighty in power; but they who therefore promise
themselves prosperity in impiety, may, perhaps,
find themselves deceived; for, (as Bishop Hall ob¬
serves here,) “Some sinners live long, to aggravate
their judgment, others die soon, to hasten it;” but it is
certain that evil pursues sinners, and, sooner or
later, it will overtake them; nor will any thing fill
the measure sooner than that complicated iniquity
of Ahaziah; honouring the Devil’s oracles, and*
hating God’s oracles.
CHAP. II.
In this chapter, we have, I. That extraordinary event, the
translation of Elijah; in the close of the foregoing chap¬
ter, we had a wicked king leaving the world in disgrace,
here we have a holy prophet leaving it in honour; the de¬
parture of the former was his greatest misery, of the lat¬
ter, his greatest bliss: men are as their end is. Here is,
1. Elijah taking leave of his friends, the sons of the
prophets, and especially Elisha, who kept close to him,
and walked with him through Jordan, v. 1 .. 10. 2. His
rapture into heaven by the ministry of angels, (v. 11.)
and Elisha’s lamentation of the loss this earth had of him,
v. 12. II. The manifestation of Elisha, as a prophet in
liis room. 1. By the dividing of Jordan, v. 13, 14. 2.
By the respect which the sons of the prophets paid him,
v. 15 - . 18. 3. By the healing of the unwholesome waters
of Jericho, v. 19 . . 22. 4. By the destruction of the chil¬
dren of Beth-el that mocked him, v. 23. . 25. This revo¬
lution in prophecy makes a greater figure than the revo¬
lution of a kingdom.
1. A ND it came to pass, when the Lord
L would take up Elijah into heaven
by a whirlwind, that Elijah \vent with Eli¬
sha from Gilgal. 2. And Elijah said unto
Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the
Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha
said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and us
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So
they went down to Beth-el. 3. And the
sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el
came forth to Elisha, and said unto him,
Knowest thou that the Lord will lake
away thy master from thy head to-day ?
And he said, Yea, I know it; hold you
your peace. 4. And Elijah said unto him,
Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the
Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he
said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul
liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came
to Jericho. 5. And the sons of the pro¬
phets that were at Jericho came to Elisha,
and said unto him, Knowest thou that the
Lord will take away thy master from thy
head to-day? And he answered, Yea I
know it; hold you your peace. 6. And
Elijah said unto him, Tarry, 1 pray thee,
here ; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan.
And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And
they two went on. 7. And fifty men of the
sons of the prophets went, and stood to view
afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. 8.
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped
it together, and smote the waters, and they
were divided hither and thither; so that
they two went over on dry ground.
Elijah’s times, and the events concerning him,
are as little dated as those of any great man in scrip¬
ture; we are not told of his age, nor in what year
of Ahab’s reign he first appeared, nor in what year
of Joram’s he disappeared, and therefore cannot
conjecture how long he flourished; it is supposed
about 20 years in all.
Here we are told,
I. That God had determined to take him up in¬
to heaven by a whirlwind, v. 1. He would do it.
and, it is probable, let him know of his purpose.
56?
II. KINGS, II.
some time before, that he would shortly take him
from the world, not by death, but translate him
body and soul to heaven, as Enoch was, only caus¬
ing him to undergo such a change as would be ne¬
cessary to the qualifying of him to be an inhabitant
in that world of spirits; and such as they shall un¬
dergo, who will be found alive at Christ’s coming.
It is not for us to say, why God would put such a
peculiar honour upon Elijah above any other of the
prophets; he was a man subject to like passions as
we are, knew sin, and yet never tasted death.
Wherefore is he thus dignified, thus distinguished,
as a man whom the King of kings did delight to
honour? We may suppose that herein, 1. God
looked back upon his past services, which were emi¬
nent and extraordinary, and intended him a recom¬
pense for those, and an encouragement to the sons of
the prophets to tread in the steps of his zeal and
faithfulness, and, whatever it cost them, to witness
against the corruptions of the age they lived in. 2.
He looked down upon the present dark and degen¬
erate state of the church, and would thus give a
very sensible proof of another life after this, and
draw the hearts of the faithful few upward toward
himself, and that other life. 3. He looked forward
to the evangelical dispensation, and, in the transla¬
tion of Elijah, gave a type and figure of the ascen¬
sion of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of
heaven to all believers. Elijah had, by faith and
prayer, conversed much with heaven, and now he
is taken thither, to assure us that if we have our
conversation in heaven, while we are here on earth,
we shall be there shortly, the soul shall, (and that
is the man,) be happy there, there for e\er.
II. That Elisha had determined, as long as he
continued on earth, to cleave to him, and not to
leave him: Elijah seemed desirous to shake him off,
would have had him stay behind at Gilgal, at Beth¬
el, at Jericho, v. 2, 4, 6. Some think, out of humility;
he knew- what glory God designed for him, but
would not seem to glory in it, nor desired it should
be seen of men; (God’s favourites covet not to have
it proclaimed before them, that they are so, as the
favourites of earthly princes do;) or rather, it was
to try him, and make his constant adherence to him.
the more commendable, like Naomi’s persuading
Ruth to go back: in vain does Elijah entreat him to
tarry here, and tarry there; he resolves to tarry no
where behind his master, till lie goes to heaven, and
leaveshim behind on this earth; whatever comes of
it, I will not leave thee; and why so? Not only be¬
cause he loved him, but, 1. Because he desired to be
edified by his holy heavenly converse as long as he
staid on earth; it had always been profitable, but,
we may suppose, now, more so than ever. We
should therefore do all the spiritual good we can,
one to another, and get all we can, one by another,
while we are together, because we are to be togeth¬
er but a while. 2. Because he desired to be satis¬
fied concerning his departure, and to see him when
he was taken up, that his faith might be confirmed,
and his acquaintance with the invisible world in¬
creased. He had long followed Elijah, and he
would not leave him now when he hoped for the
parting blessing; let not those that follow Christ,
come short by tiring at last.
III. That Elijah, before his departure, visited
the schools of the prophets, and took leave of them;
it seems that there were such schools in many of
the cities of Israel, probably, even in Samaria it¬
self; here we find sons of the prophets , and consid¬
erable numbers of them, even at Beth-el, where one
of the calves was set up, and at Jericho, which was
lately built in defiance of a divine curse. At Jeru¬
salem, and in the kingdom of Judah, they had
priests and'Levites, and the temple-service, the
want of which, in the kingdom of Israel, God gra- i
I ciously made up by those colleges, where men were
J trained up and employed in the exercises of reli¬
gion and devotion, and whither good people re¬
sorted to solemnize the appointed feasts with pray¬
ing and hearing, when they had not conveniences
for sacrifice or incense; and thus religion was kept
up in a time of gener d apostasy. Much of God
was among these prophets, and more were the chil¬
dren of the desolate than the children of the married
wife; none of all the High Priests were comparable
to those two great men Elijah and Elisha, who, for
aught we know, never attended in the temple at
Jerusalem. These seminaries of religion and vir¬
tue, which Elijah, it is probable, had been instru¬
mental to found, he now visits, before his depar¬
ture, to instruct, encourage, and bless them. Note,
Those that are going to heaven themselves, ought
to be concerned for those they leave behind them
on earth, and to leave with them their experiences,
testimonies, counsels, and prayeis, 2 Pet. 1. 15.
When Christ said, with triumph, JVow I am no
more in the world, he added, with tenderness, But
these are; Father, keep them.
IV. That the sons of the prophets had intelli¬
gence, (either from Elijah himself, or by the spirit
of prophecy in some of their own society,) or sus¬
pected, by the solemnity of Elijah’s farewell, the t
he was now shortly to be removed; and, 1. They
told Elisha of it, both at Beth-el, (v. 3.) and at Jer -
cho; (v. 5.) Knowest thou that the Lord will take
away thy master from thy head to-day? "Phis they
said, not as upbraiding him with his loss, or expect¬
ing that when his master was gone, he would be
upon the level with them, but to show how full they
were of the thoughts of this matter, and big with
expectation of the event, and to admonish Elisha to
prepare for the loss: know we not that our nearest
relations, and dearest friends, must shortly be taken
from us? The Lord will take them, we lose them
not till he calls for them, whose they are, and who
taketh away, and none can hinder him. He takes
away superiors from our head, inferiors from cur
feet, equals from our arms; let us therefore care¬
fully do the duty of every relation, that we may
reflect upon it with comfort, when it comes to be
dissolved. Elisha knew it too well, and sorrow
had filled his heart upon this account, (as it did the
disciples in a like case, John 16. 6.) and therefore
he did not need to be told of it, did not care for
hearing of it, and would not be interrupted in his
contemplations on this great concern, or, in the
least, dnerted from his attendance upon his master;
1 know it, hold ye your peace: he speaks not this
peevishly, or in contempt of the sons of the pro¬
phets, but as one that was himself, and would have
them, composed and sedate, and with an awful
silence expec ting the event; I know it, be silent,
Zech. 2. 13. 2. They went themselves to be wit¬
nesses of it at a distance, though they might not
closely attend; (x1. 7.) Fifty of them stood to view
afar iff, intending to satisfy their own Curiosity, but
God so ordered it, that they might be eye-witnesses
of the honour Heaven did to that prophet, who was
despised and rejected of men. God’s works are
well worthy cur notice; when a door is opened in
heaven, the call is, Come up hither, come and see.
V. That the miraculous dividing of the river Jo- -
dan was the preface to Elijah’s translation into the
heavenly Canaan, as it had been to the entrance of
Israel into the earthly Canaan, v. 8. He must go
on the other side Jordan, to be translated, because
it was his native country, and that he might be near
the place where Moses died, and that thus hciv-ur
might be put on that part of the country, which
was most despised. He and Elisha might have
gone over Jordan by a ferry, as other passengers
did, but God would magnify Elijah in his exit, ash<
5C3
IT. KINGS. II.
(’id Joshua n his entrance, by the dividing of this
river, Josh. 3. 7. As Moses with his rod divided
the sea, so El.j ah with his mantle divided Jordan,
both, the insignia — the budgets of their office; these
waters, of old, yielded to the ark, now, to the pro¬
phet’s mantle, which, to those that wanted the ark,
was an equivalent token of God’s presence. When
God will take up his faithful ones to heaven, death
is the Jordan which, immediately before their trans¬
lation, they must pass through, and they find a way
through it, a safe and comfortable way; the death
of Christ has divided those waters, that the ran¬
somed of the Lord may pass over; 0 death, where
•s thy sting! thy hurt, thy terror?
9.' And it came to pass, when they were
gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask
what I shall do for thee, before I be taken
away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray
thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be
upon me. 10. And he said, Thou hast
asked a hard thing : nevertheless , if thou see
me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so
unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. 11.
And it came to pass, as they still went on,
and talked, that, behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted
them both asunder; and Elijah went up by
a whirlwind into heaven. 12. And Elisha
saw it , and he cried, My father, my father!
the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen
thereof. And he saw him no more: and he
took hold of his own clothes, and rent them
n two pieces.
Here,
I. Elijah makes his will, and leaves Elisha his
heir, now anointing him to be a prophet in his room,
more than when he cast his mantle upon him, 1
Kings 19. 19.
1. Elijah, being greatly pleased with the con¬
stancy of Elisha’s affection and attendance, bade
him ask what he should do for him, what blessing
he should leave him at parting; he does not say,
'as Bishop Hall well observes,) “ Ask of me when I
am gone, in heaven I shall be better able to befriend
thee,” but, “Ask before I go.” Our friends on
earth may be spoken to, and can give us an answer,
but we know not that we can have access to any
friend m heaven but Christ, and God in him; Abra¬
ham is ignorant o f us.
2. Elisha, having this fair opportunity to enrich
himself with the best riches, prays for a double
portion of his spirit; he asks not for wealth, or
honour, or exemption from trouble, but to be quali¬
fied for the service of God and his generation; he
asks, (1.) For the Spirit; not that the gifts and
graces of the Spirit were in Elijah’s power to give,
therefore he says not, “Give me the Spirit,” (he
knew very well it was God’s gift,) but, “Let it be
upon me, intercede with God for this, for me.”
Christ bade his disciples ask what thev would, not
one, but all, and promised to send the Spirit, with
much more authority and assurance than Elijah
could. (2.) For his spirit; because he was to be a
prophet in his room, to carry on his work, to father
the sons of the prophets, and face their enemies;
because he had the same difficulties to encounter,
and the same perverse generation to deal with, that
he had, so that if he have not his spirit, he has not
strength according to the day. (3.) For a double
[ portion of his spirit; he does not mean double to
j what he had, but double to what tne rest of the
prophets had, from whom so much would not be
expected as from Elisha, who had been brought up
under Elijah. It is a holy ambition to covet earnestly
the best gifts, and those which will render us most
serviceable to God and our brethren. Note, We
all ought, both ministers and people, to set before
us the examples of our predecessors, to labour after
their spirit, and to be earnest with God for that
grace which carried them through their work, and
enabled them to finish well.
3. Elijah promises him that which he asked, but
under two provisos, v. 10. (1.) Provided he put a
due value upon it, and esteem it highly: this he
teaches him to do, by calling it a hard thing; not
too hard for God to do, but too great for him to ex¬
pect. Those are best prepared for spiritual bless¬
ings, that are most sensible of their worth, and
their own unworthiness to receive them. (2.) Pro¬
vided he kept close to his master, even to the last,
and was observant of him : If thou see me when I am
taken from thee, it shall be so, otherwise not. A
diligent attendance upon his master’s instructions,
and a careful observance of his example, particu¬
larly now in his last scene, were the condition, and
would be a proper means of obtaining much of his
spirit: taking strict notice of the manner of his
ascension, would likewise be of great use to him.
The comforts of departing saints, and their expe¬
riences, will mightily help, both to gild our com¬
forts, and to steel our resolutions. Or, perhaps,
this was intended only as a sign; “If God favour
thee so far as to give thee a sight of me when I
ascend, take that for a token that he will do this for
thee, and depend upon it.” Christ’s disciples saw
him ascend, and were, thereupon, assured that they
should, in a little time, be filled with his Spirit,
Acts 1. 8. Elisha, we may suppose, hereupon,
prayed earnestly, Lord, show me this token for
good.
II. Elijah is carried up to heaven in a fiery
chariot, v. 11. Like Enoch, he was translated,
that he should not see death; and was (as Mr. Cow¬
ley expresses it)
“ The second man that leap’d the ditch
Where all the rest of mankind fell,
And went not downward to the sky.”
Many curious questions might be asked about this
matter, which could not be answered. Let it suf¬
fice that we are here told,
1. What his Lord, when he came, found him
doing. He was talking with Elisha, instructing
and encouraging him, directing him in his work,
and quickening him to it, for the good of those
whom he left behind. He was not meditating or
praying, as one wholly taken up with the world he
was going to, but engaged in edifying discourse, as
one concerned about the kingdom of God among
men. We mistake, if we think our preparation
for heaven is carried on only by contemplation, and
the acts of devotion. Usefulness to others will pass
as well in our account as any thing. Thinking of
divine things is good, but talking of them (if it
come from the heart) is better, because for edifica¬
tion, 1 Cor. 14. 4. Christ ascended as he was
blessing his disciples.
2. What convoy his Lord sent for him; a chariot
of fire, and horses of fire, which appeared either
descending upon them from the clouds, or (as
Bishop Patrick thinks) running toward them upon
the ground: in this form the angels appeared. The
souls of all the faithful are carried bv an invisible
guard of angels into the bosom of Abraham; but
Elijah being to carry his body with him, this hea¬
venly guard was visible, not in a human shape, as
609
II. KINGS, II.
usual, though they might so have borne him up in
their arms, or carried him as on eagles’ wings, but
that had been to carry him like a child, like a lamb;
(Isa. 40. 11, 31.) they appear in the form of a cha¬
riot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride
in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror, yea,
mure than a conqueror ; the angels are called, in
scripture, Cherubim and Serafihim, and their ap¬
pearance here, though it may seem below their
dignity, answers to both those names; for, (1.) Se¬
ra fi him signifies fiery , and God is said to make
them a jlame of fire, Ps. 104. 4. (2.) Cherubim
(as many think) signifies chariots, and they are
called the chariots of God, Ps. 68. IT. And he is
said to ride ufion a cherub, (Ps. 18. 10.) to which
perhaps there is an allusion in Ezekiel’s vision of
four living creatures, and wheels, like horses and
chariots; in Zechariah’s vision they are so repre¬
sented, Zech. 1. 8. — 6. 1. Compare Rev. 6. 2, 8cc.
See the readiness of the angels to do the will of
God, even in the meanest services, for the good of
them that shall be heirs of salvation. Elijah must
remove to the world of angels, and therefore, to
show how desirous they were of his company, some
of them would come to fetch him; the chariot and
horses appeared like fire, not for burning, but
brightness, not to torture or consume him, but to
render his ascension conspicuous and illustrious in
the eyes of those that stood afar off to view it.
Elijah had burned with holy zeal for God and his
honour, and now with a heavenly fire he was re¬
fined and translated.
3. How he was separated from Elisha; this cha¬
riot parted them both asunder. Note, The dearest
friends must part; Elisha had protested he would
not leave him, yet now is left behind by him.
4. Whither he was carried; he went ufi by a
whirlwind into heaven-, the fire tends upward, the
whirlwind helped to carry him through the atmo¬
sphere, out of the reach of the magnetic virtue of
this earth, and then how swiftly he ascended through
the pure ether to the world of holy and blessed
spirits, we cannot conceive.
“ Hut where he stopt, will ne’er be known,
Till phcenix-nature, aged grown,
To a better being shail aspire,
Mounting herself, like him, to eternity in fire.” — Cowley.
Elijah had once, in a passion, wished he might die;
yet God was so gracious to him, as not only not to
take him at his word then, but to honour him with
this singular privilege, that he should never see
death; and by this instance, and that of Enoch, (1.)
God showed how men should have left the world,
if they had not sinned, not by death, but by a trans¬
lation. (2.) He gave a glimpse of that life and
immortality which are brought to light by the gos¬
pel, of the glory reserved for the bodies of the
saints, and the ofiening of the kingdom of heaven to
all believers, as then to Elijah; it was also a figure
of Christ’s ascension.
III. Elisha pathetically laments the loss of that
great prophet, but attends him with an encomium,
v. 12. 1. He saw it; thus he received the sign by
which he was assured of the grant of his request for
a double portion of Elijah’s spirit; he looked stead¬
fastly toward heaven, whence he was to expect that
gift, as the disciples did, Acts 1. 10. He saw it a
while, but the vision was presently out of his sight;
and he saw him no more. 2. He rent his own
clothes, in token of the sense he had of his own and
the public h ss; though Elijah was gone triumphant¬
ly to heaven, yet this world could ill spare him,
and therefore his removal ought to be much re¬
gretted by the survivors. Surely their hearts are
hard, whose eyes are dry, when God, by taking
away faithful useful men, calls for weeping and
VOL. II.— 4 C
mourning. Though Elijah’s departure made way
for Elisha’s eminency, especially since he was now
sure of a double portion of his spirit, yet he lament¬
ed the loss of him, for he loved him, and could have
served him for ever. 3. He gave him a very
honourable character, as the reason why he thus
lamented the loss of him. (1. ) He himself had lost
the guide of his youth; My father, my father! he
saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child
thrown upon the world, and laments it accordingly.
Christ, when he left his disciples, did not leave
them orphans, (John 14. 15.) but Elijah must. (2.)
The public had lost its best guard; he was the cha¬
riot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. He would
have brought them all to heaven, as in this chariot,
if it had not been their own fault; they used not
chariots and horses in their wars, but Elijah was to
them, by his counsels, reproofs, and prayers, better
than the strongest force of chariot and horse, and
kept off the judgments of God; his departure was
like the routing of an army, an irreparable loss.
Better have lost all our men of war than this man
of God.
13. He took up also the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him, and went back, and stood
by the bank of Jordan; 14. And he took the
mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote
the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God
of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the
waters, they parted hither and thither : and
Elisha went over. 1 5. And when the sons of
the prophets, which ivere to view at Jericho,
saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth
rest upon Elisha. And they came to meet
him, and bowed themselves to the ground
before him: 16. And they said unto him,
Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty
strong men ; let them go, we pray thee, and
seek thy master ; lest peradventure the Spirit
of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast
him upon some mountain, or into some val¬
ley. And he said, Ye shall not send. 17.
And when they urged him till he was
ashamed, he said, Send. They sent, there¬
fore, fifty men ; and they sought three days,
but found him not. 18. And when they
came again to him, (for he tarried at Jeri¬
cho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto
you, Go not ?
We have here an account of what followed im¬
mediately after the rapture of Elijah.
I. The tokens of God’s presence with Elisha, and
the marks of his elevation into Elijah’s room, to be,
as he had been, a father to the sons of the prophets,
and the chariot and horsemen of Israel.
1. He was possessed of Elijah’s mantle, the badge
of his office, which, we may suppose, he put cn,
and wore, for his master’s sake, v. 13. When Eli¬
jah went to hea\ en, though he did not let fall his
body as others do, he let fall his mantle instead of
it; for he was unclothed, that he might be clothed
upon with immortality: he was going to a world
where he needed not the mantle, either to adorn
him, or to shelter him from weather, or to wrap
his face in, as 1 Kings 19. 13. He left his mantle
as a legacy to Elisha, and though in itself it was of
small value, yit as it was a token of the descent of
the Spirit upon him, it was more than if he had
570
IJ. RINGS, 11.
bequeathed to him thousands of gold and silver.
Elisha took it up, not as a sacred relic to be wor¬
shipped, but as a significant garment to be worn,
and a recompense to him for his own garments
which he had rent; he loved th.s cloak ever since
it was first cast over him, 1 Kings 19. 19. He that
then so cheerfully obeyed the summons of it, and
became Elijah’s servant, is now dignified with it,
and becomes his successor. There a:e remains ot
great and good men, which, like this mantle, ought
to be gathered up and preserved by the survivors,
their sayings, their writings, their examples, that
as their works follow them in the reward of them,
they may stay behind in the benefit of them.
2. He was possessed of Elijah’s power to divide
J rdan, v. 14. Having parted with his father, he
returns to his sens in the schools of the prophets;
Jordan was between him and them, it had been di¬
vided to make way for Elijah to his glory, he will
try whether it will div ide to make way for him to
his business, and by that he will know that God is
with him, and that he has the double portion of Eli¬
jah’s spirit; Elijah’s Lst miracle shall be Elisha’s
first; thus he begins where he left off, and there is
no vacancy. In dividing the waters, (1.) He made
use of Elijah’s mantle, as Elijah himself had done,
( v . 8.) to signify that he designed to keep to his
master’s methods, and would not introduce any
thing new, as those affect to do, that think them¬
selves wiser than their predecessors. (2.) He ap¬
plied himself to Elijah’s God, Where is the Lord
God of Klijah? He does not ask, “Where is Eli¬
jah ?” either as poring upon the loss of him, as if he
could not be easy now that he was gone, or as doubt¬
ing of his happy state, as if, like the sons of the
prophets here, he knew not what was become of
him, or as curiously inquiring concerning him, and
the particulars of that state he was removed to;
no, that is a hidden life, it does not yet appear
what we shall be: nor as expecting help from him;
no, Elijah is happy, but is neither omniscient, nor
omnipotent: but he asks, Where is the Lord God
of Elijah ? Now that Elijah was taken to heaven,
God had abundantly proved himself the God of
Elijah; if he had not prepared for him that city,
and done better for him there than ever he did for
him in this world, he would have been ashamed to
b ■“ called his God, Heb. 11. 16. Matth. 27. 31, 32.
Now that Elijah was taken to heaven, Elisha in¬
quired, [1.] After God; when our creature-com¬
forts are removed, we have a God to go to, that
lives for ever. [2.] After the God of Elijah, the
God that Elijah serv ed, and honoured, and pleaded
for, and adhered to, when all Israel had deserted
him. This honour is done to those who cleave to
God in times of general apostasy, that God will be,
in a peculiar manner, their God. “ The God that
owned, and protected, and provided for, Elijah,
and, many ways, honoured him, especially now at
last; where is he ? Lord, am not I promised Elijah’s
spirit ? Make good that promise.” The words which
next follow in the original, Afh-his — even he, which
we join to the following clause, when he also had
smitten the waters, some make an answer to this
question, Where is Elijah’s God? Etiam ille adhuc
smfierest — “ He is in being still, and nigh at hand;
we have lost Elijah, but we have not lost Elijah’s
God; he has not forsaken the earth, it is even he
that is still with me.” Note, First, It is the duty
and interest of the saints on earth to inquire after
God, and apply themselves to him ns the .Lord God
of the saints that are gone before to heaven, the God
of our fathers. Secondly, It is very comfortable to
those who inquire after God, that they know where
to find him; it is even he that is in his holy temfile,
(Ps. 11. 4.) and nigh to all who call ufion him, Ps.
145. 18. Thirdly, Those that walk in the spirit I
and steps of their godly faithful predecessors, shall
certainly experience the same grace that they ex¬
perienced; Elijah’s God will be Elisha’s too; the
Lord God of the holy prophets is the same yester¬
day, to-day, and for ever; and what will it avail us
to have the mantles of those that are gone, then
places, their books, if we have not their spirit, their
God?
3. He was possessed of E! jah’s interest in the
sons of the prophets, v. 15. Some of the fellows of
the college at Jericho, who had placed themselves
,j conveniently near Jordan, to see what passed, were
surprised to see Jordan divided before Elisha in his
! i eturn, and took that as a convincing evidence that
the spirit of Elijah did rest ufion him, and that
therefore tney ought to pay the same respect and
deference to him, that they had done to Elijah.
Accordingly, they went to meet him, to congratu-
1 late him on his safe passage through fire and water,
and the honour God had put upon him ; and thev
bowed themselves to the ground before him: they
were trained up in the schools, Elisha was taken
from the plough, yet, when they perceive that God
is with him, and that this is the man whom he de
lights to honour, they readily submit to him, as their
head and father, as the people to Joshua, when
Moses was dead, Josh. 1. 17. Those that appear to
have God’s Spirit and presence with them, ought to
have our esteem and best affections, nc twithstand-
ing the meanness of their extraction and education.
Whomsoever God honours, we must. This ready
submission of the sons of the prophets, no doubt,
; was a great encouragement to Elisha, and helped
to clear his call.
II. The needless search which the sons of the
prophets made for Elijah. 1. They suggested it
possible that he was dropt, either ali v e or dead, up¬
on some mountain, or in some valley; and it would
be a satisfaction to them, if they sent seme strong
men, whom they had at command, in quest of him,
v. 16. Some of them perhaps started this as a de¬
murrer to the choice of Elisha; “Let us first be sure
that Elijah is quite gone. Can we think Elijah thus
neglected by heaven, that chosen vessel thus cast
• away as a vessel in which was no pleasure ?” 2.
Elisha consented not to their motion, till they over¬
came him with importunity, v. 17. They urged
him till he was ashamed to oppose it any further,
lest he should be thought wanting in his respect to
his old master, or loath to resign the mantle again.
Wise men may yield to that, for the sake of peace,
and the good opinions of others, which yet then
judgment is against, as needless and fruitless. 3.
The issue made them as much ashamed of their
proposal, as they, by their importunity, had made
Elisha ashamed of opposing it. Their messengers,
after they had tired themselves with fruitless search,
returned with a non cst inventus — he is not to be
found, and gave Efsha an opportunity of upbraid¬
ing his friends with their folly; Did I not say unto
you, Go not ? v. IS. This would make them the
more willing to acquiesce in his judgment another
time. Traversing hills and valleys, will never bring
us to Elijah, but the imitation of his holy fi.ith and
zeal will, in due time.
19. And the men of the city said unto
Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth : but
the water is naught, and the ground barren.
20. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and
put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
21. And he went forth unto the spring of
the waters, and cast the salt in there, and
said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed
571
II. KINGS, II.
these waters ; there shall not be from thence
any more death or barren land. 22. So the
waters were healed unto this day, according
to the saying of Elisha which he spake. 23.
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el :
and as he was going up by the way, there
came forth little children out of the city, and
mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou
bald-head ; go up, thou bald-head. 24. And
he turned back, and looked on them, and
cursed them in the name of the Lord. And
there came forth two she-bears out of the
wood, and tare forty and two children of
them. 25. And he went from thence to
mount Carmel ; and from thence he return¬
ed to Samaria.
Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of
Elijah’s spirit, that he wrought more miracles than
he did. Some reckon them in number just double.
Two are recorded in these verses — a miracle of
mercy to Jericho, and a miracle of judgment to
Beth-el, Ps. 101. 1.
1. Here is a b'essing upon the waters of Jericho,
which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built
in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a
threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all
the builders’ children; yet, when it was built, it was
not ordered to be demolished again, nor were God’s
prophets or people forbidden to dwell in it, but even
within those walls that were built by iniquity, we
find a nursery of piety. Fools, they say, build houses
for wise men to dwell in. Here the wealth of the
sinner provided a habitation for the just. We find
Chi’ist at Jericho, Luke 19. 1. Hither Elisha came,
to confirm the souls of the disciples with a more
particular account of Elijah’s translation than their
spies could give them, who saw it at a distance. Here
he staid while the fifty men were searching for him.
And, 1. The men of Jericho represented to him
their grievance, v. 19. God’s faithful prophets love
to be employed; it is wisdom to make use of them,
the little while that their light is with us. They
had not applied themselves to Elijah concerning the
matte ’, perhaps because he was not so easy of ac¬
cess as Elisha was; but now, we may hope, by the
influence of the divinity-school in their city, they
were reformed. The situation was pleasant, and
afforded a good prospect; but they had neither
wholesome water to drink, nor fruitful soil to yield
them food; and what pleasure could they take then
in their prospect? Water is a common mercy,
which we should estimate by the greatness of the
calamity which the want or unwholesomeness of it
would be. Some think that it was not all the ground
about Jericho, that was barren, and had bad water,
but some one part only, and that where the sons of
the prophets had their lodgings, who are here call¬
ed the men o f the city.
2. He soon redressed their grievance. Prophets
should endeavour to make every place they come
to, some way or other, the better for them, endea¬
vouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make bar¬
ren souls fruitful, by the due application of the word
of God. Elisha will heal their waters; but, (1.)
They must furnish him with salt in a new cruse, v.
20. If salt had been proper to season the water,
yet what could so small a quantity do towards it,
and what the better for being in a new cruse ? But
thus they that would be helped, must be employed,
and their faith and obedience tried. God’s works
of grace are wrought, not by any operations of our’s,
but in our observance of his institutions. (2.1 He
cast the salt into the spring of the waters, and so
healed the streams, and the ground they watered.
Thus the way to reform men’s lives, is, to renew
their hearts; let those be seasoned with the salt of
grace, tor out of them are the issues of life. Make
the tree good, and the fruit will be good. Purifv the
heart, and that will cleanse the hands. (3. ) He did
not pretend to do this by his own power, but in God’s
name; Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these wa¬
ters. He is but the instrument, the channel through
which God is pleased to convey this healing virtue.
By doing them this kindness with a Thus saith the
Lord, they would be made the moie willing, here¬
after, to receive from him a reproof, admonition,
or command, with the same preface. If, in God’s
name, he can help them, in God’s name, let him
teach and rule them. Thus saith the Lord, out of
Elisha’s mouth, must, ever after, be of mighty force
with them. (4.) The cure was lasting, and not for
the present only, The waters were healed unto this
day, v. 22. What God doeth, it shall be for ever,
Eccl. 3. 14. When he, by his Spirit, heals a soul,
there shall be no more death nor barrenness; the
property is altered; what was useless and offensive,
becomes grateful and serviceable.
II. Here is a curse upon the children of Beth-el,
which was effectual to destroy them; for it was not
a curse causeless. At Beth-el there was another
school of prophets, thither Elisha gees next, in this
his primary visitation; the scholars there, no doubt,
welcomed him with all possible respect, but the
townsmen were abusive to him. One of Jeroboam’s
i calves was at Beth-el; this they were proud of, and
j fond of, and hated them that reproved them. The
I law did not empower them to suppress this pious
academy, but we may suppose it was their usual
| practice to jeer the prophets as they went along the
i; streets, to call them by some nickname or other,
j that they might expose them to contempt, preju-
|; dice their youth against them, and, if possible, drive
jj them out of their town. Had the abuse done to Eli-
[ sha, been the first offence of that kind, it is probable
i that it would not have been so severely punished.
Ij But mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misus¬
ing the prophets, was one of the crying sins of Israel,
[ as we find, 2 Chron. 36. 16. Now here we have,
1. An instance of that sin. The little children of
Beth-el (the boys and girls that were playing in the
streets, notice, it is likely, being come to the town
of his approach) went out to meet him, not with
their hosannas, as they ought to have done, but with
their scoffs; they gathered about him, and mocked
him, as if he had been a fool, or one fit to make sport
with: among other things that they used to jeer the
prophets with, they had this particular taunt for
him, Go up, thou bald-head; Go up, thou bald-
head. It is a wicked thing to reproach any for their
natural infirmities or deformities; it is adding afflic¬
tion to the afflicted; and if they are as God made
them, the reproach reflects upon him. But this
was such a thing as scarcely deserved to be called a
blemish, and would never have been turned to his
reproach, if they had had any thing else to reproach
him with. It was his character, as a prophet, that
they designed to abuse. The honour God had crown¬
ed him with, should have been sufficient to co\ er his
bald head, and protect him from their scoffs. Thev
bade him go up, perhaps reflecting on the assump¬
tion of Elijah: “Thy master,” they say, “is gone
up; why dost not thou go up after him? Where is
the fiery chariot? When shall we be rid of thee
too?” These children said as they were taught; they
had learned of their idolatrous parents to call foul
names, and give bad language, especially to pro¬
phets. Perhaps their parents, did, at the same
time, send them out, and set them on, that, if pos¬
sible, they might keep the prophet out of thoirtovu.
572
II. KINGS, III.
2. A specimen of that ruin which came upon
Israel, at last, for inisus ng God’s prophets, and of
which this was intended to give them fair warning.
Elisha heard their taunts, a good while, with pa¬
tience; but, at length, the fire of holy zeal for God was
Endled in his breast by the continued provocation,
and he turned and Looked upon them , to try if a
grave and severe look would put them out of coun¬
tenance, and oblige them to retire; to see if he could
discern in their faces any marks of ingenuousness:
but they were not ashamed, neither could they blush;
and therefore he cursed them in the name of the
Lord, both imprecated and denounced the following
judgment, not in personal revenge for the indignity
done to himself, but as the mouth of divine justice to
punish the dishonour done to God. His summons was
immediately obeyed; two she-bears (bears perhaps
robbed of their whelpsjcame out of an adjacent wood,
and presently killed 42 children, v. 24. Now in
this, (1.) The prophet must be justified, for he did
it by divine impulse. Had the curse come from any
bad principle, God would not have said, Amen, to
it. We may think it had been better to have called
for two rods for the correction of these children,
than two bears for the destruction of them. But
Elisha knew, by the Spirit, the bad character of
these children, what a generation of vipers they
were; and what mischievous enemies they would be
to God’s prophets, if they should live to be men,
who began so early to be abusive to them. He in¬
tended hereby to punish the parents, and to make
them afraid of God’s judgments. (2.) God must be
glorified, as a righteous God that hates sin, and will
reckon for it, even in little children. Let the hide¬
ous shrieks and groans of this wicked wretched
brood make our flesh tremble for fear of God. Let
little children be afraid of speaking wicked words,
for God notices what they say. Let them not mock
at any for their defects in mind or body, but pity
them rather; especially let them know that it is at
their peril, if they jeer God’s people or ministers,
and scoff at any for well-doing. Let parents that
would have comfort in their children, train them
up well, and do their utmost betimes to drive out the
foolishness that is bound up in their hearts; for, (as
Bishop Hall says,) “ In vain do we look for good of
those children whose education we have neglected;
and in vain do we grieve for those miscarriages which
our care might have prevented.”
Elisha comes to Beth-el, and fears not the revenges
of the bereaved parents; God, who bade him do
what he did, he knew would bear him out. Thence
he goes to mount Carmel, ( v . 25.) where, it is pro¬
bable, there was a religious house fit for retirement
and contemplation. Thence he returned to Samaria,
where, being a public place, this father of the pro¬
phets might be most serviceable. Bishop Hall ob¬
serves here, “That he can never be a profitable
seer, who is either always or never alone.”
CHAP. III.
We are now called to attend the public affairs of Israel, in
which we shall find Elisha concerned. Here is, I. The
general character of Jehoram king of Isr iel, v. 1 . .3. II.
A war with Moab, in which Jehoram and his allies were
engaged, v. 4. .8. III. The straits which the confederate
army was reduced to in their expedition against Moab,
and their consulting of Elisha in that distress, with the
answer of peace he gave them, v. 9 . . 19. IV. The glo¬
rious issue of this campaign, (v. 20 . .25.) and the barba¬
rous method the king of Moab took, to oblige the confe¬
derate army to retire, v. 26, 27. The house of Ahab is
doomed to destruction ; arid though in this chapter we
have both its character and its condition better than be¬
fore, yet the threatened ruin is not far off.
1. '^GTOW Jehoram the son of Ahab be-
J3I gan to reign over Israel in Sama¬
ria t lie eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king
of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2.
And he wrought evil in the sight of the
Lord; but not like his father, and like his
mother ; for he put away the image of Baal
that his father had made. 3. Nevertheless
he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin ;
he departed not therefrom. 4. And Mesha
king of Moab was a sheep-master, and ren¬
dered unto the king of Israel a hundred
thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand
rams, with the wool. 5. But it came to
pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king
of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
Jehoram, the son of Ahab, and brother of Aha-
ziah, is here upon the throne of Israel; and though
he was but a bad man, yet two things are here
recorded of him.
1. That he removed his father’s idols. He did
evil in many things, but not like his father Ahab,
or his mother Jezebel, v. 2. Bad he was, but not
so bad, so overmuch wicked, as Solomon speaks,
Eccl. 7. 17. Perhaps Jehoshaphat, though by his
alliance with the house of Ahab he made his own
family worse, did something toward making Ahab’s
better. Jehoram saw his father and brother cut
off for worshipping Baal, and wisely took warning
by God’s judgments on them, and pul away the
image of Baal, resolving to worship the God of Is¬
rael only, and consult none but his prophets. So
far was well, yet it did not prevent the destruction
of Ahab’s family, nay, that destruction came in his
days, and fell immediately upon him, ( ch . 9. 24.)
though he was one of the best of the family, for then
the measure of its iniquity was full. Jehoram’s re¬
formation was next to none: for, (1.) He only put
away the image of Baal which his father had made,
and this, probably, in compliment to Jehoshaphat,
who otherwise would not have come into confedera¬
cy with him, any more than with his brother,
1 Kings 22. 49. But he did not destroy the worship
of Baal among the people, for Jehu found it preva
lent, ch. 10. 19. It was well to reform his family,
but it was not enough; he ought to have used his
power for the reforming of his kingdom. (2. ) When
he put away the image of Baal, he maintained the
worship of the calves, that politic sin of Jeroboam,
v. 3. He departed not therefrom, because that was
the state engine by which the division between the
two tribes was supported. Those do not truly nor
acceptably repent or reform, who only part with
the sins that they lose by, but continue their affec¬
tion to the sins that they get by. (3.) He only put
away the image of Baal, he did not break it in
pieces, as he ought to have done. He laid it aside
for the present, yet not knowing but he might have
occasion for it another time; and Jezebel, for rea¬
sons of state, was content to worship her Baal in
private.
2. That he did what he could, to recover his
brother’s losses. As he had something more of
the religion of an Israelite than his father, so he
had something more of the spirit of a king than his
brother. Moab rebelled against Israel immediately
upon the death of his father, ch. 1. 1. And we do
not find that Ahaziah made any attempt to chastise
or reduce them, but tamely let go his interest in
them rather than entertain the cares, undergo the
fatigues, and run the hazards, of a war with them.
His folly and pusillanimity, herein, and his indif
ference to the public good, were the more aggra-
573
II. KINGS, III.
vated, because the tribute which the king of Moab
paid was a very considerable branch of the rev¬
enue of the crown of Israel. A hundred thousand
lambs , and a hundred thousand rams, v. 4. The
riches of kings then lay more in cattle than coin,
and they thought it not below them to know the
state of their flocks and herds themselves, because,
as Solomon observes, the crown doth not endure to
every generation, Prov. 27. 23, 24. Taxes were
then paid, not so much in money, as in the commo¬
dities of the country, which was an ease to the sub¬
ject, whether it were an advantage to the prince or
no. The revolt of Moab was a great loss to Israel,
yet Ahaziah sat still in sloth and ease. But an up¬
per chamber in his house proved as fatal to him, as
the high places of the field could have been; (c/i.
1. 2.) and the breaking of his lattice let into his
throne a man of a more active genius, that will not
lose the dominion of Moab, without making, at least,
one push for its preservation.
6. And king Jehoram went out of Sama¬
ria the same time, and numbered all Israel.
7. And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat
the king of Judah, saying, The king of
Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou
go with me against Moab to battle? And
he said, I will go up : I am as thou art , my
people as thy people, and my horses as thy
horses. 8. And he said, Which way
shall we go up? And he answered, The
way through the wilderness of Edom. 9.
So the king of Israel went, and the king of
Judah, and the king of Edom: and they
fetched a compass of seven days1 journey :
and there wa^ no water for the host, and for
the cattle that followed them. 10. And the
king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord
hath called these three kings together, to
deliver them into the hand of Moab ! 11.
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a
prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire
of the Lord by him? And one of the king
of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here
is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured
water on the hands of Elijah. 12. And
Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord
is with him. So the king of Israel, and Je¬
hoshaphat, and the king of Edom, went
down to him. 13. And Elisha said unto
the king of Israel, What have I to do with
thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father,
and to the prophets of thy mother. And the
king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the
Lord hath called these three kings together,
to deliver them into the hand of Moab. 14.
And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts
liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it
not that I regarded the presence of Jeho¬
shaphat the king of Judah, I would not look
toward thee, nor see thee. 15. But now
bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass,
when the minstrel played, that the hand of
the Lord came upon him. 16. And he
said, Thus saith tfip Lord, Make this val¬
ley full of ditches: 17. For thus saith the
Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall
ye see rain ; yet that valley shall be filled
with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and
your cattle, and your beasts. 18. And this
is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord :
he will deliver the Moabites also into your
hand. 1 9. And ye shall smite every fenced
city, and every choice city, and shall fell
every good tree, and stop all wells of wa¬
ter, and mar every good piece of land with
stones.
Jehoram has no sooner got the sceptre into his
hand, than he takes the sword into his hand, to re¬
duce Moab. Crowns bring such cares and perils
to the heads that wear them; no sooner in honour
than in war. Now here we have,
I. The concerting of this expedition between Je¬
horam king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
Jehoram levied an army, (v. 6.) and such an opi¬
nion he had of the godly king of Judah, that, 1. He
courted him to be his confederate: Wilt thou go
with me against Moab ? And he gained him. je¬
hoshaphat said, I will go up,, I am as thou art, v.
7. Judah and Israel, though unhappily divided
from each other, yet can unite against Moab acorn
mon enemy. Jehoshaphat upbraids them not with
their revolt from the house of David, nor makes it
an article of their alliance, that they should return
to their allegiance, though he had good reason to
insist upon it, but treats with Israel as a sister-king¬
dom. Those are no friends to their own peace and
strength, who can never find in their hearts to for¬
give and forget an old injury, and unite with those
that have formerly broken in upon their rights. —
Quod initio non valuit, tractu temporis inva/escit —
That which was originally destitute of authority, in
the progress of time, acquires it. 2. He consulted
him as his confidant, v. 8. He took advice of Je¬
hoshaphat, who had more wisdom and experience
than himself, which way they should make their
descent upon the country of Moab; and he advised
that they should not march against them the nearest
way, over Jordan, but go round through the wilder¬
ness of Edom, that they might take the king of
Edom (who was tributary to him) and his forces
along with them: if two be better than one, much
more will not a threefold cord be easily broken. Je¬
hoshaphat had like to have paid dear for his join¬
ing with Ahab, yet he joins with his son, and this
expedition also had like to have been fatal to him.
There is nothing got by being yoked with unbelievers.
II. The great straits that the army of the confe¬
derates was reduced to in this expedition. Before
they saw the face of an enemy, they were all in
danger of perishing for want of water, v. 9. This
ought to have been considered before they ventur¬
ed a march through the wilderness, the same wil¬
derness, (or very near it,) where their ancestors
wanted water, Numb. 20. 2. God suffers his peo¬
ple, by their own improvidence, to bring themselves
into distress, that the wisdom, power, and goodness,
of his providence may be glorified in their relief-
What is more cheap and common, than water? It
is drink to every beast of the field; (Ps. 104. 11.)
yet the want of it will soon humble and ruin kings
and armies. The king of Israel sadly laments the
present distress, and the imminent danger it put
them in, of falling into the hands of their enemies
the Moabites, to whom, when weakened by thir&t,
they would be an easy prey, x*. 10. It was he that
had called these kings together, yet he charges it
upon Providence, and reflects upon that as unkind,
574
LI. KINGS, III.
The Lord lias called them together. Thus the fool¬
ishness of man perverteth his way, and then his heart
fretteth against the Lord, Prov. 19. 3.
III. Jeboshaphat’s good motion to ask counsel of
God in this exigence, v. 11. The place they were
now in, could not but remind them of the wonders
which their fathers told them of, the waters fetched
out of the rock for Israel’s seasonable supply. The
thought of this, we may suppose, encouraged Jeho-
shaphat to ask, Is there not here a prophet of the
Lord, like unto Moses? He was the more concern¬
ed, because it was by his advice that they fetched
this compass through the wilderness, v. 8. It was
well that Jehoshaphat inquired of the Lord now,
but it had been much better, if he had done it soon¬
er, before he engaged in this war, or steered this
course; so the distress might have been prevented.
Good men are sometimes remiss and forgetful, and
neglect their duty, till necessity and affliction drive
them to it.
IV. Elisha recommended as a proper person for
them to consult with, v. 11. And here we may
wonder, 1. That Elisha should follow the camp,
especially in such a tedious march as this, as a vo¬
lunteer, unasked, unobserved, and in no post of ho¬
nour at all; not in the office of priest of the wa?-,(Deut.
20. 2. ) or president of the council of war, but in such
obscurity, that none of the kings knew they had
such a jewel in the treasures of their camp, nor so
good a friend in their retinue. We may suppose it
was by special direction from heaven, that Elisha
attended the war, as the chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof Thus does God go before his peo¬
ple with the blessings of his goodness, and provide his
oracles for those that provide them not for them¬
selves. It would often be bad with us, if God did
not take more care of us, both for soul and body,
than we for ourselves. 2. That a servant of the
king of Israel knew of his being there, when the
king himself did not. Probably, it was such a ser¬
vant as Obadiah was to his father Ahab, one that
feared the Lord; to such a one Elisha made himself
known, not to the kings. The account he gives of
him, is, that it was he that poured water on the
hands rf Elijah, that is, he was his servant, and,
particularly, attended him when he washed his
hands. He that will be great, let him learn to mi¬
nister: he that will rise high, let him begin low.
V. The application which the kings made to
Elisha. Thev went down to him to his quarters,
v. 12. Jehoshaphat had such an esteem for a pro¬
phet with whom the word of the Lord was, that he
would condescend to visit him in his own person,
and not send for him up to him. The other two
were moved by the straits they were in, to make
their court to the prophet. He that humbled him¬
self, was thus exalted, and looked great, when
three kings came to knock at his door, and beg his
assistance; see Rev. 3. 9.
VI. The entertainment which Elisha gave
them.
1. He was very plain with the wicked king of Is¬
rael; (t>. 13.) ,(Jlrhat have I to do with thee? How
ranst thou expect an answer of peace from me?
Get thee to the prophets of thy father and mother,
whom thou hast countenanced and maintained in
thy prosperitv, and let them help thee now in thy
"distress.” Elisha was not imposed upon, as Je¬
hoshaphat was, by his partial and hypocritical re¬
formation; he knew that though he had put away
the image of Baal, Baal’s prophets were still dear
to him, and perhaps some of them were now in his
camp. Go, said he, go to them. Get you to the
(rods whom t/e have served, Judg. 10. 14. The
world and the flesh have ruled you, let them help
you; whv should God be inquired of by you? Ezek.
14. 3. Elisha tells him to his face, ii. a holv indig¬
nation at his wickedness, that he could scarcely
find in his heart to lock toward him, or to see him,
v. 14. Jehoram is to be respected as a prince, but
as a wicked man, he is a vile person, and is to be
contemned, Ps. 15. 4. Elisha, as a subject, will
honour him, but, as a prophet, he will make him
to know his iniquity. For them that had such an
extraordinary commission, it was fit (though not for
a common person) to say to a king, Thou art wick¬
ed, Job 34. 18. Jehoram has so much self-c< m-
mand as to take it patiently; he cares not now for
hearing of the prophets of Baal; but is a humble
suitor to the God of Israel and his prophet, repre¬
senting the present case as very deplorable, and
humbly recommends it to the prophet’s compas¬
sionate consideration. In effect, he owns himself
unworthy, but let not the other kings be ruined foi
his sake.
2. He showed a great respect to the godly king
of Judah, regarded his presence, and, for his sake,
would inquire of the Lord for them all. It is good
being with those that have God’s favour, and his
prophet’s love. Wicked people often fare the
better for the friendship and society of those that
are godly.
3. He composed himself to receive instructions
from God: his mind was somewhat ruffled and dis¬
turbed at the sight of Jehoram; though he was not
put into a sinful heat or passion, nor had spoken
unadvisedly, yet his zeal, for the present, indispos¬
ed him for prayer and the operations of the Spirit,
which require a mind very calm and sedate. He
therefore called for a musician, (y. 15.) a devout
musician, one accustomed to play upon his harp,
and sing psalms to it. To hear God’s praises
sweetly sung, as David had appointed, would cheer
his spirits, and settle his mind, and help to put him
into a right frame, both to speak to him, and to
hear from him. We find a company of prophets
prophesying with a psaltery and a tabret before
them, 1 Sam. 10. 5. Those that desire communion
with God, must keep their spirits quiet and serene.
Elisha being refreshed, and having the tumult of
his spirits laid by this divine music, the hand of the
Lord came upon him, and his visit did him more
honour than that of three kings.
4. God, by him, gave them assurance that the
issue of the present distress would be comfortable
and glorious.
(1.) They should speedily be supplied with water,
v. 16, 17. To try their faith and obedience, he
bids them make the valley full of ditches to receive
the water. They that expect God’s blessings,
must prepare room for them, dig the pools for the
rain to fill, as they did in the valley of Baca, and
so made even that a well, Ps. 84. 6. To raise their
wonder, he tells them they should have water
enough, and yet there should be neither wind nor
rain. Elijah, by prayer, obtained water out of the
clouds, but Elisha fetches it nobody knows whence.
The spring of these waters shall be as secret as the
head of the Nile. God is not tied to second causes.
Ordinarily, it is by a plentiful rain, that God con¬
firms his inheritance, (Ps. 68. 9.) but here it is done
without rain, at least, without rain in that place.
Some of the fountains of the great deep, it is likely,
were broken up on this occasion; and, to increase
the miracle, that valley only (as it should seem)
was filled with water, and no other place had any
share of it.
(2.) That supply should be an earnest of victory,
v. 18. “ This is but a light thing in the sight o f the
Lord; you shall not only be saved from perishing,
but shall return in triumph.” As God gives freely
to the unworthy, so he gives richly, like himself,
more than we are able to ask or think. His grants
outdo our requests and expectations. They that
575
IT. KINGS, 111.
Mt>erely seek for the dew of God’s grace, shall
ha*e it, and by it be made more than conquerors.
It is promised that they should be masters of the
rebellious country, and they are permitted to lay it
waste and ruin it, v. 19. The law forbade them
to fell fruit-trees to be employed in their sieges,
(Deut. 20. 19.) but not when it was intended, in
justice, for the starving of a country that had for¬
feited its fruits, by denying tribute to whom tribute
is due.
20. And it came to pass in the morning,
when the meat-ottering was ottered, that,
behold, there came water by the way of
Edom; and the country was filled with water.
21. And when all the Moabites heard
that the kings were come up to fight against
them, they gathered all that were able to
put on armour, and upward, and stood in
the border. 22. And they rose up early in
the morning, and the sun shone upon the
water, and the Moabites saw the water on
the other side as red as blood : 23. And
they said, This is blood: the kings are surely
slain, and they have smitten one another :
now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. 24.
And when they came to the camp of Israel,
the Israelites rose up and smote the Moab¬
ites, so that they fled before them : but
they went forward smiting the Moabites,
even in their country. 25. And they beat
down the cities, and on every good piece
of land cast every man his stone, and filled
it ; and they stopped all the wells of water,
and felled all the good trees : only in Kir-
haraseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit,
the slingers went about it, and smote it.
26. And when the king of Moab saw that
the battle was too sore for him, he took
with him seven hundred men that drew
swords, to break through even unto the king
of Edom : but they could not. 27. Then
he took his eldest son, that should have
reigned in his stead, and ottered him for a
burnt-offering upon the wall. And there
was great indignation against Israel : And
they departed from him, and returned to
their own land.
We have here the divine gift of both those things
which God had promised by Elisha; water and
victory; and the former not only a pledge of the
latter, but a means of it. God, who created, and
commands, all the waters both above and beneath
the firmament, sent them an abundance of water on
a sudden, which did them double service.
I. It relieved their armies, which were ready to
perish, v. 20. And, which was very observable,
this relief came just at the time of the offering of
the jnorning-sacrifice upon the altar at Jerusalem, a
certain time, and universally known; that time
Elisha chose for his hour of firayer, (it is likely
looking toward the temple, for so they were to do in
their prayers, when they were going out to battle,
and encamped at a distance, 1 Kings 8. 44.) in token
of his communion with the temple-service, and his
expectation of success, by virtue of the great Sacri¬
fice. We now cannot pitch upon any hour more
acceptable than another, because our High Priest is
always appearing for us, to present and plead his
sacrifice. That time God chose for the hour of
mercy, to put an honour upon the daily sacrifice
which had been despised. God answered Daniel’s
prayer just at the time of the evenmg-sacrifice,
(Dan. 9. 21.) for he will glorify his own institutions.
II. It deceived their enemies, who were ready to
triumph, into their destruction. Notice is brought
to the Moabites of the advances of the confederate
army; to oppose which, all that were able to put on
armour, were raised, and posted upon the frontiers,
where they are ready to give them a warm recep¬
tion, (v. 21.) promising themselves, that it would
be easy dealing with an army fatigued by so long
a march through the wilderness of Edom.' But see
here,
1. How easily they were drawn into their own
delusions; observe the steps of their self-deceit.
(1.) They saw the water in the valley where the
army of Israel encamped, and conceited it was
blood, (t>. 22.) because they knew it was a dry val¬
ley, and (there having been no rain) could not
imagine it should be water. The sun shone upon
it, and, probably, the sky was red and lowering, a
presage of foul weather that day, (Matth. 16. 3.)
and so it proved to them. But this making the
water look red, their own fancies, which made
them willing to believe what made for them, sug¬
gested, This is blood ; God permitting them thus to
impose upon themselves. (2.) If their camp was
thus full of blood, they conclude, “ Certainly the
kings have fallen out, (as confederates of different
interests are apt to do,) and they have slain one
another, (u. 23.) for what else should slay them?”
And, (3.) “If the armies ha\ e slain one another,
we have nothing to do but to divide the prey, Now
therefore, Moab, to the spoil." These were the
gradual suggestions of some sanguine spirits among
them, that thought themselves wiser and happier in
their conjectures than their neighbours; and the
rest, being desirous it should be so, were forward
to believe it was so. Quod volumus facile credi-
mus — What we wish, we readily believe. Thus
they that are to be destroyed, are first deceived,
(Rev. 20. 8.) and none are so effectually deceived
as those that deceive themselves.
2. How fatally they thereby ran upon their own
destruction. They rushed carelessly into the camp
of Israel, to plunder it, but were undeceived, when
it was too late. The Israelites, animated by the
assurances Elisha had given them of victory, fell
upon them with the utmost fury, routed them, and
pursued them into their own country, (-u. 24.)
which they laid waste; (v. 25.) destroyed the cities,
marred the ground, stopped up the wells, felled the
timber, and left only the royal city standing; in the
walls of which they made great breaches with
their battering engines. This they got by rebelling
against Israel. Who ever hardened his heart
against God, and prospered?
In the close of the chapte?-, we are told what the
king of Moab did, when he found himself reduced
to the last extremity by the besiegers, and that his
capital city was likely to fall into their hands.
(1.) He attempted that which was bold and
brave. He got together 700 choice men, and with
them sallied out upon the intrenchments of the
king of Edom, who, being but a mercenary in this
expedition, would not, he hoped, make any great
resistance if he were vigorously attacked, and so
he might make his escape that way. But it would
not do; even the king of Edom proved too hard for
him, and obliged him to retire, v. 26.
(2.) This failing, he did that which was brutish
and barbarous; he took his own son, his eldest son,
576
11. KINGS, IV.
that was to succeed him, than whom nothing could
be more dear to himself, and his people, and offered
him for a burnt -offering ufion the wall, v. 27. He
designed by this, [1.] To obtain the favour of Che-
mosh his god, which, being a devil, delighted in
blood and murder, and the destruction of mankind.
The dearer any thing was to them, the more ac¬
ceptable those idolaters thought it must needs be,
if offered in sacrifice to their gods, and therefore
burnt their children in the fire to their honour. [2. ]
To terrify the besiegers, and oblige them to retire.
Therefore he did it upon the wall, in their sight,
that they might see what desperate courses he re¬
solved to take rather than surrender, and how dear
he would sell his city and life. He intended hereby
to render them odious, and to exasperate and en¬
rage his own subjects against them. This effect it
had; there was great indignation against Israel for
driving him to this extremity. Whereupon, they
raised the siege, and returned. Tender and gener¬
ous spirits would not do that, though just, which
will drive any man distracted, or make him des¬
perate.
CHAP. IV.
Great service Elisha had done, in the foregoing chapter,
for the three kings; to his prayers and prophecies they
owed their lives and triumphs. One would have expect¬
ed that the next chapter should have told us what
honours and what dignities were conferred on Elisha
for this: that he should immediately have been preferred
at court, and made prime-minister of state; that Jehosha-
hat should have taken him home with him, and advanced
im in his kingdom. No, the wise man delivered the
army, but no man remembered the wise man, Eccl. 9.
15. Or, if he had preferment offered him, he declined it;
he preferred the honour of doing good in the schools of
the prophets before that of being great in the courts of
princes. God magnified him, and that sufficed him;
magnified him indeed, for we have him here employed in
working no less than five miracles. I. He multiplied
the poor widow’s oil, v. 1 . . 7. II. He obtained for the
good Shunammite the blessing of a son in her old age,
v. 8 . . 17. III. He raised that child to life, when it was
dead, v. 18.. 37. IV. He healed the deadly pottage, v.
S8..41. V. He fed a hundred men with twenty small
loaves, v. 42 . . 44.
1. ^LrOW there cried a certain woman of
the wives of the sons of the pro-
hets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my
usband is dead ; and thou knowest that
thy servant did fear the Lord: and the
creditor is come to take unto him my two
sons to be bondmen. 2. And Elisha said
unto her, What shall I do for thee ? tell
me : what hast thou in the house ? And
she said, Thine handmaid hath not any
thing in the house save a pot of oil. 3.
Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels
abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty
vessels ; borrow not a few. 4. And when
thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door
upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt
pour out into all those vessels, and thou
shalt set aside that which is full. 5. So she
went from him, and shut the door upon her
and her sons, who brought the vessels to her,
and she poured out. 6. And it came to
pass, when the vessels were full, that she
said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel.
And he said unto her, There is not a vessel
more. And the oil stayed. 7. Then she
came and told the man of God: and he
said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and
live thou and thy children of the rest.
Elisha’s miracles were for use, not for show: this
here was so; an act of real charity: Christ’s were
so; not only great wonders, but great favours, to
them for wnom they were wrought. God magnifief
his goodness with his power.
I. Elisha readily receives a poor widow’s com
plaint. She was a prophet’s widow; to whom there¬
fore should she apply herself, but to him that was
a father to the sons of the prophets, and concerned
himself in the welfare of their families ? It seems,
the prophets had wives, as well as the priests,
though prophecy went not by entail, as the priest¬
hood did. Marriage is honourable in all, and not
inconsistent with the most sacred professions. Now,
by the complaint of this poor woman, ( v . 1.) we are
given to understand, 1. That her husband, being
one of the sons of the prophets, was well known to
Elisha. Ministers of eminent gifts and stations
should make themselves familiar with those that ar<
every way their inferiors, and know their charactei
and state. 2. That he had the reputation of a godly
man. Elisha knew him to be one that feared th’t
Lord, else he had been unworthy of the honour,
and unfit for the work, of a prophet. He was ont
that kept his integrity in a time of general apostasy;
one of the 7000 that had not bowed the knee to
Baal. 3. That he was dead, though a good man, a
good minister. The prophets — do they live foi
ever ? They that were clothed with a Spirit of pro
phecy, were not thereby armed against the stroke
of death. 4. That he died poor, and in debt more
than he was worth. He did not contract his debu
by prodigality, and luxury, and riotous living, fo;
he was one that feared the Lord, and therefore
durst not allow himself in such courses: nay, reli
gion obliges men not to live above what they have,
nor to spend more than what God gives them, no
not in expenses otherwise lawful; for thereby, oi
necessity, they must disable themselves, at last, to
give every one his own, and so prove guilty of a
continued act of injustice all along: yet it may be
the lot of those that fear God, to be in debt, and
insolvent, through afflictive providences, losses by
sea, or bad debts, or their own imprudence, for the
children of light are not always wise for tnis world.
Perhaps this prophet was impoverished by perse¬
cution: when Jezebel ruled, prophets had much ado
to live, and especially if they had families. 5.
That the creditors were very severe to her. Two
sons she had, to be the support of her widowed
state, and their labour is reckoned assets in her
hand; that must go therefore, and they must be
bondmen for seven years, (Exod. 21. 2.) to work
out this debt. Those that leave their families under
a load of debt disproportionable to their estates,
know not what trouble they entail. In this distress,
the poor widow goes to Elisha, in dependence upon
the promise, that the seed of the righteous shall not
be forsaken. The generation of the upright may
expect help from God’s providence, and counte¬
nance from his prophets.
II. He effectually relieves this poor widow’s dis¬
tress, and puts her in a way both to pay her debt,
and to maintain herself and her family. He did not
say, Be warmed, be filled; but gave her real help.
He did not give her some small matter for her pre¬
sent provision, but set her up in the world to sell
oil, and put a stock into her hand to begin with.
This was done by miracle, but it is an indication t'
us what is the best method of charity, and the
greatest kindness one can do to poor people, which
is, if possible, to help them into a way of improving
577
II. KINGS, IV.
what little they have, by their own industry and
ingenuity.
1. He directed her what to do; considered her
case; What shall I do for thee ? The sons of the
prophets' \v ere poor, and it would signify little to
make a collection for her among them: but the
God of the holy prophets is able to supply all her
need; and if she has a little committed to her ma¬
nagement, her need must be supplied by his bless¬
ing and increasing that little. Elisha therefore in¬
quires what she had to make money of, and finds
she had nothing to sell but one pot of oil, v. 2. If
she had had any plate or furniture, he would have
bidden her part with it, to enable her to be just to
her creditors. We cannot reckon that really, nor
comfortably, our own, which is not so when all our
debts are paid. If she had not had this pot of oil,
the divine power could have supplied her; but hav¬
ing this, it will work upon this, and so teach us to
make the best of what we have. The prophet,
knowing her to have credit among her neighbours,
bids her borrow of them empty vessels, (v. 3.) for,
it seems, she had sold her own, toward the satisfy¬
ing of her creditors. He directs her to shut the
door upon her and her sons, while she filled all
those vessels out of that one. She must shut the
door, to prevent interruptions from the creditors
and others while it was in the doing, that they
might not seem proudly to boast of this miraculous
supply, and that they might have opportunity for
prayer and praise to God upon this extraordinary
occasion. Observe, (1.) The oil was to be mul¬
tiplied in the pouring, as the other widow’s meal
in the spending. The way to increase what we
have, is, to use it; to him that so hath, shall be
given. It is not hoarding the talents, but trading
with them, that doubles them. (2.) It must be
poured out by herself, not by Elisha, or some of the
sons of the prophets, to intimate that it is after our
careful and diligent endeavours, that we may expect
the blessing of God to enrich us, both for this world
and the other. What we have, will increase best
in our own hand.
2. She did it accordingly. She did not tell the
prophet he designed to make a fool of her, but,
firmly believing the divine power and goodness, and
in pure obedience to the prophet, she borrowed
vessels large and many of her neighbours, and
poured out her oil into them; one of her sons was
employed to bring her empty vessels, and the other
carefully to set aside those that were full, while
they were all amazed to find their pot, like a foun¬
tain of living water, always flowing, and yet always
full; they see not the spring that supplies it, but be¬
lieve it to be in Him in whom all our springs are .
Job’s metaphor is now verified in the letter; (Job 29.
6.) The rock poured me out rivers of oil. Perhaps
this was in the tribe of Asher, part of whose bless¬
ing it was, that he should dip his foot in oil, Deut.
33. 24
3. The oil continued flowing as long as she had
any empty vessels to receive it; when every vessel
was full, the oil stayed, (v. 6.) for it was not fit that
this precious liquor should run over, and be as wa¬
ter spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered
up again. Note, We are never straitened in God,
and in his power and bounty, and the riches of his
grace; all our straitness is in ourselves. It is our
faith that fails, not his promise. He gives above
what we ask: were there more vessels, there is
enough in God to fill them; enough for all, enough
for each. Was not this pot of oil exhausted, as long
as there were any vessels to be filled from it ? And
shall we fear lest the golden oil which flows from
the very root and fatness of the good olive, should
fail, as long as there are any lamps to be supplied
from it l Zech. 4 12.
Vol. ii. — 4 D
4 The prophet directed her what to do with the
oil she had, v. 7. She must not keep it for her own
use, to make her face to shine. Those whom Pro
vidence has made poor, must be content with pool
accommodations for themselves — that is knowing
how to want ; and must not think, when they get a
little of that which is better than ordinary, to feed
their own luxury: no; (1.) She must sell the oil to
those that were rich, and could afford to bestow it
on themselves. We may suppose, being produced
by miracle, it was the best of its kind; (like the
wine, John 2. 10.) so that she might have both a
good price, and a quick market, for it. Probably,
the merchants bought it to export, for oil was one
of the commodities that Israel traded in, Ezek. 27.
17. (2.) She must pay her debt with the money sht
received for her oil. Though her creditors were toe
rigorous with her, yet they must not therefore lose
their debt. Her first care, now that she has where¬
withal, must be to discharge that, even before she
makes any provision for her children. It is one of
the fundamental laws of our religion, that we ren
der to all their due, pay every just debt, give every
one his own, though we leave ever so little for our
selves; and this, not of constraint, but willingly and
without grudging; not only for wrath, to avoid be
ing sued, but also for conscience-sake. They that
bear an honest mind, cannot with pleasure eat theii
daily bread, unless it be their own bread. (3.) The
rest must not be laid up, but she and her children
must live upon it, not upon the oil, but upon the
money received from it, with which they must put
themselves into a capacity of getting an honest live¬
lihood. No doubt, she did as the man of God di¬
rected; and hence, [1.] Let those that are poor and
in distress, be encouraged to trust God for supply in
the way of duty: Verily, thou shalt be fed, though
not feasted. It is true, we cannot now expect mira
cles, yet we may expect mercies, if we wait on
God, and seek to him. Let widows particularly, and
prophets’ widows in a special manner, depend upon
him to preserve them and their fatherless children
alive, for to them he will be a Husband, a Father.
[2.] Let those whom God has blessed with plenty,
use it for the glory of God, and under the direction
of his word: let them do justly with it, as the widow
did, and serve God cheerfully in the use of it; and,
as Elisha, be ready to do good to those that need
them, be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
8. And it fell on a day, that Elisha pass¬
ed to Shuhem, where was a great woman :
and she constrained him to eat bread. And
so it was, that , as oft as he passed by, he
turned in thither to eat bread. 9. And she
said unto her husband, Behold now, I per¬
ceive that this is a holy man of God which
passeth by us continually. 10. Let us make
a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall ;
and let us set for him there a bed, and a ta¬
ble, and a stool, and a candlestick : and it
shall be, when he cometh to us, that he
shall turn in thither. 11. And it fell on a
day that he came thither, and he turned into
the chamber, and lay there. 12. And he
said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shu-
nammite. And when he had called her,
she stood before him. 13. And he said unto
him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast
been careful for us with all this care ; what
is to be done for thee ? wouldest thou bo
678
II. KINGS, IV.
spoken for to the king, or to the captain of
the host? And she answered, I dwell
among mine own people. 14. And he said,
What then is to be done for her ? And
Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child,
and her husband is old. 15. And he said,
Call her. And when he had called her, she
stood in the door. 1 6. And he said, About
this season, according to the time of life,
thou shalt embrace a son. And she said,
Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie
unto thine handmaid. 17. And the woman
conceived, and bare a son at that season
that Elisha had said unto her, according to
the time of life.
The giving of a son to such as were old, and had
been long childless, was an ancient instance of the
divine power and favour, in the case of Abraham,
and Isaac, and Manoah, and Elkanah: we find it
here among the wonders wrought by Elisha. This
was wrought in recompense for the kind entertain¬
ment which a good woman gave him, as the pro¬
mise of a son was given to Abraham, when he en¬
tertained angels. Observe here,
I. The kindness of the Shunammite woman to
Elisha. Things are bad enough in Israel, yet not
so bad, but that God’s prophet finds friends, wher¬
ever he goes. Shunem was a city in the tribe of
Issachar, that lay in the road between Samaria and
Carmel, a road that Elisha often travelled, as we
find ch. 2. 25. There lived a great woman , who
kept a good house, and was very hospitable, her
husband having a good estate, and his heart safely
trusting in her, and in her discreet management,
Prov. 31. 11. So famous a man as Elisha, could not
pass or repass unobserved. Probably, he had been
accustomed to take some private obscure lodgings
in the town; but this pious matron, having notice
once of his being there, pressed him with great im¬
portunity, and, with much difficulty, constrained
him to dine with her, v. 8. He was modest, and
loath to be troublesome; humble, and affected not to
associate with those of the first rank; so that it was
not without some difficulty, that he was first drawn
into an acquaintance there: but afterward, whenever
he came that way in his circuit, he constantly called
there. So well pleased was she with her guest, and
so desirous of his company, that she will not only
tid him welcome to her table, but provided a lodg¬
ing-room for him in her house, that he might make
the longer stay, not doubting but her house would
be blessed for his sake, and all under her roof edified
by his pious instructions and example; a good de¬
sign, yet she will not do it without acquainting her
husband, will neither lay out his money, nor invite
strangers to his house, without his consent asked
and obtained, v. 9, 10. She suggests to him, 1. That
the stranger she would invite, was a holy man of
God, who therefore would do good to their family,
and God would recompense the kindness done to
him; perhaps, she had heard how well paid the
widow of Sarepta was for entertaining Elijah. 2.
That the kindness she intended him, would be no
great charge to them; she would build him only a
little chamber: perhaps, she had no spare room in
the house, or none private and retired enough for
him, who spent much of his time in contemplation,
and cared not for being disturbed with the noise of
the family. The furniture shall be very plain; no
costly hangings, no stands, no couches, no looking-
glasses; but a bed, and a table, a stool, and a can¬
dlestick; all that was needful for his convenience,
I not only for his repose, but for his study, his read-
1 ing and writing. Elisha seems highly pleased with
these accommodations, for he turned in and lay
there, ( v . 11.) and, as it should seem, his man in
the same chamber, for he was far from taking state-
II. Elisha’s gratitude for this kindness; being ex¬
ceedingly pleased with the quietness of his apart¬
ment, and the friendliness cl his entertainment, he
began to consider with himself what recompense he
should make her. They that receive courtesies,
should study to leturn them; it ill becomes men of
God to be ungrateful, or to spunge upon those that
are generous.
1. He offers to use his interest for hei ;n the
king’s court, v. 13, Thou hast been careful for us
•with all this care; thus does he magnif) the kind
ness he received, as those that are humble are ac
customed to do, though, in the purse of one so rich,
and in the breast of one so free, it was as nothing
now what shall be done for thee ? As the liberal de
vise liberal things, so the grateful devise gratefu;
things. “ Wouldest thou be sfioken for to the king,
or the captain of the host, for an office for thine
husband, civil or military ? Hast thou any com¬
plaint to make, any petition to present, any suit ar
law depending, that needs the countenance of the
higher powers ? Wherein can I serve thee ?” It
seems, Elisha had got such an interest by his late
services, that though he chose not to prefer himself
by it, yet he was capable of preferring his friends;
a good man can take as much pleasure in serving
others, as in raising himself. But she needs not any
good offices of this kind to be done for her, I dwell
(says she) among mine own people, that is, “We
are well off as we are, and do not aim at prefer¬
ment.” It is a happiness to dwell among our own
people, that love and respect us, and to whom v/e
are in a capacity of doing good; and a greater hap¬
piness to be content to do so, to be easy, and to
know when we are well off; why should those that
live comfortably among their own people, covet to
live delicately in kings’ palaces ? It would be well
with many, if they did but know when they are
well off. Some years after this, we find this Shu¬
nammite had occasion to be spoken for to the king,
though now she needed it not, ch. 8. 3, 4. Those
that dwell among their own people, must not think
their mountain stands so strong as that it cannot be
moved; they may be driven, as this good woman
was, to sojourn among strangers; our continuing
city is above.
2. He did use his interest for her in the court of
heaven, which was far better. Elisha consulted
with his servant what kindness he should do for
her, such a freedom did this great prophet admit
even his servant to: Gehazi tells him she is child¬
less, has a great estate, but no son to leave it to, and
was past hopes of having any, her husband being
old; if Elisha can obtain this favour from God for
her, it will be the removal of that which, at pre¬
sent, was her only grievance. Those are the most
welcome kindnesses, which are most suited to our
necessities. He sent for her immediately; she very
humbly and respectfully stood in the door, (t>. 15.)
according to her accustomed modesty, and then-he
assured her that within a year she should bring
forth a son, v. 16. She had received this prophet
in the name of a prophet, and now she had not a
courtier’s reward, in being spoken for to the king,
but a prophet’s reward, a signal mercy given by
prophets, and in answer to prayer: the promise was
a surprise to her, and she begs she may not be flat¬
tered by it; “ Nay, my lord, thou art a man of God,
and therefore, I hope, speakest seriously, and dost
not jest with me, nor lie unto thine handmaid.”
The event, within the time limited, confirmed the
truth of the promise; she bare a son at the season
.570
II. KINGS, IV.
that Elisha spake of, v. 17. God built up her
house, in reward of her kindness in building the
prophet a chamber. We may well imagine what
|oy this brought to the family; Sing, 0 barren,
thou that didst not bear.
18. And when the child was grown, it
fell on a day that he went out to his father
to the reapers. 19. And he said unto his
father, My head, my head ! And he said to
a lad, Carry him to his mother. 20. And
when he had taken him, and brought him to
his mother, he sat on her knees till noon,
and then died. 21. And she went up, and
laid him on the bed of the man of God, and
shut the door upon him, and went out. 22.
And she called unto her husband, and said,
Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men,
and one of the asses, that I may run to the
man of God. and come again. 23. And he
said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to¬
day ? it is neither new moon nor sabbath.
And she said, It shall he well. 24. Then
she saddled an ass, and said to her servant,
Drive, and go forward ; slack not thy riding
for me, except I bid thee. 25. So she went,
and came unto the man of God to mount
Carmel. And it came to pass, when the
man of God saw her afar off, that he said to
Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that
Shunammite : 26. Run now, I pray thee, to
meet her; and say unto her, Is it well
with thee ? is it well with thy husband ? is it
well with the child ? And she answered, It
■ is well. 27. And when she came to the
man of God to the hill, she caught him by
the feet : but Gehazi came near to thrust
her away. And the man of God said, Let
her alone ; for her soul is vexed within her :
and the Lord hath hid it from me, and
hath not told me. 28. Then she said, Did
[ desire a son of my lord ? did I not say, Do
not deceive me ? 29. Then he said to Ge¬
hazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff
in thine hand, and go thy way : if thou meet
any man, salute him not; and if any salute
thee, answer him not again : and lay my
staff upon the face of the child. 30. And
the mother of the child said, As the Lord
liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee. And he arose, and followed
her. 31. And Gehazi passed on before
them, and laid the staff upon the face of
the child ; but there was neither voice nor
hearing : wherefore he went again to meet
him, and told him, saying, The child is not
awaked. 32. And when Elisha was come
into the house, behold, the child was dead,
and laid upon his bed. 33. He went in
therefore, and shut the door upon them
twain, and prayed unto the Lord. * 34.
And he went up, and lay upon the child,
and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his
eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his
hands ; and he stretched himself upon the
child, and the flesh of the child waxed
warm. 35. Then he returned, and walked
in the house to and fro ; and went up, and
stretched himself upon him : and the child
sneezed seven times, and the child opened
his eyes. 36. And he called Gehazi, and
said, Call this Shunammite. So he called
her. And when she was come in unto him,
he said, Take up thy son. 37. Then she
went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed her¬
self to the ground, and took up her son, and
went out.
We may well suppose, after the birth of this son,
that the prophet was doubly welcome to the good
Shunammite: he had thought himself indebted to
her, but from henceforth, as long as she lives, she
will think herself in his debt, and that she can
never do too much for him. We may also suppose
that the child was very dear to the prophet, as the
son of his prayers, and very dear to the parents, as
the son of their old age. But here is,
I. The sudden death of the child, though so
much a darling; he is so far past the perils of in¬
fancy, that he is able to go to the field to his father,
who, no doubt, is pleased with his engaging talk,
and his joy of his son is greater than the joy of his
harvest; but either the cold or the heat of the open
field overcame the child, that was bred tenderly,
and he complains to his father that his head aches,
v. 19. Whither should we go with our complaints,
but to our heavenly Father? Thither the Spirit of
adoption brings believers with all their grievances,
all their desires, teaching them to cry, with groan-
ings that cannot be uttered, “ My head, my head;
my heart, my heart.” The father sends him to his
mother’s arms, his mother’s lap, little suspecting
any danger in his indisposition, but hoping ne will
drop asleep in his mother’s bosom, and awake well;
but it proves fatal, he sleeps the sleep of death;
(v. 20.) well in the morning, and dead by noon; all
the mother’s care and tenderness cannot keep him
alive: a child of promise, a child of prayer, and
given in love, yet taken away. Little children lie
open to the arrests of sickness and death. But how
admirably does the prudent pious mother guard
her lips, under this surprising affliction! Notone
peevish indecent word comes from her; she has a
strong belief that the child will be raised to life
again: like a genuine daughter of Abraham’s faith,
as well as loins, she accounts that God is able to
raise him from the dead, for thence she received
him in a figure, Heb. 11. 19. She had heard of the
raising of the widow’s son of Sarepta, and that the
spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha; and such confi
dence had she of God’s goodness, that she was very
ready to believe that he who so soon took 4way what
he had given, would restore what he had now
taken away; by this faith, women received theii
dead raised to life, Heb. 11. 35. In this faith, she
makes no preparation for the burial of her dead
child, but for its resurrection; for she lays him on
thefirofiheds bed, (v. 21.) expecting that he would
stand her friend; O woman, great is thy faith / He
that wrought it, would not frustrate it.
II. The sorrowful mother’s application to the
prophet, on this sad occasion; for it happened very
opportunely that he A\as now at the college upoi
mount Carmel, not far off.
530
II. KI1>
1. She begged leave of her husband to go to the
prophet, yet not acquainting him with her errand,
lest he should not have faith enough to let her go,
v. 22. He objected, It is neither new-moon nor
sabbath; (v. 23.) which intimates that on those
feasts of the Lord, she used to go to the assembly in
which he presided, with other good people, to hear
the word, and to join with him in prayers and
praises; she did not think it enough to have his
help sometimes in her own family, but, though a
great woman, attended on public worship, for
which this was none of the times appointed;
“ Wherefore ,” said the husband, “why wilt thou
go to-day? What is the matter?” “No harm,”
said she; “ it shall be well , so you will say yourself,
hereafter.” See how this husband and wife vied
with each other, in showing mutual regard; she
was so dutiful to him, that she would not go till she
had acquainted him with her journey, and he so
kind to her, that he would not oppose it, though
she did not think fit to acquaint him with her busi¬
ness.
2. She made all the haste she could to the pro¬
phet, (u. 24.) who, seeing her at a distance, sent
his servant to inquire whether any thing was amiss,
v. 25, 26. The questions were particular, Is it well
with thee ? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well
with the child? Note, It well becomes the men of
God, with tenderness and concern, to inquire about
the welfare of their friends, and their families; the
answer was general, It is well. Gehazi was not the
man that she came to complain to, and therefore
she puts him off with this; she said little, and little
said is soon amended; (Ps. 39. 1, 2.) but what she
did say, was very patient; “It is well with me,
with my husband, with the child” — all well, and
yet the child dead in the house. Note, When God
calls away our dearest relations by death, it be¬
comes us quietly to say, “It is well both with us
and them;” it is well, for all is well that God does;
all is well with them that are gone, if they are gone
to heaven, and all well with us that stay behind, if by
the affliction we are furthered in our way thither.
3. When she came to the prophet, she humbly
reasoned with him concerning her present affliction;
she threw herself at his feet, as one troubled and in
grief, which she never showed till she came to him,
who, she believed, could help her, v. 27. When
her passion would do her service, she knew how to
discover it, as well as how to conceal it, when it
would do her disservice. Gehazi knew his master
would not be pleased to see her lie at his feet, and
therefore would have raised her up; but Elisha
waited to hear from her, since he might not know
immediately from God, what was the cause of her
trouble. God discovered things to his prophets, as
he saw fit, not always as they desired; God did not
show this to the prophet, because he might know
it from the good woman herself. What she said,
was very pathetic; she appeals to the prophet, (1.)
Concerning her indifference to this mercy which
was now taken from her; “ Did I desire a son of
my lord? No, thou knowest I did not; it was thine
own proposal, not mine; I did not fret for the want
of a son, as Hannah, nor beg, as Rachel, Give me
children, or else I die.'’ Note, When any creature-
comfort is taken from us, it is well, if we can say,
through grace, that we did not set our hearts inor¬
dinately upon it; for if we did, we have reason to
fear it was given in anger, and taken away in wrath.
(2.) Concerning her entire dependence up*on the
prophet’s word; Did I not say, Do not deceive me?
^ es, she did say so, (r. 16.) and this reflection
upon it may be considered either, [1.] As quarrel¬
ling with the prophet for deceiving her; she was
•eady to think herself moclqed with the mercy,
‘vhen it was so soon removed, and that it had been
GS, IV.
better she had never had this child, than to be de¬
prived of him, when she began to have comfort in
him. Note, The loss of a mercy should not make
us undervalue the gift of it.; or, [2.] As pleading
with the prophet for the raising. of the child to life
again; I said, Do not deceive me, and I know thou
wilt not. Note, However the providence of God
may disappoint us, we may be sure the promise of
God never did, nor ever will, deceive us: hope in
that will not make us ashamed.
III. The raising of the child to life again; we may
suppose that the woman gave Elisha a more ex¬
press account of the child’s death, and he gave her
a more express promise of his resurrection, than is
here related, where we are briefly told,
1. That Elisha sent Gehazi to go, in all haste, to
the dead child, gave him his staff, and bade him lay
that on the face of the child, v. 29. I know not
what to make of this; Elisha knew that Elijah
raised the dead child with a very close application,
stretching himself upon the child, and praying
again and again; and could he think to raise this
child by so slight a ceremony as this, especiallv
when nothing hindered him from coming himself^
Shall such a power as this be delegated, and to no
better a man than Gehazi? Bishop Hall suggests
that it was done out of human conceit, and not by
divine instinct, and therefore it failed of the effect;
God will not have such great favours made too
cheap, nor shall they be too easily come by, lest
they be undervalued.
2. The woman resolves not to go back without
the prophet himself; (v. 30.) I will not leave thee.
She had no great expectation from the staff, she
will have the hand, and she was in the right of it;
perhaps, it was intended hereby to teach us not to
put that confidence in creatures that are servants,
which the power of the Creator, their Master and
our’s will alone bear the weight of. Gehazi returns
re irfecta — without success, without the tidings of
any sign of life in the child; (v. 31.) The child is
not awaked; intimating, to the comfort of the mo¬
ther, that its death was but a sleep, and that he ex¬
pected it would shortly be awaked. In the raising
of dead souls to spiritual life, ministers can do no
more by their own power than Gehazi here could;
they lay the word, like the prophet’s staff, before
their faces, but there is neither voice nor hearing,
till Christ, by his Spirit, comes himself; the letter
alone kills, it is the Spirit that gives life; it is not
prophesying upon dry bones, that will put life into
them, breath must come from heaven, and breathe
upon those slain.
3. The prophet, by earnest prayer, obtains from
God the restoring of this dead child to life again; he
found the child dead upon his own bed, (7/. 32.) ana
shut the door u/ion them twain, v. 33. Even the
dead child is spoken of as a person, one of the twain,
for it was still in being, and not lost; he shut out all
company, that he might not seem to glory in the
power God had given him, or to use it for ostenta¬
tion, and to be seen of men.
Observe, (1.) How closely the prophet applied
himself to this great operation ; perhaps being sen¬
sible that he had tempted God too much, in thinking
to effect it by the staff in Gehazi’s hand, for which
he thought himself rebuked by the disappointment,
he now finds it a harder task than he then thought,
and therefore addresses himself to it with great so¬
lemnity. [1.] He frayed unto the Lord, (v. 33.)
probably, as Elijah had done, Let this child’s soul
come into him again. Christ raised the dead to life,
as one having authority, Damsel, arise; Young
man, I say unto thee, Arise; Lazarus come forth:
for he was powerful and faithful as a Son, the Lord
of life,, but Elijah and Elisha did it by petition as
servants. [2.] He lay upon the child, (t>. 34.) as if
581
II. KINGS, IV.
he would communicate to him some of his vital
heat or spirits; thus he expressed the earnestness
of his desire, and gave a sign of that divine power
which he depended upon for the accomplishment
of this great work. He first fiut his mouth to the
child's mouth, as if, in God’s name, he would
breathe into him the breath of life, then his eyes to
the child's eyes, to open them again to the light of
life, then his hands to the child's hands, to put
strength into them. He then returned, and walked
in the house, as one full of care and concern, and
wholly intent upon what he was about; then he
went up stairs again, and, the second time, stretched
himself ufion the child, v. 35. Those that would be
instrumental in conveying spiritual life to dead
souls, must thus affect themselves with their case,
and accommodate themselves to it, and labour fer¬
vently in prayer for them.
(2.) How gradually the operation was performed;
at the first application, the flesh of the child waxed
warm, (i/. 34.) which gave the prophet encourage¬
ment to continue instant in prayer; after a while,
the child sneezed seven times, which was an indica¬
tion, not only of life, but liveliness. Some have re¬
ported it m an ancient tradition, That when God
breathed into Adam the breath of life, the first
evidence of his being alive, was sneezing, which
gave rise to the usage of paying respect to those
that sneeze. Some observe here, that sneezing
clears the head, and there lay the child’s dis¬
temper.
(3.) How joyfully the child was returned alive to
his mother, ( v . 36, 37.) and all parties concerned
were not a little comforted, Acts 20. 12. See the
power of God, who kills and makes alive again;
see the power of prayer; as it has the key of the
clouds, so it has the key of death: see the power
of faith; that fixed law of nature (that death is a
way whence there is no returning) shall rather be
dispensed with, than this believing Shunammite
shall be disappointed.
38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal,
and there was a dearth in the land, and the
sons of the prophets were sitting before him :
and he said unto his servant, Set on the
great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons
of the prophets. 39. And one went out in¬
to the field to gather herbs, and found a
wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds
his lap full, and came and shred them into
the pot of pottage : for they knew them not.
40. So they poured out for the men to eat :
and it came to pass, as they were eating of
the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O
thou man of God, there is death in the pot ;
and they could not eat thereof. 41. But he
said, Then bring meal. And he cast it in¬
to the pot ; and he said, Pour out for the
people, that they may eat. And there was
no harm in the pot. 42. And there came a
man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the
man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty
loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the
husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the
people, that they may eat. 43. And his
servitor said, What, should 1 set this before
a hundred men ? He said again, Give the
people, that they may eat : for thus saith
the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave
thereof. 44. So he set it before them, and
they did eat, and left thereof according to
the word of the Lord.
We have here Elisha, in his place, in his ele¬
ment, among the sons of the prophets, teaching
them, and, as a father, providing for them; and
happy it was for them, that they had one over them,
who naturally cared for their state, under whom
they were well fed and well taught. There was a
dearth in the land, for the wickedness of them that
dwelt therein, the same that we read of, ch. 8. 1.
It continued seven years, just as long again as that
in Elijah’s time; a famine of bread there was, but
not of hearing the word of God, for Elisha had the
sons of the prophets sitting before him, to hear his
wisdom, who were taught, that they might teach
others. Two instances we have here of the care he
took about their meat. Christ twice fed those
whom he preached to; Elisha was in the more care
about it now, because of the dearth, that the sons of
the prophets might not be ashamed in this evil time,
but even, in the days of famine, might be satisfed,
Ps. 37. 19.
I. He made hurtful food to become safe and
wholesome.
1. On the lecture-day, the sons of the prophets
being all to attend, he ordered his servant to pro¬
vide food for their bodies, while he was bieaking to
them the bread of life for their souls; whether
there was any flesh-meat for them, does not appear;
he orders only that pottage should be seethed for
them of herbs, v. 38. The sons of the prophets
should be examples of temperance and mortifica¬
tion, not desirous of dainties, but content with plain
food: if they have neither savoury meats, nor sweet
meats, nay, if a mess of pottage be all the dinner, let
them remember that this great prophet entertained
himself and his guests no better.
2. One of the servitors, that was sent to gather
herbs, (which, it should seem, must serve instead
of flesh for the pottage;) by mistake, brought in
that which was noxious, or, at least, very nauseous,
and shred it into the pottage, wild gourds they are
called, v. 39. Some think it was colocjuintida, a
herb strongly cathartic, and, if net qualified, dan¬
gerous. The sons of the prophets, it seems, were
better skilled in divinity than in natural philosophy,
and read their Bibles more than their Herbals. If
any of the fruits of the earth be hurtful, we must
look upon it as an effect of the curse, ( Thorns and
thistles shall it bring forth unto thee,) for the origi¬
nal blessing made all good.
3. The guests complained to Elisha of the un¬
wholesomeness of their food. Nature has given
man the sense of tasting, not only that wholesome
food may be pleasant, but that that which is un¬
wholesome, may be discovered before it comes to
the stomach; the mouth tries meat by tasting it,
Job 12. 11. This pottage was soon found by the
taste of it to be dangerous, so that they cried out.
There is death in the fiot, v. 40. The table often
becomes a snare, and that which should be for our
welfare, proves a trap, which is a good reason why
we should not feed ourselves without fear; when
we are receiving the supports and comforts of life,
we must keep up an expectation of death, and a
fear of sin.
4. Elisha immediately cured the bad taste, and
prevented the bad consequences, of this unwhole¬
some pottage; as before, he had healed the bitter
waters with salt, so now, the bitter broth with meal,
v. 41. It is probable that there was meal in it be¬
fore, but that was put in by a common hand, only
to thicken the pottage; this was the same thing, but
.>82
II. KINGS, V.
cast m by Elisha’s hand, and with intent to heal
the pottage; by which it appears that the change
was not owing to the meal, (that was the sign only,
not the means,) but to the divine power. Now all
was well, not only no death, but no harm, in the
pot; we must acknowledge God’s goodness in mak¬
ing our food wholesome and nourishing; I am the
Lord that healeth thee.
II. H'e made a little food to go a great way.
1. Elisha had a present brought him of 20 barley-
lo.ives and some ears of corn, (v. 42.) a present
which, in those ages, would not be despicable at any
time, but now in a special manner valuable, when
there was a dearth in the land. It is said to be of
the first-fruits, which was God’s due out of their
increase; and when the priests and Levites were all
at Jerusalem, out of their reach, the religious peo¬
ple among them, with good reason, looked upon the
prophets as God’s receivers, and brought their first-
fruits to them, which helped to maintain their
schools.
2. Having freely received, he freely gave, order¬
ing it all to be set before the sons of the prophets,
reserving none for himself, none for hereafter, Let
the marrow tuke thought for the things of itself give
it all to the people that they may eat. It well be¬
comes the men of God to be generous and open-
handed, and the fathers of the prophets to be libe¬
ral to the sons of the prophets.
3. Though the loaves were little, it is likely, no
more than what one man would ordinarily eat at a
meal, yet with 20 of them he satisfied 100 men, v.
43, 44. His servant thought that to set so little
meat before so many men, was but to tantalize them,
and shame h:s master for making so great an invi¬
tation to such short commons; but he, in God’s
name, pronounced it a full meal for them, and so it
proved; they did eat, and left thereof, not because
their stomachs failed them, but because the bread
increased in the eating; God has promised his
church, (Ps. 132. 15.) that he will abundantly bless
her provision, and satisfy her poor with bread; for
whom he feeds, he fills, and what he blesses, comes
to much, as what he blows upon, comes to little.
Hag. 1. 9. Christ’s feeding his hearers was a mira¬
cle far beyond this, but both teach us that those
who wait upon God in the way of duty, may hope
to be both protected and supplied by a particular
care of Divine Providence.
CHAR V.
Two more of Elisha’s miracles are recorded in this chap¬
ter. 1. The cleansing of Naaman, a Syrian, a stranger,
from his leprosy; and there, 1. The badness of his case,
v. 1. 2. The providence that brought him to Elisha, the
intelligence given him by a captive maid, v. 2.. 4. A
tetter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, to in¬
troduce him, v. 5.. 7. And the invitation Elisha sent
him, v-. 8. 3. The method prescribed for his cure: his
submission, after objecting to that method, and his cure
thereby, v. 9.. 14. 4. The grateful acknowledgments
he made to Elisha, hereupon, v. 15.. 19. II. The smit¬
ing of Gehazi, his own servant, with that leprosy. 1.
Gehazi’s sins, which were, belying his master to Naa-
man, (v. 20.. 24. ) and lying to his master when he ex¬
amined him, v. 25. 2. His punishment for this sin; Naa
man’s leprosy was entailed on his family, v. 26, 27. And
if Naaman’s cure was typical of the calling of the Gen¬
tiles, as our Saviour seems to make it, [Lidu 4. 27.) Ge¬
hazi’s stroke may be looked upon as typical of the blind¬
ing and rejecting of the Jews, who envied God’s grace to
the Gentiles, as Gehazi envied Elisha’s favour to Naa-
man.
NOW Naaman, captain of the host
of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master, and honourable ; be¬
cause by him the Lord had given deliver¬
ance unto Syria: he was also a mighty
man in valour, but he urns a leper. 2. And
the Syrians had gone out by companies, and
had brought away captive out of the land
of Israel a little maid ; and she waited on
Naaman’s wife. 3. And she said unto her
mistress, Would God my lord were with the
prophet that is in Samaria ! for he would
recover him of his leprosy. 4. And one
went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and
J thus said the maid that is of the land of Is¬
rael. 5. And the king of Syria said, Go to,
go, and I will send a letter unto the king
of Israel. And he departed, and took with
him ten talents of silver, and six thousand
pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6. And he brought the letter to the king of
Israel, saying, Now, when this letter is
come unto thee, behold, I hav^ therewith
sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou
mayest recover him of his leprosy. 7. And
it came to pass, when the king of Israel had
read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man doth send unto me to recover
a man of his leprosy ? Wherefore consider,
I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quar¬
rel against me. 8. And it was so, when
Elisha the man of God had heard that the
king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he
sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast
thou rent thy clothes ? let him come now
to me, and he shall know that there is a pro¬
phet in Israel.
Our Saviour’s miracles were intended for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, yet one, like a crum,
fell from the table to a woman of Canaan; so, this
one miracle Elisha wrought for Naaman, a Syrian;
for God does good to all, and will have all men to
be saved. Here is,
I. The great affliction Naaman was under, in the
midst of all his honours, v. 1. .He was a great man,
in a great place; not only rich and raised, but par¬
ticularly happy for two things, 1. That he had been
very serviceable to his countiy, God made him so;
by him the Lord had often given deliverance to Sy¬
ria, success in their wars even with Israel. The
preservation and prosperity even of those that do
not know God and serve him, must be ascribed to
him, for he is the Saviour of all men, but especially
of them that believe. Let Israel know that when
the Syrians prevailed, it was from the Lord. 2.
That he was very acceptable to his prince, was his
favourite, and prime-minister of state; so great was
ho, so high, so honourable, and a mighty man of
valour; but he was a leper, was under that loath¬
some disease, which made him a burthen to him¬
self. Note, (1.) No man’s greatness, or honour, or
interest, or valour, or victory, can set him out of
the reach of the sorest calamities of human life;
there is many a sickly crazy body under rich and
gay clothing. (2.) Every man has some but or
other in his character, something that blemishes
and diminishes him, some allay to his grandeur,
some damp to his joy; he may be very happy, very
good, yet, in something or other, not so good as he
should be, nor so happy as he would be. Naaman
583
11. KINGS, V.
was as great as the world could make him, and yet i
(as Bishop Hall expresses it) the basest slave in Sy¬
ria would not change skins with him.
II. The' notice that was given him of Elisha’s
power,, by a little maid that waited on his lady, v.
2, 3. This maid was, by birth an Israelite, provi¬
dentially carried captive into Syria, and there pre¬
ferred into Naaman’s family, where she publishes
Elisha’s fame, to the honour of Israel, and Israel’s
God. The unhappy dispersing of the people of
God has sometimes proved the happy occasion of
the diffusion of the knowledge of God, Acts 8. 4.
This little maid, 1. As became a true-bom Israel¬
ite, consulted the honour of her country ; could give
an account, though but a girl, of the famous proph¬
et they had among them. Children should betimes
acquaint themselves with the wondrous works of
God, that, wherever they go, they may have them
to talk of. See Ps. 8. 2. 2. As became a good ser¬
vant, she desired the health and welfare of her
master, though she was a captive, a servant by
force; much more should servants of choice seek
their masters’ good: the Jews in Babylon were to
seek the peace of the land of their captivity, Jer.
29. 7. Elisha had wo? cleansed any lefiers in Israel;
(Luke 4. 27.) yet this little maid, from the other
miracles he had wrought, infers that he could cure
her master, and from his common beneficence in¬
fers that he would do it, though he was a Syrian.
Servants may be blessings to the families where
they are, by telling what they know of the glory of
God, and the honour of his prophets.
III. The application which the king of Syria,
hereupon, made to the king of Israel on Naaman’s
behalf. Naaman took notice of the intelligence,
though given by a simple maid, and did not despise
it for the sake of her meanness, when it tended to
his bodily health; he did not say, “ The girl talks
like a fool; how can any prophet of Israel do that
for me, which all the physicians of Syria have at¬
tempted in vain?” Though he neither loved nor
honoured the Jewish nation, yet if one of that na¬
tion can but cure him of his leprosy, he will thank¬
fully acknowledge the obligation. O that they who
are spiritually diseased, would hearken thus readi¬
ly to the tidings brought them of the great Physi¬
cian!
See what Naaman did, upon this little hint. 1.
He would not send for the prophet to come to him,
but such honour would he pay to one that had so
much of a divine power with him as to be able to
cure diseases, that he would go to him himse'f,
though he himself was sickly, unfit for society, the
journey long, and the country an enemy’s; princes,
he thinks, must stoop to prophets, when they need
them. 2. He would not go in disguise, though his
errand proclaimed his loathsome disease, but went
in state, and with a great retinue, to do the more
honour to the prophet. 3. He would not go empty-
handed, but took with him gold, silver, and raiment,
to present to his physician; those that have wealth,
and want health, show which they reckon the more
valuable blessing; what will they not give for ease,
and strength, and soundness of body? 4. He would
not go without a letter to the king of Israel from the
king his master, who did himself earnestly desire
his recovery; he knows not where in Samaria to
find this wonder-working prophet, but takes it for
granted the king knows where to find him; and, to
engage the prophet to do his utmost for Naaman,
he will go to him, supported with the interest of two
kings. If the king of Syria must entreat his help,
he hopes the king of Israel, being his liege-lord,
may command it: the gifts of the subject must all
be (he thinks) for the service and honour of the
prince, and therefore he desires the king that he
would recover the lefier, (v. 6. ) taking it for grant¬
ed that there was a greater intimacy between the
king and the prophet than really there was.
IV. The alarm this gave to the king of Israel, v.
7. He apprehended there was in this letter, I. A
great affront upon God, and therefore he rent his
clothes, according to the custom of the Jews, when
they heard or read that which they thought blas¬
phemous; and what less could it be, than to attribute
to him a divine power? “ Am I a Clod, to kill whom
I will, and make alive whom I will ? No, I pretend
not to such an authority;” Nebuchadnezzar did, as
we find, Dan. 5. 19. “rfm la God, to kill with a
word, and make alive with a word ? No, I pretend
not to such a power;” thus this great man, this bad
man, is made to own that he is but a man. Why
did he not, with this consideration, correct himself
for his idolatry, and reason thus ? “ Shall I worship
those as gods, that can neither kill nor make alive;
can do neither good nor evil?” 2. A bad design
upon himself; he appeals to those about him for
this, “ See how he seekcth a quarrel against me; he
requires me to recover the leper, and if I do not,
though I cannot, he will make that a pretence to
wage war with me;” which he suspects the rather,
because Naaman was his general. Had he rightly
understood the meaning of the letter, that when the
king wrote to him to recover the leper, he meant,
that he would take care he might be recovered, he
had not been in this fright. Note, We often create
a great deal of uneasiness to ourselves, by misinter¬
preting the words and actions of others that are well
intended; it is charity to ourselves, to think no evil.
If he had bethought himself of Elisha and his pow¬
er, he would easily have understood the letter, and
have known what he had to do, but he is put into
this confusion, by making himself a stranger to the
prophet; the captive maid had him more in her
thoughts than the king had.
V. The proffer which Elisha made of his service;
he was willing to do any thing to make his prince
easy, though he was neglected, and his former good
services forgotten, by him: hearing on what occa¬
sion the king had rent his clothes, he sent to him, to
let him know that if his patient would come to him,
he should not lose his labour; (v. 8.) he shall know
that there is a firofihet in Israel; (and it were sad
with Israel if there were not;) that there is a pro¬
phet in Israel, who can do that which the king of
Israel dares not attempt which the prophets of Sy¬
ria cannot pretend to; it was not for his own honour,
but for the honour of God, that he coveted to make
them all know that there was a firofihet in Israel,
though obscure and overlooked.
9. So Naaman came with his horses and
with his chariot, and stood at the door of the
house of Elisha. 10. And Elisha sent a
messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash
in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall
come again to thee, and thou shah be clean.
11. But Naaman was wroth, and went
away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will
surely come out to me, and stand and call
on the name of the Lord his God, and strike
his hand over the place, and recover the le¬
per. 12. Are not Abana and Pharpar, ri¬
vers of Damascus, better than all the waters
of Israel ? may I not wash in them, and be
clean ? So he turned, and went away in a
rage. 1 3. And his servants came near. and
spake unto him, and said, My father, if the
i prophet had bid thee do some great thing,
584
II. KINGS, V.
wouldcst thou not have done it? how much
rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash,
and be clean? 14. Then went he down,
and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God :
and his flesh came again like unto the flesh
of a little child, and he was clean.
We have here the cure of Naaman’s leprosy.
I. The short and plain direction which the pro¬
phet gave him, with assurance of success. Naaman
designed to do honour to Elisha, when he came in
his chariot, and with all his retinue, to Elisha’s door,
v. 9. They that showed little respect to prophets
at other times, when they needed them, were very
complaisant to them; he attended at Elisha’s door
as a beggar for an alms. They that would be
cleansed from their spiritual leprosy, must wait at
Wisdom's gate, and ’watch at the posts of her doors.
Naaman expected to have his compliment returned,
but Elisha gave him his answer without any forma¬
lity; would not go to the door to him, lest he should
seem too much pleased with the honour done him,
but sent a messenger to him, saying, Go wash in
Jordan seven times, and promising him that if he
did so, his disease should be cured. The promise
was express, Thou shalt be clean; the method pre¬
scribed was plain, Go wash in Jordan. This was
not intended as any means of the cure; though cold
bathing is recommended by many as a very whole¬
some thing, yet some think that in the case of a
leprosy, it was rather hurtful ; but it was intended
as a sign of the cure, and a trial of his obedience:
they that will be helped of God, must do as they are
bidden. But why did Elisha send a messenger to
him with these directions? 1. Because he was re¬
tired, at this time, for devotion, was intent upon his
pravers for the cure, and would not be diverted: or,
2. Because he knew Naaman to be a proud man,
and he would let him know, that before the great
God, all men stand upon the same level.
II. Naaman’s disgust at the method prescribed,
because it was not what he expected. Two things
disgusted him ; 1. That Elisha, as he thought, put
a slight upon his person, in sending him orders by a
servant, and not coming tohim himself, v. 11. Being
big with the expectations of a cure, he had been
fancying how this cure would be wrought, and the
scheme he had laid, was this; “He will surely come
out to me, that is the least he can do to me, a peer
of Syria, to me that am come to him in all this state,
to me that have so often been victorious over Israel;
he will stand, and call on the name of his God, and
name me in his prayer, and then he will wave his
hand over the place, and so effect the cure;” and
because the thing is not done just thus, he falls into
a passion, forgetting, (1.) That he was a leper, and
the law of Moses, which Elisha would religiously
observe, shut those out from society; a leper, and
therefore he ought not to insist upon the punctilios
of honour. Note, Many have hearts uhhumbled
under humbling providences; see Numb. 12. 14.
(2.) That he was a petitioner, suing for a favour
which he could not demand; and beggars must not
ne choosers, patients must not prescribe to their
physician. See in Naaman the folly of pride; a cure
will not content him, unless he be cured with cere¬
mony, with a great deal of pomp and parade; he
scorns to be healed, unless he be humoured. 2.
That Elisha, as he thought, put a slight upon his
country; he took it hard that he must be sent to
wash in Jordan, a river of Israel, when he thought
Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel. How magnificently
d«es he speak of these two rivers that watered Da¬
mascus, which soon after fell into one called by
geographers Chrysoroas — the golden stream. How
scornfully does he speak of all the waters of Israel,
though God had called the land of Israel the glory
of all lands, and particularly for its brooks of water,
Deut. 8. 7. So common is it for God and man to
differ in their judgments. How slightly does he
speak of the prophet’s directions! Play I not wash
in them and be clean 7 He might wash in them, and
be clean from dirt, but not wash in them, and be
clean from leprosy. He was angry that the prophet
bade him wash and be clean; he thought that the
prophet must do all, and is not pleased that he is
bidden to do any thing; or he thinks this too cheap,
too plain, too common, a thing for so great a man to
be cured by; or he did not believe it would at all
affect the cure, or if it would, what medicinal virtue
was there in Jordan more than in the rivers of Da¬
mascus? But he did not consider, (1.) That Jordan
belonged to Israel’s God, from whom he was to ex¬
pect the cure, and not from the gods of Damascus;
it watered the Lord’s land, the holy land, and, in a
miraculous cure, relation to God was much more
considerable than the depth of the channel, or the
beauty of the stream. (2. ) That Jordan had more
than once, before this, obeyed the commands of
Omnipotence; it had, of old, yielded a passage to
Israel, and, of late, to Elijah and Elisha, and there¬
fore was fitter for such a purpose than those rivers
which had only observed the common law of their
creation, and had never been thus distinguished;
but above all, Jordan was the river appointed, and
if he expected a cure from the divine power, he
ought to acquiesce in the divine will, without asking
why or wherefore. Note, It is common for those
that are wise in their own conceits, to look with
contempt on the dictates and prescriptions of divine
wisdom, and to prefer their own fancies before them ;
they that are for establishing their own righteous¬
ness, will not submit to the righteousness of God,
Rom. 10. 3.
Naaman talked himself into such a heat, (as pas
sionate men usually do,) that he turned away from
the prophet’s door in a rage, ready to swear he
would never have any thing mere to say to Elisha;
and who then would be the loser? Note, They that
observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercies,
Jonah 2. 8. Proud men are the worst enemies to
themselves, and forego their own redemption.
III. The modest advice which his servants gave
him, to observe the prophet’s prescriptions, with an
implicit reproof of his resentments, v. 13. Though,
at other times, they kept their distance, and now
saw him in a passion, yet, knowing him to be a man
that would hear reason, at any time, and from any
body, (a good character of great men, and a very
rare one,) they drew near, and made bold to argue
the matter a little with him. They had conceived
a great opinion of the prophet, (having, perhaps,
heard more of him from the common people, whom
they had conversed with, than Naaman had heaid
from the king and courtiers, whom he had con¬
versed with,) and therefore begged of him to con¬
sider; If the prophet had bid thee do some great
thing, had ordered thee into a tedious course of
physic, or to submit to some painful operation,
blistering, or cupping, or salivating, won Iciest thou
not have done it? No doubt, thou wouldest. And
wilt thou not submit to so easy a method as this,
Wash, and be clean ?
Observe, 1. His own servants gave him this re¬
proof and counsel, which was no more disparage
ment to him, than that he had intelligence of one
that could cure him, from his wife’s maid, v. 2.
Note, It is a great mercy to have those about us,
that will be free with us, and faithfully tell us of our
faults and follies, though they be our inferiors. Mas
585
II. KINGS, V.
ters must be willing to hear reason from their ser¬
vants, Job 31. 13, 14. As we should be deaf to the
counsel of the ungodly, though given by the greatest
and most venerable names, so we should have our
ear open to good advice, though brought us by those
who are much below us: no matter who speaks, if
it be well said.
2. The reproof was very modest and respectful;
they call him, Father; for servants must honour and
obey their masters with a kind of filial affection. In
giving reproof and counsel, we must make it appear
that it comes from love and true honour, and that
we intend, not reproach, but reformation.
3. It was very rational and considerate. If the
rude and unthinking servants had stirred up their
master’s angry resentment, and offered to avenge
his quarrel upon the prophet, who (he thought)
affronted him, how mischievous had the conse¬
quences been! Fire from heaven, probably, upon
them all! But they, to our great surprise, took the
prophet’s part. Elisha, though it is likely he per¬
ceived that what he had said, had put Naaman out
of humour, did not care to pacify him: it was at his
peril, if he persisted in his wrath: but his servants
are made use of by Providence to reduce him to
temper. They reason with him, (1.) From his
earnest desire of a cure; Wouldest not thou do any
thing? Note, When diseased sinners are come to
this, that they are content to do any thing, to sub¬
mit to any thing, to part with any thing, for a cure,
then, and not till then, we begin to indulge some
hopes of them. Then they will take Christ on his
own terms, when they are made willing to have
Christ upon any terms. (2.) From the easiness of
the method prescribed; it is but, Wash, and be clean.
It is but trying; the experiment is cheap and easy,
it can do no hurt, but may do good. Note, The
methods prescribed for the healing of the leprosy
of sin, are so plain, that we are utterly inexcusable
if we do not observe them. It is but, “Believe, and
be saved,” “Repent, and be pardoned,” “Wash,
and be clean.”
IV. The cure effected, in the use of the means
prescribed, v. 14. Naaman, upon second thoughts,
yielded to make the experiment, yet, it should
seem, with no great faith or resolution; for whereas
the prophet bade him wash in Jordan seven times,
he did but dip himself so many times, as lightly as
he could. However, God is pleased so far to honour
himself and his word, as to make that effectual.
His Jlesh came again like the Jlesh of a child, to his
great surprise and joy. This, men get by yielding
to the will of God, by attending to his institutions.
His being cleansed by washing, put an honour on the
law for cleansing lepers: God will magnify his word
above all his name.
15. And he returned to the man of God,
he and all his company, and came and stood
before him : and he said, Behold, now I
know that there is no God in all the earth
but in Israel : now therefore, I pray thee,
take a blessing of thy servant. 16. But he
;<aid, As the Lord liveth, before whom I
stand, I will receive none. And he urged
him to take it; but he refused. 17. And
Naaman said, Shall there not then, 1 pray
thee, be given to thy servant two mules’
burden of earth ? for thy servant will hence¬
forth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacri¬
fice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. 1 8.
Tn this thing the Lord pardon thy servant,
Vol. ii. — 4 E
that when my master goeth into the house
of Rimmon to worship there, and he lean¬
ed) on my hand, and I bow myself in the
house of Rimmon ; when 1 bow down my¬
self in the house of Rimmon, the Lord par¬
don thy servant in this thing. 19. And he
said unto him, Go in peace. So he depart¬
ed from him a little way.
Of the ten lepers our Saviour cleansed, the only
one that returned to give thanks, was a Samaritan,
Luke 17. 16. This Syrian did so, who here be¬
speaks himself,
I. Convinced of the power of the God of Israel,
not only that he is God, but that he is God alone,
and that indeed that there is no God in all the earth
but in Israel, v. 15. A noble confession, but such
as bespeaks the misery of the Gentile world; for the
nations that had many gods, really had no God, but
were without God in the world. He had formerly
thought the gods of Syria gods indeed, but now ex-
ferience had rectified his mistake, and he knew
srael’s God was God alone, the sovereign Lord of
all. Had he seen other lepers cleansed, perhaps it
had not convinced him, but the mercy ol the cure
affected him more than the miracle of it. Those are
best able to speak of the power of divine grace, who
have themselves experienced it.
II. Grateful to Elisha the prophet: “Therefore,
for his sake, whose servant thou art, I have a pre¬
sent for thee, silver, and gold, and raiment, what¬
ever thou wilt please to accept.” He valued the
cure, not by the easiness of it to the prophet, but
the acceptableness of it to himself, and would gladly
pay for it accordingly. But Elisha generously re¬
fused the fee, though urged to accept it; and, to
prevent further importunity, backed his refusal
with an oath, As the Lord liveth, I will receive
none; (v. 16.) not because he did not need it, for he
was poor enough, and knew what to do with it, and
how to bestow it among the sons of the prophets;
nor because he thought it unlawful, for he received
presents from others; but he would not be beholden
to this Syrian, nor should he say, I have made Eli¬
sha rich, Gen. 14. 23. It would be much for the
honour of God, to show this new convert that the
servants of the God of Israel were taught to look
upon the wealth of this world with a holy contempt,
which would confirm him in his belief, that there is
no God but in Israel. See 1 Cor. 9. 18. 2. Cor.
11. 9.
III. Proselyted to the worship of the God of Is¬
rael. He will not only offer a sacrifice to the Lord,
in thanks for his present cure, but he resolves he
will never offer sacrifice to any other gods, v. 17.
It was a happy cure of his leprosy, which cured him
of his idolatry, a more dangerous disease. But here
are two instances of his weakness and infirmity in
his conversion.
1. In one instance, he over-did it, that he would
not only worship the God of Israel, but he would
have clods of earth out of the prophet’s garden, or,
at least, of the Prophet’s ordering, to make an altar
of, v. 17. He that a while ago had spoken very
slightly of the waters of Israel, (n. 12.) now is in
another extreme, and over-values the earth of Isra¬
el, supposing (since God appointed altars of earth,
Exod. 20. 24. ) an altar of that earth would be most
acceptable to him; not considering that all the'earth
is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof Or perhaps
the transport of his affection and veneration for the
prophet, not only upon the account of his power,
but of his virtue and generosity, made him, as we
say, love the very ground he went upon, and desire
to have some of it home with him. The modern
586
II. KINGS, V.
compliment equivalent to this, would be, “Pray,
sir, let me have your. picture. ”
2. In another instance, he under-did it, that he
reserved to himself a liberty to bow in the house of
Rimmon, in complaisance to the king his master,
and according to the duty of his place at court; ( v .
18.) in this thing he must be excused. He owns he
ought not to do it, but that he cannot otherwise
keep his place; protests his bowing is not, nor ever
shall be, as it had been, in honour to the idol, but
only in honour to the king; and therefore he hopes
God will forgive him. Perhaps, all things consi¬
dered, this might admit of some apology, though it
was not altogether justifiable. But as to us, 1 am
sure, (1.) If, in covenanting with God, we make a
reservation for any known sin, which we will con¬
tinue to indulge ourselves in, that reservation is a
defeasance of his covenant. We must cast away
all our transgressions, and not except any house of
Rimmon. (2.) Though we are encouraged to pray
for the remission of the sins we have committed,
yet if we ask for a dispensation to go on in any sin
for the future, we mock God, and deceive ourselves.
(3.) Those that know not how to quit a place at
court, when they cannot keep it without sinning
against God, and wronging their consciences, do
not rightly value the divine favour. (4.) Those
that truly hate evil, will make conscience of abstain¬
ing from all appearances of evil. Though Naa-
man’s dissembling of his religion cannot be appr ov¬
ed, yet because his promise to offer no sacrifice to
any but the God of Israel only, was a great point
gained with a Syrian, and because, by asking par¬
don in this matter, he showed such a degree of con¬
viction and ingenuousness as gave hopes of improve¬
ment, the prophet took fair leave of him, and bid
him Go in / teace , v. 19. Young converts must be
tenderly dealt with. «
20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the
man of God, said, Behold, my master hath
spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving
at his hands that which he brought : but, as
the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and
take somewhat of him. 21. So Gehazi fol¬
lowed after Naaman. And when Naaman
saw him running after him, he lighted down
from the chariot to meet him, aud said, Is
all well? 22. And he said, All is well. My
master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even
now there be come to me from mount
Ephraim two young men of the sons of the
prophets : give them, I pray thee, a talent
of silver, and two changes of garments. 23.
And Naaman said, Be content, take two
talents. And he urged him, and bound
two talents of silver in two bags, with two
changes of garments, and laid them upon
two of his servants ; and they bare them be¬
fore him. 24. x\nd when he came to the
tow er, he took them from their hand, and
bestowed them in the house : and he let the
men go, and they departed. 25. But he
wept in, and stood before his master. And
Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou ,
Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no
whither. 26. And he said unto him, Went
not mine heart with thee , when the man
turned again from his chariot to meet thee?
Is it a time to receive money, and to receive
garments, and olive-yards, and vineyards,
and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and
maid-servants ? 27. The leprosy therefore
of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and un¬
to thy seed for ever. And he went out from
his presence a leper as white as snow.
Naaman, a Syrian, a courtier, a soldier, had ma¬
ny servants, and we read how wise and good they
were, v. 13. Elisha, a holy prophet, a man of God,
has but one servant, and he proves a base liar.
They that heard of Elisha at a distance, honoured
him,* and got good by what they heard; but he that
stood continually before him, to hear his wisdom,
had no good impressions made upon him either by
his doctrine or miracles. One would expect that
Elisha’s servant should be a saint, (even Ahab’s
servant, Obadiah, was,) but even Christ himself
had a Judas among his followers. The means ot
grace cannot give grace. The best men, the best
ministers, have often had those about them, that
have been their grief and shame. The nearer the
church, the further from God. Many come from
the east and west to sit down with Abraham, when
the children of the kingdom shall be cast out.
Here is,
I. Gehazi’s sin. It was a complicated sin.
1. The love of money, that root of all e\ il, was at
the bottom of it. His master contemned Naaman’s
treasures, but he coveted them, v. 20. His heart
(says Bishop Hall) was packed up in Naaman’s
chests, and he must run after him to fetch it. Mul¬
titudes, by coveting worldly wealth, have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves with many
sorrows.
2. He blamed his master for refusing Naaman’s
present, condemned him as foolish, in not taking
gold when he might have it, envied and grudged at
his kindness aud generosity to this stranger, though
it was for the good of his soul. In short, he thinks
himself wiser than his master.
3. When Naaman, like a person of accomplished
manners, alighted from his chariot to meet him, (t/.
21.) he told him a deliberate lie, that his master
sent him to him, and so he received that courtesy
to himself, which Naaman intended to his master.
4. He abused his master, and basely misrepre¬
sented him to Naaman, as one that had soon repent¬
ed of his generosity, that was fickle, and did not
know his own mind, that would say and unsay, swear
and unswear, that would not do an honourable thing,
but he must presently undo it again. His story of
the two sons of the prophets was as silly as it was
false; if he would have begged a token for two young
scholars, surely less than a talent of silver might
serve them.
5. There was danger of his alienating Naaman
from that holy religion which he had espoused, and
lessening his good opinion of it. He would be rea¬
dy to say, as Paul’s enemies suggested concerning
him, (2 Cor. 12. 16, 17.) that though Elisha him¬
self did not burthen him, yet, being crafty, he
caught him with guile, sending those that made a
gain of him. We hope that he understood after¬
ward that Elisha’s hand was not in it, and that
Gehazi was forced to restore what he had unjustly
got, else it might have driven him to his idols again.
6. His seeking to conceal what he had unjustly
got, added much to his sin. (1.) He hid it, as Achan
did his gain, by sacrilege, in the tower, a secret
place, a strong place, till he had an opportunity of
laying it out, v. 24. Now he thought himself sure
of it, and applauded his own management of a fraud,
by which he had imposed, not only upon the pru
dence of Naaman, but upon Elisha’s spirit of dis-
587
II. KINGS, VI.
cerning, as Ananias and Sapphira upon the apostles.
(2.) He denied it: he went in, and stood before his
master, ready to receive his orders; none looked
more observant of his master, though really none
more injurious to him; he thought, as Ephraim, I
am become rich, but they shall find no iniquity in
me, Hos. 12. 8. His master asked him, where he
had been. “ No where, sir,” (said he,) “out of the
house.” Note, One lie commonly begets another:
the way of that sin is down-hill; therefore dare to
be true.
II. The punishment of this sin. Elisha immedi¬
ately called him to an account for it; and observe,
1. How he was convicted. He thought to impose
upon the prophet, but was soon given to understand
that the Spirit of prophecy could not be deceived,
and that it was in vain to lie to the Holy Ghost.
Elisha could tell him, (1.) What he had done,
though he had denied it. “ Thou sayest thou went-
est no whither; but went not my heart with thee?”
v. 26. Was Gehazi yet to learn that prophets had
spiritual eyes; or could he think to hide any thing
from a seel', from him with whom the secret of the
Lord was? Note, It is folly to presume upon sin, in
hopes of secrecy. When thou goest aside into any
by-path, does not thy own conscience go with thee?
Does not the eye of God go with thee? He that
covers his sin, shall not prosper; particularly, a ly¬
ing tongue is but for a moment, Prov. 12. 19. Truth
will transpire, and often comes to light, strangely,
to the confusion of those that make lies their refuge.
(2.) What he designed, though he kept that in his
own breast. He could tell him the very thoughts
and intents of his heart, that he was projecting, now
that he had got these two talents, to purchase ground
and cattle, to leave Elisha’s service, and to set up
for himself. Note, All the foolish hopes and con¬
trivances of carnal worldlings are open before God.
And he tells him also the evil of it, “ Is it a time to
receive money? Is this an opportunity of enriching
thyself ? Couldest thou find no better a way of get¬
ting money, than by belying thy master, and laving
a stumbling-block before a young convert?” Note,
Those that are for getting wealth at any time, and
by any ways and means whatsoever, right or wrong,
lay themselves open to a great deal of temptation.
They that" will be rich, (per fas, per ncfas; rem,
rem, quocunque modo rem — by fair mearis, by foul
means; careless of principle, intent only on money, J
drown themselves in destruction and perdition,
1 Tim. 6. 9. War, and fire, and plague, and ship¬
wreck, are not, as many make them, times to get
money. It is not a time to increase our wealth,
when we cannot do it but in such ways as are dis¬
honourable to God and religion, or injurious to our
brethren, or the public.
2. How he was punished for it. The leprosy of
Naaman shall cleave to thee, v. 27. If he will have
his money, he shall take his disease with it, Transit
cum onere — It passes with this encumbrance. He
was contriving to entail lands upon his posterity;
but, instead of them, entails a loathsome disease on
the heirs of his body, from generation to generation.
The sentence was immediately executed on himself;
no sooner said than done, he went out from his pre¬
sence a leper as white as snow. Thus he is stigma¬
tized and made infamous, and carries the mark of
his shame wherever he goes: thus he loads himself
and family with a curse, which shall not only for
the present proclaim his villany, but for ever per¬
petuate the remembrance of it. Note, The getting
o f treasures by a lying tongue, is a vanity tossed to
and fro o f them that seek death, Prov. 21. 6. Those
who get wealth by fraud and injustice, cannot ex¬
pect either the comfort or the continuance of it.
What was Gehazi profited, though he gained his
two talents, when thereby he lost his health, his
honour, his peace, his service, and, if repentance
prevented not, his soul for ever? See Job 20, 12, &c.
CHAP. VI.
In this chapter, we have, I. A further account of the won¬
drous works of Elisha. 1. His making iron to swim, v.
1 . . 7. 2. His disclosing to the king of Israel the secret
counsels of the king of Syria, v. 8.. 12. 3. His saving
himself out of the hands of those who were sent to appre¬
hend him, v. 13. .23. II. The besieging of Samaria by
the Syrians, and the great distress the city was reduced
to, v. 24 . . 33. The relief of it is another of the wonders
wrought by Elisha’s word, which we shall have the story
of in the next chapter. Elisha is still a great blessing
both to church and state, both to the sons of the prophets
and to his prince.
1. A ND the sons of the prophets said un-
_/l L to Elisha, Behold now, the place
where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.
2. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan,
and take thence every man a beam, and let
us make us a place there, where we may
dwell. And he answered, Go ye. 3. Ana
one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go
with thy servants. And he answered, I
will go. 4. So he went with them. And
when they came to Jordan, they cut down
wood. 5. But as one was felling a beam,
the axe head fell into the water : and he
cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was bor¬
rowed. 6. And the man of God said,
Where fell it? And he showed him the
place. And he cut down a stick, and cast
it in thither; and the iron did swim. 7.
Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And
he put out his hand, and took it.
Several things may be observed here,
I. Concerning the sons of the prophets, and their
condition and character. The college here spoken
of, seems to be that at Gilgal; for there Elijah was,
ch. 4. 38. and it was near Jordan; and, probably,
wherever Elisha resided, as many as could of the
sons of the prophets, flocked to him for the advan¬
tage of his instructions, counsels, and prayers. Eve¬
ry one would covet to dwell with him, and be near
him. Those that would be teachers, should lay out
themselves to get the best advantages for learning.
Now observe,
1. Their number increased, so that they wanted
room. The place is too strait for us, v. 1. A good
hearing! For it is a sign many are added to them.
Elisha’s miracles, doubtless, drew in many; perhaps
they increased the more now that Gehazi was ca¬
shiered, and, it is likely, a more honest man put in
his room, to take care of their provisions, for it
should seem by that instance, ch. 4. 43. that Naa
man’s case was not the only one in which he grudg
ed his master’s generosity.
2. They were humble men, and did not affect that
which was gay or great.' When they wanted room,
they did not speak of sending for cedars, and mar¬
ble-stones, and curious artificers, but only of getting
every man a beam, to run up a plain hut or cottage
with. It becomes the sons of the prophets, who
profess to look for great things in the other world,
to be content with mean things in this.
3. They were poor men, and men that had no in¬
terest in great ones. It was a sign that Joram was
king, and Jezebel ruled too, else the sons of the
prophets, when they wanted room, would have
needed only to apply to the government, not to con-
588
II. KINGS, VI.
suit among themselves, about the enlargement of
their buildings. God’s prophets have seldom been
the world’s favourites. Nay, so poor were they, that
they had not wherewithal to hire workmen, (but
must leave their studies, and work for themselves,)
no, nor to buy tools, but must borrow of their neigh¬
bours. Poverty then is no bar to prophecy.
4. They were industrious men, and willing to
take pains; they desired not to live, like idle
drones, (idle monks, I might have said,) upon the
labours of others, but only desired leave of their
president to work for themselves. As the sons of
Hie prophets must not be so taken up with contem¬
plation, as w render themselves unfit for action; so
much less must they so indulge themselves in their
ease, as to be averse to labour. He that must eat
or die, must work or starve, 2 Thess. 3. 8. 10. Let
no man think an honest employment either a bur¬
then or a disparagement.
5. They were men that had a great value and
veneration for Elisha; though they were themselves
prophets, they paid much deference to him. (1.)
They would not go about to build at all, without his
leave, v. 2. It is good for us all to be suspicious of
our own judgment, even when we think we have
most reason for it, and to be desirous of the advice
of those who are wiser and more experienced; and
it is especially commendable in the sons of the
prophets, to take their fathers along with them,
and to act in all things of moment under their con¬
duct, permissu sufieriorum — by permission of their
superiors. (2.) They would not willingly go to fell
timber without his company: “ Go with thy ser¬
vants; ( v . 3.) not only to advise us in any exigence,
but to keep good order among us, that, being under
thine eye, we may behave as becomes us.” Good
disciples desire to be always under good discipline.
6. They were honest men, and men that were
in care to give all men their own. When one of
them, accidentally fetching too fierce a stroke, (as
those that work seldom, are apt to be violent,)
threw off his axe-head into the water, he did not
say, “ It was a mischance, and who can help it? It
was the fault of the helve, and the owner deserves
to stand to the loss.” No, he cries out, with deep
concern, Alas, master! for it was borrowed, v. 5.
Had the axe been his own, it would only have
troubled him, that he could not be further service¬
able to his brethren; but now, beside that, it trou¬
bles him that he cannot be just to the owner, to
whom he ought to be not only just, but grateful.
Note, We ought to be as careful of that which is
borrowed, as of that which is our own, that it re¬
ceive no damage, because we must love our neigh¬
bour as ourselves, and do as we would be done by.
It is likely, that this, prophet was poor, and had
not wherewithal to pay for the axe, which made
the loss of it so much the greater trouble. To those
that have an honest mind, the sorest grievance of
poverty is, not so much their own want and dis¬
grace, as their being by it rendered unable to pay
their just debts.
II. Concerning the father of the prophets,
Elisha.
1. That he was a man of great condescension
and compassion; he went with the sons of the pro¬
phets to the woods, when they desired his com¬
pany, v. 3. Let no man, especially no minister,
think himself too great to stoop to do good, but be
tender to all.
2. That he was a man of great power; he could
make iron to swim, contrary to its nature, ( v . 6.)
for the God of nature is not tied up to its laws. He
did not throw the helve after the hatchet, but cut
down a new stick, and cast it into the river; we
need not double the miracle, by supposing that the
stick sunk to fetch up the iron, it was enough that
it was a signal of the divine summons to the iron to
rise. God’s grace can thus raise the stony iron
heart, which is sunk into the mud of this world,
and raise up affections, naturally earthly, to things
above.
8. Then the king of Syria warred against
Israel, and took counsel with his servants,
saying, In such and such a place shall be my
camp. 9. And the man of God sent unto
the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou
pass not such a place ; for thither the Sy¬
rians are come down. 10. And the king
of Israel sent to the place which the man
of God told him and warned him of, and
saved himself there, not once nor twice. 1 1 .
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was
sore troubled for this thing ; and he called
his servants, and said unto them, Will ye
not show me which of us is for the king of
Israel? 12. And one of his servants said,
None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the
prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of
Israel the words that thou speakest in thy
bed-chamber.
Here we have Elisha, with his spirit of prophecy,
serving the king, as, before, helping the sons of the
prophets; for that, as other gifts, is given to every
man to profit withal; and whatever abilities any
man has of doing good, he is by them made a
debtor, both to the wise and unwise. Observe
here,
1. How the king of Israel was informed by Elisha
of all the designs and motions of his enemy, the
king of Syria, more effectually than he could have
been by the most vigilant and faithful spies. If the
king of Syria, in a secret council of war, deter¬
mined in what place to make an inroad upon the
coasts of Israel, where he thought it would be the
greatest surprise, and they would be least able to
make resistance, before his forces could receive his
orders, the king of Israel had notice of them from
Elisha, and so had opportunity of preventing the
mischief; and this, many a time, v. 8- -10. See
here, (I. ) That the enemies of God’s Israel are po¬
litic in their devices, and restless in their attempts,
against him. They shall not know, nor see, till we
come in the midst among them, and slay them, Neh.
4. 11. (2.) All those devices are known to God,
even those that are deepest laid. He knows not
only what men do, but what they design, and has
many ways of countermining them. (3. ) It is a great
advantage to us, to be warned of our danger, that
we may stand upon our guard against it. The work
of God’s prophets, is to give us warning; if, being
warned, we do not save ourselves, it is our own
fault, and our blood will be upon our own head.
The king of Israel would regard the warnings
Elisha gave him of his danger by the Syrians, but
not the warnings he gave him of his danger by his
sins. Such warnings are little heeded by most;
they will save themselves from death, but not from
hell.
2. How the king of Syria resented this. He sus¬
pected treachery among his senators, and that his
counsels were betrayed, v. 11. But one of his ser¬
vants that had heard, by Naaman and others, of
Elisha’s wondrous works, concludes it must needs
be he that gave this intelligence to the king of Is¬
rael, v. 12. What could not he discover, who
could tell Gehazi his thought? Here, a confession
589
II. KINGS, VI.
of the boundless knowledge, as, before, of the
boundless power, of Israel’s God, is extorted from
Syrians. Nothing done, said, thought, by any per¬
son, in any place, at any time, is out of the reach of
God’s cognizance.
1 3. And he said, Go, and spy where he
is , that I may send and fetch him. And it
was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Do¬
than. 14. Therefore sent he thither horses,
and chariots, and a great host : and they
came by night, and compassed the city
about. 1 5. And when the servant of the
man of God was risen early, and gone
forth, behold, a host compassed the city,
both with horses and chariots. And his
servants said unto him, Alas, my master !
how shall we do? 16. And he answered,
Fear not ; for they that he with us are more
than they that be with them. 17. And
Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee,
open his eyes, that he may see. And the
Lord opened the eyes of the young man :
and he saw, and, behold, the mountain ivas
full of horses and chariots of fire round
about Elisha. 18. And when they came
down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord,
and said, Smite this people, 1 pray thee,
with blindness. And he smote them with
blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
19. And Elisha said unto them, This is not
the way, neither is this the city ; follow me,
and I will bring you to the man whom ye
seek. But he led them to Samaria. 20.
And it came to pass, when they were come
into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open
the eyes of these men , that they may see.
And the Lord opened their eyes, and they
saw ; and, behold, they were in the midst of
Samaria. 21. And the king of Israel said
unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father,
shall I smite them ? shall I smite them ? 22.
And he answered, Thou shalt not smite
them : wouldest thou smite those whom
thou hast taken captive with thy sword
and with thy bow ? Set bread and water
before them, that they may eat and drink,
and go to their master. 23. And he pre¬
pared great provision for them : and when
they had eaten and drunk, he sent them
away, and they went to their master. So
the bands of Syria came no more into the
land of Israel.
Here is,
I. The great force which the king of Syria sent
to seize Elisha. He found out where he was, at
Dothan, (v. 13.) which was not far from Samaria;
thither he sent a great host, who were to come up¬
on him by night, and to bring him dead or alive, v.
14. Perhaps he had heard that when only one
captain and his 50 men were sent to take Elijah,
they were baffled in the attempt, and therefore he
sent an army against Elisha, as if the fire from hea¬
ven that consumed 50 men, could not as easily con¬
sume 50,000. Naaman could tell him that Elisha
dwelt not in any strong hold, nor was attended with
any guards, nor had any such great interest in the
people, that he needed to fear a tumult among
them; what occasion then was there for this great
force? But thus he hoped to make him sure,
especially coming upon him by surprise. Foolish
man! Did he believe that Elisha had informed the
king of Israel of his secret counsels or not? If not,
what quarrel had he with him? If he did, could he
be so weak as to imagine that he would not discover
the designs laid against himself? And that, having
interest enough in heaven to discover them, he
would not have interest enough to defeat them?
Those that fight against God, his people, and pro¬
phets, know not what they do.
II. The grievous fright which the prophet’s ser¬
vant was in, when he perceived the city surround¬
ed by the Syrians, and the effectual course which
the prophet took to pacify him, and free him from
his tears. It seems, Elisha used his servant to rise
early, that is the way to bring something to pass,
and to do the work of a day in its day. Being up,
we may suppose he heard the noise of soldiers, and,
thereupon, looked out, and was aware of an army
compassing the city, ( v . 15. ) with great assurance,
no doubt, of success; and that they should have this
troublesome prophet in their hands presently. Now
observe, 1. What a consternation he was in; he
runs straight to Elisha, to bring him an account of
it, “Alas, master ,” (said he,) “ what shall ive do?
We are undone: it is to no purpose to think either
of fighting or flying, but we must unavoidably fall
into their hands.” Had he but studied David’s
Psalms, which were then extant, he might have
learnt not to be a fraid of ten thousands of people,
(Ps. 3. 6.) no not of a host encamped against him,
Ps. 27. 3. Had he considered, that he was em¬
barked with his master, by whom God had done
great things, and whom he would not now leave to
fall into the hands of the uncircumcised, and who,
having saved others, no doubt, would save himself,
he had not been thus at a loss. If he had only said,
What shall I do? it had been the more excusable,
and like that of the disciples. Lord, save us, we
perish; but he needed not to put his master in, as
in distress, nor to say, What shall we do? 2. How
his master quieted him; (1.) By word: what he
said to him, (v. 16.) is spoken to all the faithful
servants of God, when without are fightings, and
within are fears; “ Fear not, with that fear which
has torment and amazement, for they that be with
us, to protect us, are more than they that be against
us, to destroy us; angels, unspeakably more nu¬
merous; God, mfinitely more powerful.” When
we are magnifying the causes of our fear, we ought
to possess ourselves with clear, and great, and
high, thoughts of God, and the invisible world. If
God be for us, we know what follows, Rom. 8. 31.
(2.) By vision, v. 17. [1.] It seems, Elisha was
much concerned for the satisfaction of his servant.
Good men desire, not only to be easy themselves,
but to have those about them easy. Elisha had
lately parted with his old man, and this, being
newly come into his service, had not the advantage
of experience; his master was therefore desirous to
give him other convincing evidence of that omnipo¬
tence which employed him, and was therefore em¬
ployed for him. Note, They whose faith is strong,
ought tenderly to consider and compassionate those
who are weak, and of a timorous spirit, and to do
what they can, to strengthen their hands. [2.] He
saw himself safe, and wished no more than that his
servant might see what he saw, a guard of angels
round about him; such as were his master’s convoy
to the gates of heaven, were hi§ protectors against
590
II. KINGS, VI,
the gates of hell: chariots of fire, and horses of fire.
Fire is both dreadful and devouring; that power
which was engaged for Elisha’s protection, could
both terrify and consume the assailants. As angels
are God’s messengers, so they are his soldiers, his
hosts (Gen. 32. 2.) his legions, or regimentr..
(Matth. 26. 53.) for the good of his people. [3.]
For the satisfaction of his servant, there needed no
more than the opening of his eyes; that therefore he
prayed for, and obtained for him, Lord, open his eyes
that he may see. The eyes of his body were open,
and with them he saw the danger, “Lord, open
the eyes of his faith, that with them he may seethe
protection we are under.” Note, First, The great¬
est kindness we can do for those that are fearful
and faint-hearted, is, to pray for them, and so to
recommend them to the mighty grace of God.
Secondly, The opening of our eyes will be the si¬
lencing of our fears; in the dark we are most apt to
be frightened; the clearer sight we have of the
sovereignty and power of heaven, the less we shall
fear the calamities of this earth.
III. The shameful defeat which Elisha gave to
the host of Syrians who came to seize him; they
thought to make a prey of him, but he made fools
of them, perfectly played with them, so far was he
from fearing them, or any damage by them.
1. He prayed to God to smite them with blind¬
ness, and they were all struck blind immediately,
not stone-blind, nor so as to be themselves aware
that they were blind, for they could see the light, but
their sight was so altered, that they could not know
the persons and places they were before acquainted
with, v. 18. They were so confounded, that those
among them whom they depended upon for infor¬
mation, did not know this place to be Dothan, nor
this person to be Elisha, but groped at noon-day as
in the night; (Isa. 59. 10. Job 12. 24, 25.) their
memory failed them, and their distinguishing facul¬
ty. See the power of God over the minds and un¬
derstanding of men, both ways; he enlightened the
eyes of Elisha’s friend, and darkened the eyes of his
foes, that they might see indeed, but not perceive,
Isa. 6. 9. For this twofold judgment Christ came
into th's world, that they which see not, might see,
and that they which see, might be made blind;
(John 9. 39.) as a savour of life to some, of death to
others.
2. When they were thus bewildered and confound¬
ed, he led them to Samaria, ( v . 19.) promising that
he would show them the man whom they sought,
and did so. He did not lie to them, when he told
them, This is not the way, nor is this the city where
Elisha is; for he was now come out of the city; and
if they would see him, they must go to another city
which he would direct them to. They that fight
against God and his prophets, deceive themselves,
and are justly given up to delusions.
3. When he had brought them to Samaria, he
prayed to God so to open their eyes, and restore
them their memories, that they might see where
they were; ( v . 20.) and, behold, to their great ter¬
ror, they were in the midst of Samaria, where, it is
probable, there was a standing force sufficient to
cut them all off, or make them prisoners of war.
Satan, the God of this world, blinds men’s eyes, and
so deludes them into their own ruin; but when God
enlightens their eyes, they then see themselves in
the midst of their enemies, captives to Satan, and
in danger of hell, though, before, they thought their
condition good. The enemies of God and his church,
when they fancy themselves ready to triumph, will
find themselves conquered and triumphed over.
4. When he had them at his mercy, he made it
appear that he was influenced by a divine goodness
as well as a divine power.
(1.) He took care to protect them from the dan¬
ger into which he had brought them, and was con¬
tent to show them what he could have d< ne; he
needed not the sword of an angel to a\ enge his
cause, the sword of the king of Israel is at his ser¬
vice, if he pleases, v. 21. My father, (so respect¬
fully does he now speak to him, though, soon after,
he swore his death,) shall I smite them? And again,
as if he longed for the assault, Shall I smite them ?
Perhaps, he remembered how God was displeased
at his father, for letting go out of his hands those
whom he had put it into his power to destroy, and
he would not offend in like manner; yet such a reve¬
rence has he for the prophet, that he will not strike
a stroke without his commission; but the prophet
would by no means suffer him to meddle with them,
they were brought hither, to be convinced and
ashamed, not to be killed, v. 22. Had they been
his prisoners, taken captive by his sword and bow,
when they had asked quarter, it had been barbarous
to deny, and when he had given it them, it had been
perfidious to do them any hurt, and against the law
of arms to kill men in cool blood; but they were not
his prisoners, they were God’s prisoners, and the
prophet’s, and therefore he must do them no harm;
they that humble themselves under Gcd’s hand, take
the best course to secure themselves.
(2. ) He took care to provide for them; he ordered
the king to treat them handsomely, and then dis¬
miss them fairly, which he did, v. 23. [1.] It was
the king’s praise, that he was so obsequious to the
prophet, contrary to his inclination, and, as it seem¬
ed, to his interest, 1 Sam. 24. 19. Nay, so willing
was he to oblige Elisha, that whereas he was or¬
dered only to set bread and water before them,
(and that is good fare for captives,) he prepared
great provision for them, for the credit of his court
and country, and of Elisha. [2.] It was the prophet’s
praise, that he was so generous to his enemies, who,
though they came to take him, could not but go
away admiring him, as both the mightiest and the
kindest man they ever met with. The great duty
of loving enemies, and doing good to those that hate
us, was both commanded, in the Old Testament,
(Prov. 25. 21, 22. If thine enemy hunger, feed him,
Exod. 23. 4, 5.) and practised, as here by Elisha;
his predecessor had given a specimen of divine jus¬
tice, when he called for flames of fire on the heads
of his persecutors to consume them, but he gave a
specimen of divine mercy, in heaping coals of fire
on the heads of his persecutors to melt them ; let not
us then be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good.
Lastly, The good effect this had, for the present,
upon the Syrians; they came no mote into the land
o f Israel, ( v . 23.) namely, upon this errand, to take
Elisha; they saw it was to no purpose to attempt
that, nor would any of their bands be persuaded to
make an assault on so great and good a man. The
most glorious victory over an enemy is to turn him
into a friend.
24. And it came to pass after this, that
Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his
host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
25. And there was a great famine in Sama¬
ria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an
ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of
silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s
dung for five pieces of silver. 26. And as
the king of Israel was passing by upon the
wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying,
Help, my lord, O king! 27. And he said,
If the Lort> do not help thee, whence shall
T help thee? out of the barn-floor, or out of
59!
II. KINGS, VI.
the wine-press? 28. And the king said unto
her. What aileth thee ? And she answered,
This woman said unto me, Give thy son,
that we may eat him to-day, and we will
eat my son to-morrow. 29. So we boiled
my son, and did eat him: and I said unto
her on the next day, Give thy son, that we
may eat him ; and she hath hid her son.
30. And it came to pass, when the king
heard the words of the woman, that he rent
his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall,
and' the people looked, and, behold, he had
sackcloth within upon his flesh. 31. Then
he said, God do so and more also to me if
the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall
stand on him this day. 32. But Elisha sat
in his house, and the elders sat with him :
and the king sent a man from before him:
but ere the messenger came to him, he said
to the elders, See ye how this son of a mur¬
derer hath sent to take away mine head ?
look, when the messenger cometh, shut the
door, and hold him fast a t the door : is not
the sound of his master’s feet behind him ?
33. And while he yet talked with them, be¬
hold, the messenger came down unto him,
and he said, Behold, this evil is of the Lord ;
what should I wait for the Lord any longer ?
Thislast paragraph of this chapter should, of right,
have been the first of the next chapter, for it begins
a new story, which is there continued and concluded.
Here is,
I. The siege which the king of Syria laid to Sa¬
maria, and the great distress which the city was re¬
duced to thereby; the Syrians had soon forgotten
the kindnesses they had lately received in Samaria,
and very ungratefully, for aught that appears, with¬
out any provocation, seek the destruction of it, v.
24. Those are base spirits, that show no lasting
gratitude. The country, we may suppose, was
plundered and laid waste, when this capital city
was brought to the last extremity, v. 25. The
dearth which had of late been in the land was,
probably, the occasion of the emptiness of their
stores; or the siege was so sudden, that they had
not time to lay in provisions: so that while the
sword devoured without, the famine within was
more grievous; (Lam. 4. 9.) for, it should seem,
the Syrians designed not to storm the city, but to
starve it. So great was the scarcity, that an ass’s
head, that has but little flesh on it, and that un¬
savoury, unwholesome, and ceremonially unclean,
was sold for five pounds, and a small quantity of
fitches, or lentiles, or some such coarse com, then
called dove’s dung, no more of it than the quantity
of six eggs, for five pieces of silver, about twelve or
fifteen shillings. Learn to value plenty, and to be
thankful for it; see how contemptible money is,
when, in time of famine, it is so freely parted with
for any thing that is eatable.
II. The sad complaint which a poor woman had
to make to the king, in the extremity of the famine;
he was passing by upon the wall to give orders for
the mounting of the guard, the posting of the archers,
the repair of the breaches, and the like, when a
woman of the city cried to him, Help, my lord, O
king, v. 26. Whither should the subject, in dis¬
tress, go for help but to the prince, who is, by office.
the protector of right, and the avenger of wrong?
He returns but a melancholy answer, (f . 27. ) JJ the
Lord do not help thee, whence shall I? Some think
it was a quarrelling word, and the language of his
fretfulness; “Why dost thou expect any thing from
me, when God himself deals thus hardly with us?”
Because he could not help her as he would, out of
the floor or the wine-press, he would not help her
at all; we must take heed of being made cross by
afflictive providences. It rather seems to be a quiet¬
ing word; “Let us be content, and make the best
of our affliction, looking up to God, for till he help
us, I cannot help thee.” 1. He laments the empti¬
ness of the floor and the wine-press; those were not
as they had been, even the king’s failed. We read,
v. 23. of great provisions which he had at command,
sufficient for the entertainment of an army; yet now
he has not wherewithal to relieve one poor woman,
scarcity sometimes follows upon great plenty; we
cannot be sure that to-morrow shall be as this day ,
Isa. 56. 12. Ps. 30. 6. 2. He acknowledges himself
thereby disabled to help, unless God would help
them. Note, Creatures are helpless things without
God, for every creature is that, all that, and only
that, which he makes it to be. However, though
he cannot help her, he is willing to hear her; (t/.
28.) “ What ails thee ? Is there any thing singular in
thy case, or dost thou fare worse than thy neigh¬
bours?” Tl ruly yes; she and one of her neighbours
had made a barbarous agreement, that, all provi¬
sions failing, they should boil and eat her son first,
and then her neighbour’s; her’s was eaten, (who
can think of it without horror!) and now her neigh¬
bour hid her’s, v. 28, 29. See an instance of the
dominion which the flesh has got above the spirit,
when the most natural affections of the mind may
be thus overpowered by the natural appetites of the
body: see tne word of God fulfilled; among the
threatenings of God’s judgments upon Israel for
their sins, this was one, (Deut- 28. 53.. 57.) that
they should eat the flesh of their own children,
which one would think incredible, yet it came to
pass.
III. The king’s indignation against Elisha, upon
this occasion; he lamented the calamity, rent his
clothes, and had sackcloth upon his Jlesh, (v. 30.) as
one heartily concerned for the misery of his people,
and that it was not in his power to help them ; but
| he laments not his own iniquity, nor the iniquity of
his people, which was the procuring cause of the
calamity; he is not sensible that his ways and his
doings have procured this to himself; this'is his wick¬
edness, for it is bitter ; the foolishness of man perverts
his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord ;
instead of vowing to pull down the calves at Dan
and Beth-el, or letting the law have its course against
the prophets of Baal, and of the groves, he swears
the death of Elisha, v. 31. Why, what is the mat¬
ter? What has Elisha done? His head is the most
innocent and valuable in all Israel, and yet that must
be devoted, and made an anathema. Thus in the
days of the persecuting emperors, when the empire
groaned under any extraordinary calamity, the fault
was laid on the Christians, and they were doomed to
destruction, Christianos ad leones — Away with the
Christians to the lions. Perhaps Jehoram was in this
heat against Elisha, because he had foretold this
judgment, or had persuaded him to, hold out, and
not surrender, or rather, because he did not, by his
prayers, raise the siege, and relieve the city, which
he thought he could do, but would not; whereas till
they repented and reformed, and were ready for
deliverance, they had no reason to expect that the
prophet should pray for it.
IV. The foresight Elisha had of the king’s design
against him; ( v . 32.) he sat in his house well com¬
posed, and the elders with him well employed, nc
592
II. KINGS, VII.
doubt, while the king was like a wild bull in a net,
or like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; he told
the elders there was an officer coming from the king
to cut off his head, and bade them stop him at the
door, and not let him in, for the king his master was
just following him, to revoke the order, as we may
suppose. The same spirit of prophecy that enabled
Elisha to tell what was done at a distance, authorized
him to call the king the son of a murderer, which,
unless we could produce such an extraordinary com¬
mission, it is not for us to imitate; far be it from us
to despise dominion, and to speak evil of dignities.
He appeals to the elders, whether he had deserved
so ill at the king’s hands; see whether in this he be
not the son of a murderer? For, what evil had Eli¬
sha done? He had not desired the woful day, Jer.
17. 16.
V. The king’s passionate speech, when he came
to prevent the execution of his edict for the behead¬
ing of Elisha; he seems to have been in a struggle
between his convictions and his corruptions, knew
not what to say, but, seeing things brought to the
last extremity, he even abandons himself to despair;
(v. 33. ) This evil is of the Lord: therein his no¬
tions were right, and well applied; it is a general
truth, that all penal evil is of the Lord, as the First
Cause, and Sovereign Judge, (Amos 3. 6. ) and this
we ought to apply to particular cases; if all evil,
then this evil, whatever it is we are now groaning
under; whoever are the instruments, God is the
principal Agent of it; but his inference from this
truth was foolish and wicked, What should I wait
for the Lord any longer? When Eli, and David,
and Job, said, It is of the Lord, they grew patient
upon it, but this bad man grew outrageous upon it;
“ I will neither fear worse, for worse cannot, nor
expect better, for better never will, come; we are
all undone, and there is no remedy. ” It is an un¬
reasonable thing to be weary of waiting for God,
for he is a God of judgment, and blessed are all they
that wait for him.
CHAP. VII.
Relief is here brought to Samaria and her king, when the
case was, in a manner, desperate, and the king despairing.
I. It is foretold by Elisha, and an unbelieving lord shut
out from the benefit of it, v. 1, 2. II. It is brought about,
1. By an unaccountable fright which God put the Syrians
into, (v. 6.) which caused them to retire precipitately, v.
7. 2. By the seasonable discovery which four lepers made
of this, (v. 3. .5.) and the account they gave of it to the
court, v. 8. -11. 3. By the cautious trial which the king
made of the truth of it, v. 12.. 15. Lastly, The event an¬
swered the prediction both in the sudden plenty, (v. 16.)
and the death of the unbelieving lord, (v. 17. .20.) for no
word of God shall fall to the ground.
1 . npHEN Elisha said, Hear ye the word
JL of the Lord : Thus saith the Lord,
To-morrow, about this tim e, shall a measure
of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two
measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate
of Samaria. 2. Then a lord, on whose hand
the king leaned, answered the man of God,
and said, Behold, if the Lord would make
windows in heaven, might this thing be?
And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with
thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
Here, 1. Elisha foretells that notwithstanding the
great straits that the city of Samaria was reduced
to, within 24 hours they should have plenty, v. 1.
The king of Israel despaired of it, and grew weary
of waiting: Elisha said this, then, when things were
at the worst; man's extremity is God’s opportunity
of magnifying his own power; his time to appear for
his people, is, when their strength is gone, Deut,
32. 36. When they had given over expecting help
it came: When the Son of man comes, shall he find
faith on the earth? Luke 18. 8. The king said.
What should I wait for the Lord any longer? And
perhaps some of the elders were ready to say the
same; “Well,” said Elisha, “ you hear what these
say; now hear ye the word of the Lord, hear what
he says, hear it and heed it, hear it and believe it;
to-morrow, corn shall be sold at the usual rate in th
gate of Samaria;” that is, (1.) The siege shall be
raised, for the gate of the city shall be opened, and
the market shall be held there as formerly; the re¬
turn of peace is thus expressed, Judg. 5. 11, Then
shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates, to
buy and sell there. (2.) The consequence of that
shall be great plenty: this would, in time, follow, of
course, but that corn should be thus cheap in so short
a time, was quite beyond what could be thought of;
though the king of Israel had just now threatened
Elisha’s life, God promises to save his life and the
life of his people, for where sin abounded, grace doth
much more abound.
2. A peer of Israel, that happened to be present,
openly declared his disbelief of this prediction, v. 2.
He was a courtier whom the king had an affection
for, as the man of his right hand, on whom he lean¬
ed, that is, on whose prudence he much relied, and
in whom he reposed much confidence; he thought
it impossible, unless God should rain corn out of
the clouds, as once he did manna; no less than the
repetition of Moses’s miracle will serve him, though
that of Elijah might have served to answer this in¬
tention, the increasing of the meal in the barrel.
3. The just doom passed upon him for his infi¬
delity, that he should see this great plenty for his
conviction, and yet not eat of it for his comfort.
Note, Unbelief is a sin by which men greatly dis¬
honour and displease God, and deprive themselves
of the favours he designed for them; the murmur¬
ing Israelites saw Canaan, but could not enter in
because of unbelief; such (says Bishop Patrick)
will be the portion of those that believe not the
promise of eternal life, they shall see it at a distance,
Abraham afar off, but shall never taste of it; for
they forfeit the benefit of the promise, if they can¬
not find in their heart to take God’s word.
3. And there were four leprous men at the
entering in of the gate : and they said one
to another, Why sit we here until we die ?
4. If we say, We will enter into the city, then
the famine is in the city, and we shall die
there : and if we sit still here, we die also.
Now therefore come, and let us fall unto
the host of the Syrians: if they save us
alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we
shall but die. 5. And they rose up in the
twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syri¬
ans : and when they were come to the ut¬
termost part of the camp of Syria, behold,
there was no man there. 6. For the Lord
had made the host of the Syrians to hear a
noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even
the noise of a great host ; and they said one
to another, Lo, ihe king of Israel hath hired
against us the kings of the Hittites, and the
kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us
7. Wherefore they arose, and fled in the
twilight, and left their tents, and their horses,
and their asses even the camp as it was,
II. KINGS, VII.
593
and fled for their life. 8. And when these
lepers came to the uttermost part of the
camp, they went into one tent, and did eat
and drink, and carried thence silver, and
gold, and raiment, and went and hid it;
and came again, and entered into another
tent, and carried thence also, and went and
hid it. 9. Then they said one to another,
We do not well : this day is a day of good
tidings, and we hold our peace : if we tarry
till the morning light, some mischief will
come upon us : now therefore come, that
we may go and tell the king’s household.
10. So they came, and called unto the por¬
ter of the city; and they told him, saying,
We came to the camp of the Syrians, and,
behold, there teas no man there, neither voice
of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and
the tents as they were. 1 1. And he called
the porters ; and they told it to the king’s
house within.
We are here told,
I. How the siege of Samaria was raised in the
evening, at the edge of night, (y. 6, 7.) not by
might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of
hosts, striking terror upon the spirits of the besie¬
gers; here was not a sword drawn against them, not
a drop of blood shed, it was not by thunder or hail¬
stones that they were discomfited, nor were they
slain, as Sennacherib’s army before Jerusalem, by
a destroying angel; but,
1. The Lord made them to hear a noise of chari¬
ots and horses; the Syrians that besieged Dothan,
had their sight imposed upon; (ch. 6. 18.) these had
their hearing imposed upon, for God knows how to
work upon every sense, pursuant to his own coun¬
sels; as he makes the hearing ear, and the seeing
eye, so he makes the deaf and the blind, Exod. 4. 11.
Whether the noise was really made in the air by
the ministry of angels, or whether it was only a
sound in their ears, is not certain; whichsoever it was,
it was from God, who both brings the wind out
of his treasures, and formeih the sfiirit of man
within him. The sight of horses and chariots had
encouraged the prophet’s servant, ( ch . 6. 17.) the
noise of horses and chariots terrified the hosts of
Syria; for notices from the invisible world are either
very comfortable, or very dreadful, according as
men are at peace with God, or at war with him.
2. Hearing this noise, they concluded the king
of Israel had certainly procured assistance from
some foreign power; he has hired against us the
kings of the Hit tiles and the kings of the Egyptians;
there was, for aught we know, but one king of
Egypt, and what kings there were of the Hittites'
no bodv can imagine; but as they were imposed up¬
on by that dreadful sound in their ears, so they im¬
posed upon themselves by the interpretation they
made of it. Had they supposed the king of Judah
to have come with his forces, there had been more
of probability in it, than to dream of the kings of
the Hittites, and the Egyptians; if the fancies of
any of them raised this spectre, yet their rea¬
sons might soon have laid it: how could the king
of Israel, who was closely besieged, hold intelligence
with those distant princes? What had he to hire
them with? It was impossible but some notice
would come, before, of the motions of so great an
host; but there were theu in yreat fear, where no
fear was.
Vol. ii. — 4 F
3. Hereupon they all fled with incredible precipi¬
tation, as for their lives, left their camp as it was,
and even their horses, that might have hastened
their flight, they could not stay to take with them,
v. 7. None of them had so much sense as to send
out scouts to discover the supposed enemy, much
less, courage enough to face the enemy, though fa
tigued with a long march; the wicked flee, when
none pursues; God can, when he pleases, dispirit
the boldest and most bra' e, and make the stoutest
heart tremble; as for them that will not fear God,
he can make them fear at the shaking of a leaf.
11. How the Syrians’ flight was discovered by
four leprous men. S tmaria is delivered, and does
not know it; the watchmen on the walls were not
aware of the retreat of the enemy, so silently did
they steal away; but Providence employs four le¬
pers to be the intelligencers, who had their lodging
without the gate, being excluded the city, as cere¬
monially unclean: the Jews say they were Gehazi
and his three sons; perhaps Gehazi might be one
of them, which might make him be taken notice of
afterward by the king, ch. 8. 4. See here,
1. How these lepers reasoned themselves into a
resolution to make a visit in the night to the camp
of the Syrians, v. 3, 4. They were ready to perish
for hunger, none passed through the gate to relieve
them, should they go into the city, there was no¬
thing to be had there, they must die in the streets;
should they sit still, they must pine to death in their
cottage: they therefore determine to go over to the
enemy, and throw themselves upon their mercy; if
they killed them, better die by the sword than by
famine, one death than a thousand; but perhaps
they would save them alive, as objects of compas¬
sion: common prudence will put us upon that
method which may mend our condition, but cannot
make it worse. The prodigal son resolves to return
to his father whose displeasure he had reason to
fear, rather than perish with hunger in the far coun¬
try. These lepers conclude, “ If they kill us, we
shall but die;” and happy they who, in another
sense, can thus speak of dying; “ We shall but die,
that is the worst of it, not die and be damned, not
be hurt of the second death.” According to this
resolution, they went, in the beginning of the night,
to the camp of the Syrians, and, to their great sur¬
prise, found it wholly deserted, not a man to be
seen or heard in it, v. 5. Providence ordered it,
that these lepers came as soon as ever the Syrians
were fled, for they fled in the twilight, (the evening
twilight,) v. 7. and in the twilight the lepers came;
( v . 5. ) and so no time was lost.
2. How they reasoned themselves into a resolu¬
tion to bring tidings of this to the city; they feasted
in the first tent they came to, (v. 8.) and then be¬
gan to think of enriching themselves with the plun¬
der: but they correct themselves; (xc 9.) “ We do
not do well, to conceal those good tidings from the
community we are members of, under colour of be¬
ing avenged upon them for excluding us their socie¬
ty; it was the law that did it, not they, and there¬
fore let us bring them the news; though it awake
them from sleep, it will be life from the dead to
them.” Their own consciences told them that some
mischief would befall them, if they acted separate¬
ly, and sought themselves only; selfish narrow-spi¬
rited people cannot expect to prosper, the most
comfortable prosperity is that which our brethren
share with us in. According to this resolution,
they returned to the gate, and acquainted the senti¬
nel with what they had discovered, ( v . 10.) who
straightway brought the intelligence to court, (r.
11.) and it was never the less acceptable for being
first brought by lepers.
1 2. And the king arose in the night* and
594
11. RINGS, VII.
said unto his servants, 1 will now show you
what the Syrians have done to us: They
•enow that we be, hungry, therefore are they
gone out of the camp to hide themselves in
the field, saying, When they come out of
the city, we shall catch them alive, and get
into the city. 13. And one of his servants
answered and said, Let some take, I pray
thee, five of the horses that remain, which
are left in the city, (behold, they are as all
the multitude of Israel that are left in it ;
behold, I sat/, they are even as all the multi¬
tude of the Israelites that are consumed,)
and let us send and see. 14. They took
therefore two chariot horses ; and the king
sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go
and see. 15. And they went after them
unto Jordan ; and, lo, all the way was full
of garments and vessels, which the Syrians
had cast away in their haste : and the mes¬
sengers returned, and told the king. 16.
And the people went out, and spoiled the
tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine
flour was sold for a shekel, and two mea¬
sures of barley for a shekel, according to the
word of the Lord. 1 7. And the king ap¬
pointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to
have the charge of the gate : and the peo¬
ple trade upon him in the gate, and he died,
as the man of God had said, who spake
when the king came down to him. 18.
And it came to pass, as the man of God had
spoken to the king, saying, Two measures
of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine
flour for a shekel, shall be to-morrow, about
this time, in the gate of Samaria : 1 9. And
that lord answered the man of God, and i
said, Now, behold, if the Lord should
make windows in heaven, might such a thing
he ? And he said, Behold, thou shall see
it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
20. And so it fell out unto him : for the peo¬
ple trade upon him in the gate, and he died.
Here is,
I. The king’s jealousy of a stratagem in the Sy¬
rians’ retreat; (z>. 12.) he feared they withdrew
into an ambush, to draw out the besieged, that they
might fall on them with more advantage; he knew
he "had no reason to expect that God should appear
thus wonderfully for him, having forfeited his fa¬
vour by his unbelief and impatience; he knew no
reason the Syrians had to fly, for it does not appear
that he or any of his attendants heard the noise of
the chariots which the Syrians were frightened at.
Let not those who, like him, are unstable in all
their ways, think to receive any thing from God;
nay, a guilty conscience fears the worst, and makes
men suspicious.
II. The course they took for their satisfaction,
and to prevent their falling into a snare; they sent
out spies to see what was become of the Syrians,
and found they were all fled indeed, commanders
as well as common soldiers; they could track them
by the garments which they threw off, and left by
i the way, for their greater expedition, v. 15 He
| that gave this advice, seems very sensible of the
deplorable condition the people were in, ( v . 13.)
for, speaking of the horses, many of which were
dead, and the rest ready to perish for hunger, he
says and repeats it, They are as all the multitude of
Israel. Israel used to glory in their multitude, but
now they are minished and brought low; he advised
1 to send five horsemen, but it should seem, there
were only two fit to be sent, and those chariot-
horses, v. 14. Now the Lord repented himself
concerning his servants, when he saw that their
strength was gone, Deut. 32. 36.
III. The plenty that was in Samaria, from the
plunder of the camp of the Syrians, v. 16. Had the
Syrians been governed by the modern policy of war,
when they could not take their baggage and their
tents with them, they would rather have burnt
them, (as it is common to do with the forage of a
country,) than let them fall into their enemies’
hands; but God intended that the besieging of Sa¬
maria, which was intended for its ruin, should turn
to its advantage, and that Israel should now be en¬
riched with the spoil of the Syrians, as of old with
those of the Egyptians. Here see, 1. The wealth
of the sinner laid u/i for the just , (Job 27. 16, 17.)
and the spoilers spoiled, Isa. 33. 1. 2. The wants
of Israel supplied in a way that they little thought
of, which should encourage us to depend upon the
power and goodness of God in our greatest straits.
3. The word of Elisha fulfilled, to a tittle, a mea¬
sure of fine flour was sold for a shekel; they that
spoiled the camp, had not' only enough to supply
themselves with, but an overplus to sell at an easy
rate for the benefit of others; and so even they that
tarried at home, did divide the s foil, Ps. 68. 12. Isa.
33. 23. God’s promise may be safely relied on, for
no word of his shall fall to the ground.
IV. The death of the unbelieving courtier, that
questioned the truth of Elisha’s word; divine threat-
enings will as surely be accomplished as divine pro¬
mises; He that believeth not shall be damned, stands
as firm as He that believeth, shall be saved. This
lord, 1. Was preferred by the king to the charge
of the gate, (r>. 17.) to keep the peace, and to see
that there was no tumult or disorder in dividing and
disposing of the spoil; so much trust did the king
repose in him, and in his prudence and gravity, and
so much did he delight to honour him : he that will
be great, let him serve the public. 2. Was trod¬
den to death by the people in the gate, either by
accident, the crowd being exceeding great, and he
in the thickest of it, or perhaps designedly, because
he abused his power, and was imperious, in re¬
straining the people from satisfying their hunger:
however it was, God’s justice was glorified, and the
word of Elisha was fulfilled; he saw the plenty, for
the silencing and shaming of his unbelief, corn cheap
without opening windows in heaven, and therein
saw his own folly in prescribing to God; but he did
not eat of the plenty he saw; when he was about to
Jill his belly, God cast the fury of his wrath upon
him, (Job 20. 23.) and it came between the cup and
the lip; justly are those thus tantalized with the
world’s promises, that think themselves tantalized
with the promises of God; if believing shall not be
seeing, seeing will not be enjoying.
This matter is repeated, and the event very par¬
ticularly compared with the prediction, ( v . 18. . 20. )
that we might take special notice of it, and might
learn, (1.) How deeply God resents our distrust
of him, and of his power, providence, and promise:
when Israel said, Can God furnish a table? The
Lord heard it, and was wroth. Infinite wisdom
will not be limited by our folly: God never pro¬
mises the end, without knowing where to pro¬
vide the means. (2.) How uncertain life is, and
595
II. KINGS, VIII.
ihe enjoyments of it; honour and power cannot se¬
cure men from sudden and inglorious deaths; he
whom the king leaned upon, the people trod upon;
he who fancied himself the stay and support of the
government, is trampled under foot as the mire in
the streets: thus hath the pride of men’s glory been
often stained. (3.) How certain God’s threaten-
ings are, and how sure to light on the guilty and
obnoxious heads: let all men fear before the great
God, who treads- ufion firinces as mortar , and is
terrible to the kings of the earth.
CHAP. VIII.
The passages of story recorded in this chapter, oblige us
to look back. I. We read, before, of a Shunamrpite
woman that was a kind benefactor to Elisha; now here
we are told how she fared the better for it, afterward, in
the advice Elisha gave her, and the favour the king
showed for his sake, v. 1 . . 6. II. We read, before, ot
the designation of Hazael to be king of Syria, (1 Kings
19. 15.) and here we have an account of his elevation to
that throne, and the way he forced himself to it, by killing
his master, v. 7 . . 15. 111. We read, before, of Jehoram’s
reigning over Judah in the room of his father Jehosha-
phat; (f Kings 22.. 50.) now here we have a short and
sad history of his short and wicked reign, (v. 16 . . 24.)
and the beginning of the history of the reign of his son
Ahaziah, v. 25 . . 29.
1. PT^HEN spake Elisha unto the woman
JL whose son he had restored to life,
saying, Arise, and go thou and thine house¬
hold, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst
sojourn : for the Lord hath called for a fa¬
mine; and it shall also come upon the land
seven years. 2. And the woman arose,
and did after the saying of the man of God:
and she went with her household, and so¬
journed in the land of the Philistines seven
years. 3. And it came to pass at the seven
years’ end, that the woman returned out of
the land of the Philistines: and she went
forth to cry unto the king for her house and
for her land. 4. And the king talked with
Gehazi, the servant of the man of God,
saying, T ell me, I pray thee, all the great
things that Elisha hath done. 5. And it
came to pass, as he was telling the king
how he had restored a dead body to life,
that, behold, the woman, whose son he had
restored to life, cried to the king for her
house and for her land. And Gehazi said,
My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this
is her son whom Elisha restored to life.
6. And when the king asked the woman,
she told him. So the king appointed unto
her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that
teas hers, and all the fruits of the field, since
the day that she left the land, even until
now.
HfC? we have,
t. The wickedness of Israel punished with a long
famine, one of God’s sore judgments often threat¬
ened in the law; Canaan, that fruitful land, is turn¬
ed into barrenness, for the iniquity of them that
dwelt therein. The famine in Samaria was soon
relieved, by the raising of the siege, but neither
that judgment, nor that mercv, had a due influence
*lpon them, and therefore the Lord calls for another
famine ; for when he judgeth, he will overcome; if
lesser judgments do not prevail to bring men to re¬
pentance, he will send greater and longer; they are
at his beck, and will come when he calls for them.
He does, by his ministers, call for reformation and
obedience, and if those calls be not regarded, we
may expect he will call for some plague or other,
for he will be heard; this famine continued for se\ en
years, as long again as that in Elijah’s time; for, if
men will walk contrary to him, he will heat the
furnace yet hotter.
II. The kindness of the good Shunammite to the
prophet rewarded by the care that was taken cf
her in that famine; she was not indeed fed by mira-
cle, as the widow of Sarepta was, but, 1. She had
notice given her of this famine before it came, that
she might provide accordingly, and was directed to
remove to some other country: any where, but in
Israel, she would find plenty. It was a great ad¬
vantage to Egypt in Joseph’s time, that they had
notice of the famine before it came, so it was to this
Shunammite; others would be forced to remove at
last, after they had long borne the grievances of the
famine, and had wasted their substance, and could
not settle elsewhere upon such good terms as she
might, that went early before the crowd, and took
her stock with her unbroken. It is our happiness
to foresee an evil, and our wisdom, when we fore¬
see it, to hide ourselves. 2. Providence gave her a
comfortable settlement in the land of the Philistines,
who, though subdued by David, yet were not
wholly rooted out; it seems the famine was peculiar
to the land of Israel, and other countries that joined
close to them, had plenty at the same time, which
plainly showed the immediate hand of God in it, as
in the plagues of Egypt, when they distinguished
between the Israelites and the Egyptians, and that
the sins of Israel, against whom this judgment was
directly levelled, were more provoking to God than
the sins of their neighbours, because of their pro¬
fession of relation to God; You only have I known,
therefore will I fiunish you, Amos 3. 2. Other
countries had rain when they had none, were free
from locusts and caterpillars when they were
eaten up with them; for some think this was the
famine spoken of, Joel 1. 3, 4. It is strange that
when there was plenty in the neighbouring coun¬
tries, there were not those that made it their busi¬
ness to import corn into the land of Israel, which
might have prevented the inhabitants removing;
but as they were befooled with their idolatries, so
they were infatuated even in the matters of their
civil interest.
III. Her petition to the king at her return, fa-
i voured by the seasonableness of her application to
i him.
1. When the famine was over, she returned out
of the land of the Philistines; that was no proper
place for an Israelite any longer than there was
necessity for it, for there she could not keep her
new moons and her sabbaths as she used to do in
her own country, among the schools of the pro¬
phets, ch. 4. 23.
2. At her return, she found herself kept out of
the possession of her own estate, it being either
confiscated to the exchequer, seized by the lord, or
usurped, in her absence, by some of the neighbours;
or perhaps the person she had intrusted with the
management of it, proved false, and would neither
resign it to her, nor come to an account with her
for the profits: so hard is it to find a person that one
can put a confidence in in a time of trouble, Prov.
25. 19. Mic. 7. 5.
3. She made her application to the king himself
j for redress; for, it seems, (be it observed to his
J praise,) he was easy of access, and did himself takf
| cognizance of the complaints of his injured subjects
596
II. KINGS, VIII.
Time was, when she dwelt so securely among her
own people, that she had no occasion to be spoken
for to the king, or to the captain of the host; ( ch . 4.
13. ) but now her own familiar friends, in whom she
trusted, proved so unjust and unkind, that she was
glad to appeal to the king against them; such un¬
certainty there is in the creature, that that may
fail us, which we most depend upon, and that be¬
friend us, which we think we shall never need.
4. She found the king talking with Gehazi about
Elisha’s miracles, v. 4. It was his shame, that he
needed now to be informed concerning them, when
he might have acquainted himself with them as
they were done from Elisha himself, if he had not
been willing to shut his eyes against the convincing
evidences of his mission; yet it was his praise, that
he was now better disposed, and would rather talk
with a leper that was capable of giving a good ac¬
count of them, than continue ignorant of them.
The law did not forbid all conversation with lepers,
but only dwelling with them; there being then no
priests in Israel, perhaps the king, or some one
appointed by him, had the inspection of lepers, and
passed the judgment upon them, which might bring
him acquainted with Gehazi.
5. This happy coincidence befriended both Ge-
hazi’s narrative and her petition. Providence is to
be acknowledged in ordering the circumstances
of events, for sometimes those that are minute in
themselves, prove of great consequence, as this
here; for,
(1.) It made the king ready to believe Gehazi’s
narrative, when it was thus confirmed by the per¬
sons most nearly concerned; “This is the woman,
and this her son, let them speak for themselves,”
v. 5. Thus did God even force him to believe
what he might have had some colour to question,
if he had only had Gehazi’s word for it, because he
was branded for a liar, witness his leprosy.
(2.) It made him ready to grant her request; for
who would not be ready to favour one whom Hea¬
ven had thus favoured, and to support a life which
svas given once and again by miracle? In consider¬
ation of this, the king gave orders that her land
should be restored her, and all the profits that were
made of it in her absence: if it were to himself that
the land and profits had escheated, it was generous
and kind to make so full a restitution; he would not
(as Pharaoh did in Joseph’s time) enrich the crown
by the calamities of his subjects; if it were by some
other person that her property was invaded, it was
an act of justice in the king, and part of the duty
of his place to do her right, Ps. 82. 3, 4. Prov. 31. 9.
It is not enough for those in authority, that they do
no wrong themselves, but they must support the
right of those that are wronged.
7. And Elisha came to Damascus; and
Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick : and
it was told him, saying, The man of God is
come hither. 8. And the king said unto
Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and
go, meet the man of God, and inquire of the
1 iORD by him, saying, Shall I recover of this
disease? 9. So Hazael went to meet him,
and took a present with him, even of every
good thing of Damascus, forty camels’
burden, and came and stood before him,
and said. Thy son Ben-hadad king of Syria
hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover
of this disease? 10. And Elisha said unto
him. Go, say unto him, Thou nvayest cer¬
tainly recover: howbeit, the Lord hath
showed me that he shall surely die. 11
And he settled his countenance steadfastly
until he was ashamed : and the man of God
wept. 12. And Hazael said, Why weep-
eth my lord? And he answered, Because I
know the evil that thou wilt do unto the
children of Israel: their strong holds wilt
thou set on fire, and their young men wilt
thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash
their children, and rip up their women with
child. 13. And Hazael said, But what! is
thy servant a dog, that he should do this
great thing? And Elisha answered, The
Lord hath showed me that thou shall be
king over Syria. 1 4. So he departed from
Elisha, and came to his master ; who said
to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he
answered, He told me that thou shouldest
surely recover. 15. And it came to pass
on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth,
and dipped it in water, and spread it on his
face, so that he died ; and Hazael reigned
in his stead.
Here,
I. We may inquire what brought Elisha to Da¬
mascus, the chief city of Syria. Was he sent to
any but the lost sheep of the house of Israel? It
seems he was, perhaps he went to make a visit to
Naaman his convert, and to confirm him in his
choice of the true religion, which was the more
needful now, because, it should seem, he was now
out of his place, for Hazael is supposed to be cap¬
tain of the host; either he resigned it, or was turned
out of it, because he would not bow, or not bow
heartily, in the house of Rimmon; some think he
went to Damascus upon account of the famine, or
rather, he went thither in obedience to the orders
God gave Elijah, (1 Kings 19. 15.) Go to Damas¬
cus to anoint Hazael, thou, or thy successor.
II. We may observe that Ben-hadad, a great
king, rich and mighty, lay sick: no honour, wealth,
or power, will secure men from the common dis¬
eases and disasters of human life; palaces and
thrones lie as open to the arrests of sickness and
death as the meanest cottage.
III. We may wonder that the king of Syria, in
his sickness, should make Elisha his oracle. No¬
tice was soon brought him that the man of God (for
by that title he was well known in Syria since he
cured Naaman) was come to Damascus, v. 7.
Never in better time, says Ben-hadad; Go, and
inquire of the Lord by him: in his health, he bowed
in the house of Rimmon; but now that he is sick, he
distrusts his idol, and sends to inquire of the God
of Israel. Affliction brings those to God, who, in
their prosperity, had made light of him; sometimes
sickness opens men’s eyes, and rectifies their mis¬
takes. This is the more observable, 1. Because it
is not long since a king of Israel had, in his sxkness,
sent to inquire of the God of Ekron, ( ch . 1. 2.) as
if there had been no God in Israel. Note, God
sometimes fetches to himself that honour ‘from
strangers, which is denied him, and alienated from
him, by his own professing people. 2. Because it
is not long since this Ben-hadad had sent a great
force to treat Elisha as an enemy, {ch. 6. 14.) yet
now he courts him as a prophet. Note, Among
other instances of the change of men’s minds by
sickness and affliction, this is one, that it often gives
them other thoughts of God’s ministers, and teache-
597
U. KINGS, VIII.
them to value the counsels and prayers of those
whom they had hated and despised.
To put ' an honour upon the prophet, (1.) He
sends to him, and does not send for him, as if, with
the centurion, he thought himself not worthy that
the man of God should come under his roof. (2.)
He sends to him by Hazael, his prime minister of
state, and not by a common messenger. It is no
disparagement to the greatest of men, to attend the
prophets of the Lord; Hazael must go meet him at
the place where he had appointed a meeting with
his friends. (3.) He sends him a noble present, of
every good thing of Damascus, as much as loaded
forty camels; ( v . 6.) testifying hereby his affection
to the prophet, bidding him welcome to Damascus,
and providing for his sustenance while he sojourned
there; it is probable that Elisha accepted it, (why
should he not?) though he refused Naaman’s. (4.)
He orders Hazael to call him his son Ben-hadad,
conforming to the language of Israel, who called the
prophets fathers. Lastly , He put an honour upon
him as one acquainted with the secrets of Heaven,
when he inquired of him, Shall I recover? It is
natural to us, to desire to know things to come in
time, while things to come in eternity are little
thought of, or inquired after.
IV. What passed between Hazael and Elisha, is
especially remarkable. 1. Elisha answered his in¬
quiry concerning the king, that he might recover,
the disease was not mortal, but that he should die
another way, ( v . 10.) not a natural, but a violent
death. There are many ways out of the world, and
sometimes, while men think to avoid one, they fall
by another. 2. He looked Hazael in the face with
an unusual concern, till he made Hazael blush, and
himself weep, v. 11. The man of God could out¬
face the man of war. It was not in Hazael’s coun¬
tenance, that Elisha read what he would do, but
God did, at this time, reveal it to him, and it fetch¬
ed tears from his eyes: the more foresight men
have, the more grief they are liable to. 3. When
Hazael asked him why he wept, he told him what
a great deal of mischief he foresaw he would do the
Israel of God, (v. 12. ) what desolations he would
make of their strong holds, and barbarous destruc¬
tion of their men, women, and children. The sins
of Israel provoked God to give them up into the
hands of their cruel enemies, yet Elisha wept to
think that ever Israelites should be thus abused;
for though he foretold, he did not desire, the woful
day. See what havoc war makes, what havoc sin
makes, and how the nature of man is changed by
the fall, and stript even of humanity itself. 4. Ha¬
zael is greatly surprised at this prediction; (t>. 13.)
What! says he, is thy servant a dog, that he should
do this great thing? This great thing he looks upon
to be, (1.) An act of great power, not to be done
but by a crowned head; it must be some mighty po¬
tentate that can think to prevail thus against Israel,
and therefore not I; many are raised to that do¬
minion which they never thought of, and it often
proves to their own hurt, Eccl. 8. 9. (2.) An act
of great barbarity, which could not be done but by
one lost to all. honour and virtue; “Therefore,”
says he, “ it is what I shall never find in my heart
to be guilty of: Is thy servant a dog, to rend, and
tear, and devour? Unless I were a dog, I could not
do it.” See here, [1.] What a bad opinion he had
of the sin, he looked upon it to be great wickedness,
fitter for a brute, for a beast of prey, to do than a
man. Note, It is possible for a wicked man, under
the convictions and restraints of natural conscience,
to express great abhorrence of a sin, and yet after¬
ward to be well reconciled to it. [2.] What a good
opinion he had of himself, how much better than he
deserved; he thought it impossible he should do
such barbarous things as the prophet foresaw. |
Note, We are apt to think ourselves sufficiently
armed against those sins which yet we are after¬
ward overcome by, as Peter, Matth. 26. 35. Lastly,
In answer to this Elisha only told him he should be
king over Syria; then he would have power to do it,
and then he would find in his heart to do it. Hon¬
ours change men's temfiers and manners, and sel¬
dom for the better; “ Thou knowest not what thou
wilt do when thou comest to be king, but I tell
thee, this thou wilt do. ” Those that are little and
low in the world, cannot imagine how strong the
temptations of power and prosperity are, which, if
ever they arrive at, they will find how deceitful
their hearts were, and how much worse than they
suspected.
V. What mischief Hazael did to his master,
hereupon; if he took any occasion to do it front
what Elisha had said, the fault was in him, not in
the word.
1. He basely cheated his master, and belied the
prophet; ( v . 14.) He told me thou shou/dest cer¬
tainly recover : this was abominably false, he told
him he should die; (v. 10.) but he unfairly and un
faithfully concealed that, either because he was
loath to put the king out of humour with bad news,
or because hereby he might the more effectually
carry that bloody design, which he conceived when
he was told he should be his successor. The Devil
mins men, by telling them they shall certainly re¬
cover and do well; so rocking them asleep in secu¬
rity, than which nothing is more fatal: this was an
injury to the king, who lost the benefit of this
warning to prepare for death, and an injury to
Elisha, who would be counted a false prophet.
2. He barbarously murdered his master, and so
made good the prophet’s word, v. 15. He dipped a
thick cloth in cold water, and spread that upon his
face, under pretence of cooling and refreshing him,
but so that it stopped his breath, and stifled him
presently, he being weak, (and not able to help
himself,) or perhaps asleep; such a bubble is the
life of the greatest of men, and so much exposed
are princes to violence. Hazael, who was Benha-
dad’s confidant, is his murderer, and, some think,
was not suspected, nor did it ever come out but by
the pen of this inspired historian. We found this
haughty monarch (1 Kings 20.) the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living, but he goes down
slain to the pit with his iniquity upon his bones,
Ezek. 32. 25.
16. And in the fifth year of Joram, the
son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat
being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son
of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, began to
reign. 17. Thirty and two years old was
he when he began to reign ; and he reigned
eight years in Jerusalem. 18. And lie
walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as
did the house of Ahab ; for the daughter of
Ahab was his wTife: and he did evil in the
sight of the Lord. 19. Yet the Lord
would not destroy Judah for David his ser¬
vant’s sake, as he promised to give him al¬
ways a light, and to his children. 20. In
his days Edom revolted from under the
hand of Judah, and made a king over them¬
selves. 21. So Joram went over to Zair,
and all the chariots with him : and he arose
by night, and smote the Edomites which
compassed him about, and the captains of
503
II. KINGS, VIII.
thy chariots : and the people fled into their
tents. 22. Yet Edom revolted from under
the hand of Judah unto this day. Then
Libnah revolted at the same time. 23. And
the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that
he did, are they not written in the book of
the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 24.
And Joram slept with his fathers, and was
buried with his fathers in the city of David:
and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
We have here a brief account of the life and \
reign of Jehoram, (or Joram,) one of the worst of
the kings of Judah, but the son and successor of Je-
hoshaphat, one of the best. Note, 1. Parents cannot
give grace to their children: many that have them¬
selves been godly, have had the grief and shame
of seeing those that came forth out of their bowels,
wicked and vile; let not the families that are thus j
afflicted, think it strange. 2. If the children of
good parents prove wicked, commonly they are
worse than others; the unclean spirit brings in
seven others more wicked than himself, Luke 11.
26. .3. A nation is sometimes justly punished with
the miseries of a bad reign, for not improving the
blessings and advantages of a good one.
Concerning this Jehoram, observe,
I. The genera] idea here given of his badness;
( v . 18.) He did cm the house of Ahab, and worse
lie could not do; his character is taken from the
bad example he followed, for men are according to
the company they converse with, and the copies
they write after. No mistake is more fatal to
voung people, than a mistake in the choice of those
whom thev would recommend themselves to,
and take their measures from, and whose good
opinion they value themselves by; Jehoram chose
the house of Ahab for his pattern rather than his
father’s house, and it was his ruin. We have a par¬
ticular account of his wickedness, 2 Chron. 21.
murder, idolatry, persecution, every thing that was
bad.
II. The occasions of his badness; his father was a
very good man, and, no doubt, took care to have
him taught the good knowledge of the Lord; but,
1. It is certain lie did ill, to marry him to the
daughter of Ahab; no good could come of an al¬
liance with an idolatrous family, but all mischief
with such a daughter of such a mother, as Athaliah
the daughter of Jezebel: the degeneracy of the oid
world took rise from the unequal yoking of profes¬
sors with profane; those that are ill-matched, are
already half-ruined. 2. I doubt he did not do well,
to make him king in his own life time: it is said
here, ( v . 16.) he began foreign, Jehoshaphat being
then king: hereby he gratified his pride, (than
which nothing is more pernicious to young people,)
indulged him in his ambition, in hopes to reform
him by humouring him, and so brought a curse
upon his family, as Eli did, whose sons made them¬
selves vile, and he restrained them not. Jehoshaphat
had made this wicked son of his, viceroy, once
when he went with Ahab to Hamoth-gilead, from
which Jehoshaphat’s 17th year, (1 Kings 22. 51.) is
made Jehoram’s second; ( ch . 1. 17.) but afterward,
in his 22d year, he made him partner in his govern¬
ment, and from thence Joram’s eight years are to
be dated, three years before his father’s death. It
l:as been hurtful to many young men, to come too
soon to their estates; Samuel got nothing by making
his sons judges,
III. The rebukes of Providence which he was
under for his badness. 1. The Edomites revolted,
who had been under the government of the kings of
Judah ever since David’s time, about 150 years, v,
20. He attempted to reduce them, and gave them
a defeat, ( v . 21.) but he could not improve the ad¬
vantage he had got, so as to recover his dominion
over them; yet Fdom revolted; (y. 22.) and the
Edomites were, after this, bitter enemies to the
Jews, as appears by the prophecy of Obadiah, and
Ps. 137. 7. Now Isaac’s prophecy was fulfilled,
that this Esau the elder should serve Jacob the
younger; yet in process of time, he should break
that yoke from off his neck, Gen. 27. 40. 2. Libnah
revolted, that was a city in Judah, in the heart of
his country, a priests’ city, the inhabitants of that
city shook off his government, because he had for¬
saken God, and would have compelled them to do
so too, 2 Chron. 21. 10, 11. In order that they
might preserve their religion, they set up for a free
state; perhaps, other cities did the same. 3. His
reign was short, God cut him off in the midst of his
days, when he was but 40 years old, and had
reigned but eight years; bloody and deceitful men
shall not live out half their days.
IV. The gracious care of Providence for the
keeping up of the kingdom of Judah, and the house
of David, notwithstanding the apostasies and cala¬
mities of Jehoram’s reign, (v. 19.) Yet the Lord
would not destroy Judah; he could easily have
done it, he might justly have done it, it would
have been no loss to him to have done it; yet
he would not do it, for David’s sake, not for the
sake of any merit of his which could challenge
this favour to his family as a debt, but for the sake
of a promise made to him, that he should always
have a lamp, that is, a succession of kings from one
generation to another; by which his name should be
kept bright and illustrious, as a lamp is kept burn¬
ing by a constant fresh supply of oil: thus his family
was not to be extinct, till it terminated in the Mes¬
siah, that Son of David, on whom was to be hung
all the glory of his Father's house, and in whose
everlasting kingdom that promise to David is ful¬
filled, (Ps. 132. 17.) I have ordained a lamp, for
mine anointed.
V. The conclusion of this impious and inglorious
reign, v. 23, 24. Nothing peculiar is here said of
him; but we are told, 2 Chron. 21, 19, 20. that
he died of sore diseases, and died without being
desired.
25. In the twelfth year of Joram, the son
of Ahab king of Israel, did Ahaziah, the son
of Jehoram king of Judah, begin to reign.
26. Two and twenty years old was xAhaziah
when he began to reign, and he reigned one
year in Jerusalem : and his mother’s name
teas Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of
Israel. 27. And he walked in the way of
the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight
of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab : foi
he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab
28. And he went with Joram the son of
Ahab to the war against Hazael king ol
Syria in Ramoth-gilead ; and the Syrians
wounded Joram. 29. And king Joram
went back to be healed in Jezreel of the
wounds which the Syrians had given him at
Hamah, when he fought against Hazael
king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of
Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see
Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because
he was sick.
599
II. KINGS, IX.
As among common persons, there are some that
we call little wen, who make no figure, are little
regarded, and less valued; so among kings, there
are some whom, in comparison with others, we
may call little kings. This Ahaziah was one of
these; he looks mean in the history, and, because
wicked, in God’s account, vile. It is too plain an
evidence of the affinity between Jehoshaphat and
Ahab, that they had the same names in their fami¬
lies, at the same time, in which, we may suppose,
they designed to compliment one another. Ahab
had two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, who reigned
successively; Jehoshaphat had a son and grandson
named Jehoram and Ahaziah, who, in like manner,
reigned successively. Names indeed do not make
natures, but it was a bad omen to Jehoshaphat’s
family, to borrow names from Ahab’s; or if he lent
the names to that wretched family, he could not
communicate with them the devotion of their signi¬
fications, Ahaziah, Taking hold of the Lord; and
Jehoram, The Lord exalted.
Ahaziah king of Israel had reigned but two years,
Ahaziah king of Judah reigned but one. We are
here told that his relation to Ahab’s family was the
occasion.
1. Of his wickedness; (x». 27.) He walked in the
way of the house of Ahab, that idolatrous bloody
house; for his mother was Ahab’s daughter, v. 26.
So that he sucked in wickedness with his milk.
Partus sequitur ventrem — The child may be ex
fleeted to resemble the mother. When men choose
wives for themselves, they must remember they |
are choosing mothers for their children, and are j
concerned to choose accordingly.
2. Of his fall; Joram, his mother’s brother,
courted him to join with him for the recovery of 1
Ramoth-gilead, an attempt fatal to Ahab; so it was
to Joram his son, for in that expedition he was
wounded, (y. 28.) and returned to Jezreel to be
cured, leaving his army there in possession of the
flace. Ahaziah was likewise returned, but went to
ezreel, to see how Jehoram did, v. 29. Providence
so ordered it, that he who had been debauched by
the house of Ahab, might he cut off with them,
when the measure of their iniquity was full, as we
shall find in the next chapter. They who partake
with sinners in their sin, must expect to partake
with them in their plagues.
CHAP. IX.
Hazael and Jehu were the men that were designed to be !
the instruments of God’s justice in punishing and de- 1
stroying the house of Ahab. Elijah was bidden to ap¬
point them to this service; but, upon Ahab’s humiliation, i
a reprieve was granted, and so it was left to Elisha to
appoint them. Hazael’s elevation to the throne of Sy¬
ria we read of in the foregoing chapter; and we must
now attend Jehu to the throne of Israel; for him thates-
capeth the sword of Hazael, as Joram and Ahaziah did, \
lehu must slay, of which this chapter- gives us an ac¬
count. I. A commission is sent to Jehu by the hand of
one of the prophets, to take upon him the government,
and destroy the house of Ahab, v. 1 . . 10. II. Here is |
his speedy execution of this commission. 1. He com¬
municates it to his captains, v. 1 1 . . 15. 2. He marches j
directly to Jezreel, (v. 16.. 20.) and there despatches,
(1.) Joram king of Israel, v. 20 . . 26. (2.) Ahaziah |
king of Judah, v. 27 . . 29. (3.) Jezebel, v. 30 . . 37.
I. A ND Elisha the prophet called one of j
f\_ the children of the prophets, and
said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take j
this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ra¬
moth-gilead : 2. And when thou comest
thither, look out there Jehu the son of Je-
hoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go ii*,
and make him arise up from among his bre¬
thren, and carry him to an inner chamber:
3. Then take the box of oil, and pour it on
his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, ]
have anointed thee king over Israel. Then
open the door, and flee, and tarry not. 4.
So the young man, even the young man the
prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. i>. And
when he came, behold, the captains of the.
host were sitting: and he said, I have an
errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said,
Unto which of all us ? And he said, To
thee, O captain. 6. And he arose, and
went into the house; and he poured the oil
on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed
thee king over the people of the Lord, even
over Israel. 7. And thou shalt smite the
house of Ahab thy master, that I may
avenge the blood of my servants the pro¬
phets, and the blood of all the servants of
the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. 8. For
the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and
I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth
against the wall, and him that is shut up
and left in Israel : 9. And I will make the
house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, and like the house of
Baasha the son of Ahijah: 10. And the
dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jez
reel, and there sfiall he none to bury her.
And he opened the door and fled.
We have here the anointing of Jehu to be king,
who was, at this time, a commander (probably,
commander in chief) of the forces employed ;.t
Ramoth-gilead, v. 14. There he was fighting for
the king his master, but received orders from a
higher King to fight against him. It does not ap¬
pear that Jehu aimed at the government, or that he
ever thought of it, but the commission given him
was a perfect surprise to him. Some think that he
had been anointed before by Elijah, whom God or¬
dered to do it, but privately, and with an intimation
that he must not act till’ further orders; Samuel
anointed David long before he was to come to the
throne; but that is not at all probable, for then we
must suppose Elijah had anointed Hazael too. No,
when God bade him do these things, he bade him
anoint Elisha to be firofihet in his room, to do them
when he was gone, as God should direct him.
Here is,
I. The commission sent. Elisha did not go him¬
self to anoint Jehu, because he was old, and unfit
for such a journey, and so well known, that he could
not do it privately, could not go and come without
observation; therefore he sends one of the sojis of
the prophets to do it, v. 1. They not cnlv reve¬
renced him as their father, ( ch . 2. 15.) but observed
and obeyed him as their father. This service of
anointmg Jehu, 1. Had danger in it, (1 Sam. 16. 2.)
and therefore it was not fit that Elisha should ex¬
pose himself, but one of the sons of the prophets,
whose life was of less value, and who could do it
with less danger. 2. It required labour, and the’-e
fore fitter for a young man in his full strength. Let
i youth work, and age direct. 3. Yet it was an ho¬
nourable piece of service, to anoint a king, and he
that did it, might hope to be preferred for it after-
600
II. KINGS, IX.
ward, and therefore, for the encouragement of the
young prophets, Elisha employed one of them: he
would iv^t engross all the honours to himself, nor
grudge the young prophets a share in them.
When he sent him, (1.) He put the oil into his
hand, with which he must anoint Jehu. Take this
box of oil. Solomon was anointed with oil out of
the tabernacle , 1 Kings 1. 39. That could not now
be had, but oil from a prophet’s hand was equiva¬
lent to oil out of God’s house. It was not the con¬
stant practice to anoint kings, but upon the disturb¬
ance of the succession, as in the case of Solomon;
or the interruption of it, as in the case of Joash;
[ch. 11. 12.) or the translation of the government to
a new family, as here, and in the case of David;
yet it might be used generally, though the scrip¬
ture does not mention it. (2.) He put the words
into his mouth which he must say, ( v . 3.) I have
anointed thee king, and, no doubt, told him all the
rest that he said, v. 7-* 10.. Those whom God sends
on his errand, shall not go without full instructions.
He also ordered him, [1.] To do it privately; to
single out Jehu from the rest of the captains, and
anoint him in an inner chamber, {y. 2.) that Jehu’s
confidence in his commission might be tried, when
he had no witness to attest it; his being, of a sud¬
den, .animated for the service, would be proof suffi¬
cient of his being anointed to it, there needed no
other proof. The thing signified was the best evi¬
dence of the sign. [2.] To do it expeditiously;
when he went about it, he must gird ufi his loins;
when he had done it, he must fee and not tarry for
a fee, or a treat, or to see what Jehu would do. It
becomes the sons of the prophets to be quick and
lively at their work, to go about it, and go through
it, as men that hate sauntering and trifling. They
should be as angels that fly swiftly.
II. The commission delivered. The young pro¬
phet did his business with despatch; was at Ramoth-
gilead presently, v. 4. There he found the general
officers sitting together, either at dinner, or in a
council of war, v. 5. With the assurance that be¬
came a messenger from God, notwithstanding the
meanness of his appearance, he called Jehu out from
the rest, not waiting his leisure, or begging his par¬
don for disturbing him, but as one having authority,
I have an errand to thee, O captain. Perhaps Jehu
had some intimation of his business; and therefore,
that he might not seem too forward to catch at the
honour, he asked, To which of all us? That it
might not be said afterward, he got it by speaking |
first, but they might all be satisfied he was indeed
the person designed.
When the prophet had him alone, he anointed
him, v. 6. The anointing of the Spirit is a hidden
thing, that new name, which none knows but they
that have it. Herewith,
1. He invests him with the royal dignity; Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, whose messenger I
am, in his name I have anointed thee king over the
heople of the Lord. He gives him an incontestable
title, but reminds him that he was made king, (1.)
By the God of Israel; from him he must see his
power derived, for by him kings reign, for him he
must use it, and to him he must be accountable.
Magistrates are the ministers of God, and must I
therefore act in dependence upon him, and with an
entire devotedness to him and to his glory. (2.)
Over the Israel of God-, though the people of Israel
were wretchedly corrupted, and had forfeited all
the honour of relation to God, yet they are here
called the people of the Lord, for he had a right to
them, and had not yet given them a bill of divorce.
Jehu must look upon the people he was made king
of, as the people of the Lord, not as his vassals, but
God’s freemen, his sons, his first-born, not to be
abused or tyrannized over; God’s people, and there- ,
fore to be ruled for him, and according to his laws.
2. He instructs him in his present service, which
was to destroy all the house of Ahab; (i;. 7.) not
that he might clear his own way to the throne, and
secure to himself the possession of it, but that he
might execute the judgments of God upon that
guilty and obnoxious family. He calls Ahab his
master, that the relation might be no objection.
“ He was thy master; and to lift up thy hand
against his son and successor, would be not only
base ingratitude, but treason, rebellion, and all that
is bad, if thou hadst not an immediate command
from God to do it: but thou art under higher obli¬
gations to thy Master in heaven, than to thy master
Ahab; He has determined that the whole house of
Ahab shall perish, and by thy hand; fear not, has
not he commanded thee? Fear not sin; his com¬
mand will justify thee, and bear thee out: fear not
danger; his command will secure and prosper thee. ”
That he might, intelligently, and in a right man¬
ner, do this great execution on the house of Ahab,
he tells him,
(1.) What was their crime, what the ground of
the controversy, and wherefore God had this quar¬
rel with them, that he might have an eye to that
which God had an eye to, and that was the blood of
God’s servants the prophets, and his other faithful
worshippers, which they had shed, and which must
now be required at the hand of Jezebel. That they
were idolaters, was bad enough, and merited all
that was brought upon them ; yet that is not men¬
tioned here, but the controversy God has with them,
is, for their being persecutors, not so much their
throwing down God’s altars, as their slaying his
prophets with the sword. Nothing fills the mea¬
sure of the iniquity of any prince or people so as
this does, or brings a surer and sorer rum. This
was the sin that brought on Jerusalem its first de¬
struction, (2 Chron. 36. 16.) and its final one, Matth.
23. 37, 38. Jezebel’s whoredoms and witchcrafts
were not so provoking as her persecuting the pro¬
phets, killing some, and driving the rest into cor¬
ners and caves, 1 Kings 18. 4.
(2.) What was their doom; they were sentenced
to utter destruction; not to be corrected, but to be
cut off, and rooted out. This Jehu must know, that
his eye might not spare for pity, favour, or affection.
All that belonged to Ahab, must be slain, v. 8. A
pattern is given him of the destruction intended, in
the destruction of the families of Jeroboam and
Baasha; (r. 9.) and he is particularly directed to
throw Jezebel to the dogs, v. 10. The whole stock
of royal blood was little enough, and too little, to
atone for the blood of the prophets, the saints and
martyrs, which, in God’s account, is of great price.
The prophet, having done this errand, made the
best of his way home again, and left Jehu alone to
consider what he had to do, and to beg direction
from God.
1 1 . Then Jehu came forth to the servants of
his lord ; and one said unto him, Is all well ?
wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And
he said unto them, Ye know the man, and
his communication. 12. And they said, It is
false ; tell us now. And he said, Thus and
thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith the
Lord, I have anointed thee king over Is¬
rael. 13. Then they hasted, and took every
man his garment, and put it under him on
the top of the stairs, and blew with trum¬
pets, saying, Jehu is king. 14. So Jehu, the
son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, con-
601
II. KINGS, IX.
spired against Joram. (Now Joram had
kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, be¬
cause of Hazael king of Syria. 15. But
king Joram was returned to be healed in
Jezreel .of the wounds which the Syrians
had given him, when he fought with Hazael
king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your
minds, then let none go forth nor escape out
of the city, to go to tell it in Jezreel.
Jehu, after some pause, returned to his place at
the board, taking no notice of what had passed, but,
as it should seem, designing, for the present, to
keep it to himself, if they had not urged him to dis¬
cover it. Let us therefore see what passed between
him and the captains.
1. With what contempt the captains speak of the
young prophet; ( v . 11.) “ Wherefore came this
mad fellow to thee? What business has he with
thee? And why wouldest thou humour him so far
as to retire for conversation with him? Are pro¬
phets company for captains?” They call him a mad
fellow, because he was one of those that would not
run with them to an excess of riot, (1 Pet. 4. 4.) but
that lived a life of self-denial, mortification, and
contempt of the world, and spent their time in de¬
votion; for these things they thought the prophets
were fools, and the spiritual men were mad, Hos.
9. 7. Nqte, Those that have no religion, commonly
speak with disdain of those that are religious, and
look upon them as mad. They said of our Saviour,
He is beside himself; of John Baptist, He has a de¬
vil, is a poor melancholy man; of St. Paul, Much
learning has made him mad. The highest wisdom
is thus represented as folly, and those that best un¬
derstand themselves, are looked upon as beside
themselves. Perhaps Jehu intended it for a rebuke
to his friends, when he said, “ Ye know the man to
be a prophet, why then do ye call him a mad fel¬
low? Ye know the way of his communication to
be not from madness, but inspiration.” Or, “Being
a prophet, you may guess what his business is, to
tell me of my faults, and to teach me my duty: I
need not inform you concerning it.” Thus he
thought to have put them off, but they urged him
to tell them. “It is false,” say they, “we cannot
conjecture what was his errand, and therefore tell
us.” Being thus pressed to it, he told them that the
prophet had anointed him king, and, it is probable,
showed them the oil upon his head, v. 12. He knew
not but some of them, either out of loyalty to Joram,
or envy of him, might oppose him, and go near to
crush his interest in its infancy; but he relied on the
divine appointment, and was not afraid to own it,
knowing whom he had trusted: he that raised him,
would stand by him.
2. With what respect they compliment the new
king, upon the first notice of his advancement, v.
13. How meanly soever they thought of the pro¬
phet that anointed him, and of his office, they ex¬
pressed a great veneration for the royal dignity of
him that was anointed, and were very forward to
proclaim him with sound of trumpet. In token of
their subjection and allegiance to him, their affec¬
tion to his person and government, and their desire
to see him high and easy in it, they put their gar¬
ments under him, that he might stand or sit upon
them on the top. of the stairs, in sight of the soldiers,
who, upon the first intimation, came together to
grace the solemnity. God put it into their hearts
thus readily to own him, for he turns the hearts of
people as well as kings, like the rivers of water,
into what channel he pleases. Perhaps they were
disquieted at Joram’s government, or had a particu¬
lar affection for Jehu; however, it seems, things
Vol. II. — 4 G
| were ripe for the revolution, and they all came into
Jehu’s interest, and conspired against Joram, v. 14.
3. With what caution Jehu proceeded. He had
advantages against Joram, and he knew how to im¬
prove them. He had the army with him; Joram
had left it, and was gone home badly wounded.
Jehu’s good conduct appears in two things; (1.)
That he complimented the captains, and would do
nothing without their advice and consent; (“If it
be your minds, we will do so and so, else not;”)
thereby intimating the deference he paid to their
judgment, and the confidence he had in their fideli¬
ty, both which tended to please and fix them. It
is the wisdom of those that would rise fast, and
stand firm, to take their friends along with them.
(2.) That he contrived to surprise Joram; and, in
order thereto, to come upon him with speed, and
to prevent his having notice of what was now done:
“ Jet none go forth to tell it in Jezreel, that, as a
snare, the ruin may come on him and his house.”
The suddenness of an attack sometimes turns to as
good an account as the force of it.
16. So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went
to Jezreel ; for Joram lay there. And Ahazi-
ah king of Judah was come down to see Jo¬
ram. 17. And there stood a watchman on
the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the com¬
pany of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a
company. And Joram said, Take a horse¬
man, and send to meet them, and let him
say, Is it peace ? 1 8. So there went one on
horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith
the king, Is it peace ? And Jehu said, What
hast thou to do with peace ? turn thee be¬
hind me. And the watchman told, saying,
The messenger came to them, but he com-
eth not again. 19. Then he sent out a
i second on horseback, which came to them,
and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace ?
And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do
with peace ? turn thee behind me. 20. And
the watchman told, saying, He came even
unto them, and cometh not again : and the
driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of
Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. 21. And
Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot
was made ready. And Joram king of Israel,
and Ahaziah king of Judah, went out, each
in his chariot, and they went out against
Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth
the Jezreelite. 22. And it came to pass,
when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it
peace, Jehu ? And he answered, What
peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy
mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts, are so
many ? 23. And Joram turned his hands,
and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is
treachery, O Ahaziah ! 24. And Jehu drew
i a bow with his full strength, and smote Je-
horam between his arms; and the arrow
went out at his heart, and he sunk down in
his chariot. 25. Then said Jehu to Bidkar
j his captain, Take up, and cast him in the
portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite :
II. KINGS, IX.
602
for remember how that, when I and thou
rode together* after Ahab his father, the
Lord laid this burden upon him ; 26.
Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of
Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith the
Lord; and I will requite thee in this plat,
saith the Lord. Now therefore take and
cast him into the plat of ground , according
to the word of the Lord. 27. But when
Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled
by the way of the garden-house: and Jehu
followed after him, and said, Smite him also
in the chariot. And they did so at the going
up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled
to Megiddo, and died there. 28. And his
servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusa¬
lem, and buried him in his sepulchre with his
fathers in the city of David. 29. And in the
eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab be¬
gan Ahaziah to reign over Judah.
From Ramoth-Gilead to Jezreel was more than
one day’s march; about the mid-way between them,
the river Jordan must be crossed. We may suppose
Jehu to have marched with all possible expedition,
and to have taken the utmost precaution to prevent
the tidings from getting to Jezreel before him; and,
at length, we have him within sight first, and then
within reach, of the devoted king.
I. Joram’s watchmen discovers him first at a dis¬
tance, him and his retinue, and gives notice to the
king of the approach of s company, whether of
friends or foes he cannot tell. But the king (impa¬
tient to know what is the matter, and perhaps
jealous that the Syrians, who had wounded him,
had traced him by the blood to his own palace, and
were coming to seize him) sent first one messenger,
and then another, to bring him intelligence, v.
17. . 19. He had scarcely recovered the fright he
was put into in the battle, and his guilty conscience
put him into a continual terror. Each messenger
asked the same question, “Is it peace‘s Are you for
us, or for our adversaries? Do you bring good tidings
or bad?” Each had the same answer, What hast
thou to do with peace ? Turn thee behind me; (vi
18, 19.) as if he had said, “ It is not to thee, but to
him that sent thee, that I will give an answer; for
thy part, if thou consult thy own safety, turn thee
behind me, and enlist thyself among my followers.”
The watchman gives notice that the messengers
were taken prisoners; and, at length, observes that
the leader of this troop drove like Jehu, who, it
seems, was noted for driving furiously, thereby dis¬
covering himself to be a man of a hot eager spirit,
intent upon his business, and pushing forward with
all his might. A man of such a violent temper, was
fittest for the service to which Jehu was designated.
The wisdom of God is seen in the choice of proper
instruments to be employed in his work. But it is
not much for any man’s reputation, to be known by
his fury. He that; has rule over his own spirit, is
better than the mighty. The Chaldee paraphrase
gives thisacontrary sense: The leading is like that of
Jehu, for he leads quietly. And, it should seem,
he (lid not come up very fast, for then there had not
been time for all this that passed. And some think
he chose to march slowly, that he might give Joram
time to come out to him, and so despatch him be¬
fore he entered the city.
II. Joram himself goes out to meet him, and takes
Ahaziah king of Judah along with him; neither of
them equipped for war, as not expecting an enemy,
but in haste to have their curiosity satisfied. How
strangely has Providence sometimes ordered it, that
men have been in haste to meet their ruin, when
their day has come to fall.
1. The place where Joram met Jehu, was omi¬
nous, in the portion of JVaboth the Jezreelite, -v. 21
The very sight of that ground was enough to make
Joram tremble, and Jehu triumph; for Joram had
the guilt of Naboth’s blood fighting against him, and
Jehu had the force of Elijah’s curse fighting for
him. The circumstances of events are sometimes
so ordered by Divine Providence, as to make the
punishment answer to the sin, as face answers to
face in a glass.
2. Joram’s demand was still the same, “Is it
j.eace, Jehu ? Is all well? Dost thou come home
thus, flying from the Syrians, or more than a con¬
queror over them?” It seems, he looked for peace,
and could not entertain any other thought. Note,
It is very common for great sinners, even when they
are upon the brink of ruin, to flatter themselves with
an opinion that all is well with them, and to cry
peace to themselves.
3. Jehu’s reply was very startling; he answered
him with a question, What peace canst thou expect,
so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezi bel,
(who, though queen-dowager, was, in effect, queen-
regent,) and her witchcrafts, are so many? See how
plainly Jehu deals with him. Formerly, he durst
not do so, but now he had another spirit. Note,
Sinners will not always be flattered; one time or
other, they will have their own given them, Ps. 36.
2. Observe, (1.) He charges upon him his mo¬
ther’s wickedness, because he had at first learned
it, and then with his kingly power protected it. She
stands impeached for whoredom, corporal and spi¬
ritual, serving idols, and serving them with the very
acts of lewdness; for witchcraft likewise, enchant¬
ments and divinations, used in honour of her idols:
and these multiplied the whoredoms and the witch¬
crafts many; for those that abandon themselves to
wicked courses, know not where they will stop.
One sin begets another. (2.) Upon that account,
he throws him off from all pretensions to peace;
“What peace can come to that house in which
there is so much wickedness unrepented of ?” Note,
The way of sin can never be th.e way of peace, Isa.
57. 21. What peace can sinners have with God,
what peace with their own consciences, what good,
what comfort, can they expect in life, in death, or
after death, who go on still in their trespasses ? No
peace so long as sin is persisted in; but as soon as it
is repented of and forsaken, there is peace.
4. The execution was done immediately. When
Joram heard of his mother’s crimes, his heart failed
him, he presently concluded the long-threatened
day of reckoning was now come, and cried out,
“ There is treachery, O Ahaziah; Jehu is our enemy,
and it is time for us to shift for our safety.” Both
fled, and,
(1.) Joram king of Israel was slain presently, v.
24. Jehu despatched him with his own hands. The
bow was not drawn at a venture, as that which sent
the fatal arrow through the joints of his father’s
harness, but Jehu directed the arrow between his
shoulders as he fled, (it was one of God’s arrows
which he has ordained against the persecutor, Ps.
7. 13.) and it reached to his heart, so that he died
upon the spot. He was now the top-branch of Ahab’s
house, and therefore was first cut off. He died a
criminal, under the sentence of the law, which Je¬
hu, the executioner, pursues in the disposal of the
dead body. Naboth’s vineyard was hard by, which
put him in mind of that circumstance of the doom
Elijah passed upon Ahab, I will requite thee in this
plat, said the Lord, (v. 25, 26.) for the blood oj
603
11. KINGS, IX.
Naboth himself, and for the blood of his sons, who
were either put to death with him as partners in
his crime, or secretly murdered after, lest they
should bring an appeal, or find some way to a\ enge
their, father’s death; or had broken their hearts for
the loss of him; or (his whole estate being confis¬
cated, as well as his vineyard) had lost their liveli¬
hoods, which was, in effect, to lose their lives: for
this, the house of Ahab must be reckoned with; and
that very piece of ground which he, with so much
pride and pleasure, had made himself master of, at
the expense of the guilt of innocent blood, now be¬
came the theatre on which his son’s dead body lay
exposed a spectacle to the world. Thus the Lord
is known by the judgment which he executeth.
Higgaion. Selah.
(2.) Ahaziah king of Judah was pursued, and
slain in a little time, and not far off, v. 27, 28. [1.]
Though he was now in Joram’s company, he had
not been slain, but that he was joined with the house
of Ahab both in affinity and in iniquity; he was one j
of them; so he had made himself by his sins, and
therefore he must fare as they fare. Vet, [2.] Per¬
haps he had not at this time fallen with them, if he
had not been found in company with them. It is a
dangerous thing to associate with evil-doers; we
may be entangled both in guilt and misery by it.
30. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel,
lezebel heard of it; and she painted her
face, and tired her head, and looked out at
a window. 31. And as Jehu entered in at
the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who
slew his master? 32. And he lifted up his
face to the window, and said, Who is on
my side? who? And there looked out to
him two or three eunuchs. 33. And he said,
Throw her down. So they threw her down :
and some of her blood was sprinkled on the j
wall, and on the horses : and he trode her
under foot. 34. And when he was come in,
he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now
this cursed woman , and bury her: for she is j
a king's daughter. 35. And they went to
bury her ; but they found no more of her than
the scull, and the feet, and the palms of her
hands. 36. Wherefore they came again,
and told him. And he said. This is the word
of the Lord, which he spake by his servant
Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion
of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:
37. And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as
dung upon the face of the field in the por¬
tion of Jezreel •, so that they shall not say,
This is Jezebel.
The greatest delinquent in the house of Ahab,
was Jezebel: it was she that introduced Baal; slew
the Lord’s prophets; contvived the murder of Na¬
both; stirred up her husband first, and then her
sons, to do wickedly; a cursed woman she is here
called, ( v . 34.) a curse to the country, and whom
all that wished well to their country, had a curse
f->r: three reigns her reign had lasted, but now, at
length, her day is come to fall. We read of a false
prophetess in the church of Thyatira, that is com¬
pared to Jezebel, and called bj her name; (Rev. 2.
20.) her wickedness the same, s. ducing God’s ser¬
vants to idolatry; a long space given her to repent,
{v. 21.) as to Jezebel; and a fearful ruin brought
i| upon her, at last, (x\ 22, 23.) as here upon Jezebel.
So that Jezebel’s destruction may be looked upon as
typical of the destruction of idolaters and persecu¬
tors, especially that great whore, that mother of
harlots, that hath made herself drunk with the
blood of saints, and the nations drunk with the wine
of her fornications, when God shall put it into the
heart of the kings of the earth to hate her, Rev. 17.
5, 6, 16. Now here we have,
I. Jezebel daring the judgment. She heard that
Jehu had slain her son, and slain him for her whore¬
doms and witchcrafts, and thrown his dead body
into the portion of Naboth, according to the worii
of the Lord, and that he was now coming to Jezreel,
where she could not but expect herself to fall next
! a sacrifice to his revenging sword: now see how she
meets her fate; she posted herself in a window at
the entering of the gate, to affront Jehu, and set him
at defiance.
1. Instead of hiding herself, as one afraid of di¬
vine vengeance, she exposed herself to it, and scorn¬
ed to flee; mocked at fear, and was not affrighted.
See how a heart, hardened against God, will brave
it out to the last, run upon him, even upon his neck,
Job 15. 26. But never did any thus harden theii
hearts against him, and prosper.
2. Instead of humbling herself, and putting her¬
self into close mourning for her son, she painted her
face, and tired her head, that she might appear like
herself, that is, (as she thought,) great and majestic,
hoping thereby to daunt Jehu, to put him out of
countenance, and to stop his career. The Lord
God called to baldness and girding with sackcloth,
but behold, painting and dressing, walking contrary
to God, Isa. 22. 12, 13. There is not a surer pre-
j sage of ruin than an unhumbled heart under hum¬
bling providences. Let painted faces look in Jezebel’s
j glass, and see how they like themselves.
3. Instead of trembling before Jehu, the instru¬
ment of God’s vengeance, she thinks to make him
tremble with that threatening question, Had Zimri
peace, who slew his master? Observ e, (1.) She took
no notice of the hand of God gone out against her
family, but flew in the face of him that was only the
, sword in his hand. We are very apt, when we are
in trouble, to break out into a passion against the in-
i struments of our trouble, when we ought to be sub¬
missive to God, and angry at ourselves only. (2.)
She pleased herself with the thought, that what Jehu
was now doing, would certainly end in his own ruin,
and that he w( uld net have peace in it. He had cut
her off from all pretensions to peace, ( v . 22.) and
now she thinks to cut him off likewise. Note, It is
no new thing for those that are doing God’s work,
to be looked upon as out of the way of peace. Ac¬
tive reformers, faithful reprovers, are threatened
with trouble; but let them be in nothing terrified,
Philip. 1. 28. (3.) She quoted a precedent, to deter
him from the prosecution of this enterprise; “ Had
Zimri peace? No, he had not; he came to the throne
by blood and treachery, and within seven days was
constrained to bum the palace over his head, and
himself in it; and canst thou expect to fare any bet¬
ter?” Had the case been parallel, it had been pro¬
per enough to give him this memorandum: for the
judgments of God upon those that have gone before
us in any sinful wav, should be warnings to us to
take heed of treading in their steps. But the in¬
stance of Zimri was misapplied to Jehu: Zimri had
no warrant for what he did, but was incited to it
merely by his own ambition and cruelty; whereas
Jehu was anointed by one of the sons of the pro¬
phets, and did this by order from heaven, which
would bear him cut.’ In comparing persons and
things, we must carefully distinguish between the
precious and the vile, and take heed, lest from the
fate of sinful men we read the doom of useful men.
604
II. KINGS, X.
II. Jehu demanded aid against her. He looked I
up to the window, not daunted at the menaces of j
her impudent but impotent rage, and cried, Who
is on my side? Who? v. 32. He was called out to
do God’s work, in reforming the land, and punish¬
ing those that had debauched it; and here he calls
out for assistance in the doing of it; looked if there
were any to help, any to uphold, I§a. 63. 5. He
lifts up a standard, and makes proclamation, as
'Moses, (Exod. 32. 26.) Who is on the Lord's side?
And the psalmist, (Ps. 94. 16.) Who will rise up.
for me against the ewil-doers? Note, When refor¬
mation-work is set on foot, it is time to ask, “Who
sides with it?”
III. Her own attendants delivering her up to his
just revenge. Two or three chamberlains looked
out to Jehu with such a countenance as encouraged
him to believe they were on his side, and to them
he called, not to seize or secure her till further
orders, but immediately to throw her down, which
was one way of stoning malefactors, casting them
headlong from some steep place. Thus was ven¬
geance taken on her for the stoning of Naboth: they
threw her down, v. 33. If God’s command will
justify Jehu, his command would justify them.
Perhaps they had a secret dislike of Jezebel’s wick¬
edness, and hated her, though they served her; or,
it may be, she was barbarous and injurious to those
about her, and they were pleased with this oppor¬
tunity of being avenged on her; or, observing Je¬
hu’s success, they hoped thus to ingratiate them¬
selves with him, and keep their places in his court.
However it was, thus she was most shamefully put
to death, dashed against the wall, and the pave¬
ment, and then trodden on by the horses, which
were all besmeared with her blood and brains. See
the end of pride and cruelty, and say, The Lord is
righteous.
IV. The very dogs completing her shame and
ruin, according to the prophecy. When Jehu had
taken some refreshment in the palace, he bethought
himself of showing so much respect to Jezebel’s
sex and quality, as to bury her. As bad as she was,
she was a daughter, a king’s daughter, a king’s
wife, a king’s mother; Go, and bury her, v. 34.
But though he had forgotten what the prophet said,
(v. 10, Dogs shall eat Jezebel, ) God had not for¬
gotten it. While he was eating and drinking, the
dogs had devoured her dead body, the dogs that
went about the city, (Ps. 59. 6.) and fed upon the
carrion, so that there was nothing left but her bare
skull, (the painted face was gone,) and her feet and
hands. The hungry dogs had no respect to the dig¬
nity of her extraction: a king’s daughter was no
more to them than a common person. When we
pamper our bodies, and use them deliciously, let us
think how vile they are, and that, shortly, they
will be either a feast for worms under ground, or
beasts above ground. When notice was brought of
this to Jehu, he remembered the threatening, (1
Kings 21. 23.) The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the
wall of Jezreel. Nothing should remain of her but
the monuments of her infamy. She had been
used to appear on public days in great state, and
the cry was, “This is Jezebel. What a majestic
port and figure! How great she looks !” But now
it shall be said no more. We have often seen the
wicked buried, (Eccl. 8. 10.) yet sometimes, as
here, they have no burial, Eccl. 6. 3. Jezebel’s
name no where remained, but as stigmatized in
sacred writ: they could not so much as say, “This is
Jezebel’s grave;” or, “ This is Jezebel’s seed. Thus
the name of the wicked shall rot, rot above ground.
CHAP. X.
We have, in this chapter, I. A further account of Jehu’s
execution of his commission. He cut off, 1. All Ahab’s j
sons, v. 1 . . 10. 2. All Ahab’s kindred, v. 11 . . 14, 17.
S. Ahab’:/ idolatry; his zeal against that, he 1*ook Jona-
dab to be witness to; (v. 15, 16.) summoned ai't.the wor¬
shippers of Baal to attend, (v. 18. . 23.) and si >>w them
all, (v. 24, 25.) and then abolished that idolatry, v.
26.. 28. II. A short account of the administration of
his government. 1. The old idolatry of Israel was re¬
tained, the worship of the calves, v. 29 . . 31. 2. This
brought God’s judgments upon them by Hazael, with
which his reign concludes, v. 32 . . 36.
1. A ND Ahab had seventy sons in Sa-
maria. And Jehu wrote letters,
and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jez¬
reel, to the elders, and to them that brought
up Ahab’s children , saying, 2. Nowr, as
soon as this letter cometli to you, seeing
your master’s sons are with you, and there
are with you chariots and horses, a fenced
city also, and armour, 3. Look even out
the best and meetest of your master’s sons,
and set him on his father’s throne, and fight
for your master’s house. 4. But they were
exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two
kings stood not before him : how then shall
we stand? 5. And he that was over the
house, and he that was over the city, trie
elders also, and the bringers-up of the
children , sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy
servants, and will do all that thou shalt
bid us ; we will not make any king: do thou
that tvhich is good in thine eyes. 6. Then
he wrote a letter the second time to them,
saying, If ye he mine, and if ye will hearken
unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men
your master’s sons, and come to me to Jez¬
reel by to-morrow this time. (Now the
king’s sons, being seventy persons, were
with the great men of the city, which
brought them up.) 7. And it came to pass,
when the letter came to them, that they
took the king’s sons, and slew seventy per¬
sons, and put their heads in baskets, and
sent him them to Jezreel. 8. And there
came a messenger, and told him, saying,
They have brought the heads of the king’s
sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two
heaps at the entering in of the gate until
the morning. 9. And it came to pass in the
morning, that he went out, and stood, and
said to all the people, Ye be righteous: be¬
hold, I conspired against my master, and
slew him: but who slew all these? 10.
Know now that there shall fall unto the
earth nothing of the word of the Loan,
which the Lord spake concerning the house
of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that
which he spake by his servant Elijah. 1 1.
So Jehu slew all that remained of the house
of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men,
and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he
left him none remaining. 12. And he arose
and departed, and came to Samaria. And
as he was at the shearing-house in the way,
II. KINGS, X. 605
13 Jehu ir>ct with the brethren of Ahaziah
idr.g of Judah, and said, Who are ye ? And
they answered, We are the brethren of
Ahaziah ; and we go down to salute the
children of the king, and the children of
the queen. 14. And he said, Take them
alive. And they took them alive, and slew
them at the pit of the shearing-house, even
two and forty men : neither left he any of
them.
We left Jehu in quiet possession of Jezreel, tri¬
umphing over Joram and Jezebel: and must now
attend his further motions. He knew the whole
house of Ahab must be cut off, and therefore pro¬
ceeds in this bloody work, and does not do it deceit¬
fully, or by halves, Jer. 48. 10.
I. He got the heads of all the sons of Ahab, cut
off by their own guardians at Samaria. Seventy
sons (or grandsons) Ahab had; Gideon’s number,
Judg. 8. 30. In such a number that bare his name,
his family was likely to be perpetuated, and yet it
is extirpated all at once. Such a quiver full of
arrows could not protect his house from divine ven¬
geance. Numerous families, if vicious, must not
expect to be long prosperous. The sons of Ahab
were now at Samaria, a strong city, perhaps
brought thither upon occasion of the war with
Syria, as a place of safety, or upon notice of Jehu’s
insurrection; with them were the rulers of Jezreel,
that is, the great officers of the court, who went to
Samaria to secure themselves, or to consult what
was to be done. Those of them that were yet
under tuition, had their tutors with them, who
were intrusted with their education in learning,
agreeable to their birth and quality, but, it is to be
feared, brought them up in the idolatries of their
father’s house, and made them all worshippers of
Baal. Jehu did not think fit to bring his forces to
Samaria to destroy them, but, that the hand of God
might appear the more remarkably in it, made
their guardians their murderers.
1. He sent a challenge to their friends to stand by
them; (i». 2, 3.) “You that are hearty well-wishers
to the house of Ahab, and entire in its interests, now
is your time to appear for it: Samaria is a strong
city, you are in possession of it, you have forces at
command, you may choose out the likeliest person
of all the royal family to head you, you know you
are not tied to the eldest, unless he be the best and
meetest of your master's sons ; if you have any spirit
in you, show it, and set one of them on his father’s
throne, and stand by him with your lives and for¬
tunes.” Not that he desired they should do this,
or expected they would, but thus he upbraided
them with their cowardice, and utter inability to
contest with the divine counsels. “ Do it if you
dare, and see what will come of it.” Those that
have forsaken their religion, have often, with it,
lost both their sense and their courage, and deserve
to be upbraided with it.
2. Hereby he gained from them a submission.
They prudently reasoned with themselves, Behold,
two kings stood not before him, but fell as sacrifices
to his rage; how then shall we stand? v. 4. There¬
fore thev sent him a surrender of themselves,
“ We are thy seTvants, thy subjects, and will do all
(hat thou shalt bid us, right or wrong, and will set
up nobody in competition with thee.” They saw it
was to no purpose to contend with him, and there¬
fore it was their interest to submit to him. With
much more reason may we thus argue ourselves
into a subjection to the great God. Many kings
and great men have fallen before his wrath, for
their wickedness; and how then shall we stand? Do
we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger
than he? No, we must either bend or break.
3. This is improved so far as to make them the
executioners of those whom they had the tuition
of: ( v . 6.) If ye be mine, bring me the heads of your
master's sons by to-morrow at this time. Though
he knew it must be done, and was loath to do it
himself, one would think he could net expect they
should do it. Could they betray such a trust?
Could they be cruel to their master's sons? It
seems, so low did they stoop in their adoration of
the rising sun, that they did it; they cut off the
heads of those 70 princes, and sent them in baskets
a present to Jehu, v. 7. Learn hence not to trust
in a friend, nor to put confidence in a guide, not
governed byr conscience. One can scarcely expect
that he who has been false to his God, should ever
be faithful to his prince. But obsen e God’s righte¬
ousness in their unrighteousness. These elders of
Jezreel had been wickedly obsequious to Jezebel’s
order for the murder of Naboth, 1 Kings 21. 11.
She gloried, it is likely, in the power she" had over
them; and now the same base spirit makes them as
pliable to Jehu, and as ready to obey his orders for
the murder of Ahab’s sons. Let none aim at an
arbitrary power, lest they be found rolling a stene
which, some time or other, will return upon them.
Princes that make their people slaves, take the
readiest way to make them rebels; and, by forcing
men’s consciences, as Jezebel did, they lose their
hold of them.
When the separated heads were presented to
him, he slily upbraided them that were the execu¬
tioners, yet owned the hand of God in it. (1.) He
seems to blame those that had been the execution¬
ers of this vengeance. The heads were laid in two
heaps, at the gate, the proper place of judgment.
There he acquitted the people before God and the
world, (r\ 9, Ye be righteous ,) and by what the
rulers of Samaria had now done, comparatively ac¬
quitted himself: “I slew but one, they have slain
all these: I did it by conspiracy, and with design;
they have done this merely in compliance, and with
an implicit obedience. Let not the people of Sa¬
maria, nor any of the friends of the house of Ahab,
ever reproach me for what I have done, when their
own elders, and the very guardians of the orphans,
have done this.” It is common for those who have
done something too bad, to endeavour the mitiga¬
tion of their own reproach, by drawing others in to
do something worse. But, (2. ) He resolves all into
the righteous judgment of God; (x>. 10.) The Lord
hath done that which he spake by Elijah. Gcd is
not the author of any man’s sin, but even by that
which men do from bad principles, God serves his
own purposes, and glorifies his own name; and is
righteous in that wherein men are unrighteous.
When the Assyrian is made the rod of God's
anger, and the instrument of his justice, he mean-
eth not so, neither doth his heart think so, Isa. 10. 7.
II. He proceeded to destroy all that remained of
the house of Ahab, not only those that descended
from him, but those that were in any relation to
him, all the officers of his household, ministers cf
state, and those in command under him, called here
his great men, in 11. all his kinsfolk and acquaint¬
ance, who had been partners with him in his wick¬
edness, and his priests, or domestic chaplains,
whom he employed in his idolatrous services, and
who strengthened his hand, that he should not turn
from his evil way. Having done this in Jezreel, he
did the same in Samaria, (v. 17.) slew all that re¬
mained to Ahab in Samaria. This was bloody
work, and is not now, in any case, to be drawn into
a precedent. Let the guilty suffer, but not the
guiltless for their sakes. Perhaps such terrible
destructions as these, were intended as types rf the
606 II. KINGS, X.
final destruction of all the ungodly. God has a
sword, bathed in heaven, which will come down
upon the people of his curse, and be filled, with
blood, Isa. 34- 5, 6. Then his eye will not spare,
neither will he pity.
III. Providence bringing the brethren of Ahaziah
in his way, as he was going on with this execution,
he slew them likewise, v. 12* *14. The brethren
of Ahaziah were slain by the Arabians, (2 Chron.
22. 1.) but these were the sons of his brethren, as
it is there explained; ( v . 8.) and they are said to be
princes of Judah, and to minister to Ahaziah. Se¬
veral things concurred to make them obnoxious to
the vengeance Jehu was now executing. 1. They
were branches of Ahab’s house, being descended
from Athaliah, and therefore fell within his com¬
mission. 2. They were tainted with the wicked¬
ness of the house of Ahab. 3. They were now
oing to make their court to the princes of the
ouse of Ahab, to salute the children of the king
and the queen, Joram and Jezebel, which showed
that they were linked to them in affection as well
as in affinity. These princes, 42 in number, being
appointed as sheep for the sacrifice, were slain with
solemnity, at the pit of the shearing-house. The
Lord is known by these judgments which he ex-
ecuteth.
15. And when he was departed thence,
he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab,
corning to meet him: and he saluted him,
and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my
heart is with thy heart ? And Jehonadab
answered, It is. If it be, give me thine
hand. And he gave him his hand ; and he
took him up to him into the chariot. 16.
And he said, Come with me, and see my
zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride
in his chariot. 17. And when he came to
Samaria, he slew all that remained unto
Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him,
according to the saying of the Lord, which
he spake to Elijah. 18. And Jehu gathered
all the people together, and said unto them,
Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall
serve him much. 19. Now therefore call
unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his ser¬
vants, and all his priests ; let none be want¬
ing: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal :
whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not
live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the in¬
tent that he might destroy the worshippers
of Baal. 20. And Jehu said, Proclaim a
solemn assembly for Baal. And they pro¬
claimed it. 21. And Jehu sent through all
Israel ; and all the worshippers of Baal
came, so that there was not a man left that
came not : and they came into the house of
Baal ; and the house of Baal was full from
one end to another. 22. And he said unto
him that wets over the vestry, Bring forth
vestments fir all the worshippers of Baal.
And he brought them forth vestments. 23.
And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of
Rechab, into (he house of Baal, and said
unto f.Lvt worshippers of Baal, Search, and
look that there be here with you none of the
servants ol the Lord, but the worshippers of
' Baal only. 24. And when they went in to offer
sacrifices and burnt-offerings, Jehu appointed
fourscore men without, and said, T/any of the
men whom I have brought into your hands
escape, he that letlcth him go , his life shall be
for the life of him. 25. And it came to pass,
as soon as he had made an end of offering
the burnt-offering, that Jehu said to the guard
and to the captains, Go in, and slay them;
let none come forth. And they smote them
with the edge of the sword ; and the guard
and the captains cast them out, and went to
the city of the house of Baal. 26. And they
brought forth the images out of the house of
Baal, and burned them. 27. And they brake
down the image of Baal, and brake down
the house of Baal, and made it a draught-
house unto this day. 28. Thus Jehu de¬
stroyed Baal out of Israel.
Jehu, pushing on his work, is here,
I. Courting the friendship of a good man, Jehona¬
dab the son of Rechab, v. 15, 16. This Jehonadab,
though mortified to the world, and meddling little
with the business of it, (as appears by his charge to
his posterity, which they religiously observed 300
years after, not to drink wine, nor dwell in cities,
Jer. 35. 6, &c. ) yet, upon this occasion, went to
meet Jehu, that lie might encourage him in the work
to which God had called him. The countenance
of good men is a thing which great men, if they be
wise, will value, and value themselves by. David
prayed, Let those that fear thee turn to me, Ps. 119.
79. This Jehonadab, though no prophet, priest, or
Levite, no prince, or ruler, was, we may suppose,
very eminent for prudence and piety, and generally
respected for that life of self-denial and devotion
which he lived: Jehu, though a soldier, knew him,
and honoured him. He did not indeed think of
sending for him, but when he met him, (though, it
is likely, he drove now as furiously as ever,) he stopt
to speak to him; and we are here told what passed
between them.
1. Jehu saluted him; he blessed him, so the word
is; paid him the respect, and showed him the good¬
will, that were owing to so great an example of se¬
rious godliness.
2. Jehonadab assured him that he was sincere in
his interest, and a hearty well-wisher to his cause.
Jehu professed that his heart was right with him;
that he had a true affection for his person, and a
veneration for the crown of his Nazariteship, and
desired to know whether he had the same affection
for him, and satisfaction in that crown of royal dig¬
nity which God had put upon his head. Is thine heart
right? A question we should often put to ourselves:
“1 make a plausible profession, have gained a repu
tation among men, but, is my heart right? Am T
sincere and inward with God?” Jehonadab gave him
his word, It is, and gave him his hand as a pledge
of his heart, yielded to him, (so giving the hand is
rendered, 2 Chron. 30. 8. ) concurred and covenanted
with him, and owned him in the work both of revenge
and of reformation he was now about.
3. Jehu took him up into his chariot, and took him
along with him to Samaria. He put some honour
upon him, by taking him into the chariot with him;
(Jehonadab was not often in a chariot, especially
with a king;) but he received more honour from
II. KINGS, X. 607
him, and from the countenance he gave to his present
work. All sober people would tnink the better of
Jehu, when they saw Jehonadab in the chariot with
him. This was not the only time that the piety of
some has been made to serve the policy of others;
and that designing men have strengthened them¬
selves by drawing good men into their interests.
Jehonadab was a stranger to the arts of fleshly wis¬
dom, and has his conversation in simplicity, and
godly sincerity; and therefore, if Jehu be a servant
of God, and an enemy to Baal, he will be his faith¬
ful friend. “Come then,” (says Jehu,) “come with
me, and see my zeal for the Lord; and then thou
wilt see reason to espouse my cause.” This is com¬
monly taken as not well said by Jehu, and as giving
cause to suspect that his heart was not right with
God in what he did, and that the zeal he pretended
for the Lord, was really zeal for himself and his
own advancement. For, (1.) He boasted of it, and
spake as if God and man were mightily indebted to
him for it. (2. ) He desired it might be seen, and
taken notice of, like the Pharisees, who did all, to
be seen of men. An upright heart approves itself
to God, and covets no more than his acceptance.
If we aim at the applause of men, and make their
praise our highest end, we are upon a false bottom.
Whether Jehu looked any further, we cannot judge;
however, Jehonadab went with him, and, it is likely,
animated and assisted him in the further execution
of his commission, ( v . 17.) destroying all Ahab’s
friends in Samaria. A man may hate cruelty, and
yet love justice; may be far from thirsting after
blood, and yet may wash his feet in the blood of the
•wicked, Ps. 58. 10.
II. Contriving the destruction of all the worship¬
pers of Baal. The service of Baal was the crying
sin of the house of Ahab: that root of this idolatry
was plucked up, but multitudes yet remained, that
were infected with it, and would be in danger of in¬
fecting others. The law of God was express, that
they were to be put to death; but they were so nu¬
merous, and so dispersed throughout all parts of
the kingdom, and perhaps so alarmed with Jehu’s
beginnings, that it would be a hard matter to find
them all out, and an endless task to prosecute and
execute them one by one: Jehu’s project therefore
is to cut them all off together.
1. By a wile, by a fraud, he brings them together
to the temple of Baal. He pretended he would
worship Baal more than ever Ahab had done, v. 18.
Perhaps he spoke this ironically, or to try the body
of the people, whether they would oppose such a
resolution as this, and would resent his threatening
to increase his predecessor’s idolatries, as they did
Rehoboam’s threatening to increase his predeces¬
sor’s exactions, and say, “ If it be so, we have no
Sart in Jehu, nor inheritance in the son of Nimshi.”
ut it rather seems to have been spoken purposely
to deceive the worshippers of Baal, and then it can¬
not be justified. The truth of Gcd needs not any
man’s lie. He issued out a proclamation, requiring
the attendance of all the worshippers of Baal, to
join with him in a sacrifice to Baal; {v. 19, 20.) not
only the prophets and priests, but all, throughout
the kingdom, who worshipped Baal, who were not
near so many as they had been in Elijah’s time.
Jehu’s friends, we may suppose, were aware of what
he designed, and were not offended at it; but the
bigoted besotted Baalites began to think themselves
very happy, and that now they should see golden
days again. Joram had put away the image of Baal;
( ch . 3. 2.) if Jehu will restore it, they have what
they would have, and come up to Samaria with joy
from all parts to celebrate the solemnity; and were
pleased to see the house of Baal crowded, (x>. 21.)
to see his priests in their vestments, (v. 22. ) and
themselves perhaps with some badges or other to
notify their relation to Baal, for there were vest
ments for all his worshippers.
2. He takes care that none of the servants of the
Lord should be among them, v. 23. This they took
as a provision to preserve the worship of Baal from
being profaned by strangers: but it was a wonder,
that they did not, by this, see themselves brought
into a snare, and discern a design upon them. They
that suffer themselves to be deceived by Baal, (as
all idolaters were by their idols,) no marvel if they
are deceived by Jehu to their destruction.
3. He gives order for the cutting of them all off,
and Jehonadab joined with him therein, v. 23. When
a strict search was made, lest some of the sen ants
of God should, either for company or curiosity, be
got among them, lest some wheat should be mixed
i with those tares; and when 80 men were set to stand
guard at all the avenues to Baal’s temple, that none
might escape, ( v . 24.) then the guards were sent in,
to put them all to the sword, and to mingle their
blood with their sacrifices, in a way of just revenge,
as they themselves had sometimes done, when, in
their blind devotion, they cut themselves with knives
and lancets till the blood gushed out, 1 Kings 18. 28.
This was accordingly done, and the doing of it,
though seemingly barbarous, was, considering the
nature of their crime, really righteous; 1 he Lord ,
whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.
4. The idolaters being thus destroyed, the idolatry
itself is utterly abolished. The buddings about the
house of Baal, (which were so many, and so stately,
that they are here called a city,) where Baal’s priests
and their families lived, were destroyed: all the
little images, statues, pictures, or shrines, which
beautified Baal’s temple, with the great image of
Baal himself, were brought out and burnt, (ru 26,
27.) and the temple of Baal broken down, and made
a dunghill, the common sink, or sewer, of the city,
that the remembrance of it might be blotted out, or
made infamous. Thus was the worship of Baal
quite destroyed, at least, for the present, out of Is¬
rael, though it had once prevailed so far, that there
were but 7000 of all the thousands of Israel, that
had not bowed the knee to Baal, and those conceal¬
ed. Thus will God destroy all the gods of the hea¬
then, and, sooner or later, triumph over them all.
29. Hovvbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,
Jehu departed not from after them, to wit ,
the golden calves that were in Beth-el, and
that were in Dan. 30. And the Lord said
unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in
executing that which is right in mine eyes,
and hast done unto the house of Ahab ac¬
cording to all that was in mine heart, thy
children of the fourth generation shall sit on
the throne of Israel. 31. But Jehu took no
heed to walk in the law of the Lord God
of Israel with all his heart : for he departed
not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made
Israel to sin. 32. In those days the Lord
began to cut Israel short : and Hazael smote
them in all the coasts of Israel ; 33. From
Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the
Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Ma-
nassites, from Aroer, (which is by the river
Arnon,) even Gilead and Bashan. 34. Now
the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he
did, and all his might, are they not written
| in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of
608
II. KINGS, XI.
Israel ? 35. And Jehu slept with his fathers;
and they buried him in Samaria. And Je-
hoahaz his son reigned in his stead. 3G.
And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel
in Samaria was twenty and eight years.
Here is all the account of the reign of Jehu, though
it continued 28 years. The progress of it answered
not to the glory of its beginning. We have here,
I. God’s approbation of what Jehu had done.
Many, it is probable, censured him as treacherous
and barbarous, called him a rebel, a usurjier, a mur¬
derer, and prognosticated ill concerning him, that
a family thus raised, would soon be ruined; but God
said, Well done, (m 30.) and then it signified little,
who said otherwise. 1. God pronounced that to be
right, which he had done. It is justly questionable,
whether he did it from a good principle, and whether
he did not take some false steps in the doing of it;
and yet, (says God,) Thou hast done well in execut¬
ing that which was right in mine eyes. The extir¬
pating of idolaters and idolatry, was a thing right in
God’s eyes, for it is an iniquity he visits as surely
and severely as any other: it was according to all
that was in his heart, all he desired, all he designed;
Jehu went through with his work. 2. God promised
him a reward. That his children of the fourth gene¬
ration from him should sit u/ion the throne of Israel.
This was more than what took place in any of the
dignities or royal families of that kingdom; of the
house of Ahab there were indeed four kings, Omri,
Ahab, Ahaziah and Joram, but the two last were
brothers, so that it reached but to the third genera¬
tion, and that whole family continued but about 45
ears in all, whereas Jehu’s continued in four, beside
imself, and, in all, about 120 years. Note, No
services done for God shall go unrewarded.
II. Jehu’s carelessness in what he was further to
do. By this it appeared that his heart was not
right with God, that he was partial in his reforma¬
tion. 1. He did not put away all the evil. He de¬
parted from the sins of Ahab, but not from the sins
of Jeroboam; discarded Baal, but adhered to the
calves. The worship of Baal was indeed the greater
evil, and more heinous in the sight of God, but the
worship of the calves was a great evil: true conver¬
sion is not only from gross sin, but from all sin; not
only from false gods, but from false worships. The
worship of Baal weakened and diminished Israel,
and made them beholden to the Sidonians, and
therefore he could easily part with that: but the
worship of the calves was a political idolatry, was
begun, and kept up, for reasons of state, to prevent
the return of the ten tribes to the house of David,
and therefore Jehu clave to that. True conversion
is not only from wasteful sins, but from gainful sins;
not only from those sins that are destructive to the
secular interest, but from those that support and
befriend it; in forsaking which, is the great trial,
whether we can deny ourselves, and trust God. 2.
He put away evil, but he did not mind that which
was good; ( v . 31.) He took no heed to walk in the
law of the Lord God of Israel. He abolished the
worship of Baal, but did not keep up the worship of
God, nor walk in his law. He had showed great
care and zeal for the rooting out of a false religion,
but, in the true religion, (1.) He showed no care,
took no heed, lived at large, was not at all solicitous
to please God, and do his duty ; took no heed to the
scriptures, to the prophets, to his own conscience,
but walked at all adventures. Those that are heed¬
less, it is to be feared, are graceless; for where
there is a good principle in the heart, it will make
men cautious and circumspect, desirous to please
God, and jealous of doing any thing to offend him.
(2.) He showed no zeal; wnat he didin religion.
he did not do it with his heart, with all his heart,
but did it as if he did it not, without any liveliness
or concern. It seems, he was a man that had little
religion himself, and yet God made use of him as
an instrument of reformation in Israel. It is a pity
but that those that do good to others, should always
be good themselves.
III. The judgment that came upon Israel in his
reign. We have reason to fear that when Jehu
took no heed himself to walk in God’s law, the peo¬
ple were generally as careless as he, both in their
devotions, and in their conversations. There was
a general decay of piety, and increase of profane¬
ness; and therefore it is not strange that the next
news we hear, is, In those days the Lord began to
cut Israel short, v. 32. Their neighbours encroach¬
ed upon them on every side; they were short in
their duty to God, and therefore God cut them short
in their extent, wealth, and power. Hazael king
of Syria was, above any other, vexatious and mis¬
chievous to them, smote them in all the coasts of Is¬
rael, particularly the countries on the other side
Jordan, which lay next him, and most exposed; on
these he made continual inroads, and laid them
waste. Now the Reubenites and Gadites smarted
for the choice which their ancestors made of an in¬
heritance on that side Jordan, which Moses reprov¬
ed them for, Numb. 32. Now Hazael did what
Elisha forsaw he would do, and foretold. Yet, for
doing it, God had a quarrel with him, and with his
kingdom, as we may find, Amos 1. 3, 4. Because
they of Damascus have threshed Gilead with thresh¬
ing instruments of iron, therefore (says God) I will
send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall de¬
vour the palaces of Bcn-hadad.
Lastly, The conclusion of Jehu’s reign, v. 34..
36. Notice is taken, in general, of his might; but
because he took no heed to serve God, the memo¬
rials of his mighty enterprise and achievements are
justly buried in oblivion.
CHAP. XI.
The revolution in the kingdom of Israel was soon perfect¬
ed in Jehu’s settlement; we must now inquire into the
affairs of the kingdom of Judah, which lost its head,
(such as it was,) at the same time, and by the same hand,
as Israel did; but things continued longer there in dis¬
traction than in Israel, yet, after some years, they were
brought into a good posture, as we find in this chapter.
I. Athaliah usurps the government, and destroys all the
seed royal, v. 1. II. Joash, a child of a year old, is
wonderfully preserved, v. 2, 3. III. At six years’ end,
he is produced, and, by the agency of Jehoiada, made
king, v. 4.. 12. IV. Athaliah is slain, v. 13.. 16. V.
Bom the civil and religious interests of the kingdom are
well settled in the hands of Joash, v. 17. . 21. And thus,
after some interruption, things returned with advantage
into the old channel.
1. A ND when Athaliah, the mother of
J\. Ahaziah, saw that her son was
dead, she arose, and destroyed all the seed
royal. 2. But Jehosheba the daughter of
king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash
the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from
among the king’s sons which were slain;
and they hid him, even him and his nurse,
in the bed-chamber from Athaliah, so that
he was not slain. 3. And he was with he*
hid in the house of the Lord six years.
And Athaliah did reign over the land.
God had assured David of the continuance of his
family, which is called his ordaining a lamp for his
anointed: and this cannot but appear a great thing,
now that we have read of the utter extirpation of so
IT. KINGS, XL
609
many royal families, one after another. Now here we
have David’s promised lamp almost extinguished,
and yet wonderfully preserved.
I. It was almost extinguished by the barbarous
malice of Athaliah, the queen-mother, who, when
she heard that her son Ahaziah was slain by Jehu,
arose and destroyed all the seed royal, {y. 1. ) all
that she knew to be akin to the crown. Her hus¬
band Jehoram had slain all his brethren the sons of
Jehoshaphat, 2. Chron. 21. 4. The Arabians had
slain all Jehoram’s sons, but Ahaziah, 2 Chron. 22.
1. Jehu had slain all their sons, (2 Chron. 22. 8.)
and Ahaziah himself. Surely never was royal blood
so profusely shed : happy the men of inferior birth,
who live below envy and emulation ! But, as if all
this were but a small matter, Athaliah destroys all
that were left of the seed royal: it was strange that
one of the tender sex could be so barbarous, that
one who had been herself a king’s daughter, a king’s
wife, and a king’s mother, could be so barbarous to
a royal family, and a family into which she was her¬
self ingrafted; but she did it, 1. From a spirit of am¬
bition; she thirsted after rule, and thought she
could not get to it any other way; that none might
reign with her, she slew even the infants and suck¬
lings that might have reigned after her; for fear of
a competitor, not any must be reserved for a suc¬
cessor; and, 2. From a spirit of revenge and rage
against God; the house of Ahab being utterly de¬
stroyed, and her son Ahaziah among the rest, be¬
cause he was akin to it; she resolved, as it were,
by way of reprisal, to destroy the house of David,
and cut off his line, in defiance of God’s promise to
perpetuate it; a foolish attempt, and fruitless, for
who can disannul what God hath proposed? Grand¬
mothers have been thought more fond of their
grandchildren than they were of their own; yet
Ahaziah’s own mother is the wilful murderer of
Ahaziah’s own sons, and in their infancy too, when
she was obliged, above any other, to nurse them,
and take care of them; well might she be called,
Athaliah, that wicked woman, (2 Chron. 24. 7.) Je¬
zebel’s own daughter: yet herein God was righte¬
ous, and visited the iniquity of Joram and Ahaziah,
those degenerate branches of David’s house, upon
their children.
II. It was wonderfully preserved by the pious
care of one of Joram’s daughters, (who was wife to
Jehoiada the priest,) who stole away one of the
king’s sons, Joash by name, and hid him, v. 2, 3.
This was a brand plucked out of the fire; what
number were slain, we are not told, but, it seems,
this, being a child in the nurse’s arms, was not
missed, or not inquired after, or, however, not
found: the person that delivered him, was his own
aunt, the daughter of wicked Joram; for those
whom God will have protected, he will raise up
protectors: the place of his safety was the house of
the Lord, one of the chambers belonging to the
temple, a place Athaliah seldom troubled; his aunt,
by bringing him hither, put him under God’s spe¬
cial protection, and so hid him by faith, as Moses
was hid; now were David’s words made good to
one of his seed, (Ps. 27. 5.) In the secret of his ta¬
bernacle shall he hide me. With good reason did this
Toash, when he grew up, set himself to repair the
house of the Lord, for it had been a sanctuary to
him; now was the promise made to David, bound
up in one life, and yet it did not fail. Thus to the
Son of David will God, according to his promise,
secure a spiritual seed, which, though sometimes
reduced to a small number, brought very low, and
seemingly lost, will be perpetuated to the end of
time, hidden sometimes, and unseen, but hidden in
God’s pavilion, and unhurt. It was a special provi¬
dence that Joram, though a king, a wicked king, mar¬
ried his daughter to Jehoiada a priest, a godly priest:
Vol. ii.— 4 H
some perhaps thought it a disparagement to the royal
family, to marry a daughter to a clergyman, but it
proved a happy marriage, and the saving of the
royal family from ruin; for Jehoiada’s interest in
the temple gave her an opportunity to preserve the
I £hild, and her interest in the royal family gave him
j|pf opportunity to set him on the throne: see the
wisdom and care of Providence, and how it pre¬
pares tor what it designs; and see what blessings
they lay up in store for their families, that marry
their children to those that are wise and good.
4. And the seventh year Jehoiada sent
and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with
the captains and the guard, and brought
them to him into the house of the Lord,
and made a covenant with them, and took
an oath of them in the house of the Lord,
and showed them the king’s son. 5. And
he commanded them, saying, This is the
thing that ye shall do : A third part of you
that enter in on the sabbath shall even be
keepers of the watch of the king’s house;
6. And a third part shall he at the gate of
Sur; and a thiixj part at the gate behind the
guard : so shall ye keep the watch of the
house, that it be not broken down. 7. And
two parts of all you that go forth on the
sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of
the house of the Lord about the king. 8.
And ye shall compass the king round about,
every man with his weapons in his hand :
and he that cometh within the ranges, let
him be slain : and be ye with the king as
he goeth out, and as he cometh in. 9. And
the captains over the hundreds did accord¬
ing to all things that Jehoiada the priest
commanded : and they took every man his
men that were to come in on the sabbath,
with them that should go out on the sab^
bath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. JO.
And to the captains over hundreds did the
priest give king David’s spears and shields,
that were in the temple. 1 1 , And the guard
stood, every man with his weapons in his
hand, round about the king, from the right
corner of the temple to the left corner of
the temple, along by the altar and the tem¬
ple. 12. And he brought forth the king’s
son, and put the crown upon him, and gave
him the testimony : and they made him
king, and anointed him ; and they clapped
their hands, and said, God save the king.
Six years Athaliah tyrannised; we have not a par¬
ticular account of her reign, no doubt, it was of a
piece with the beginning; while Jehu was extirpa¬
ting the worship of Baal in Israel, she was establish¬
ing it in Judah, as appears, 2 Chron. 24. 7. The
court and kingdom of Judah had been debauched
by their alliance with the house of Ahab, and now
one of that house is a curse and plague to both; sin¬
ful friendships speed no better: all this while, Jo¬
ash lay hid, entitled to a crown, and intended for it,
and yet buried alive in obscurity. Though the sons
and heirs of heaven are now hidden, the world1
610
II. KINGS, XL
knows them not; (1 John 3. 1.) but the time is fixed
when they shall appear in glory, as Joash in his
seventh year; by that time, he was ready to be
showed, not a babe, having served his first appren¬
ticeship to life, and being arrived at his first climac-
terical yeai', he had taken a good step toward man¬
hood; by that time, the people wei'e grown weary
of Athaliah’s tyranny, and ripe for a revolution; how
that revolution was effected, we ai’e told:
1. The manager of this great affair was Jehoiada
the priest, pi'obably the High Priest, or, at least,
the tiagan, (as the Jews called him,) or suffragan
to the High Priest; by his birth and office, he was
a man in authority, whom the people were bound
by the law to observe and obey, especially when
there was no rightful king upon the throne, Deut.
17. 12. By mari'iage, he was allied to the royal
family, and if all the seed royal were desti’oyed, his
wife, as daughter to Joi*am, had a better title to the
crown than Athaliah had. By his eminent gifts and
graces, he was fitted to serve his country, and bet¬
ter sei’vice he could not do it, than to free it from
Athaliah’s usurpation; and we have reason to think
he did not make this attempt, till he had first asked
counsel of God, and known his mind, either by pro¬
phets, or Urim, or both.
II. The management was very disci'eet, and as
became so wise and good a mail as Jehoiada was.
2. He concerted the matter with the rulers of
hundreds and the cafitains, the men in office, eccle¬
siastical, civil, and military; he got them to him to
the temple, consulted with them, laid befoi'e them
the grievances they atpi’esent laboured under, gave
them an oath of secrecy, and, finding them tree and
forwai’d to join with him, showed them the king’s
son, [y. 4.) and so well satisfied were they with his
fidelity, that they saw no reason to suspect an im¬
position. We may well think what a pleasing sur¬
prise it was to the good people among them, who
feared that the house and lmeage ot David wei’e
quite cut off, to find such a spai'k as this in the em¬
bers.
2. He posted the priests and Levites, who were
more immediately under his direction, in the seve-
ral avenues to the temple, to keep the guards, put¬
ting them under the command of the rulers of hun¬
dreds, v. 9. David had divided the priests into
courses, which waited by tunas; every sabbath day
morning, a new company came into waiting, but the
company of the foregoing week did not go out of
waiting till the sabbath evening, so that on the sab¬
bath day, when double service was to be done, there
was a double number to do it, both they that were
to come in, and they that were to go out; those Je¬
hoiada employed to attend on this great occasion,
fie armed them out of the magazines of the temple
with David’s spears and shields, either his own or
•those he had taken from his enemies, which he de¬
voted to God’s honour, v. 10. If they were old and
unfashionable, yet they that used them, might by
their being David’s be reminded of God’s covenant
with him, which they were now acting in the de¬
fence of.
Two things they were ordered to do; (1.) To
protect the young king from being insulted; they
must keefi the watch of the king’s house, (v. 5. ) com¬
pass the king, and be with him, (y. 8.) to guard him
from Athaliah’s partisans, for still there were those
that thirsted after royal blood. (2.) To pi'eserve
the holy temple from being profaned by the con¬
course of people that would come together on this
occasion; (v. 6.) Keefi the watch of the house, that
it be not either broken through, or broken down,
and so strangers should crowd in, or such as were
unclean. He was not so zealous for the projected
revolution, as to forget his religion; in times of the
ci'eatest hurry, care must be taken, JVe detrimen-
tum cafiiat ecclesia — that the holy things of G >d be
not trenched ufion. It is observable that Jehoiada
appointed to each his place as well as his work, (v.
6, 7.) for good oi'der contributes very much to the
expediting and accomplishing of any great entei’-
prise; let eveiy man know, and keep, and make
good, his post, and then the wox*k will be done
quickly.
3. When the guai'ds were fixed, then the king
was brought forth, v. 12. Rejoice greatly, O daugh¬
ter of Zion, for even in thy holy mountain thy king
appears, a child indeed, but not such a c ne as bring*
a woe upon the land, for he was the son of nobles,
the son of David, Eccl. 10. 17. A child indeed, bur
he had a good guardian, and, which was bettei-, z
good God, to go to. Jehoiada, without delay, pro¬
ceeded to the coi'onation of this young king; foi
though he was not yet capable of despatching busi¬
ness, he would be growing up towards it by degrees,
this was done with great solemnity, v. 12. (1.) In
token of his being invested with kingly power, he
put the crown ufion him, though it was yet too
large and heavy for his head; the regalia, it is pro¬
bable, were kept in the temple, and so the crown
was ready at hand. (2. ) In token of his obligation to
govei’n by law, and to make the word of God his rule,
he gave him the testimony, put a Bible into his
hand, which he must read in- all the days of hi s
life, Deut. 17. 18, 19. (3.) In token of hisi'eceiv-
ing the Spirit, to qualify him for this great work to
which he befoi'e was called, he anointed him;
though notice is taken of the anointing of their kings
only in case of intei'ruption, as here, and in Solo¬
mon’s case, yet I know not but the ceremony might
be used to all their kings, at least, those of the
house of David, because their royalty was typical
of Christ’s, who was to be anointed abo\ e his fel¬
lows, above all the sons of David. (4.) In token of
the people’s acceptance of him, and subjection to
his government, they clapped their hands for joy,
and expressed their hearty good wishes to him, Ret
the king live; and thus they made him king, made
him their king, consented to, and concurred with,
the divine appointment. They had reason to l-ejoice
in the pei’iod now put to Athaliah’s tyranny, and the
pi'ospect they had of the x’estoration and establish¬
ment of religion, by a king under the tuition of so
good a man as Jehoiada; they had reason to bid him
welcome to the ci'own, whose right it was, and to
pi’ay, Let him live, who came to them as life from
the dead, and in whom the house of David was to
live. With such acclamations of joy and satisfaction
must the kingdom of Chi'ist be welcomed into our
hearts, when his throne is set up there, and Satan
the usurper is deposed; Hosannah, blessed is he that
comes: clap hands, and say, “Let King Jesus live,
for ever live and reign, in my soul, and in all the
world;” it is promised, (Ps. 72. 15.) He shall live,
and prayer shall be made for him, and his kingdom,
continually.
13. And when Athaliah heard the noise
of the guard and of the people, she came to
the people into the temple of the Lord. 1 4.
And when she looked, behold, the king
stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and
the princes and the trumpeters by the king;
and all the people of the land rejoiced, and
blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her
clothes, and cried, Treason, treason! 15.
But Jehoiada the priest commanded the
captains of the hundreds, the officers of the
host, and said unto them, Have her forth
without the ranges; and him that folio wrth
611
II. KINGS, XI.
nt r kill with the sword. For the priest had
said, Let her not be slain in the house of
the Lord. 16. And they laid hands on
her: and she went by the way by the which
the horses came into the king’s house: and
there was she slain.
We may suppose it was designed, when they had
finished the solemnity of the king’s inauguration, to
make a visit to Athaliah, and call her to an account
for her murders, usurpations, and tyranny; but,
likelier mother Jezebel, she saved them the labour,
went out to meet them, and hastened her own de¬
struction.
1. Hearing the noise, she came in a fright to see
what was the matter, v. 13. Jehoiada and his
friends began in silence, but now that they found
their strength, "they proclaimed what they were
doing. It seems Athaliah was little regarded, else
she had had intelligence brought her of this daring
attempt, before with her own ears she heard the
noise; had the design been discovered before it was
perfected, it might have been quashed, but now it
was too late; when she heard the noise, it was
strange that she was so ill advised as to come her¬
self, and, for aught that appears, to come alone;
surely she was not so neglected as to have none to
go for her, or none to go with her, but she was
wretchedly infatuated by the transport both of fear
and indignation she was in; whom God will destroy,
he befools.
2. Seeing what was done, she cried out for help:
she saw the king’s place by the pillar possessed by
one to whom the princes and people did homage,
( v . 14.) and had reason to conclude her power at
an end, which, she knew, was usurped; this made
her rend her clothes like one distracted, and cry,
“Treason, treason! Come and help against the
traitors.” Josephus adds, that she cried to have
him killed, that possessed the king’s place. What
was now doing, was the highest justice, yet it is
branded as the highest crime; she herself was the
greatest traitor, and yet is first and loudest in cry¬
ing Treason, treason! Those that are themselves
most guilty, are commonly most forward to reproach
ethers.
3. Jehoiada gave orders to put her to death, as an
idolater, a usurper, and an enemy to the public
peace; care was taken, (1.) That she should not be
killed in the temple, or any of the courts of it, in
reverence to that holy place, which must not be
stained with the blood of any human sacrifice,
though ever so justly offered. (2.) That whoev er
appeared for her, should die with her; “ Him that
follows her, to protect or rescue her, any of her at¬
tendants that resolve to adhere to her, and will not
come into the interests of their rightful sovereign,
kill with the sword, but not unless they follow her
now,” v. 15. According to these orders, she en¬
deavouring to make her escape the back way to the
palace, through the stalls, they pursued her, and
there killed her, v. 16. So let all thine enemies
perisn O Lord : thus give the bloody harlot blood
to drink, for she is worthy.
17. And Jehoiada made a covenant be¬
tween the Lord and the king and the peo¬
ple, that they should be the Lord’s people;
between the king also and the people. 1 8.
And all the people of the land went into
the house of Baal, and brake it down; his
altars and his images brake they in pieces
thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of
Baal before the altars. And the priest ap¬
pointed officers over the house of the Lord
1 9. And he took the rulers over hundreds
and the captains, and the guard, and all
the people of the land; and they brought
down the king from the house of the Lord,
and came by the way of the gate of the
guard to the king’s house. And he sat on
the throne of the kings. 20. And all the
people of the land rejoiced, and the city was
in quiet: and thev slew Athaliah with the
sword beside the king’s house. 21. Seven
years old was Jehoash when he began to
reign.
Jehoiada has now got over the hardest part of his
work; when, by the death of Athaliah, his young
prince had his way to the throne cleared of all op¬
position, he is now to improve his advantages for
the perfecting of the revolution, and the settling
of the government.
Two things we have an account of here:
I. The good foundation he laid, by an original
contract, v. 17. Now that prince and people were
together in God’s house, as it should seem, before
they stirred, he took care that they should jointly
covenant with God, and mutually covenant with
each other, that they might rightly understand their
duty both to God and to one another, and be firmly-
bound to it.
1. He endeavoured to settle and secure the in¬
terests of religion among them, by a covenant be¬
tween them and God. King and people would then
cleave most firmly to each other, when both had
joined themselves to the Lord. God had, already,
on his part, promised to be their God; (Jehoiada
cpuld show them that in the book of the testimony;)
now the king and people on their part must cove¬
nant and agree that they will be the Lord's people;
in this covenant, the king stands upon the same
level with his subjects, and is as much bound as any'
of them to serve the Lord. By this engagement
they renounced Baal, whom many of them had
worshipped, and resigned themselves to God’s
government. It is well with a people, when all
the changes that pass over them, help to revive,
strengthen, and advance, the interests of religion
among them. And those are likely to prosper,
who set cut in the world under fresh and sensible
obligatir ns to God and their duty. By our bonds to
God the bonds of every relation are strengthened;
; they first, gave themselves to the Lord, and then to
j us, 2 Cor. 8. 5.
2. He then settled both the coronation-oath, and
; the oath of allegiance, the pacta conventa — cove-
I nant, between the king and the people, by which
the king was obliged to govern according to law,
and to protect his subjects, and they obliged, while
he did so, to obey him, and to bear faith and true
allegiance to him. Covenants are of use, both to
remind us of, and to bind us to, those duties which
are already binding on us. It is good, in all rela¬
tions, for the parties to understand one another
fully, particularly in that between prince and sub¬
ject, that the one may understand the limits of his
power and prerogative, the other of his liberty
and property; and never may the ancient land¬
marks which our fathers have set before them, be
removed.
II. The good beginnings he raised on those foun¬
dations.
1. Pursuant to their covenant with God, they im¬
mediately abolished idolatry, which the preceding
IT. KINGS, XII.
kings, in compliance with the house of Ahab, had |
introduced; (v. 18.) All the people of the land, the
mob, got together, to show their zeal against idola¬
try; and every one, now that they were so well head¬
ed, would lend a hand to pull down Baal’s temple,
his altars, and his images. All his worshippers, it
should seem, deserted him; only his priest Mattan
stuck to his altar alone, though all men forsook
Baal, he would not, and there he was slain, the best
sacrifice that ever was offered upon that altar.
Having destroyed Baal’s temple, they appointed
officers over the house of God, to see that the ser¬
vice of God was regularly performed by the proper
persons, in due time, and according to the instituted
manner.
2. Pursuant to their covenant with one another,
they expressed a mutual readiness to, and satisfac¬
tion in, each other. (1.) The king was brought in
state to the royal palace, and sat there on the
throne of judgment, the thrones of the house of Da¬
vid, ( v . 19.) ready to receive petitions and appeals,
which he would refer to Jehoiada to give answers
to, and to give judgments upon. (2.) The people
rejoiced, and Jerusalem was in quiet; (v. 20.) and
Josephus says, they kept a feast of joy many days,
making good Solomon’s observation, (rrov. 11. 10.)
When it goes well with the righteous , the city re- -
joices, ana when the wicked perish, there is shout-
ing.
CHAP. XII.
This chapter gives us the history of the reign of Joash,
which does not answer to that glorious beginning of it,
which we had an account of in the foregoing chapter; he
was not so illustrious at forty years’ old as he was at
seven, yet his reign is to be reckoned one of the better
sort, and appears much worse in Chronicles than it does
here, (2 Chron. 24.) for there we find the blood of one of
God’s prophets laid at his door; here we are only told,
I. That he did well, while Jehoiada lived, v. 1 . . 3. II.
That he was careful and active to repair the temple, v.
4. .16. III. That after a mean composition with Hazael,
(v. 17, 18.) he died ingloriously, v. 19 . . 21.
1. TN the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash
JL began to reign ; and forty years reign¬
ed he in Jerusalem : and his mother’s name
was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2. And Jehoash
did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the
priest instructed him. 3. But the high
places were not taken away: the people
still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high
places.
The general account here given of Joash is,
1. That he reigned 40 years; as he began his
reign when he was very young, he might, in the
course of nature, have continued much longer, for
lie was cut off when he was but 47 years old, v. 1.
2. That he did that which was right, as long as
Jehoiada lived to instruct him, v. 2. Many young
men have come too soon to an estate, have had
wealth, and power, and liberty, before they knew
how to use them, and it has been of bad conse¬
quence to them; but against this danger Joash was
well guarded, (1.) By having such a good director
as Jehoiada was, so wise, and experienced, and
faithful to him. (2.) By having so much wisdom
as to hearken to him and be directed by him, even
when he was grown up. Note, It is a great mercy
to young people, and especially to young princes,
and all young men of consequence, to be under good
'’irection, and to have those about them, that will
: struct them to do that which is right in the sight
of the T.ord; and they then do wisely and well for !
I themselves, when they are willing to be counselled
and ruled by such : a child left to himself, brings his
mother to shame, but a child left to such a tuition,
may bring himself to honour and comfort.
3. That the high places were not taken away, v.
3. Up and down the country, they had altars both
for sacrifice and incense, to the honour of the God
of Israel only, but in competition with, and at least
in implicit contempt of, his altar at Jerusalem.
These private altars, perhaps, had been more used
in the late bad reigns than formerly, because it was
not safe to go up to Jerusalem, nor was the temple-
service performed as it should have been; and, it
may be, Jehoiada connived at them, because som<
well-meaning people were glad of them when they
could not have better, and he hoped that the re¬
forming of the temple, and putting things into a
good posture there, would, by degrees, draw people
from their high places, and they would dwindle of
themselves; or perhaps neither the king nor the
priest had zeal enough to carry on their reforma¬
tion so far, nor courage and strength enough to en¬
counter such an inveterate usage.
4. And Jehoash said to the priests, All
the money of the dedicated things that is
brought into the house of the Lord, even
the money of every one that passeth the
account , the money that every man is set at,
and all the money that cometh into any
man’s heart to bring into the house of the
Lord, 5. Let the priests take it to them,
every man of his acquaintance; and let
them repair the breaches of the house,
wheresoever any breach shall be found. 6.
But it was so, that, in the three and twenti¬
eth year of king Jehoash, the priests had
not repaired the breaches of the house. 7.
Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the
priest, and the other priests, and said unto
them, Why repair ye not the breaches of
the house? Now, therefore, receive no
more money of your acquaintance, but de¬
liver it for the breaches of the house. 8.
And the priests consented to receive no more
money of the people, neither to repair the
breaches of the house. 9. But Jehoiada
the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in
the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on
the right side as one cometh into the house
of the Lord: and the priests that kept the
door put therein all the money that was
brought into the house of the Lord. 10
And it was so, when they saw that there
was much money in the chest, that the
king’s scribe and the high priest came up,
and they put up in bags, and told the money
that was found in the house of the Lord.
11. And they gave the money, being told,
into the hands of them that did the work,
that had the. oversight of the house of the
Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters
and builders that wrought upon the house
of the Lord, 12. And to masons, and
hewers of stone, and to buy timber and
613
II. KINGS, XII.
hewed stone to repair the breaches of the
house of the Lord, and for all that was laid
out for the house to repair it. 13. How-
beit, there were not made for the house of
the Lord bowls of silver, snuffers, basons,
trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of
silver, of the money that was brought into
the house of the Lord : 14. But they gave
that to the workmen, and repaired there¬
with the house of the Lord. 15. More¬
over, they reckoned not with the men, into
whose hand the}' delivered the money to be
bestowed on workmen : for they dealt faith¬
fully. 16. The trespass-money and sin-
money was not brought into the house of
the Lord: it was the priests’.
We have here an account of the repairing of the
temple in the reign of Joash.
I. It seems, the temple was gone out of repair;
though Solomon built it very strong, of the best
materials, and in the best manner, yet, in time, it
went to decay, and there were breaches found in it;
( [v . 5.) in the roofs, or walls, or floors, the ceiling,
or wainscoting, or windows, or the partitions of the
courts: even temples themselves are the worse for
the wearing; the heavenly temple will never wax
old. Yet it was not only the teeth of time, that
made these breaches, the sons of Athaliah had bro¬
ken up. the house of God, (2Chron. 24. 7.) and, out
of enmity to the service of the temple, had damaged
the buildings of it, and the priests had not taken care
to repair the breaches in time, so that they went
worse and worse. Unworthy were those husband¬
men to have this valuable vineyard let out to them
upon such easy terms, who could not afford to keep
the wine-press in due and tenantable repair; (Matt.
21. 33.) justly did their great Lord sue them for
this permissive waste, and by his judgments recover
locum vastatum — for dilapidations, (as the law
speaks,) when this neglected temple was laid even
with the ground.
II. The king himself was (as it should seem) the
first and forwardest man that took care for the re¬
pair of it; we do not find that the priests complained
of it, or that Jehoiada himself was active in it, but
the king was zealous in the matter; 1. Because he
was king, and God expects and requires from those
who have power, that they use it for the mainte¬
nance and support of religion, the redress of griev¬
ances, and reparation of decays, for the exciting and
engaging of ministers to do their part, and people
theirs. 2. Because the temple had been both his
nursery and his sanctuary, when he was a child, in
a grateful remembrance of which, he now appeared
zealous for the honour of it. They who have ex¬
perienced the comfort and benefit of religious assem¬
blies, will make the reproach of them their burthen,
(Zeph. 3. 18.) the support of them their care, and
the prosperity of them their chief joy.
III. The priests were ordered to collect money
for these repairs, and to take care that the work
was done; the king had the affairs of his kingdom
to mind, and could not himself inspect this affair,
but he employed the priests to manage it, the fittest
persons, and most likely, one would think, to be
hearty in it. 1. He gave them orders for the levy¬
ing of the money of the dedicated things; they must
not stay till it was paid in, but they must call for it
where they knew it was due in their respective dis¬
tricts, either as redemption-money, by virtue of the
law, (Exod. 30. 13.) or as estimation-money, by
virtue of t^ie law, (Lev, 27. 2, 3.) or as a free-will
offering; ( v . 4.) this they were to gather every man
of his acquaintance, and it was supposed that there
was no man but had acquaintance with some or
other of the priests. Note, We should take the
opportunity that God gives us of exciting those we
have a particular acquaintance with, to that which
is good. 2. He gave them orders for laying out the
money they had levied, in repairing the breaches of
the house, v. 5.
IV. This method did not answer the intention,
v. 6. Little money was raised; either the priests
were careless, and did not call to the people to pay-
in their dues, or the people had so little confidence
in the priests’ management, that they were back¬
ward to pay money into their hands: if they were
distrusted without cause, it was the people’s shame;
if with, it was more their’s. But what money was
raised, was not applied to the proper use; the
breaches of the house were not repaired; the priests
thought it might serve as well as it had done, and
therefore put it off from time to time. Church-
work is usually slow work, but it is pity that church¬
men, of all men, should be slow at it. Perhaps,
what little money they raised, they thought it ne¬
cessary to use for the maintenance of the priests,
which must needs fall much short, when ten tribes
were wholly revolted, and the other two wretched¬
ly corrupted.
V. Another method was therefore taken; the king
has his heart much upon it, to have the breaches of
the house repaired, v. 7. His apostasy, at last, gives
us cause to question whether he had as good an af¬
fection for the service of the temple as he had for
the structure; many have been zealous for build¬
ing and beautifying churches, and for other forms
of godliness, who yet have been strangers to the
power of it: however, we commend his zeal, and
blame him not for reproving even his tutor Jehoiada
himself when he saw him remiss; and so con¬
vincing was his reproof, that the priests owned
themselves unworthy to be any longer employed,
and consented to the taking of some other measures,
and the gi\ ing up of the money they had received,
into other hands, v. 8. It was honestly done, when
they found they had not spirit to do it themselves,
not to hinder other people from doing it. Another
course was taken,
1. For raising money, v. 9, 10. The money was
not paid into private hands, but put into a public
chest, and then people brought it in readily, and in
great abundance, not only their dues, but their free¬
will offerings for so good a work. The High Priest
and the secretary of state counted the money out
of the chest, and laid it by in specie for the use
to which it was appropriated. When public distri¬
butions are made faithfully, public contributions
will be made cheerfully. The money that was giv¬
en, (1.) Was dropt into the chest through a hole in
the lid, past recall, to intimate that what has been
once resigned to God, must never be resumed; every
man, as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give.
(2.) The chest was put on the right hand as they
went in, which, some think, is alluded to in that
rule of charity which our Saviour gives. Let not thy
left hand know what thy right hand doeth. But
while they were getting all they could, for the re¬
pair of the temple, they did not break in upon that
which was the stated maintenance of the priests,
(x>. 16.) the trespass-money and the sin-money
whicji were given to them by that law, Lev. 5. 15,
16. were reserved to them. Let not the servants
of the temple be starved, under colour of repairing
the breaches of it.
2. For laying out the money that was raised. (1.)
They did not put it into the hands of the priests,
who were not versed in affairs of this nature, having
other work to mind, but into the hands of those tha'.
II. KINGS, XIII.
G 1 1
did the work, or, at least, had the oversight of it, v.
11. They were fittest to be intrusted with this bu¬
siness, whose employment lay that way: Tractant
fabrilia fabri — Every artist has his trade assigned ;
but let not those who are called to war, the holy
warfare, entangle themselves in the affairs of this
life. They that were thus intrusted did the busi¬
ness, [1.] Carefully; purchasing materials, and
paying workmen, v. 12. Business is done with ex¬
pedition, when those are employed in it, that un¬
derstand it, and know which way to go about it.
[2.] Faithfully; such a reputation they got for
honesty, that there was no occasion to examine
their bills, or audit their accounts; let all that are
intrusted with public money, or public work, learn
hence to deal faithfully, as those that know God
will reckon with them, whether men do or no,
those that think it is no sin to cheat the government,
cheat the country, or cheat the church, will be of
another mind, when God shall set their sins in order
before them. (2.) They did not lay it out in orna¬
ments for the temple, in vessels of gold or silver, but
in necessary repairs first; (r. 13.) whence we may
learn, in all our expenses, to give that the prefer¬
ence, which is most needful, and, in dealing for the
public, to deal as we would for ourselves. After
the repairs were finished, we find the overplus turn¬
ed into plate for the service of the temple, 2 Chron.
24. 14.
17. Then Hazael king of Syria went up,
and fought, against Gath, and took it: and
Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
1 8. And Jehoash king of Judah took all the
hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Je-
horam, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of
Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed
things, and all the gold that n os found in the
treasures of the house of the Lord, and in
the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king
of Syria: and he went away from Jerusa¬
lem. 19. And the rest of the acts of Je¬
hoash, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the Chronicles of the
kings of Judah ? 20. And his servants arose,
and made a conspiracy, and slew Jehoash
in the house of Millo, which goeth down to
Silla. 21. For Jo/achar the son of Shi-
meath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer,
his servants, smote him, and he died ; and
they buried him with his fathers in the city
of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in
his stead.
When Joash had revolted from God, and was be¬
come both an idolater and a persecutor, the hand
of the Lord went out against him, and his last state
was worse than his first.
1. His wealth and honour became an easy prey to
his neighbours. Hazael, when he had chastised
Israel, ( ch . 10. 32.) threatened Judah and Jerusalem
likewise; took Gath, a strong city, (v. 17.) and
thence intended to march with his forces against
Jerusalem, the royal city, the holy city, but whose
defence, on account of its sinfulness, was departed.
Joash had neither spirit nor strength to make head
against him, but gave him all the hallowed things,
and all the gold that was found both in his exche¬
quer and in the treasures of the temple, (v. 18.) to
hire him to march another way. If it were lawful
to do this for the public safety, better part with the
gold of the temple than expose the temple itself;
yet, (1.) If he had not forsaken God, and forfeited
his protection, his affairs had not been brought to
this extremity, but he might have forced Hazael to
retire. (2.) He diminished himself, and made him¬
self very mean, lost the honour of a prince and a
soldier, and of an Israelite too, in alienating the
dedicated things. (3. ) He impoverished himself and
his kingdom. And, (4.) He tempted Hazael to
come again, when he could bring home so rich a
booty without striking a stroke. And it had this
effect, for, the next year, the host of Syria came
up against Jerusalem, destroyed the princes, and
plundered the city, 2 Chron. 24. 23, 24.
2. His life became an easy prey to his own ser¬
vants. They conspired against him, and slew him;
(?’. 20, 21.) not aiming at his kingdom, fcr they op¬
posed not his son’s succeeding him, but to be aveng¬
ed on him for some crime he had committed; and
we are told in Chronicles, that his murdering of the
prophet, Jehoi.tda’s son, was the provocation. In
this, how unrighteous soever they were, (vengeance
was not their’s, nor did it belong to them to repay,)
God was righteous; and this was not the only time
that he let even kings know that it was at their
peril, if they touched his anointed, and did his pro¬
phets any harm; and that when he comes to make
inquisition for blood, the blood of prophets will run
the account very high. Thus fell Joash, who began
in the spirit, and ended in the flesh. God usually
sets marks of his displeasure upon apostates, e\en
in this life; for they, of all sinners, do most reproach
the Lord .
CHAP. XIII.
This chapter brings us again to the history of the kings of
Israel, and particularly of the family of Jehu. We have
here an account of the reign, I. Of his son Jehoahaz,
which continued 17 years. Tlis bad character in general,
v. 1, 2. The trouble he was brought into, (v. 3. ) and the
low ebb of his affairs, v. 7. His humiliation before God,
and God’s compassion toward him, v. 4, 5. and again, v.
23. His continuance in his idolatry nolwithstanding, v.
6. His death, v. 8, 9. II. Of his grandson Joash, which
continued 16 years. Here is a general account of his
reign in the usual form, (v. 11 . . 13.) but a particular ac¬
count of the death of Elisha in his time. The kind visit
the king made him, (v. 14.) and the encouragement he
gave the king in his wars with Syria, v. 15.. 19. His
death and burial, (v. 20.) and a miracle wrought by his
bones, v. 21. And, Lastly, The advantages Joash gain¬
ed against the Syrians, according to his predictions, v.
24, 25.
1 .1TN the three and twentieth year of Joash,
JL the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Je¬
hoahaz, the son of Jehu, began to reign over
Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen
years. 2. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord, and followed the
sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which
made Israel to sin ; he departed not there¬
from. 3. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel; and he delivered
them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria,
and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of
Hazael, all their days. 4. And Jehoahaz
besought the Lord, and the Lord heark¬
ened unto him ; for he saw the oppression of
Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed
them. 5. (And the Loan gave Israel a
Saviour, so that they went out from under
the hand of the Syrians: and the children
615
II. KINGS, XIII
of Israel dwelt in their tents as beforetime.
6. Nevertheless they departed not from the
sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made
Israel sin, but walked therein : and there re¬
mained the grove also in Samaria.) 7.
Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoa-
haz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and
ten thousand footmen ; for the king of Syria
had destroyed them, and had made them
like the dust by threshing. 8. Now the rest
of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did,
and his might, are they not written in the
book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
9. And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers ; and
they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his
son reigned in his stead.
This general account of the reign of Jehoahaz,
and of the state of Israel during his 17 years, though
short, is long enough to let us see two things which
are very affecting and instructive.
I. The glory of Israel raked up in the ashes,
buried and lost, and turned into shame. How un¬
like does Israel appear here to what it had been,
and might have been! How is its crown profaned,
and its honour laid in the dust!
1. It was the honour of Israel, that they wor¬
shipped the only living and true God, who is a
Spirit, an eternal mind, and had rules, by which to
worship him, of his own appointment: but by
changing the glory of the incorruptible God into
the similitude of an ox, the truth of God into a lie,
they lost this honour, and levelled themselves with
the nations that worshipped the work of their own
hands. We find here that the king followed the
sins o f Jeroboam, (v. 2.) and the people departed
not from them, but walked therein, v. 6. There
could not be a greater reproach than these two idol¬
ized calves were to a people that were instructed in
the service of God, and intrusted with the lively
oracles. In all the history of the ten tribes we
never find the least shock given to that idolatry,
but, in every reign, still the calf was their god, and
they separated themselves to that shame.
2. It was the honour of Israel, that they were
taken under the special protection of Heaven; God
himself was their Defence, the Shield of their help,
and the Sword of their excellency. Happy wast
thou, O Israel, upon this account. But here, as
often before, we find them stripped of this glory,
and exposed to the insults of all their neighbours.
They, by their sins, provoked God to anger, and
then he delivered them into the hands of Hazael
and Ben-hadad, v. 3. Hazael oppressed Israel,
v. 22. Surely never was any nation so often pluck¬
ed and pillaged by their neighbours as Israel was.
This they brought upon themselves by sin; when
they had provoked God to pluck up their hedge,
the goodness of their land did but tempt tFeir
neighbours to prey upon them. So low was Israel
brought in this reign by the many depredations
which the Syrians made upon them, that the militia
of the kingdom, and all the force they could bring
into the field, were but fifty horsemen, ten chariots,
and ten thousand footmen, a despicable muster, v.
7. Are the thousands of Israel come to this? How
is the gold become dim! The debauching of a na¬
tion will certainly be the debasing of it.
II. Some sparks of Israel’s ancient honour ap¬
pearing in these ashes. It is not quite forgotten,
notwithstanding all these quarrels, that this people
is the Israel of God, and he the God of Israel. For,
1. It was the ancient honour of Israel, that they
were a praying people: and here we find somewha*
of that honour re\ived; for Jehoahaz their king, in
his distress, besought the Lord ; (ra 4.) applied
himselt for help, not to the calves, (what help
could they give him?) but to the Lord. It becomes
kings to be beggars at God’s door; and the greatest
of men to be humble petitioners at the footstool of
his throne. Need will drive them to it.
2. It was the ancient honour cf Israel, that they
had God nigh unto them in all that which they
called upon him for, (Deut. 4. 7.) and so he was
here. Though lie might justly have rejected the
prayer, as an abomination to him, yet the Lord
hearkened unto Jehoahaz, and to his prayer for
himself and for his people, (x>. 4.) and he gave Is¬
rael a saviour; ( v . 5. ) not Jehoahaz himself, for, all
his days, Hazael oppressed Israel, (v. 22.) but his
son, to whom, in answer to his father’s prayers, God
gave success against the Syrians, so that he recov¬
ered the cities which they had taken from his father,
v. 25. This gracious answer God gave to the prayer
of Jehoahaz, not for his sake, or the sake of that un¬
worthy people, but in remembrance of his covenant
with Abraham, (v. 23.) which, in such exigencies as
these, he had long since promised to have respect
to, Lev. 26. 42. See how swift God is to show
mercy; how ready to hear prayers; how willing to
find out any reason to be gracious! else he would
not. look so far back as that ancient covenant which
Israel had so often broken, and forfeited all the
henefit of. Let this invite and engage us for ever to
him; and encourage even those that have forsaken
him, to return and repent; for there is forgiveness
with him, that he may be feared.
10. In the thirty and seventh year of
Joash king of Judah, began Jehoash the
son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Sa¬
maria, and reigned sixteen years. 1 1. And
he did that which was evil in the sight of the
Lord ; he departed not from all the sins of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Is¬
rael sin; but he walked therein. 12. And
the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he
did, and his might wherewith he fought
against Amaziah king of Judah, are they
not written in the book of the Chronicles of
the kings of Israel ? 1 3. And Joash slept
with his fathers ; and Jeroboam sat upon his
throne : and Joash was buried in Samaria
with the kings of Israel. 14. Now Elisha
was fallen sick, of his sickness whereof he
died. And Joash the king of Israel came
down unto him, and wept over his face, and
said, O my father, my father ! the chariot of
Israel, and the horsemen thereof ! 1 5. And
Elisha said unto him, Take bow and ar¬
rows: and he took unto him bow and
arrows. 1G. And he said to the king of Is¬
rael, Put thine hand upon the bow: and he
put his hand upon it ; and Elisha put his
hands upon the king’s hands. 17. And he
said, Open the window eastward : and he
opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot: and
he shot. And he said, The arrow of the
Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of de¬
liverance from Syria ; for thou shalt smite
the Syrians in Aohek till thou have con-
616
II. KINGS, XIII.
sumed them. 1 8. And he said, Take the ar- |
rows: and he took them. And he said unto
the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground :
and he smote thrice, and stayed. 19. And
the man of God was wroth with him, and
said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or
six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till
thou hadst consumed it : whereas now thou
shalt smite Syria but thrice.
We have here Jehoash, or Joash, the son of Je-
hoahaz, and grandson of Jehu, upon the throne of
Israel. Probably, the house of Jehu intended some
respect to the house of David, when they gave this
heir-apparent to the crown, the same name with
him that was then king of Judah.
I. The general account here given of him and his
reign, is much the same with what we have already
met with, and has little in it remarkable, v. 10»«13.
He was none of the worst, and yet, because he kept
up th^t ancient and politic idolatry of the house of
Jeroboam, it is said, He did that which was evil in
the sight of the Lord. That one evil was enough to
leave an indelible mark of infamy upon his name;
for, how little evil soever men saw in it, it was, in
the sight of the I^ord, a very wicked thing; and we
are sure that his judgment is according to truth. It
is observable, how lightly the inspired penman
passes over his acts, and his might wherewith he
warred, leaving it to the common historians to re¬
cord them, while he takes notice only of the respect
he showed to Elisha. One good action shall make
a better figure in God’s book, than 20 great ones;
and, in his account, it gains a man a much better
reputation to honour a prophet, than to conquer a
king and his army.
II. The particular account of what past between
him and Elisha, has se\ eral things in it remarka¬
ble.
1. Elisha fell sick, v. 14. Observe, (l.) he lived
long, for it was now about 60 years since he was
first called to be a prophet. It was a great me cy
to Israel, and especially to the sons of the prophets,
that he was continued so long, a burning and shining
light. Elijah finished his testimony in a fourth part
of that time. God’s prophets have their day set
them, some longer, others shorter, as Infinite Wis¬
dom sees fit. (2.) All the latter part of his time,
from the anointing of Jehu, which was 45 years be¬
fore Joash began his reign, we find no mention
made of him, or of any thing he did, till we find
him here upon his death-bed. He might be useful
to the last, and yet not so famous as he had some¬
times been. The time of his flourishing was less
than the time of his living. Let not old people
complain of obscurity, but rather be well pleased
with retirement. (3.) The Spirit of Elijah rested
on Elisha, and yet he is not sent for to heaven in a
fiery chariot, as Elijah was, but goes the common
road out of the world, and is visited with the visita¬
tion of all men. If God honour some above others,
who yet are not inferior to them in gifts or graces,
who shall find fault? May he not do what he will
with his own?
2. King Joash visited him in his sickness, and
wept over him, v. 14. This was an evidence of
some good in him, that he had a value and affection
for a faithful prophet; so far was he from hating and
persecuting him as a ti*oubler of Israel, that he
loved and honoured him as one of the greatest bless¬
ings of his kingdom, and lamented the loss of him.
There have been those who would not be obedient
to the word of God, and yet have had the faithful
ministers of it so manifested in their consciences,
that they could not but have an honour for them.
Observe here, (1.) When the king heard ol Eli¬
sha’s sickness, he came to visit him, and to receive
his dying counsel and blessing; and it was no dis¬
paragement to him, though a king, thus to honour
one whom God honoured. Note, It may turn much
to our spiritual advantage, to attend the sick-beds
and death-beds of good ministers and other good
men, that we may learn to die, and may be en¬
couraged in religion by the living comforts they
have from it in a dying hour. (2.) Though Elisha
was very old, had been a great while useful, and, in
the course of nature, could not continue long; yet
the king, when he saw him sick and likely to die,
wept over him. The aged are most experienced,
and therefore can worst be spared. In many
causes, one old witness is worth ten young ones.
(3.) He lamented him in the same words with
which Elisha had himself lamented the removal of
Elijah, My father, my father. It is probable he
had heard or read them in that famous st ry.
Note, Those that give just honours to the genera¬
tion that goes before them, are often recompensed
with the like from the generation that comes after
them. He that watereth with tears, shall be so
watered also himself, when it comes to his own
turn, Prov. 11. 25. (4.) This king was herein
selfish, he lamented the loss of Elisha, because he
was the chariots and horsemen of Israel, and there¬
fore could be ill spared, when Israel was so poor in
chariots and horsemen, as we find they were, (v.
7. ) when they had in all but fifty horsemen and ten
chariots. They who consider how much good men
contribute to the defence of a nation, and the keep¬
ing off of God’s judgments, will see cause to la¬
ment the removal of them.
3. Elisha gave the king great assurances of his
success against the Syrians, Israel’s present op¬
pressors, and encouraged him to prosecute the war
against him with vigour. Elisha was aware that
therefore he was loath to part with him, because
he looked upon him as the great bulwark of the
kingdom against that common enemy, and depend¬
ed much upon his blessings and prayers in his de¬
signs against them. “Well,” says Elisha, “if
that be it that makes thee thus sad, let not that
trouble thee, thou shalt be victorious over the Sy¬
rians, when I am in my grave: I die, but God will
surely visit you. He has the residue of the Spirit,
and can raise up other prophets to pray for you.”
God’s grace is not tied to one hand; he can bury his
workmen, and yet carry on his work.
To animate the king against the Syrians, he gives
him a sign: orders him to take bow and arrows, ( v .
15.) to intimate to him that, in order to the deliver¬
ance of his kingdom from the Syrians, he must put
himself into a military posture, and resohe to un¬
dergo the perils and fatigues of war; God would be
the Agent, but he must be the instrument. And
that he should be successful, he gives him a token,
by directing him,
(1.) To shoot an arrow toward Syria, v. 16, 17.
The king, no doubt, knew how to manage a bow
better than the prophet did, and yet, because the
arrow now to be shot, was to have its significancy
from the divine institution, as if he were now to be
disciplined, he receives the words of command from
the prophet. Put thy hand upon the bow: Open
the window: Shoot. Nay, as if he had been a child
that never drew a bow before, Elisha put his hands
upon the king’s hands, to signify that in all his ex¬
peditions against the Syrians, he must look up to
God for direction and strength; must reckon his own
hands not sufficient for him, but go on, in a depend¬
ence upon divine aid; He teacheth my hands to war,
Ps. 18. 34.— 144. 1. The trembling hands of a dy¬
ing prophet, as they signified the concurrence and
communication of the power of God, gave tins
617
II. KINGS, XIII.
arrow more force than the hands of the king in his
full strength. The Syrians had made themselves
masters of the country that lay eastward, ch. 10. 33.
Thitherward therefore the arrow is directed, and
such an interpretation given by the prophet of the
shooting of this arrow, though shot, in one respect,
at random, as made it [l.j A commission to the
king, to attack the Syrians, notwithstanding their
power and possession. [2.] A promise of success
therein: it is the arrow of the Lord's deliverance ,
even the arroiu of deliverance from Syria. It is
God that commands deliverance; and when he will
effect it, who can hinder? The arrow of deliver¬
ance is his. He shoots out his arrows, and the
work is done, Ps. 18. 14. “ Thou shall smite the
Syrians in Afihek , where they are now encamped,
or where they are to have a general rendezvous of
their forces, till thou have consumed those of them
that are vexatious and oppressive to thee and thy
kingdom.”
(2.) To strike with the arrows, v. 18, 19. The
prophet having in God’s name assured him of vic¬
tory over the Syrians, he will now try him what
improvement he will make of his victories, whether
he will push them on with more zeal than Ahab did,
when Ben-hadad lay at his mercy. For the trial
of this, he bids him smite with the arrows on the
ground ; “Believe them brought to the ground by
the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and laid at thy
feet; and now show me what thou wilt do to them
when thou hast them down, whether thou wilt do
as David did when God gave him the necks of his
enemies, beat them s?nall as the dust before the
wind," Ps. 18. 40, 42. The king showed not that
eagerness and flame which one might have expect¬
ed upon this occasion, but smote thrice, and no
more. Either out of a foolish tenderness to the Sy¬
rians, he smote as if he were afraid of hurting
them, or, at least, of ruining them; willing to show'
mercy to them that never did, nor ever would, !
show mercy to him or his people. Or, perhaps,
he smote but thrice, and very coldly, because he
thought it but a silly thing, that it looked idle and
childish for a king to beat the floor with his arrows;
and thrice was often enough for him to play the
fool, merely to please the prophet. But, by con¬
temning the sign, he lost the thing signified, sorely
to the grief of the dying prophet, who was wroth
with him, and told him he should have smitten five
or six times. Not being straitened in the power
and promise of God, why should he be straitened
in his own expectations and endeavours? Note, It
cannot but be a trouble to good men, to see those
they wish w’ell to, stand in their own light, and for¬
sake their own mercies; to see them lose their ad¬
vantages against their spiritual enemies, and so give
them advantage.
20. And Elisha died, and Ihey buried
him. And the bands of the Moabites in¬
vaded the land at the coming in of the
year. 21. And it came to pass, as they
were burying a man, that, behold, they
spied a band of men ; and they cast the man
into the sepulchre of Elisha : and when the
man was let down, and touched the bones
of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his
feet. 22. But Hazael king of Syria op¬
pressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23. And the Lord was gracious unto them,
and had compassion on them, and had re¬
spect unto them, because of his covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
Vol. II. — 4 1
would not destroy them, neither cast he
them from his presence as yet. 24. So Ha¬
zael the king of Syria died ; and Ben-hadad
his son reigned in his stead. 25. And Je-
hoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again, out
of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Ha¬
zael, the cities which he had taken out of
the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war:
three times did Joash beat him, and recov¬
ered the cities of Israel.
We must here attend,
I. The sepulchre of Elisha: he died in a good
old age, and they buried him; and what follows,
shows,
1 . What power there was in his life to keep off
judgments; for, as soon as he was dead, the bands
of the Moabites invaded the land; not great armies
to face them in the field, but roving skulking bands,
that murdered and plundered by surprise. God
has many ways to chastise a provoking people
The king was apprehensive of danger only from the
Syrians, but, behold, the Moabites invade him.
1 rouble comes sometimes from that point whence
we least feared it. The mentioning of this, imme¬
diately upon the death of Elisha, intimates, that the
removal of God’s faithful prophets, is a presage of
judgments coming. When ambassadors are re¬
called, heralds may be expected.
2. What power there was in his dead body; it
communicated life to another dead body, v. 21.
This great miracle, though very briefly related,
was a decided proof of his mission, and a confirma¬
tion of all his prophecies. It was also a plain indi¬
cation ol another life after this; when Elisha died,
there was not an end of him, for then he could not
have done this. From operation we may infer
existence. By this it appeared that the Lord was
still the God of Elisha, therefore Elisha still lived,
for he is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
And it may, perhaps, have a reference to Christ,
by whose death and burial the grave is made to all
believers a safe and happy passage to life. It like¬
wise intimated that though Elisha was dead, yet, in
the virtue of the promises made by him, Israel’s
interests, though they seemed quite sunk and lost,
should revive and flourish again. The neighbours
were carrying the dead body of a man to the grave,
and, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moabites,
a party of whom they saw at a distance near the
place where the body was to be interred, they laid
the corpse in the next convenient place, which
proved to be Elisha’s sepulchre. The dead man,
upon touching his bones, revived, and, it is likely,
went home again with his friends. Josephus relates
the story otherwise; That some thieves, having
robbed and murdered an honest traveller, threw
his dead body into Elisha’s gra\ e, and it imme¬
diately revived. Elijah was honoured in his de¬
parture, Elisha was honoured after his departure.
God thus dispenses honours as he pleases, but, one
way or other, the rest of all the saints will be glori¬
ous, Isa. II. 10. It is good being near the saints,
and having our lot with them both in life and death.
II. The sword of Joash king of Israel; and we
find it successful against the Syrians.
1. The cause of his success was God’s favour; *
(i\ 23.) The Lord was gracious to them, had com¬
passion on them in their miseries, and respect unto
them. The several expressions here of the same
import, call upon us to observe and admire the
triumphs of divine goodness in the deliverance of
such a provoking people. It was of the Lord’s
mercies, that they were not consumed; because he
would not destroy them as yet. He foresaw they
G 1 8
II. KINGS, XIV.
would destroy themselves, at last, but, as yet, he
would reprieve them, and give them space to re¬
pent. The slowness of God’s processes against
sinners must be construed to the honour of his
mercy, not the impeachment of his justice.
2. The effect of his success, was, Israel’s benefit.
He recovered out of the hands of Ben-hadad the
cities of Israel which the Syrians were possessed of,
25. This was a great kindness to the cities j
themselves, which were hereby brought from under j
the yoke of oppression; and to the whole kingdom, ;
vluch was much strengthened by the reduction ot
those cities* Thrice Joash be tt the Syrians, just as
often as he ha^l struck the ground with the arrows,
and then a full stop was put to the course of his
victories. Many have repented, when it was too
late, of their distrusts, and the straitness of their
desires.
CHAP. XIV.
This chapter continues the history of the succession in the
kingdoms both of Judah and Israel. I. In the kingdom
of Judah, here is the entire history (as much as is re¬
corded in this book) of Amaziah’s reign; his good cha¬
racter; (v. 1..4.) the justice he executed on the mur¬
derers of his father; (v. 5, 6. ) his victory over the Edom¬
ites; (v. 7.) his war with Joash, and his defeat in that
war; ( v. 8 . . 14. ) his fall, at last, by a conspiracy against
him; (v. 17. .‘JO.) and the beginning of the history of
Azariah, v. 21, 22. II. In the kingdom of Israel, the
conclusion of the reign of Joash, ^v. 15, 16.) and the
entire history of Jeroboam his son, the second of that
name, v. 23. . 29. How many great men are made to
stand in a little compass in (iod’s book!
1. TN the second year of Joash, son of
1 Jehoahaz king of Israel, reigned Ama-
ziah, the son of Joash king of Judah. 2.
He was twenty and five years old when he
began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine
years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name
was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 3. And he
did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord, yet not like David his father : he did
according to all things as Joash his father
did. 4. Howbeit the high places were not
taken away : as yet the people did sacrifice
and burnt incense on the high places. 5.
And it came to pass, as soon as the king¬
dom was confirmed in his hand, that he
slew his servants which had slain the king
his father. 6. But the children of the mur¬
derers he slew not: according unto that
which is written in the book of the law of
Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, say¬
ing, The fathers shall not be put to death
for the children, nor the children be put to
death for the fathers; but every man shall
be put to death for his own sin. 7. He
slew of Edom, in the valley of Salt, ten
thousand, and took Selah by war, and call¬
ed the name of it Joktheel unto this day.
Amaziah is the king whom here we have an ac¬
count of, the son ancl successor of Joash: let us take
a view of him,
1. In the temple; and there he acted, in some
measure, well, like Joash, but not like David, v. 3.
He began well, but did not persevere. He did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord , kept up
his attendance on God’s altars, and his attention to
God’s word, yet not like David. It is not enough
to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely
to keep up the usage, but we must do it as they did
it, from the same principle of faith and devotion,
and with the same sincerity and resolution. It is
here taken notice of, as before, that the high } daces
were not taken away, v. 4. It is hard to get clear
of those corruptions, which, bv long usage, have
gained both prescription and a favourable opinion.
2. On the bench; and there we have him doing
justice on the traitors that murdered his father;
not as soon as ever he came to the crown, lest it
should have occasioned some disturbance, but he
prudently deferred it till the kingdom was con¬
firmed in his hand, v. 5. To weaken a factious
j party gradually, when it is not safe to provoke,
| often proves the way to ruin it effectually. Justice
strikes surely by striking slowly, and is often exe¬
cuted most prudently, when it is not executed pre¬
sently. Wisdom here is profitable to direct. Ama-
ziah did thus, (1.) According to the rule of the
law, that ancient rule, that he that sheds man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Never let
traitors or murderers expect to come to their graves
like other men: let them flee to the flit, and let no
man stay them. (2.) Under the limitation of the
law. 'lhe children of murderers he slew not, be¬
cause the law of Moses had expressly provided that
the children should not be put to death for the
fathers, v. 6. It is probable that this is taken
notice of, because there were those about him, that
advised him to that rigour, both in revenge, be¬
cause the crime was extraordinary, the murder of
a king; and in policy, that the children might not
Slot against him, in revenge for their father’s death.
ut against these insinuations he opposed the ex¬
press law of God, (Deut. 24. 16.) which he was to
judge by, and which he resolved to adhere to, and
trust God with the issue. God visits the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, because every
man is guilty before him, and owes him a death;
so that if he require the life for the father’s sin, he
does no wrong, the sinner having forfeited it already
by his own: but he does not allow earthly princes
to do thus; the children, before them, are innocent,
and therefore must not suffer as guilty.
3. In the field; and there we find him triumph¬
ing over the Edomites, v. 7. Edom had revolted
from under the hand of Judah in Joram’s time,
(c/2. 8. 22.) now he makes war upon them to bring
them back to their allegiance; kills 10,000, ana
takes the chief city of Arabia the Stony, called Se¬
lah, a rock, and gave it a new name. We shall
find a larger account of this expedition, 2 Chron.
25, 5, &c.
8. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Je-
hoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu
king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look
one another in the face. 9. And Jehoash
the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of
Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Le¬
banon sent to the cedar that was in Leba-
I non, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to
wife: and there passed by a wild beast that
was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
10. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and
thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this ,
and tarry at home; for why shouldest thou
meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall,
even thou, and Judah with thee? 11. But
Amaziah would not hear: therefore Jehoash
king of Israel went up; and he and Ama-
619
II. KINGS, XIV.
ziah king of Judah looked one another in
the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth
to Judah. 12. And Judah was put to the
worse before Israel; and they fled every
man to their tents. 13. And Jehoash king
of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the
son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-
shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake
down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate
of Ephraim unto the comer-gate, four hun¬
dred cubits. 14. And he took all the gold
and silver, and all the vessels that were
found in the house of the Lord, and in the
treasures of the king’s house, and hostages,
and returned to Samaria.
For several successions after the division of the
kingdoms, (hat of Judah suffered much by the en¬
mity of Israel. After Asa’s time, for several suc¬
cessions, it suffered more by the friendship. of Israel,
and by the alliance and affinity they made with
them. But now we meet with hostility between
them again, which had not been for some ages
before.
I. Amaziah, upon no provocation, and without
showing any cause of quarrel, challenges Joash into
the field; ( v . 8.) “ Come, Let us look one another in
the face; let us try our strength in battle.” Had
he challenged him to a personal duel only, the
error had remained with himself, but each must
bring all their forces into the field, and thousands
of lives on both sides must be sacrificed to his capri¬
cious humour. Hereby he showed himself proud,
presumptuous, and prodigal of blood. Some think
that he intended to avenge the injury which the ,
dismissed, disgusted Israelites had lately done to his
country, in their return, (2 Chron. 25. 13.) and
that he had also the vanity to think of subduing the
kingdom of Israel, and reuniting it to Judah. A
fool’s lifts thus enter into contention, and his mouth
calleth for strokes. They that challenge, are charge¬
able with that beginning of strife, which is as the
letting forth of water. He that is eager either to
fight, or to go to law, may perhaps have enough of
it quickly, and be the first that repents it.
II. Joash sends him a grave rebuke for his chal¬
lenge, with advice to withdraw it, x\ 9, 10. 1. He
mortifies his pride, by comparing himself to a cedar,
a stately tree, and Amaziah to a thistle, a sorry
weed; telling him, he was so far from fearing him,
that he despised him, and scorned as much to have
any thing to do with him, or make any alliance
with him, as the cedar would to match his daughter
to a thistle. The ancient house of David he thinks
not worthy to be named the sarfie day with the
house of Jehu, though an upstart. How may an
humble man smile to hear two proud and scornful
men set their wits on work, to vilifv and undervalue
one another! 2. He foretells his fall; a wild beast
trade down the thistle, and so put an end to his
treaty with the cedar; so easily does Joash think
his forces can crush Amaziah, and so unable does
he think him to make any resistance. 3. He shows
him the folly of his challenge; “ Thou hast indeed
smitten Edom, a weak, unarmed, undiscipl 
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